Category: Facts About Wine

Veteran readers know my devotion to decanting. Continue reading →

You are salivating in anticipation of the delicious steak/bird/fish and pour a special bottle for the occasion. Then, yikes, a goblin grabs your nose. Burnt matches. Wet cardboard. Freshly deposited stuff in a barnyard. Continue reading →

What a wonderful time: summer heat is past; great harvest holidays approach. Time to contemplate one of the greatest and most unusual wines in the world: Madeira, an ideal wine to enjoy at the warm, fuzzy end of a feast or while snuggling in a favorite blanket as the first chills of winter whisper outside. Continue reading →

Wine is food, cornerstone of civilization for millennia, central part of religious celebrations from time out of memory, component of diets science asserts help people live longer, happier lives. And a beverage state legislatures feel compelled to mess with because that’s what state legislatures do. Continue reading →

Most people understand vine quality influences wine quality. Less appreciated are the effects of wood quality on wine. Continue reading →

Most of us will never taste Château d’Yquem, world standard in Sauternes—the unfortified sweet white wine from the Graves region of Bordeaux. Continue reading →

Vlasic was in a pickle. Souring sales forced them to think outside their jar to hold market share. Continue reading →

What tastes good is a really big deal. Continue reading →

Some wine descriptions make sense. Cherry, plum, red fruit, black fruit for red wines. Apple, peach, citrus for whites. Continue reading →

Oak is makeup for wine. Restrained oak enhances beauty. Spread oak with a trowel, palates howl. Continue reading →