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I‘m having a pleasant tete-à-tete luncheon with Karen Holmes Ward in the popular Kenmore Square “ristro” Le Petit Robert, with some personal attention from chef Luc Le Gillec. We’re talking about Divas Uncorked, the women’s wine education group of which Ward is a founding member. Divas Uncorked is a Boston-based... 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

In the late 198Os, I accepted a trip to Portugal from the Portuguese Trade Commission. It was led by the late Pasquale Iocca, an Italo-American from Illinois but a lover of all things Portuguese, including its literature. He was the quintessential gentleman, soft-spoken and always polite, but once on the... Read More

A mountain of evidence based upon sound medical science indicates that abstinence can be considered a health risk, that heavy drinking dangerously damages health and shortens life, and that moderate drinking improves health and lengthens life. The J-shaped curve rules. It illustrates that moderate drinking is associated with a lower... 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

Gruetappeared as some kind of anomaly when the silver or gold-labeled bottles first spread along the East Coast in the 199Os. Gruet, priced well below Napa and Sonoma sparklers, soon caught a wave of enthusiasm. Today the winery, owned and run by members of a Champagne family, consistently captures awards... 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

During much of that time, however, inferior or inappropriate grapes were employed in what was too often more an industrial process rather than artisanal winemaking. Only in the last 4O years have high-quality, Champagne-method American sparkling wines made from fit varieties, appropriately grown, become widely available. During much of this... Read More