September 3, 2014 – The fascinations of wine.
August 8, 2014 – Rudy Kurniawan wine fraud denouement; Danny Meyer and Michael Kors interview; Erika Szymanski on why yeasts make alcohol.
July 27, 2014 – Useful analogies.
July 18, 2014 – On the Fruits and Vegetables School of wine writing.
July 11, 2014 – The crimes they are a-changin’. Or maybe not.
June 27, 2014 – A visit from Elizabeth Saladin; yet more on volatile acidity; food and wine pairing anecdote.
June 20, 2014 – Volatile acidity; Is the end near for Valpolicella Classico? Uncovering wine fakery; an interview with specialty importer/distributor Andrew Bishop of Oz Wine Company.
June 13, 2014 – The outcome of the Olivier Couisin trial; what vineyards soils are good for (besides holding vines up); toasty notes in Champagne; West Coast winemakers throwing in the pruning shears.
May 30, 2014 – If the use or non-use of SO2 utterly changes the character wine, what does this say about established notions of terroir? Should we just revert the old fashioned term terrain?
May 15, 2014 – Wine-related newsreel footage; the Wine-O-Scope on astringency; what are “old vines” and what kind of wine do they make?
May 9, 2014 – Five things we want our guests to know about sparkling wine.
May 2, 2014 – Takeaways from the tasting table
April 25, 2014 – Giboulet’s conviction; Jancis Robinson on Lopez de Heredia’s long barrel-aged viuras; where have all the standards gone?
April 11, 2014 – Microbiologist Erica Szymanski’s take on biodynamics via her experiences with several New Zealand winemakers; Natural winemaking in Bordeaux (of all places!).
April 4, 2014 – Is house style on the way out in Champagne? Should it be?
March 21, 2014 – Tokaji Aszu
February 28, 2014 – Emmanuel Giboulet news; the little-esteemed carignan.
February 21, 2014 – On the trials and tribulations of the Amaronians.
February 6, 2014 – On the consistent application of aesthetics.
January 31, 2014 – Of reproduction, propagation, vine sex, and massal selection
January 24, 2014 – The New California Wine; More on pairing food and wine
January 17, 2014 – The politics of Port and claret; more on what ‘organic wine’ means; MIT and the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup
January 10, 2014 – Of high altitude/latitude wines and the stuff called phenolics.
December 20, 2013 – The geology of escarpments.
December 13, 2013 – The state of organic in Italy; French biodynamic grower charged with failure to spray pesticide mandated by law; Night of ferment in a Mosel cellar (audio); Word of the week (Brett).
December 5, 2013 – Two kinds of organic.
November 22, 2013 – Ancient wine cellar discovered; Trends in California winemaking
November 8, 2013 – Corky-musty vs. corky-dilute; A question about the fruits & vegetables school of wine tasting and wine-writing.
October 24, 2013 – Kermit Lynch, a Polish prince, and Père Loyau; Old wines and old people.
October 17, 2013 – Buzzwords in American wine.
October 10, 2013 – The wine list at Tim Maslow’s new Brookline resto Ribelle; Isabelle Legeron MW on what’s wrong with the appellation system; Monty Waldin’s comprehensive report on the state of organic/biodynamic viticulture.
October 3, 2013 – Wake up and smell the Bordeaux — is black coffee a useful analogue to this strangely out-of-fashion category?
September 26, 2013 – The 7th edition of the World Atlas of Wine; MIT students try to filter the color from wine; Wine’s hegemonic history.
September 20, 2013 – The Old Vines Register; Global Wine Markets, 1962-2009; Cornell video on breeding hybrid grapes; the first Pulitzer Prize for wine writing (spoof).
September 12, 2013 – Thieving birds at Turtle Creek Winery; Walter Speller on the Vietti family; recent tasting of wines from SelectioNaturel.
September 6, 2013 – Sybille Kuntz videos; short, late harvests in Bordeaux and elsewhere in France; Jefford on recovering terraced vineyards in the Wachau; Is wild yeast fermentation even a possibility anymore?
