2011 Wine Highlights Part 1: Wine & Restaurants

While the best wine and food might still appear on my table over the next couple of weeks, 2011 is quickly shutting down like newly bottled Bordeaux and I catch myself reminiscing over the year that was in wine and food. These musings must not be mistaken for a quintessential nor ultimate reminiscence of global [...]

Wine Bottega and Clos Rougeard: Case for Social Media Wine Marketing

The ever present fragility of my inflated confidence born from half a life of wine enthusiasm can be awfully humbling.  Every year I discover a winery, region, or pool of knowledge that showers self doubt on the veracity of my commitment for exploring and learning about wine; “How could I claim to know anything, really, [...]

Boston Troquet’s Cellar Dregs Are Wine Lover’s Treasures

Long ago, Troquet cemented its reputation with New England wine enthusiasts as the quintessential fine dining spot in Boston to order and drink memorable wine.   Actually, it all started with Chris Campbell’s earlier Commonwealth Avenue project UVA , a laid back spot offering unassuming atmosphere, serious food, easy prices, and a wine program that brought [...]

Week of WineZag: The Round World of Social Media and Wine Blogging

Wine blogging at WineZag and staying connected in its parallel social networks involves a time and energy commitment yielding grimaces of sympathetic pain and confusion from just about anyone I unveil the details of my dedication to. Except, of course, fellow bloggers and social media mavericks that live in the very round world of social [...]

Uncovering Boston BYOB and Wine Berserkers

Late edit and FYI:  Disappointingly, Mark Squires unfriended me on Facebook minutes after publishing this post here and sharing the link on Facebook.  To Mark Squires:  Sorry if you were offended by anything I have mentioned here, it was not my intention.  Please refriend me on Facebook, I enjoy the information you share there. Open [...]

Zalto: Wine Glasses for the Cosmic Connoisseur

Somewhere in between making wine and storing wine, service plays THE crucial supporting role in a wine’s performance. Mistakes in temperature, aeration, and glassware can foul things up as easily as contaminated or cooked cork can. Conversely,  it is not secret that great glassware can pump up a tasting experience like sluggers on steroids.  That [...]

Languedoc Tasting: Expressive Wines and Multiple Styles

Some things about the Languedoc just don’t seem very French at all.  Frontier lands, Spanish culinary influence, Gypsy lore, uncontrolled wine production, and more.  In a recent visit to the edge of the region’s northwest Mediterannean shoreline, Camargue, we reveled in almost unlimited sightings of wild white horse and pink flamingo from the comfort of [...]

Menton: Reaching For the Stars (Michelin?) from Boston’s Fort Point

Menton’s team would be discovering and learning in only their third week of service, and we would be celebrating a full and exact 25 years of marriage; an intriguing juxtaposition of experience.  Still, I decided to ring up Eli Feldman, Director of Operations at Barbara Lynch Gruppo, to squeeze into their newest project for our [...]