Have you ever wondered what it is like to be the wine director of a restaurant? Of course, in some ways it sounds like a fantasy job. One can imagine the pleasures of having distributors visit your restaurant, bringing you fabulous wine to savor and discuss … Yet of course this is really only a [...]

“She’s killing it with those shoes,” says a friend, watching a tall woman in very tight jeans and fancy six inch stilleto-heeled sandals walk past. A group of lanky young men in white euro tapered shirts and jeans turned to gawk as her heels clicked past. Welcome to Vinitaly 2012, one of the largest and [...]

“Very complex and elegant!” said a woman next to me, savoring a sip of 1993 Arnaldo Caprai Sagrantino DOCG, the last wine to be tasted in a vertical that lasted nearly ninety minutes. Leading the tasting was vivacious Marco Caprai, who introduced each wine and discussed the vintages including 2007, 2005, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1997, [...]

  “I’ll have what she’s having,” says a woman sitting at an outdoor café in Soho, watching a couple enjoy a refreshing glass of a pale pink wine, the bottle chilling in a silver ice bucket. Just what is it about Rosé wine that brings out the joy of summer? Rosé wine is just what [...]

  We’ve all heard the story of Cleopatra’s legendary powers of seduction over Julius Caesar and later, Mark Antony. Yet consider this. What if the tool of seduction wasn’t Cleopatra’s famed beauty, but her secret stash of a bright ruby red sparkling wine with a bouquet of roses and violets? Ancient historians write of a [...]

“I’ve never had a wine that could be altered in so many ways!” said a bewildered friend after blind tasting three different versions of the Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio grape. And it’s true … some might even call Pinot Gris/Grigio the multi-personality wine because of the way it takes on so many different expressions. This is [...]

“I want a wine that tastes like summer,” the chic woman tells the clerk at an upscale wine store. “Something that pairs well with grilled skewers of fresh shrimp and swordfish. What do you recommend?” If you were the clerk, what would you advise? A briny Muscadet? A buttery Chardonnay? Perhaps an exotic Albarino from [...]

One of my favorite movies of all time is A Good Year with Russell Crowe, which tells the story of a hard-living London banker who inherits his uncle’s vineyard in Provence, meets not one but three women of his dreams,…

“I don’t get it,” said a friend, holding two green-colored bottles of wine in either hand. We are in a wine store on a sunny day in New York City, and the store is buzzing with customers, but not a…

“Quick!” a friend says over the telephone, her voice frantic. It’s nine o’clock on a Sunday morning and I was wrapped up in an intriguing dream. “My husband just text messaged me — he invited his soccer team to join…