Featured Articles

0regon’s wine reputation rests squarely on the high quality of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. The state’s Pinot Gris has also hit the radar screen of many wine lovers. Yet, even after a few decades of consistently outstanding production, 0regon Chardonnay remains an untold story outside of its region. Invisible though... Read More

Tuscany is most generous in sharing its treasures. Some come in bottles. I’d like to call attention to one of its less familiar, more affordable wines, Morellino di Scansano – sangiovese informed, grown in the region’s southwest bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea. We’ve not heard much about this portion of the... Read More

Recently a handsome gentleman – who knows his way around ladies but not around cocktails – asked me to teach him how to make a Margarita. “I can do better than that,” I said, “I can teach you how to make any citrus-y concoction your little heart desires.”  True mixology... Read More

TJ DOUGLAS, along with his wife Hadley, has changed the way people shop for wine. Their two Urban Grape locations (Chestnut Hill and Boston’s South End) could be mistaken for retail boutiques, not liquor stores.  Sleek, stylish and sophisticated, the Urban Grape is among a new wave of small stores... Read More

Some might liken science to sausage making.You really don’t want to witness the process. Fits and starts, backtrack and redo, and painstaking (emphasis on pain) review don’t begin to describe what happens before respectable publication of results. And then, and then, somebody will publish contrary findings. Let’s look at one... Read More

If you’ve ever worked with the Horizon Beverage Group, you’ve likely heard President Robert Epstein talk about his company’s mantra of “providing luxury goods with Tiffany service”.  With a sparkling new facility in Norton, the company has polished its delivery and reporting systems with impressive results – 99.96% efficiency to... Read More

 WE’VE asked and they’ve answered.Are craft brands taking over?  Is everything going to end up on tap?  From what they wish would go away, to what they’re most excited about, think of this as your cheat sheet to trends.  We uncover what’s hot and what’s not in beer, wine and... Read More

We LUPEC ladies like old things:Vintage hairdos, classic cars and of course endangered cocktails.  It is this penchant for the past that made us particularly delighted to develop a cocktail for a recent event at the Gibson House Museum.  The Gibson House is essentially a Victorian time capsule right in... Read More

Georges Duboeuf, “le roi du Beaujolais”, paid a visit bearing samples of his latest array of wines, the esteemed 2O11 vintage, and to celebrate with William Deutsch the 3O years that Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits has been Duboeuf’s US importer. Duboeuf has carved a remarkable career. Born in 1933... Read More

Big imported beers had a few rough years adjusting to the surge of craft beer (which continues, of course), a harshly reset economy and consumers who seemed to be re-evaluating what they wanted from a beer.  Did they want a badge, or a new flavor, or a prestige buy, or... Read More