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MY LEAST FAVORITE PART of being a sommelier in a restaurant was inventory management. It’s not the most sexy of topics. In fact, it’s usually downright boring. I have many not-so-fond memories of coming in on a Sunday morning after a very late and busy Saturday night to count bottles.... Read More

The arrival of Sula’s wines in Massachusetts may raise some eyebrows, as it heralds yet another incoming market of world wines, and presage extensive plantings of name-varietal vineyards throughout the globe’s tropical regions. An Indian Wine website is listing lots and lots of wines being made in India, but this... Read More

Yet styles have evolved demonstrably in both regions over the last generation, due to economic constraints as well as contemporary taste evolution. Since the wine industry’s watershed 199Os, certain vintners are sidestepping traditional austerity seeking for an easier complaisance. Moreover, the millennium vintage of Barolo, as elsewhere throughout Europe, was... Read More

It’s not exactly news that Pinot Grigio is and has been the ascending star in the white wine business. What’s interesting is how little of its mass appeal has spilled over into that other rendition of the grape labeled Pinot Gris, which remains somewhat of a secret outside of the... Read More

LAURA DePASQUALE • 40+ • National Sales Director for Fine Wines, Palm Bay Imports • Miami, FL As a top sales director for a major wine import house, Laura DePasquale is a tad disarming. Her former careers as rock guitarist and graphic artist skew her profile out of the mainstream,... Read More

JORGE ORDONEZ • 46 • IMPORTER • FINE WINES of SPAIN • DEDHAM, MA PROFILE The human dynamo who imports Spain’s biggest, deepest wine portfolio to America is not your everyday importer. Jorge Ordonez goes way beyond buy and sell; he advises, cajoles, teaches, pleads, strong-arms, consults with wineries all... Read More

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

As the last century wound down, Temecula, the Southern Californian wine region 6O miles north of San Diego, suffered a calamity. With one notable exception, Temecula’s wineries picked themselves up and moved on. The calamity was an outbreak of Pierce’s Disease, caused by a bacterium called Xylella fastidiosa, that destroys... Read More

As in, the 2OO2 Opus One has 3% Cabernet Franc in the blend, the same exact percentage as the 2OO2 Joseph Phelps Insignia. In fact, why is its presence almost mandatory in California’s most prestigious so-called “Meritage” Bordeaux blends? Questions abound. How can the presence of such a small percentage... Read More

WHOA! Yes, we’re talking about barrel-aged beers, but this isn’t about oom-pah bands and whirling dirndls and whoopee. This is about brewers who are using wooden barrels to add new flavors and depths of complexity to beer, a truly innovative move that represents the best traditions of American brewing –... Read More