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Are stricter alcohol laws a good thing?

Erika Szymanski
Features
6 min read
Caution: I’m not going to pull punches. Are regulations on when, where, and by whom wine, beer, and spirits can be sold a good thing? Given the Palate Press readership and my own preferences, I wish I could just say “of course not.” The truth (by which I mean in

What Jane Goodall taught me about wine science

Erika Szymanski
Features
5 min read
The international authority on chimpanzees taught me something about wine this past month. If you were fascinated with animals as a kid or even enjoyed reading non-fiction, you probably remember Jane Goodall; the story of the fearless young woman sallying out into the African forest to live with the chimps

Pinot Grigio: Can science defend snobbery?

Erika Szymanski
Features
5 min read
Do you think pinot gris is boring? Or maybe I should ask: do you think pinot grigio is boring? Same grape, different languages, but, more importantly, different styles. Beyond Alsace, pinot gris is grown widely in Oregon – where recent marketing moves have been made to elevate it to the

What I Learned About Wine from Neil deGrasse Tyson

Evan Dawson
Features
4 min read
One of the great science minds of our time, and almost certainly the finest science communicator of our time, is a wine lover. Neil deGrasse Tyson has a well documented love of wine; apparently when he’s not working on unlocking the secrets of the cosmos, he’s trying to understand the

Playing with Yeast Diversity: Not Quite Science

Erika Szymanski
Features
7 min read
I feel as though I need to whisper this, but I think that yeast might be trendy. The furor (both supportive and critical) over natural wine is bleeding over into an interest in the “wild” yeasts that contribute to their distinction, and whether or not they're really “wild.” Meanwhile, a

REDUX / Smells of Wine and Roses

Ryan Reichert
About
3 min read
I visited the International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon, this summer, obsessed with sticking my nose into every multi-layered blossom. I had just finished my Intro Sommelier course and was determined to learn how to distinguish the aroma differences among all the different flower colors. We sometimes describe a wine as