“It used to be that when four businessmen lunched at a steakhouse, they couldn’t even finish a bottle of tannat,” a winemaker explains, referring to the very tannic, astringent wine native to Uruguay. Today that’s all changed as producers are employing a variety of means such as a five day
In 1998, Fred Strothman (who now operates JF Strothman Distillery in Grand Junction) was building St. Kathryn Cellars Winery in Palisade, CO. There were a few issues with construction and Strothman took the unconventional step of deciding an exorcism was required. He contacted Bishop Arthur Tafoya in Pueblo, CO, who
In my experience, vins clairs tastings are a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of the wine before the bubbles, and to imagine their development over time; they are a unique foray into the magical kingdom of champagne. Early in the life of a bottle of champagne, before bubbles have
Cognac, the village and the AOC, is a quiet pastoral place. The village bustles at times, but primarily as a business hub and central marketplace for a largely rural community and only secondarily, it seems, as the world center for a unique iconic style of spirit. Outside of a relatively
“It was the 1995 Soldera [Brunello] that did it,” laughs Jan Hendrik Erbach, co-owner of Pian‘dell Orino in Montalcino with wife Caroline Pobitzer. A rustically attractive man with the charisma of a TV talk show host and the Einstein-like brain of crack geologist, Jan’s passion for terroir is easily conveyed
In Italy, we have a proverb: never change a formula that works. Vinitaly is the most important annual international wine and spirits exhibition in the world; this year there were 4,164 exhibitors from 120 countries, and 140,000 visitors. Vinitaly’s original formula—a combination professional exhibition and popular festival—has always worked, for
Thankfully, the Pew Research Center has more important things to do than to figure out what the public thinks about wine writers. I fear that if they undertook the task, they would find that many people view wine writing with some degree of scorn. And some of it would be
When I was in the French region of Armagnac in December, everyone was all excited about selling Armagnac in China. As well they should be. While Armagnac is a beautiful, tawny, aromatic spirit with a long tradition, in recent decades it has fallen far below Cognac in world recognition, consequently