No matter how experienced you are, wine faults can fool you. Just ask wine writer Chris Kissack, who fell victim to buying cooked wine. In his blog, he describes buying three bottles from a well-respected wine retailer. Even though he says he noticed some minor signs of heat damage on the wine’s cork, he didn’t…
Wall Street Journal wine columnist Lettie Teague says that Joan Fennell runs Washington’s Chateau Ste. Michelle with an iron fist. Fennell requires every staff member in her tasting room to be knowledgeable about the wines and provide every guest with the best winery tasting room experience possible. At one point, Teague was watched Fennell critique…
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…
In a wine tasting, your nose isn’t the only tool you have to test a wine’s aromatics. A small study sponsored by Spain’s Institute for Scientific Research found that the bacteria in your mouth actually has a huge impact on the aroma of wine. Researchers discovered that when bacteria in our mouths comes into…
Wine glasses and flutes make the wine and champagne look pretty and presentable. But their shape, size, and fragility all have an effect on the drink. It can change the wine taste and intensify or lessen aromas. Lettie Teague of WSJ and Jancis Robinson each discuss how they have learned to appreciate a fine glass almost…
The Coravin, that revolutionary new wine access tool, is one of our favorite tools for the wine geek. Clearly wine collectors feel the same way as it has been one of our best selling and most requested products. We find ourselves using it nightly and in ways that we never thought imaginable before. Coravin has…