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Wine dinners are a dime a dozen and when pressed, most restaurateurs will tell you they’re hardly an easy sell. It’s not just the abundance of them that diners can often find on any given weeknight, it’s pulling off the affair at a cost that’s both consumer-friendly and fiscally sound... Read More

WINE MARKETING IN PINCH TIME SILENT SELLOFFS Latitude Beverage Company has scored nicely with Ku Dé Ta.Now Kevin Mehra is quietly talking up Ninety Plus Cellars. First the plains then the moat now Kevin Mehra is ready to scale the walls of the wine castle. Sipping Starbucks on the Needham... Read More

Syrah or shiraz as it’s called in Australia and some elsewheres, is bursting its erstwhile boundaries, and emerging all over the world’s wine scene. It remains, however, a dominant grape only in southern France and in Australia. Since I’ll be focusing on Australia today in response to a visit from... Read More

. . . the point is that the Marlborough style . . . now appearsto set the standard by which the market measures virtuallyall Sauvignon Blanc.  Sauvignon Blanc’s reversal of fortune from shunned outcast to darling of the American dinner table owes everything to a style that emerged full blown... Read More

. . . smoked beers are more than likely,every bit as old as smoky whiskey, and were once much more widespread. The first time I had Victory Brewing’s St. Victorious doublebock, I noticed a difference from other doublebocks I’d had. It had an extra dimension to it, a richness that... Read More

Last month we discussed vodka a spirit overlooked in the states until the 1950s, when it took the nation by storm.  Tequila suffered a similar fate – didn’t gain notoriety here until the “Great Experiment”, when any liquor was good liquor.  Surely you’ve tried a Tequila Sunrise or a Margarita,... Read More

Given the centuries-old legacy of alcoholic beverages it took a very short time for Tequila to go from a native Mexican spirit that might be palatable if you’re lucky, to a highly regulated industry that has diversifying exponentially each year. The Beckmann (formally Cuervo) family remains the oldest tequila-making clan... Read More

A VISIT TO TEQUILA. . . the unique qualities of each brand of tequila are achieved through carefully derived formulas each of which involves a delicate balance of ancient knowledge, agricultural prowess, modern technology, and a dash of sunny whimsy. Tequila is perhaps the most regulated spirit in the world.... Read More

Every third week of February the producer consortiums representing these appellations invite journalists from around the world to experience a full week of in-depth tastings. The Chianti Classico, Montepulciano, and Montalcino events focus on presenting information and tastes of barrel samples of the new vintage as well as samples of... Read More