Information technology

An omelette is quick to make-you could probably make one in the time it took you to read the first paragraph- but the interview is not primarily a test of the dexterous manipulation of some eggs in a pan. No, omelette-making is about knowing when to intervene and when to leave well alone. The temperature… View Article

Nudging sublimity

To live in the shadow of a greater vintage is not such a terrible fate. I’m sure every bottle of Palmer ’66 has heard the same remark: "Not quite the ’61, but…"; with this bottle, I came down heavily on the "but…" It was the most beautiful bottle of Palmer-perhaps even of any Margaux-I remember… View Article

Wine regulation: The devil drives

He is right to be worried: In order to make great wines, winemakers need some freedom of choice; yet that freedom is increasingly restricted by voices on all sides claiming the moral high ground. The devil would especially relish seeing nations at each other’s throats, fighting to protect the interests of consumers worried about safety,… View Article

Fluid boundaries

Thanks to philosopher-turned-wine journalist Gian Luca Mazzella and generous members of Germany’s VDP, an extraordinary 100-year retrospective of Riesling was held at Schloss Johannisberg in April 2008 and, a year later (in honor of the grape’s 350th documented year in Germany), an equally grand tasting of Silvaner at Schloss Castell. Most of the superlative Rieslings… View Article

See-saws and sweet spots

Consider a graphic model often used to explain maturation of grapes. One curve represents diminishing acidity, while two ascending curves represent accumulation of sugar and a construct generally termed "phenolic ripeness." The unexamined presupposition is that these lines will intersect-or come closest to a three-way intersection-at the point when it is time to pick. Whether… View Article

Allusive threads to an earlier sensorial world

Don Giacomo Cauda was, back in the 1960s, appointed parish priest of a Piedmontese town called Castagnole Monferrato. He found, on arrival, that a small plot of vines came with the job. He later became a friend of the town’s mayor, Lydia Bianco, a former secretary of Asti’s agricultural school; both took a cultured interest… View Article

At dusk with the anti-Riesling

There was a smell of moist, strappy leather, and the dry leaf litter under a gum tree. Though the wine was a young one, the aromas were harmonious and serene, unthrusting and unshowy. Coming to the wine was like coming to a clearing in the bush and stopping to rest. You sat down beside it,… View Article

Bad Deal

French wines may be the stuff that dreams are made of, but the actual price of an AOP wine is usually anything but. AOP, remember, is the new AOC, and it stands for appellation d’origine protégée (not contrôlée as before)-the badge of approval awarded to wines that meet specific production criteria. This is the only… View Article

On Porridge and Pinot Noir

Reliance upon staple crops is not something we generally think about in the developed world. I have myself grown up enjoying the luxury of ubiquitous choice. It was a passing remark from my wife that prompted me to think about the role that choice plays in our relationship with our food and drink. As a… View Article

Heart to Heart

I just wish the base level of California wine agreed with me better. I am as likely to go into any diner where the food looks good as into a sommelier-savvy restaurant. Where there are oysters around as good as those from the Hog Island Oyster Co of Bolinas, or many far up the coast… View Article