Despite thousands of years of winemaking history, we’re still refining our understanding of the myriad factors leading any given wine to taste and feel as it does. Arguably, no other consumer product has such variety or involves so many minute, often inscrutable, factors. A wine’s personality is influenced by geology, microbiology, chemistry, plant and human physiology, agronomy, entomology, geography, weather, and more…
Ben Shewry moved from his home of New Zealand to Australia about 20 years ago. A young chef, he came to study, train, and learn. He was amazed by the flavors and textures of the native ingredients of Australia, and perplexed by the lack of interest Australians took in them. He became a great champion for these ingredients—fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices with names like lilly pilly, desert lime, quandong, lemon myrtle…
It’s natural to want to understand something new in terms of something known, to define A by its similarities to and differences from B. This is often especially true for emerging wine regions, where a direct comparison to a more established area provides a shortcut for consumer comprehension. Prior to my trip to the Okanagan Valley, I marveled at all the marketing materials that compared the region to Napa. In…
Despite 3,000 years of wine history, Lazio remains better known as the home of Rome than as a region of fine wine production. Its five provinces, Roma, Latina, Viterbo, Rieti, and Frosinone, are spread across 17,227 square kilometers and boast a plethora of terrains and microclimates. Lazio (called Latium in English) is hilly and partially mountainous, with only 20% flatlands. At the foothills of the Apennines to the…
Whether drinks professionals or professional drinkers, we all have our ideas as to what makes a bar or restaurant great. Some of us even go so far as to flesh out the fantasy, ruminating on the ideal location, décor, wine list, and preferred clientele. Far fewer execute on such a vision, and for good reason—as glamorous as opening your own business may seem, the reality is often far more tedious. For those that are seriously…
Many of the first recorded wines were rosé, light libations made by watering down field blends of combined white and red grapes. In ancient Greece, it was considered civilized to dilute wine. There was a widespread belief that only barbarians—drunkards who raped and murdered—drank pure wine. The Spartan King Cleomenes I, who was driven to insanity and eventually committed…
Undoubtedly there will be many things contained in these notes which will seem so much like self-evident truths that you may consider them commentary on my opinion of your judgment and perception, and for that reason I want to say, at the very first, anything included in these notes will be something I have found to be helpful to me…
- Letter from John Daniel Jr. to his sister Suzanne, dated March 30, 1942
Only…
In the time since I moved to Napa Valley nearly seven years ago, a great many things have changed. Shortly after my arrival, Robert Parker ended his decades-long tenure as the preeminent California wine critic and passed the reins to his then-heir apparent Antonio Galloni. A few years later, the pieces shuffled again when Parker sold a majority stake of The Wine Advocate, causing Galloni to start his own publication,…