Featured Articles

“A single bottle of Prosecco DOCG sparkling wine drinks 4.4 kg of soil every year.” By Harvey Finkel Among the inconvenient truths about humankind’s disturbances of the ecosystem is that thoughtless agricultural cultivation accelerates soil erosion, already losing 30 percent of the farm production on the half of the earth’s... Read More

ENDANGERED COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH By Pink Lady After an interminable, dark winter, by the time June rolls around, it feels celebratory and refreshing to sip something light and bright for body and spirit. The Tuxedo No. 2 is a fun Martini variation that will surely impress your less-nerdy-than-you cocktail... Read More

By Kirsten Amann Good salespeople are expert problem solvers. In the continuously evolving landscape of beverage alcohol distribution, with more brands in the market than ever, savvier consumers with sophisticated palates, and restaurants and retailers jockeying to offer them the next best thing, efficient problem-solving is essential at all levels... Read More

By Sandy Block, MW The bread and butter of every Champagne house remains its Brut Non-Vintage blend. This is most often an alchemical assemblage of dozens of different wines from far flung villages within the Champagne viticole, as well as multiple vintages, including older “reserve” wines, and a varying proportion... Read More

By Pink Lady It may take us a while to warm up here in old, cold New England, but a sure sign that the days are getting longer – and our moods are getting happier – is the introduction of light, bright, citrus-y cocktails on menus statewide. And rum. In... Read More

By Harvey Finkel When I was but a boy, I would be transported weekly to Victorian England by the Sherlock Holmes radio program. Almost as much as the adventure, I enjoyed the usual coda, in which Nigel Bruce, genial, stalwart, comfortable Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone’s incisive Holmes, sitting before... Read More

By Andy Crouch There’s something about a beer garden. The communality and conviviality, the open air, the slowing of time to allow for a beer or two surrounded by good friends and laughs. A familiar sight in many countries around the world, from Europe to Asia, beer gardens have been... Read More

by HARVEY FINKEL History was unscrolled for me recently when my inbox received a notice concerning Napa Valley’s Larkmead Estate. I recalled with favor Larkmead wines from my California-wine enlightenment of the 196Os and 197Os, and the long, complex, and interesting life story of the site, which has managed to... Read More

by PINK LADY April weather can be touch and go here in New England, sometimes kicking off with a snowstorm and winding down with spring buds. As our favorite bars start to throw open their windows and patio furniture creeps onto sidewalks, it seems these days like every watering hole... Read More

by SANDY BLOCK, MW Brunello di Montalcino is the stuff of legends, the product of a walled fortified Medieval hillside village south of Siena overlooking the southernmost part of the rolling Chianti Colli Senese zone where grapes have been ripening continuously for centuries. Perched on a ridge at heights of... Read More