The streets of old Europe can be hauntingly quiet. In small villages, one can walk along cobbled corridors in the middle of a weekday afternoon and hear nothing but the breeze. The streets are lined with stone buildings, some of them homes, some of them businesses. Trousers hang to dry
One of the great pleasures of wine exploration is not just in encountering something new, but something special. Italy is full of something new. An inquisitive consumer can find dozens of new grape varieties to explore, red and white, fat and thin, rich and ripping. That's not a promise that
Hardy Wallace gave himself one year to sell through his first significant release of wines from Dirty and Rowdy Family Winery in late August, 2012. It would be work, hand selling, lots of travel. If they could sell out in a year, it would be a sign that maybe this
You are going to die before you have a chance to experience all the things in life that spark your imagination. Go ahead, make a bucket list, as they say. If you're intellectually curious, that list won't be a finite body of goals; it will be a living organism that
Over dinner recently, a friend confessed, "I love Sauternes, but I always feel it's a waste when I open one." Why? The simple answer is that he views Sauternes as a dessert wine, and by the time he reaches that point in the meal, he's lost focus. The wine is
Palate Press has selected our top ten stories from 2012 and will publish a 2012 Redux article each weekday until January 4, 2013. These stories highlight our featured columnists, widely recognized contributors, and most popular works published through the year. The Palate Press editorial board hopes you enjoy these highlights as we look
Compromise is in the air these days. The rockets have quieted in the Middle East. Republicans are talking about taxes while Democrats entertain cuts in entitlement spending. President Obama is having lunch with Mitt Romney. Even Mark Sanchez, in an act of selfless immolation, decided to distract New Yorkers from
Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of the Year will soon be unveiled, serving to make good wines unavailable or, if they're available, unaffordable. It's the time of year when interesting wines dry up for the average consumer. Am I right? Isn't this annoying? The 2012 list will wreak havoc on