August 24, 2013 – Modern Farmer quarterly; Hudson Wine Merchants; New England Vintage, 3; Grape leaf quiz
August 18, 2013 – Can novices taste wine as well as experts? Is minerality a new perception, or just a new way of speaking?
August 8, 2013 – A visit with Deirdre Heekin at her vineyard and micro-cantina, la garagista, in Barnard, Vermont.
August 1, 2013 – Winemaking in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and the problem of encountering (and judging) the unfamiliar
July 25, 2013 – Modern red wine and the problem of premature oxidation; The first family of soil testing and remediation in France.
July 19, 2013 – Coleridge, GMOs, and natural winegrowing in the face of dire threats to vineyards
July 10, 2013 – On reduction and reductive flavors in wine.
June 27, 2013 – Dr. Alex Maltman’s study on minerality in wine; On the inconsistency of judging in wine competitions.
June 21, 2013 – Hail in the Loire; The geology of the slope.
June 13, 2013 – Neurogastronomy
June 6, 2013 – Frank Cornelissen on wine made in the vineyard; Andrew Jefford on tasting mineral in wine
May 30, 2013 – On the taxonomy of tasting notes and those who write them.
May 23, 2013 – An email from Anthony Hamilton Russell and the hierarchy of un-white wines.
May 9, 2013 – Postcard from Sicily
May 2, 2013 – What I learned from making wine; Deirdre Heekin on her first vintage; the World Champion of Pruning.
April 26, 2013 – When is a grape ripe? Series on New England wineries. On pruning techniques.
April 12, 2013 – Burgundy v. German pinot; A year in 3 New England vineyards project; Hever Ortega vine pruning video; Jefford on the art of the tasting note; Hitler tantrum video: “The Downfall of a Cult California Winery – Bob Returns”
April 5, 2013 – Bill Nesto’s new book on Sicilian wine; Matt Mollo appearance in Levi Dalton’s I’ll drink to that podcast; Mike Steinberger covers the wine fraud trials; Burping carboys.
March 28, 2013 – Left and right wing wines; Dress at tasting events.
March 21, 2013 – Gulf road trip reportage.
February 15, 2013 – The scandal at Domaine Baumard in the Loire; an American, John Wurdeman, is making traditional wine in the nation of Georgia
February 7, 2013 – Michel Bettane on terroir; Sally Easton on perceiving alcohol levels in wine
January 31, 2012 – Peter Liem’s new book on sherry; Jane Anson on very old oak trees used to make barrels; Andrew Jefford on why Americans aren’t pulling their weight; something wonderful I drank and didn’t share.
January 24, 2013 – Which came first – wine or beer – and why?
January 12, 2013 – The “more like this” problem; Oz Wine’s “Sherry Revolution;” Yvonne Hegoburu
January 3, 2013 – The meaning of sur lie, aging on the lees.
December 20, 2012 – The hominid love of fruit and sugar what we gave up when we learned the secret of fermentation; Were yeasts the first domesticated animals?; Jamie Goode on global warming in the world’s vineyards.
December 14, 2012 – The low yields at Chateau d’Or et de Gueules; why lower yields don’t always mean better wines; video of Dora Forsoni of Sanguineto
December 6, 2012 – “The Outing of Sangiovese;” Oz Wine Co.’s new newsletter; German wine terms pronouncing project
November 29, 2012 – A visit from Frank Cornellissen and more thoughts on terroir
November 15, 2012 – Coming to grips with the “V grapes” (verdejo, verdelho, verdello, viura, vermentino, vernaccia, verdicchio)
November 8, 2012 – Analogies between wine and music; wine library at Kippt
October 4, 2012 – Our taste for fruit and minerality; the French shift from AOC and VdP to AOP and IGP; history of barrel-making; fringewine.com; interview with Josko Gravner
September 20, 2012 – Signal, noise, and terroir