Orin Swift Mercury Head 2014: This is about more than wine
The Mercury Head dime that rests attached to this bottle of Orin Swift Cabernet was already minted by the time the United States was attacked by Japan and entered the […]
Category Archives: Stories and such
Infusion Vanilla Bean Blonde — A Small Act of Betrayal
“It takes a lot of beer to make wine.” This saying is oft repeated in the Napa Valley, and it makes me feel a bit better when I sit down […]
Abeja Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Review
It had been something of a long day already when my wife informed me that she wanted to go car shopping in the evening. I couldn’t argue the necessity; my […]
Review: Castoro Cellars Late Harvest Zinfandel
Our friend Rebecca was back in town after a five-flights-in-three-days sort of business trip that had her on both coasts as well as in Chicago. She was stopping by our […]
Thanksgiving 2016
This morning was a rare morning, cool and brisk with only wisps of clouds overhead and the sun lighting up the rolling hillsides in their autumnal yellows as if it […]
Columbia Crest Chardonnay 2014 — 87 pts
I hadn’t seen my college friend Matt or his wife Maggie since their wedding nearly 18 months ago, so when they called to say they’d be in town from Chicago […]
Chaduza Creek LaCrescent 2015 – 95pts
My memories of John Wobig are mostly of him in a white lab coat, working at the hospital where my mother was a nurse in the small, rural town of Valentine […]
Wine at 30K Feet; American Airlines
Wine can be both the best and worst part of flying. To begin with, I don’t fly first-class. I occasionally consider it, in much the same way that I […]
On Rating Wine
A number of people have inquired about how I rate wine, in particular perhaps because I often write something such as “90 points on my scale” as the end of […]
Euclid Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – 96 Pts.
“I’ll make tacos,” replied Michael Farmer to my last email. I had written to inquire about visiting him, to meet and to taste his wine. The winemaker with more than […]
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