Featured Articles

Candor, humor and persistence mark Dellie Rex’s style over her distinguished career in Boston’s wine world. Ms. Rex’s wide-ranging experience includes wholesale (Classic), sales rep (Racke USA, Dreyfus Ashby), entrepreneur (her own Wine Experiences and Rex Associates), consulting (Wines of Spain, Trade Commission of Portugal, Geerlings & Wade, United Liquors),... Read More

A story in the Wine Spectator a couple of years ago makes me chuckle every time I think about it. It concerns Joe the Wine Geek, his wife and their wine cellar. After a few incidents involving his wife when Joe wasn’t around, like when she opened a $3OO bottle... Read More

As I was packing to leave on a summer tour of the vineyards and wineries of the Rhine in Germany, I struggled with the weighty issues we all struggle with. Am I bringing too many clothes? What kind of shoes? Sandals? No, not sandals, not to efficient, practical Germany; pack... Read More

Especially when the New England winter punishes our world with snow, wind and piercing cold, it makes me wonder what those Pilgrims were thinking. Surely there was someone on board the Mayflower shouting, “Left! Turn left!” but to no avail. For 15 years now, the happiest sight of winter has... Read More

Cantina Bostonia occupies a corner of the old Haffenreffer brewery complex in the Jamaica Plain section of the city, a massive Victorian brick edifice build 135 years ago. (The Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams beers and ales, is also located within.) The owner and winemaker (“maestro del vino”)... Read More

Provence is recognized widely as the most important zone for rose wine production, making 8% of the world production of rose. In France, Provence wine is virtually synonymous with rose wine. The most important center of Provence rose production is the Cotes de Provence AOC which lies roughly between Aix-en-Provence... Read More

No one ever said growing up was easy to do. Maturity begets responsibility and so follows the necessity of prioritizing efforts, goals, and interests. Be it graduating from school, entering the workforce, raising a family, or running a craft brewery, everyone eventually has to become an adult. At the recent... Read More

LOLLY MASON • 51 • Bartender • Meritage at Boston Harbor Hotel • Boston, MA Boston bar icon Lolly Mason is a hardhitting yet deft mixologist. This dynamic, self-taught woman with a deep history in Boston bars, has lots of fans, fine-tuned taste buds; she’s candid, quotable, and both sociologically... Read More

Cognac is a charming city in southwest France, about 9O minutes northeast of Bordeaux. Cognac and the surrounding area remain quintessentially French, largely ignored by tourists and thus offer reasonably priced hotels, restaurants and a wonderful look at authentic French life. It’s a beautiful place to visit, about a five-hour... Read More

For example, there’s simply been no relief in the bad news department that continues to haunt the decline of the flat-to-mostly-negative US-bottled standard blended brand segment, which has not recorded a single positive growth year since 1994, and dropped yet another couple of percentage points in 2OO5. But, meanwhile, in... Read More