Five Bottles: A New Old Way to Evaluate Wine

Meg Houston Maker
Features
6 min read
There is a small fraternity of bottles that have, over the years, ebbed and flowed as my family’s house wine. They’re mostly red—Côtes du Rhône, Vacqueyras, Barbera, Valpolicella—plus a little white and rosé. All are under $20, and even cheaper by the case. These are table wines, drunk with meals

Orange Gateway: An Unexpected Use for Skin-Macerated Whites

Mike Riccetti
Features
4 min read
The Collio appellation, at Italy’s northeastern edge, offers an impressive array of wines.  A number of varieties, both indigenous and French, thrive in its unique, mineral-rich soil and its temperate climate, buttressed by the Alps to the north and the Mediterranean to the south.  Sauvignon, as Sauvignon Blanc is called

Zinfandel: Uniquely and Distinctly American

David White
Features
3 min read
Mention Zinfandel to most wine consumers, and it’s quickly dismissed. It’s easy to see why. For starters, many Americans associate the variety with the cheap, sweet “blush” wines that became popular in the 1980s, like Sutter Home’s white Zinfandel. This style of wine will always have fans, but to my

A Crazy Still After All These Years

Gary Thomas
Feature Stories
3 min read
If you have whiskey in your blood, that’s not a good thing if you are driving.   But whiskey as a genetic force – well, that’s another matter. Charlie and Andy Nelson have rediscovered their whiskey-soaked roots, and are reviving the long-dormant family business near Nashville in their home state of

From Grape to Grain

Gary Thomas
Feature Stories
4 min read
Derek Brown was once mixing drinks at a White House holiday function, where he was introduced to the President of the United States as “the mixologist.”   President Obama said, “Isn’t that just a bartender?”   Brown wears the label of bartender proudly, saying that “bartenders are kind of the special