The Wine Idea

EMILE ZOLA’S 1873 novel Le ventre de Paris (‘The Belly of Paris’) opens with a pre-dawn parade of horse-drawn carts laden with produce making their way to Les Halles, the city’s great public … The Origins of ConnoisseurshipRead more

Years ago I interviewed the doyenne of Americans involved in the Burgundy wine trade, the knowledgeable and colorful Becky Wasserman, for a story in the Boston Globe. We rendezvoused at the … Eat your fruits and vegetables … Don’t Drink ThemRead more

What are the origins of sweet wines?  Evolutionary biologists tell us that our distant hominin ancestors came down from the trees already addicted to the sweet taste of ripe fruit. Grapes, … <span class="entry-title-primary">On the origins of sweet wines</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Having our fructose and alcohol, too</span>Read more

THURSDAY JANUARY 19 3-6 PM – FRESH FROM THE BACK OF BEYOND Belgium-born France Crispeels (above) didn’t spring from a winemaking family so when in middle age she decided to throw … <span class="entry-title-primary">Fresh from the back of beyond</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">This Week in the Wine Corner</span>Read more

My experience pouring in the wine corner for the Formaggio Kitchen clientele two nights each week has convinced me that there is no experience casual wine drinkers struggle to describe quite … <span class="entry-title-primary">Sorting wine sensations</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Bitterness, astringency, tannin, and texture are related but distinct. Here's how to think about them. </span>Read more

In 2004, independent filmmaker and ex-sommelier Jonathan Nossiter administered a grand cru skewering to some of Big Wine’s biggest wigs with his quirky, accusatory documentary Mondovino.  In one of the film’s more memorable … <span class="entry-title-primary">What’s hot in the world of wine?</br> The world of wine, that’s what</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">The world of wine, that's what.</span>Read more

If you heard the on-­air piece, you know that this is the last wine segment Chris and I will do for America’s Test Kitchen Radio.  So it seemed like a good time to see how much Chris has learned … <span class="entry-title-primary">Final Exam</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">We say adios to America's Test Kitchen with a quiz</span>Read more

When I started writing about wine lo these many years ago, it was something of a struggle to interest readers in pink—rosé—wine.  At the time, the only examples most consumers had encountered were   marketed as “white zinfandel”or “blush.”  These were highly technical wines made on an industrial-scale. A bit of carbonation and sugar was often added and there might be an aromatic grape — like … <span class="entry-title-primary">The wine world is in the pink. <br/>Is that a good thing?</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">America's Test Kitchen Radio</span>Read more

Every retail wine shop worth its salt ought to be part clinic, a place where problems can be addressed and resolved. In the wine corner at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge where I … <span class="entry-title-primary">Given up on red wine? Maybe you’ve been drinking the wrong kind</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">America's Test Kitchen Radio</span>Read more

THE LAST TIME I SAW Italian actress Virna Lisi she was having a wonderful time vamping it up as a reptilian Queen Catherine de Medici in the 1994 film adaptation of the Alexandre … I’ll clink to that: <br>On the uses of the toastRead more

Often the variation that occurs in the same wine from one vintage to another is minor and limited to interesting variations on a theme. A cool spring…a drier than normal summer…a … <span class="entry-title-primary">When troubles come</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">America's Test Kitchen Radio</span>Read more

It’s not easy to translate sensation into words, but sommeliers, retailers, and even winemakers are under constant pressure to do it. Much of the rhetoric that ensues is fanciful and frankly … <span class="entry-title-primary">Waiter, There’s a rock<br/> (herb, green bean) in my wine!</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">America's Test Kitchen Radio</span>Read more