The indispensable tool for the Massachusetts adult beverage trade.
By

Harvey Finkel

NANCY KNOWLES PARKER 1929-2O15

WINE JOURNALIST/VINTNER Such a vibrant presence was Nancy Knowles Parker, that I was struck speechless when informed of her death on January 1O. Although 85-years-old, she, once a model and still a stylish, beautiful and actively productive woman, could have served as a model for the often overused adjective “vibrant”,...
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TAMING TANNAT IN THE LAND OF PAINTED BIRDS

ASKED to explain why wine can capture and hold the interest – even the fascination – of so many and so disparate a spectrum, I thought that, after the good tastes, social lubrication, food enhancement, and health promotion, it must be the infinite variety.  There is always another vineyard, another...
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OBITUARY Philip di Belardino

Philip di Belardino, for many years a very large and beloved figure in the wine scene, died November 13 in New York City. Born in Rome and, as he liked to say, brought here in infancy without his consent, he was nurtured amid Italian wine and culture. His late father,...
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CARMIGNANO – WINE of the MEDICI

ALTHOUGH, as Tuscany’s smallest, Carmignano is not a well-known wine appellation, by history and quality it stands high in the pantheon. Officially honored for hundreds of years, it was among the first to receive the DOCG. Carmignano may be viewed as having anticipated the Super Tuscans nearly 5OO years ago...
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CHAMPAGNE REDUX

REIMS Champagne, the region, is well named. Rolling fields of vines extend from horizon to horizon under a sky so wide one can track approaching rain squalls. Here and there the expanse is punctuated by villages with evocative names: Bouzy, Dizy, Cramant, Moussy, Billy-le-Grand. The River Marne flows serenely, indifferent...
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THE STYLISH WINES of CASTELLO DI MONSANTO

IT WAS APPROPRIATELY Valentine’s Day, 2O14, on which Laura Bianchi returned my visit of 18 years ago to Castello di Monsanto. This prime estate near Poggibonsi in Chianti Classico was a wedding gift in 1961 from Laura’s grandfather, Aldo, to her parents, Fabrizio and Giuliana. But it wasn’t a prime...
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Absent Friends

MASSACHUSETTS now has 5O licensed wineries, extending from the tip of Cape Cod to the Berkshires. All but a couple are active. The curve has been steadily upward, both in number and in quality. In fact, I find the quality nowadays of winemaking by beginners without formal training vastly better...
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MULL THIS OVER

ACIDITY MAY BE the least appreciated essential element of wine, yet we are losing it.  Acidity gives balance, liveliness, some of the elegance of wine, and helps to preserve its integrity while aging.  Insufficient acidity equals boring, flabby, heavy wine that may reach senility before maturing.  Progressively rising global temperatures...
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FORMULA ONE BUBBLY

No question that Champagne sets the standard, but sparkling wines of character and elegance – and price – are also made in other places, even places not French.  Today we’ll consider those of Cantine Ferrari in Trentino. Located in Italy’s far north, the vines grow on south-facing slopes at between...
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