For wine’s chattering classes no subject is more captivating than the elements that make one varietally-similar wine distinguishable from another. Plant a chardonnay vine in the Sierra Foothills of California and … It’s the little things that count</br>Read more

THE GREAT RUBE GOLDBERG wasn’t an inventor, he was a cartoonist. The insanely clever, laughably complicated chain-of-events machines (string, J, fires pistol, K.  Shot scares monkey, L, forcing razor, N, onto egg, O)  that … Shot scares monkey</br>Read more

THE FELLOW ASSIDUOUSLY OGLING his glass of red wine is a detail from a lithograph that hangs in my office, one of a trio I bought from a shaggy bouquiniste (quayside seller … Caught lookingRead more

If you love the world of wine, there’s no corner of its territory that’s without interest – not a single one you wouldn’t care to explore if you had the time … In love with the LoireRead more

Historians of material culture know as new foods, dishes, and ingredients enter a social space they’re often accompanied by new equipment necessary – or at least helpful – to both preparing … Glass menagerieRead more

I RECEIVED an email this week from Hamilton Russell Vineyards in South Africa.  It told the story of a recent tasting of 31 vintages of their chardonnay, from 1982 t0 2012.  The aim was to get … On the social hierarchy of un-white winesRead more

SAMBUCO DI SICILIA, Sicily.   Somewhere straight ahead of me lies Africa — Tunisia, I think, though I haven’t consulted a map to confirm it.  I consider this as I sit … Postcard from SicilyRead more

THE FROTHING MASS OF PINKNESS at left is a close-up of grapes, juice, skins, pips, and stems fermenting their little hearts out in our Central Bottle in-store, micro-scale winemaking project. Timed to coincide … Le Fauxjolais Nouveau</br> est ArrivéRead more

SEAN SHESGREEN’S  scholarly paper “Wet Dogs and Gushing Oranges: Winespeak for the New Millenium“ is clever and entertaining enough to have been rejected by any self-respecting peer-reviewed journal. In it the … Wine is sexy – but is it gendered?Read more

WE WERE ON A ROAD TRIP recently that took us from New Orleans to St. Augustine, FL and thence up through Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. It was an eye-opener for … Does this wine make my butt look big?Read more

I WENT OUT ON A LIMB last week trying to come to terms with what quality amounts to in wine – in some cases backing into it by suggesting what quality … <span class="entry-title-primary">What makes it good?</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Part Two</span>Read more

THE BELIEF THAT A FORTUITOUSLY-SITED vineyard can consistently produce wines of exceptional quality is at the very root of the notion of cru and appears to reach back to Pharaonic times. … <span class="entry-title-primary">What makes it good?</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Part One</span>Read more