Featured Articles

PINOT NOIR won’t grow just anywhere. Genetically unstable, it’s susceptible to frost, rot and over cropping. It requires a long, cool, but sunny and dry growing season for its personality to develop. I was on a panel recently the topic of which was Demystifying Wine; that’s well and good, I... Read More

IF THERE was ever a time to congregate around a celebratory bowl of alcohol it’s now, with the holidays and their endless pageant of festive occasions upon us. We’ve extolled the virtues of punch in this column before: there is no better way to enjoy your own party while tending... Read More

AS WE SLURP through life, we are curious about unfamiliar wines.  Made from novel grape varietals grown in faraway places with strange-sounding names, handled by methods unconventional to us, they may offer flavor profiles that expand our horizons and stories that excite our imaginations.  Sometimes we find bargains.  So, when... Read More

IN A WORLD so dominated by IPA, it is refreshing to see an old, much maligned classic make a serious comeback. From the very beginning of the craft beer movement, the pilsener style seemed destined to become a laughingstock, an also-ran in beer history. Seen as the antithesis of everything... Read More

A DRINK WITH PETER SZIGETI BEVERAGE DIRECTOR • COMMITTEE BUDAPEST may be a long way from Boston, but that didn’t stop Peter Szigeti from taking a job as the Beverage Director at Committee, a new hotspot in the Seaport District. One of the restaurant’s owners (same team behind Cafeteria and... Read More

PUMPKIN BEER, spiked apple cider and cashmere sweaters are bound to make a proud New Englander smile. We came across the recipe for the fine Smile Cocktail, sometimes called Antoine’s Smile, while paging through the modern edition of Charles H. Baker’s work Jigger, Beaker and Glass. What better time to... Read More

I’D LIKE TO SHARE with you today my impressions of four new wine books with gravitas, books that can be read, one in small portions at a time, and that you will want to keep for repeated dipping into. Two are expensive, but worth their investments. WINES OF FRANCE A... Read More

I was on a panel recently the topic of which was “Demystifying Wine”. A noble concept, I said, as far as it goes, but Pinot Noir is, in essence, a wine of mystery. Why? There is an “X” factor in a great bottle that resists explanation or reduction to a... Read More

SO MUCH of what’s written about alcohol’s effects upon health is misleading. taking clues from three recent publications drawing applause for their good sense, I shall try to set the record straight. The misinformation mostly warns of the consequences dire of consuming even drops of alcohol. The media seek sensation... Read More

LET ME PREFACE this interview by saying Maggie Campbell is one of my favorite people in the industry. She’s whip-smart, multifaceted and down-to-earth; all traits that make her not only a great drinking companion, but an expert distiller. What’s even more impressive is her passion for learning. While managing a... Read More