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The four wineries range from northerly, near the border of Vermont, to westerly, near New York State, to southerly enough to approach Connecticut. They share the terrain and climate of the Berkshire Hills, too severe for home-grown vinifera grapes, but, as we’ll see, they make laudable potables from fruit other... Read More

“I really don’t want a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Chardonnay,” I told the waitperson in a restaurant and pointed to a wine on the list. “Please bring me this one listed under Gravel over Clay.” This is the fantasy of a diehard wine terroirist: to have wines identified by soil... Read More

Paper City Brewing Company Holyoke, MA If you visit Paper City during one of its popular Friday night tour and party sessions, you’ll usually see a man off to one side, quietly building and filling beer containers for his departing guests. With his prodigious work ethic, it’s no surprise the... Read More

FRANK De PASQUALE • 53 • Restaurateur • Bricco, Umbria, Mare, News, Express, Trattoria Il Panino Since launching his first Trattoria Il Panino in 1989, Frank De Pasquale has opened a basketful of 21 diversely styled restaurants. Though the self-made restaurateur holds fast to the uncompromising ideal of serving authentic... Read More

AS THE HOLiDAYS NEAR and the New England weather turns to its usual snowy state, ’tis the season for heavier dishes and big red wines to grace our tables and warm our souls. In a bygone era, the end of the meal was when the cigars came out and the... Read More

As energy costs rise almost daily and people worry about the overall economy, it appears that many consumers are spending less disposable income on cognac, at least when it comes to home consumption. And when they do buy it, it’s often likely to be VS or VSOP, and not the... Read More

QUESTION What’s the easiest way to sell a great bottle of wine that your clientele will love even when you aren’t immediately available to assist them – especially during this busiest of seasons? Answer A piece of well written, eye-pleasing Point-of-Sale (POS), or as it’s more casually known, a shelf-talker.... 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

Let’s examine whether an increase from the 12 or 13 percent, to which we have been accustomed in table wine, to 16 or 17 percent is likely to influence either the adverse or beneficial effects of wine upon health. To ask a question whose answer seems obvious, what has changed... Read More