Taittinger: The Restoration Vintage

Roger Morris
Feature Stories
3 min read
“My father didn’t really want to sell the business,” Vitalie Taittinger recalls.  “I think he felt a little shame, a lot of pain, that it wasn’t the courageous thing to do to sell the family heritage.  I was very sad for my father.” It was the summer of 2005, and

Sangiovese by Another Name: Morellino di Scansano

Tracy Ellen Kamens
Feature Stories
6 min read
For many, Sangiovese and Tuscany are practically synonymous. But, while Chianti and Brunello immediately spring to mind, the less familiar Morellino di Scansano offers equally enjoyable wines by another name. Situated in the Maremma province, in the southernmost part of Tuscany, the Morellino territory is nearly equidistant between Rome and

Irish spirit

Michelle Locke
Feature Stories
4 min read
“Business or pleasure?” asked the garda at Dublin airport immigration control. “ I’m not sure,” I replied. “I’m here to learn about Irish whiskey.” “That can only be pleasure,” he said with a smile as he stamped my passport with a thump. He was right. My tour of Irish whiskey

Master Somm Candidates do battle on Uncorked

Becky Sue Epstein
About
1 min read
What happens when a sommelier spills while decanting an $800 bottle of wine?  Is there actually a correct way to serve wine? Ever wondered how much a restaurant wine director actually knows about wine: how does he or she determined which wine you, personally, will enjoy with your meal? The

Going clear: Appreciating vodka

W. Blake Gray
Features
5 min read
I wasn't always a wine drinker. The first thing I liked to drink was vodka: vodka with cranberry juice, or a Black Russian with a slice of lime. Now, though, I am entirely too hip to drink vodka. I sneer at vodka, and at people who drink vodka. If I

Nikolaihof: The Wrong Side of the Wachau

Simon J Woolf
Feature Stories
4 min read
“This is the new part of the cellar”, says Nikolaus Saahs with a wry smile as we walk around the extraordinary gothic basement of his family's estate - Nikolaihof. It's “only” 400 years old, compared to the rest which dates from the Roman era (c. 1,880 years ago). I can't

Why does wine smell?

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
Why doesn't a glass of water smell like anything? Or a bowl of sugar? And why does a glass of wine smell like so many things? For something to smell like anything, two conditions must be satisfied. One: it must contain volatile molecules. Two: those molecules must trigger olfactory receptors.