Someone recently sent me a sample bottle of a Kalecik Karasi. It was excellent, and I’d be happy to suggest that you buy it, but I couldn’t find out anything about it. Or where to buy it. One of the problems with trying to cover this industry, whether as a reporter or simply as a…

“Gardenia?” he asked. “Is that what you smell?” It was Thanksgiving decades ago, and my father said he loved the Navarro Gewurztraminer I had opened, but implied that he didn’t smell gardenias. So I asked, “What do you smell?” “Uh, wine,” he said. “And it’s really nice, but gardenia?” He said the wine smelled a…

Some people believe that all white and rosé wines are best consumed young, but based on that reasoning, they ignore any wines released a year ago. Today, for example, rosé wines from 2020 are what people want. And they seem to treat 2019 rosés like dishwater—and an anything older like COVID-19. Yet not all whites…

Ever encounter a wine snob? I have—far too often, alas. And dealing with wine snobs is an art form calling for subtlety. Rule No. 1: laughing out loud is verboten. Still, you’d simply not believe some of the things I’ve heard over more than 40 years of drinking wine. Bad times often happen when buffoons…