Valentine’s Day presents a unique opportunity for wine lovers. Although there are many excellent options for a Valentine’s wine, there is one slam dunk. And that would be bubbly. Throughout its many iterations—Champagne, cava, Prosecco, crémant, domestic sparkling, etc.—bubbly brings the sparkle to the party. That isn’t to say you couldn’t swing and miss with…
Dive Into American Cocktail Culture, State by State
With a lock on most of the top 20 drunkest cities in America, Wisconsin might know a little something about alcohol. While many likely think this means beer, a book recently published by the University of Wisconsin Press focuses on the Badger State’s love of cocktails. “Wisconsin Cocktails” is the latest work of state resident…
Wine Talk: The Cork Problem
You may recall the issue of so-called cork taint that ravaged the wine industry not so long ago. Many natural corks were infected with a compound called TCA (short for trichloroanisole, which forms through interactions between plant phenols, chlorine, and mold). TCA was a huge problem until recently, spoiling many bottles of wine, including some…
Wine Talk: Big Winners of 2020
The many setbacks of 2020 notwithstanding, there were numerous bright spots for the wine industry over the course of the year. As regular readers of this column know, I oversee four major international wine competitions. The insights I gain as I digest the competition results—from new trends and developments to the confirmation of long-held truths—give…
Pompeii Is Famous for Its Ruins and Bodies, but What About Its Wine?
Pompeii is famed for plaster-cast bodies, ruins, frescoes, and the rare snapshot it provides of a rather typical ancient Roman city. But less famous is its evidence of viticulture. Wild grapevines probably existed across peninsular Italy since prehistory, but it is likely the Etruscans and colonizing Greeks promoted wine-making with domesticated grapes as early as…
The Year in Beer: Best Brews of 2020
In 2020, while I didn’t get to a lot of bars to sample the brews, I had some great luck with curbside pickups and even shipped beers. All of this, of course, was for work, in the name of research. These are the best of my “sacrifices” for the year. From Maine With Love Allagash…
Wine Talk: A Schramsberg for the Ages
When the late Jack and Jamie Davies purchased the historic Jacob Schram winery in Calistoga, California, in 1965, they embarked upon what must have seemed at the time to be the impossible dream. Their goal was to produce the finest sparkling wine in America at the 100-year-old winery up on Diamond Mountain. They dreamed of…
How to Make Eggnog From Scratch
Eggnog season is upon us! To be honest, in some parts of the Midwest I am not sure there actually is a season. While part of the dairy section fills up with various brands from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, I am fairly certain there are at least a couple around as early as October and…
Wine Talk: Why Champagne Dominates
Given a choice between a bottle of Champagne or a sparkling wine from any other corner of the world, most reasonably sane wine enthusiasts would opt for the Champagne. Of course, they would. It’s more expensive than other bubblies, so it must be better. That’s what the smart crowd thinks. Champagne’s unique station in the…
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