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Wine Safety: Should you be Concerned?

Erika Szymanski
Features
7 min read
The last time wine safety really made the news was when, in 1985, some Austrian winemakers were found bulking up their wine with diethylene glycol. Used as an ingredient in some kinds of antifreeze, it added sweetness and body to wine, along with the potential for liver, kidney, and brain

Virginia’s Millionaire Winegrowers

Roger Morris
Features
4 min read
For those of us who were writing about wine at the time, it was a surprising, even humorous-sounding, development.  The Italians were coming to Virginia to make wine. The year was 1976, and we had already been shocked once that season.  Napa Valley (with some help from Sonoma grapes) had

With Wine, Emotion Matters

David White
Features
2 min read
Wine enthusiasts are always looking for an experience that’s completely arresting -- a wine that stops you in your tracks, makes the room go silent, and just pulls you into the glass. Sometimes, those wines are expensive -- perhaps opened at an extravagant wine dinner where everyone brings a bottle

Going Wild in Alsace – Yeasts, Elegance and Spontaneity

Simon J Woolf
Features
8 min read
There's been a bit of a furore about wild yeast fermentation over the past month. The fires were stoked by new research published by scientists at the University of British Columbia and authored by graduate student Jessica M. Lange, summarized in Wine Business Monthly: “Regardless of which yeast started the

Terroir in Champagne: Will Terroirists Kill the Blends?

Caroline Henry
Features
5 min read
The Champenois have long struggled with the notion of terroir. Unlike nearby Burgundy where just about every vineyard has had its terroir defined, in Champagne one will often speak about the generic Champagne terroir: that which makes Champagne’s wines unique. Common elements of this generic terroir are the region’s poor,

Discovering a Case of Our Own History

Dorothy Gaiter
Features
6 min read
As you know, John and I always encourage folks to experience new wines. If you’ve never seen something before and it looks interesting, try it. That’s the way your knowledge of wine grows and it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Well, I want to tell you a story

Five Experiences of Portugal, with a Side of Wine

Cathy Huyghe
Features
3 min read
Today, Portugal's extremely photogenic wine regions are being affected by a dizzying whirr of circumstances beyond their control, both political and financial. Currently, vineyards and winemaking exist in the midst of hundreds of years of fine traditions from music to horse breeding, with amazing gardens and upscale hotels punctuating the