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That’s Not Very Lady-like

Ladybugs, now becoming a threat to our wine supply, were commonplace when I was a small boy in Brooklyn, even in that urban setting. We naively called them “potato bugs”. I don’t know why. They congregated on the large leaves of the small trees we called, with perfect logic, “potato-bug...
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Heading Off To Uruguay

The story goes that when Portuguese explorers, desperate for the site of land, first spied the diminutive hill that overlooks present day Montevideo harbor and city, they cried out, “Monte vide eu”. This means, “I see a mountain”. Today, thriving Buenos Aires across the River Plate makes Montevideo seem like...
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Those Triple Digit Bar Tabs

According to the results of a 2OO5 study conducted by two wealth management companies, nearly one in 2O Boston-area households is occupied by millionaires and wealth is only surging. Add that to the fact that new super-premium products are unveiled each year – limited edition scotches, anniversary cognacs, boutique aged...
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On St. Emilion

It’s a shame that the St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe Classification was suspended this past April. It was challenged, as I understand it, because of a problem with the people administrating it, not the classification itself. And not so surprising, it was the Chateaux that were demoted that were responsible...
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No Beating The Busch

The new face of Anheuser-Busch. While industry analysts have long predicted that market leader Anheuser-Busch would have to respond to the hurried globalization pace set by other members of the brewing industry, few could have plotted the strategy the company pursued in 2OO6. In the lead up to the retirement...
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Baltimore Original

Starting with his eponymously named pub in Baltimore, he has actively worked in the business since 198O. In the mid-nineteen eighties, Sisson decided he wanted to add a brewpub to his restaurant. After determining that Maryland law did not allow for on-premise brewing, Sisson and others petitioned the state legislature...
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Sonoma-Cutrer-Timeless

I took advantage of winemaker Terry Adams’s recent visit to Boston to catch up on the doings at Sonoma-Cutrer, whose wines I’ve been drinking since the beginning. Adams has been on hand since the winery opened, initially assisting Bill Bonetti, the founding winemaker, then succeeding him in 1991 when Bonetti...
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No One Saw This Coming

Massachusetts has always known a thing or two about astonishing history-making upsets against seemingly impossible odds. In 1775, it was all about a ragtag militia group of passionate guerilla-like Minutemen routing a mighty and well-trained superior fighting force of British Red Coats from behind the stonewalls of Lexington and Concord,...
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