ShareAs Maya put it in Sideways, wine is a living thing. And she’s right: as it arcs through a youth, a middle age, and its golden years, every wine changes. And then, like all living things, it dies. So in the case of a good wine, or more specifically a fine wine that’s meant to [...]

ShareOne of the many reasons I love wine is that I’ll be going about my day, secretly confident that I’ve tasted or at least read about every type of wine there is, and then bam. A bus will come roaring down the boulevard of wine experience and take my complacent ass out.
This happened to [...]

SharePeople often ask me what my favorite wine is. I hate to be a killjoy, but I have to say, it depends. I’ll be drawn to a type of wine because of what I’m eating, what time of day it is, where I am. Sometimes I’ll get on a wine jag because I saw somebody [...]

ShareThe first thing I did when the 2003 Quilceda Creek cabernet placed dead last in a blind tasting I attended Wednesday was think, shoot, I have a case of this wine in my cellar! I didn’t say it out loud; I’m no fool. I spent $110 per bottle on that wine on the recommendation of [...]

ShareUntil I drank my way through an edifying class on Italian wine at my local wine bar Vino Rosso, I thought I knew all about Montepulciano. But I was oh, so wrong.
Because I’d been there, I knew that Montepulciano is a town in Italy. It sits on the top of a hill in the southwestern [...]

ShareFor the intro to this story and another model resolution, click here.]
Model Resolutions, continued:
#2 Drink More Jumilla
I’m queuing this one up for next year, since I resolved this January to eat more foie gras in 2007. My inspiration comes from a delicious dinner at Ad Hoc, the new family-style, one-menu-for-all eatery opened somewhat recently by [...]

Share(For my complete report on South African wines, click here)
Last year’s most exciting trip to wine country, for me, was to South Africa — even over Bordeaux. True, the wines weren’t as monumental, but the scenery, the dark-humored South Africans, and the great prices really changed the way I feel about wine. I have a [...]

ShareBecause they always involve giving something up, generally I hate New Year’s resolutions. But then I fell in love with wine. With so many unsampled varieties out there, it made sense to my novitiate mind to promise at the outset of every year to delve into a wine I might otherwise neglect. This spirit expanded [...]

ShareI love it when a winery has a great produce and a great story. Larkmead is a perfect example. Founded in the nineteenth century by the parents of Lilly Coit, the socialite, transvestite, and benefactress behind the famous, undeniably phallic monument to her beloved San Francisco firemen, Larkmead’s 1,000 acres of prime vineyards are perfectly [...]

ShareRumors of the death of Redd, the relatively new restaurant in Napa Valley that showcases the delicious, Italian-inflected cooking of Richard Reddington, have been greatly exaggerated. Apparently the venue is shutting down from January 15, 2007 to cut down on its noisy acoustics, but will open again on the 24th.
Thank Bacchus for the resurrection. We [...]