A wide assortment.

Over the weekend, while listening to a discussion on CNN about the state and fate of the U.S. auto industry, I was struck by a parallel between that industry and the U.S. wine industry. Many new as well as long-established wineries offer a broad spectrum of varieties and blends. No matter if they grow all the varieties they bottle or if they purchase the fruit or bulk juice, the strategy seems to be to cover the market and satisfy the demands of all potential customers coming through the tasting room. (more…)

Stölzle glass production.

You can drink wine out of anything. Once it’s in your mouth, it’s either mixed with food as part of a meal, swished around as part of an evaluation or overlooked in favor of stimulating conversation. But on those special occasions when the setting is key or those solitary, pensive moments when being enchanted by the dance of the wine in the glass and relishing the aromas are the core of the wine experience, fine stemware is essential. German Stölzle stemware (pronounced: STOH-zul) offers great style, performance and value for just those situations.

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"The apple cake recipe" by Jacek Yerka

At a tasting seminar during a recent wine festival and while discussing different wines, a member of the audience said of a wine: “It takes you there”. Well, I’d like to know where to get those tickets.

The “somewhereness” of a wine or any other produced beverage; that character which unmistakably conveys the essence of the place where it was grown and produced, is believed by some to transport one to the place of the drink’s origin. I have always believed that this can only happen if one really knows something about the nature of the place where the drink originates. Even then, there is not necessarily any part of that place contained in the liquid one sips. (more…)