Wine Rock Star-Part 2

You don’t have to be a Rock Star to drink wine like one.  Rock Star Winos beguile fame, demagnetize paparazzi, leave crowd-free wakes, and sign no autographs.  Being a Rock Star Wino with the juice to indulge audiences in sensory, intellectual, and emotional celebration is unassuming and simple.   So, if you read Wine Rock Star- [...]

The Wine and Food Culture Divide

I’ll admit to spending more time than it’s probably worth thinking about nuances in wine and food culture.  For example, I ponder how obvious it is that most of us Americans act with righteous self confidence buying, ordering, and cooking the foodstuffs and ingredients we prefer. We’ll ask questions freely when shopping or ordering to [...]

Beaujolais Tasting Recipe: Sweet & Sour Onion Sage Bruschetta

Wine needs appropriate food to dance with with even in critically serious tasting situations.  It’s one of a few life rules to steadily honor.  As such, I reflexively succumb to a ceremonial tasting day duty, before each of our group’s monthly blind tasting soirees, of preparing a few things that are different and hopefully more [...]

Authentic Wines Advance Palate and Stir Soulful Wine Appreciation

I repeatedly ponder two questions about wine appreciation.  First, I query myself about my evolving preferences, wondering if my shift to more authentic old world wine is palate driven or trend inflicted.  Secondly, I ask myself how so many practical people get so wrapped in wine minutia, devoting large chunks of their waking time studying, tasting, [...]

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 [...]

Sake Mastery, Prosecco Fun, and Independence Day

Saké and Prosecco occupy my brain’s vinous lobe on this independence day, shoving aside thoughts of domestic barbecue reds, rosés, and celebratory sparklers as swiftly and completely as South Africa’s American-less pitches vacated our nation’s collective mindset.   Last year at this time, I added a caveat to Alder Yarrow’s thoughts of wine independence with a serious look [...]

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 [...]

Blind Tasting Series Report Part 1: Viognier

After a several year hiatus, a successful season of reincarnation has passed for the blind tasting series and wine enthusiast group that I am pleased to regale monthly at my home.  Each tasting requires hours of preparation including wine acquisition, printed line ups, tasting agendas, room set, food and bread supply, wine prep, glassware provisioning, [...]

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 [...]

Sherry Tasting: A Fortified Wine Spectrum and Two Shining Stars

There are no Sherry tastings to be found in a twenty-plus-year search of tasting events lingering historically in my personal Outlook calendar.   That was until this past weekend when I had the chance to taste a full range of styles at a Dale Cruse hosted Sherry and Tapas onslaught including Fino, Manzanilla, Oloroso, Amontillado, [...]

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