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Many are the forces pulling centrifugally to fragment the unity of Chianti, the wine. The soils, exposures, microclimates, grape varieties and clones, political boundaries, production methods and regulations, and fashion are all subject to tremendous, sometimes bewildering, variegation. What hold the center are an ancient tradition that connects back to... Read More

As the beer industry settles into its prime time sales part of the calendar year, beer buyers from pubs to package stores remain focused on keeping the right balance of products on hand to meet a difficult-to-predict demand from consumers. Sales of bigger brands, including volume leaders Budweiser and Bud... Read More

It’s easy for veteran retailers or bar managersto be blindsided by the Next Hot Thing.  To wit: it’d have been impossible to foretell that an elderflower liqueur would take the market by storm, let alone stay on consumers’ radars years after it launched; meantime, brands that spiked in sales when... Read More

Organic spirits and those made using green production practices continue their transition into the mainstream as consumers put a higher value not only on taste but on the increasingly important issue of sustainability and environmental impact. Conversations with local retailers, regional and national brands all speak to raising the bar... Read More

Some people in the food and drink world gain recognition for being proficient at detecting a trend long before it’s identified in the mainstream, and keeping it fresh and relevant with style and artistry. Others establish an identity by creating a niche for themselves where there’s long been a gaping... Read More

GIO’SGOING LIKE EIGHTY ON THE VINEYARD A traditional Italo-American restaurant taps its fifth generation.Wine and food rites go back 3OOO years – even longer – around the Mediterranean. When Italians and Greeks came to the new world, traditions of vine and table remained a binding force, and a source of... Read More

Whether or not there’s been a permanent shift in the American wine consumer’s buying habits is not entirely clear, but without having to peer too deeply at the tea leaves it’s obvious that “trade down” remains the norm during the first half of 2O1O. Just as has been the case... Read More

Chile is still figuring out its complex slopes, valleys, and microclimates, and still doing it right at enticing prices. I was introduced to still another Chilean brand, MontGras Properties, when its head winemaker, Santiago Margozzini, visited recently. I came away very glad to have met him and his wines.MontGras was... Read More

So says the mainstream media, the economic analysts, the industry analysts; for a change, even the raw numbers bear them out. Overall US beer sales were down 2.2% in 2OO9, and it’s not getting better in 2O1O; the Beer Institute says sales in the first five months are down 4%,... Read More