Corks and Caftans

The French do do. Be chic, be coy, be funny. Know food, know faux, and by all means, know wine. And considering Gigi was my favorite movie growing up [my mother, in her infinite wisdom, almost always reserved it for my days spent at home, sick from school, under an afghan with a cup of [...]

Being new to the area, I’m making sure to keep up with the local wine happenings. And this is a pretty happening spot for wine these days—The Wine Bloggers Conference is this week/weekend in Charlottesville. The first time on the east coast, and kind of a big deal in my world. Or I should say, it’s [...]

Ladies and germs: It has arrived! A C+C to make you weep with usability and superior organization! Only kidding—but it looks rad, right? Many thanks to the fine folks at Shannon-Rose Design for taking us into a new stratosphere!

A goodbye to a good town. Carey fired-up the stove for the last time tonight and I picked the last bottle of wine out of the fridge. I poured a glass and sat down on the couch and asked Eli to join me for a talk. “E, it’s time we told you. If you haven’t noticed, [...]

A worthy wine and a pretty lady on a snowy Vermont night. Not so bad. I like photographing wine bottles—they stand still and don’t talk back—but it can be predictable so I turned my camera on the crazy Aquarian.

A sinister snowflake? A sparsely-spined sea urchin? A magnified mini Koosh?  Nope! The artwork for Alta Maria Vineyards features hand-hewn iron nails used by homesteaders in Santa Maria before the Industrial Revolution introduced mass-produced, machine-cut nails. Despite its lowly function, each nail is unique from the next according to the conditions in which it was made [...]

Gypsy Dancer first caught my eye when a glut of bottles, the A & G Estates Pinot Noir and the Cuvée Romy Pinot Noir, appeared on WineBid.com. They sat for months, getting chipped away at, before I plucked a bottle for myself. It wasn’t until it got home did I realize what that atypical quantity available for [...]

This intensely fruity and distinctive Port was produced from a specially selected section of our home vineyard on Taplin Road and bottled December 2007. Bottle no. 7446 of 8026. I have to admit, when Carey and I arrived in Napa on the 3rd day of our honeymoon, I really had no concept of the scene [...]

It’s restrained (at times), floral, and light of tannins. Intensely cherried, tobacco and chocolate-packed, with a base of ripe stewed tomatoes. You will notice very little oak, a hefty yogurt-covered raisin, sans the raisin, on the mid-palate, and pencil lead metallic all over the nose and palate. This Cabernet thrives on variants—it’s multidimensional and complex, [...]

Shea Wine Cellars, Ken Wright, St. Innocent, Penner-Ash, Alexana, Panther Creek, Berström, Auteur, Sin Qua Non, Loring Wine Co., Raptor Ridge, J.K. Carrier, Elk Cove, Patricia Green, Stevenson Barrie, Westrey, Rex Hill, Broadly and Beaux Frères. All these wineries have, or have had, something in common, and that is: Shea Vineyard, one of America’s great vineyards. I [...]

Go cheap. Go Washington. If you find yourself in a grocery store with a $20 bill in your pocket and happen to need a six pack of Bud Light Wheat and a bottle of wine but just don’t feel like swiping the plastic, I have a solution. Actually, a few solutions. Cheap wine is the [...]