The Wine Idea

Were we to pen a biography of wine, we might start out with a chapter entitled The Early Years – as many bios do.  There, we’d tell the story of how … Raising a Glass to Good Enough WineRead more

”A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” Ralph Waldo Emerson (that’s the old troublemaker himself, above) memorably opined. But in the world of commerce, consistency is pretty much everything … Should We Be Talking About Continuity?Read more

That’s Orson Welles who as a 23 year-old wunderkind set America’s nerves on edge with the 1938 radio play War of the Worlds — listeners believed they were hearing a live … No Wine Before Its Time?Read more

I’ve written before in this space about what I like to call the fog of wine — that state we all get into from time to time; feeling lost in a cumulus of … In Case You Mist ItRead more

Ever thought it might be time for a reset of some time-honored but badly out-of-sync-with-the-era holiday tunes? We have. What follows is just at the idea stage, of course. You can … <span class="entry-title-primary">Get Me Rewrite!</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Five Sketches for Carols of Our Time</span>Read more

When I became a wine enthusiast, the standards for fine wine were set in just three places: Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne. There wasn’t much French wine from other regions, or even … Critical FacultiesRead more

Planet wine is a heavily regulated old orb. Few people, I think, are aware that in addition to being subject to laws that govern the sale and consumption of alcohol, there are very … The Name’s the Same …<br> and Other Wine ConfusismsRead more

Is wine good for your complexion? Can it adjust your temperament? Balance your humors? Don’t be embarrased If you haven’t asked yourself these questions recently.  Most people haven’t, at least for … Humor MeRead more

Wine has many faces. If it didn’t, how would we write a fresh essay about it every week (not counting the chestnuts from the archive  we twitch a feather duster over, … X-Ray or Portrait?Read more

Well, if it isn’t our old friend Heraclitus, come to pay a visit. He’s been hanging around for 2500 years or so now and just refuses to go away. True, it’s … On Its Way to SomewhereRead more

We were on a road trip that took us from New Orleans to St. Augustine, and thence up through Savannah to Charleston. It was an eye-opener to see how readily southerners … Does this Wine Make My Butt Look Big?Read more

The answer — as is usual with these things — is that it  depends. Such a judgment is possible, but only if we provide not just the kind of wine but … Does the Ideal Wine Exist?Read more