Like a stone thrown into a pond, the ripples of wine fraud impact more than just one collector’s cellar. What happens when a professional wine reviewer can’t tell a fake bottle from a real one by taste? Collectors rely on professional reviews for accuracy, but when these reviews are compromised by fraud, it’s virtually impossible…
It happens to me all the time: I get obsessed with a new varietal, and I buy so much of it that I dig myself into a wine rut. That succulent Australian Syrah I tried last year might put me down the path of Mollydooker, then Torbreck, then Penfolds, and before I realize what’s happening,…
The last time I was in France, I found some surprisingly delicious 2012 Bordeaux in a wine shop on the outskirts of Paris. This was surprising because I’ve listened to collectors and wine critics alike complain about the subpar quality of 2012 Bordeaux, especially the sweet white wines. Uneven flowering followed by mildew made the…
Over the holidays, I found a couple bottles of Argentinian Torrontes that I decided to store in my wine fridge. At an ideal serving temperature of 40 degrees, the Torrontes was peachy and absolutely delectable–the vintage was so good that I decided to bring one of the bottles to a dinner party so I could…
Whenever I see an amazing deal on wine, I’m tempted to invest in it, even if the wine itself doesn’t excite me very much. Last year, I spent about $350 on two cases of wine that wasn’t collectible because I thought I was getting them for a steal; almost 12 months later, a few of those bottles…
As a wine enthusiast, I rarely get what I want when the holidays roll around. Most of the time, my well-meaning friends and family will get me a couple of wines from Trader Joe’s, or yet another corkscrew. By the beginning of January, I usually have a cabinet full of mass-produced California Cabernet (or worse,…
Some of us don’t have the time nor patience to wait for a wine to mature by 2045. If you’re the type of collector who wants a wine that will last, but that you can still safely drink in its youthful vigor now, 2013 Realm Cabernet Sauvignon from the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard is a…
I’m reasonably skilled at opening wine bottles, but I’ve had quite a few synthetic corks break in half recently. One was a high-quality bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir whose synthetic cork was sealed so tightly to the neck of the bottle that it broke off into four separate chunks as I tried to pry it…
Few things will make you feel more privileged than drinking a wine that isn’t officially on the market. I once had the chance to try a homegrown wine that a friend of my family made purely for his own entertainment, and even though it was a bit syrupy, it had a ton of character, and…
Wine seller John Kapon recently reviewed two DRC jeroboams, giving the 1999 vintage a high score of 96. There was just one problem: the wine was corked. Kapon admitted this in his review, but claimed he could taste around the flaw. He wrote, “The quality of the raw materials was clear, present, and dangerous.” But…
In 2014, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Napa Valley in the early dawn hours, shattering thousands of bottles of wine. Winery owner Marguerite Capp told Reuters that she lost dozens of bottles in her tasting room just two weeks before their peak tourism season began. She was caught completely unprepared, saying, “Mother Nature moves on…
One of the best hotel experiences I ever had was when I stayed at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. While there, we dined at the hotel’s famous restaurant, D.O.C.G., and got the chance to sample some of its 500 Italian wines. There were dozens of wines on that list that I had never heard of…
