Angus O’Leary
PROFILE Angus O’Leary arrived on these shores from Dublin in 1979, in the heyday of Boston’s Irish bar scene, and a leg or two ahead of the meteoric rise of international Irish pubdom. Educated in the Irish language, O’Leary had studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, “but I couldn’t get... Read More
Mezcal
Flying back from Oaxaca to Boston, my seatmates voiced commonly held myths about mezcal and its infamous worm. Some misconceptions stem from false associations with mescaline and drug culture. mezcal, like tequila, makes you giddy and happy, not depressed and anti-social. The worm absorbs poisons and toxins. The worm is... Read More
Erok Johnson
ERIK JOHNSON • 37 • Beverage Manager/Sommelier • L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre • Boston Sel de la Terre, located opposite the Aquarium T-stop, is admirably positioned to do a booming lunch trade and tourist business for its Mediterranean cuisine. L’Espalier, tucked in toney Back Bay, enters its third... Read More
Riccetelli and Lopez
Master and apprentice, behemoth and beauty, yin and yang: two complementary personalities and temperaments make this newly formed team creating wine at Bodega Norton. The winery was founded by Edmund James Palmer Norton, an English engineer who’d come to Argentina to help in the gargantuan task of building the Transandean... Read More
Good Luck Jim Tye
The role as ambassador for United Liquors is certainly not a new one for Jim Tye. With his ‘retirement’, that role is just a little more expanded, as he will be casting a wider if more informal net. Tye, a graduate of University of Miami and Columbia University School of... Read More
Mendoza’s Melbecs
Wines of Argentina’s press junket to Mendoza and Patagonia leaves a lingering memory and taste: that of the food-friendly and flavorful Malbec. At nearly every winery the tasting presentation is methodical, thoughtful, well-paced, considerate, intelligent, hospitable, earnest yet pleasant, and generally convincing – and the star of the show is... Read More
Tom Schmeisser
TOM SCHEISSER • Chief Wine Buyer • Marty’s Liquors • Newton & Allston, MA Tom Schmeisser is a front-running candidate for best-known and best-liked wine professional in Massachusetts. Tom has been the chief wine buyer at Marty’s (Newton and Allston) for 35 years, and has been a strong factor in... Read More
Zins At My BBQ
Readers can pull off such a tasting themselves, though the dimensions of it all can get out of hand. Participants (mostly consumers, a few trade folks) bought into this event by pledging a small fee and contributing one or two bottles. The tasting took place in a naturally lit room,... Read More
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
Frank DePasquale
FRANK De PASQUALE • 53 • Restaurateur • Bricco, Umbria, Mare, News, Express, Trattoria Il Panino Since launching his first Trattoria Il Panino in 1989, Frank De Pasquale has opened a basketful of 21 diversely styled restaurants. Though the self-made restaurateur holds fast to the uncompromising ideal of serving authentic... Read More