Blind Tasting: Unreliable but Necessary

W. Blake Gray
Features
4 min read
Blind tasting is an artificial experience. Consumers don't taste wines blind, except as a game. If you really want to enjoy a glass of wine, you need to know what it is. Where it came from. Who made it. Its story. But blind tasting is essential for critics. It's the

The Lugana Lottery

Simon J Woolf
Features
3 min read
Tasting note: Intense bouquet of mushrooms and stale toffee, with fecal overtones. Great gobs of vinegar, wet earth and unripe apple, with a persistent finish of candle wax. Tempting? I'm describing the typical profile of white wines that have been matured – more like abandoned – way beyond their shelf

The viniferous joys of Lucca

Mike Riccetti
Feature Stories
4 min read
Less than fifty miles west of Florence, the handsome walled city of Lucca is not exactly unknown, but its wines certainly are. Given the attention Tuscany receives in the entertainment industry and from wine-loving tourists alike, it might come as a surprise that there are worthwhile wines and even entire

The Wine Guy in the Real World

Ben Carter
Features
4 min read
Wine chats should sound more like The Office than Sideways I can talk about Japanese efficiency methods all day but most people doze off after 30 seconds.  However, when it comes to wine, people are instantly and totally engaged.  Particularly if there’s the chance of me sharing some samples with

Grace and Poise in Alto Piemonte

Christina Pickard
Features
10 min read
In this series, we take a look at three of Piedmont’s most fascinating and diverse wine regions by exploring what this historic and traditional corner of the wine world looks like today, and highlighting some of the off-the-beaten-track producers quietly shaping the region’s future. In the third and final part

Livermore Ascending: Three producers to watch

Mary Orlin
Feature Stories
3 min read
I've covered the Livermore Valley AVA, 30 miles east of San Francisco, for the past 14 years and have never been more impressed with the wines and the people making them.  With more than 50 wineries and wines taking top honors at major wine competitions, the Livermore wine country is