With millions of online users posting content from all over the world, you might worry that your own lone voice doesn’t matter. However, studies have shown that even a handful of wine bloggers can have a meaningful impact on the wine market. A few years ago, South African winery Stormhoek wanted to step up its…
We’ve written about the importance of wine education on this blog before, including a list of the best classes you can take to become a serious collector, but you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on formal classes to learn everything you need to know about wine. The best wine education books supplement your…
Would you spend $40,000 on a single wine tour? What if the winery offered you the chance to craft your own blend, sending you home with customized, engraved bottles? Chateau Duval-Leroy is offering just such a package for its VIP customers, and it’s just one of dozens of ultra-lavish tours being offered this year. VIP…
A few years ago, a Chowhound forum member shared a particular, but not uncommon, wine etiquette conundrum. She had invited a couple of friends over for dinner, but the wine they brought as a gift — a Mateus Rosé — was far too sweet for the steak dinner planned. Nonetheless, she thanked them for the…
You’ve heard of wine and food pairings, but have you ever heard of The Great Led Zeppelin Wine Pairing? A vintner, a musician, and a wine expert wanted to see what would happen if they tried to pair wines with the music of Led Zeppelin. What followed were six complete courses of wine, food, and…
I grew up in a California winemaking family, and through this network, I got to know dozens of winemakers in Napa Valley and Sonoma. One of these social connections earned me a free weekend stay at a house on a beautiful California vineyard. Without this complex social web, I would have never had the opportunity…
Last summer, I was invited to a massive wine and dinner party that was attended by at least 50 guests. Since every couple brought along a bottle of wine, the two hosts scrambled to open dozens of bottles as the night wore on. About two hours into the party, one of the hosts needed to…
As a collector, how do you find the bottles that you know are going to taste amazing and gain value on the secondary market? The best way to make this happen is to learn all you can about wine. Like a Master Sommelier, you should know how to pick out the best wines in a…
In an opinion piece for Wine Spectator, wine writer Matt Kramer said, regarding wine certification, “Nothing about wine or — dare I say it! — accomplished wine service requires this pseudo-professionalization.” Kramer explains that wine certifications are as useless as they are elitist, and that too many professionals put emphasis on formal education over real…
For every incredible restaurant with a top-notch wine list, you’ll find at least 10 more with boring lists. Finding a fine restaurant that also offers an incredible array of diverse wines is a rarity, especially when cities like New York ban sommeliers from buying wines sold by private collectors. Wine Spectator’s Jim Fish suggests that…
MENTIONED IN THIS POST: Abreu Châteauneuf-du-Pape Moët & Chandon Krug Giving wine as a gift should be simple. You select a bottle, deliver it to the recipient, and you’re done. But anyone who’s spent hours agonizing over choosing the perfect wine and navigating the maze of wine-related etiquette knows how complicated it can be. The…
Take it from Andrew Jefford if you want to write great wine tasting notes; as one of the best wine writers in the modern world, Jefford knows what it takes to write gorgeous, pragmatic prose. He says, “Numbers alone cannot adequately address the mystery of wine’s complexity; words must be involved.” Yet these words are…