Food’s Five W’s
When writing about food, probe five main questions
Essays
We Need to Talk About Wine Talk
My introductory remarks from a panel session on rethinking the language of wine
Barefoot in the Douro
I’d come to the Douro to see port being made. Now it was my turn to help make it.
Hamburgers
A family makes its own traditions
Suzy-Q
Sweet memories of days at the lake.
Four Kingdoms and a Place: Committing to Wine of Terroir
Without the farmer there would be no farm. There would be no food. And, to our focus today: Without the farmer, there would be no wine.
Some Lessons on Beauty and Terroir
Arguments and revelations, courtesy of Müller-Catoir’s luminous Rieslings.
Toward a New Lexicon for American Wine
We need a shared language to describe not just where, but how a wine was made
Young Red Wine, Wise Red Wine
Evaluating a young red wine is an exercise in prognostication: Is the wine worthy? Also: Is the exercise worthy?
Blending: A Rumination, Prompted by The Discussion
Blending is about more than attaining equilibrium
Getting Closure: Tasting 2010 Clos Roche Blanche L’Arpent Rouge
Lessons from opening a singular bottle—too late
Backward and Forward: Tasting Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, 1974 to Now
Snapshots from four decades of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon teach us something about taste, and tasting.