Roberto Pighin
ROBERTO PIGHIN • 4O • Azienda Fratelli Pighin • Friuli, Italy There’s pinot grigio and Pinot Grigio; one’s a shameless, faceless bar pour from the Veneto flatlands, the other’s the proud, delectably suave and intriguing aperitif from the high plains of Friuli and Collio. Roberto Pighin’s father, Fernando, began making... Read More
Craft In A Can
If there is an icon of mainstream beer, a thing that symbolizes the kind of beer that craft beer drinkers love to hate, it is the can. Beer cans are practically synonymous with American light lager beers, despite the popularity of imported nitrocans filled with Guinness, Abbot and other beers.... Read More
Loire’s Sauvignon Blancs
Of course, the French drive us a bit insane with how inconsistent their wines remain despite the supposed guarantees of the AOC system, and Loire Sauvignon is no exception. But when a Sancerre or Pouilly-Fume hits its target there is something so clean and penetrating about its flavors that whatever... Read More
Clarendon Hill Reds
Wine production got its start 167 years ago in McLaren Vale, 22 miles south of Adelaide in South Australia. Its ups, of its many ups and downs, can be credited to men named Reynell, Hardy, Kelly, Manning, and Penfold. Now we can add a rather un-Australian name to the illustrious... Read More
Those Gimbels Guys
This is just some of the history belonging to Gimbel’s Liquors in Brookline’s Washington Square, presently celebrating its 4OTH anniversary. Longevity in the retail business is no easy task to accomplish. Few stores survive ten years, let alone forty but Gimbel’s has stood the test of time even as neighboring... Read More
Reviving Greece
Jupiter created the Earth and, in an afterthought, He threw the leftover handful of pebbles over His shoulder into the sea – thus forming Greece and its 15OO-island archipelagos. ‘Was last least?’ some Greeks grumbled. It’s been a rocky ride historically for the Greek people – devastation, subjugation, holocaust, rapacious... Read More
When Wine Gets Refused
One of the most difficult and time-consuming situations for a sommelier, manager or waiter is when a client refuses a bottle of wine. This is mainly because it is such a subjective situation. If a customer sends a dish back because it is over or underdone there really isn’t any... Read More
Julio & Juliot Viola
JULIO & JULITO VIOLA • 51 & 25 • Winery Impresarios • Bodegas del Fin del Mundo • Patagonia, Argentina Founders of a handsome, high-tech, space age winery, and developers of two (and counting) turnkey satellite wineries for investors, the Violas are riding the gold rush wine wave in Southern... Read More
This Years Craft Brewers Conference
The Brewers Association (BA) is a natural combination, one of those things that makes you ask “Why did it take so long?” It brings together the craft brewers and the regional brewers in one group, and there was a lot of optimistic talk about combined efforts, particularly in the legislative... Read More