Wine stemware was conspicuously absent at AKA Bistro’s sake and French cuisine dinner. On the table in front of me, next to a flask-like tokkuuri, were wood box masu, some kiki choko beaming their bottom-of-the-cup targets, and a flat ceremonial sakazuki drinking vessel. Of course, I would know little about any of this crystal-trumping nomenclature without the help of […]
90 Plus Cellars Tasting Produces Nameless Pleasure
In every blind tasting there is secret hope for fresh discovery and the eradication of closely held biases like perpetually ignored regions, varieties, producers, or vintages. While the blind tasting experience is completely unrelated to luxurious enjoyment of wine with a meal, they serve as uniquely productive platforms for continuing wine education. Recently, I shared […]
90+ Cellars Wines and Paul Bloom Pleasure Theory
Are wines that enthusiasts buy, drink, and derive pleasure from somehow linked to what they know about their origin, craftsmanship, and history? According to Yale Professor Paul Bloom’s TED talk, while it should be just as possible to enjoy a wine of unknown source and origin, it simply isn’t. The following is a really enjoyable and fascinating […]
Moved By Wine, Food, and People
I find myself perseverating over the intersection of wine, food, and humanity on internet-less JetBlue flight #411 from Boston to San Diego. It is not as lofty a mind game as it sounds. I’ve just been thinking about how thirty-six hours at the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland, Oregon this weekend might play out; […]
Sake And Wine Enthusiasm
There is new learning about my own progression along Darwin’s evolutionary scale which evidently, to some degree, has been propelled by crossing a few of the introductory borders into the world of fine sake. First century poet Otomo Tabito made an early case for sake’s role in human evolution when he wrote: O what an […]
2011 Wine Highlights Part 2- Wine Community
When I launched WineZag in 2009, I did it under a founding motto of “wine is a lubricant for human connection that holds no bias.” The essence of my wine appreciation has always transcended the juice, gravitating to the center of human bonding and relationships that are accelerated by shared wine experiences; either during dinner […]
Cork Drive Features Sustainability Beyond the Vineyard
There are plenty campaigns and initiatives advocating sustainability in the vineyard. What about at the other end of the wine chain? We recycle glass bottles, but what about cork? Wine closures make up 70% of the entire cork market, so a focus by wine drinkers on recycling and replanting cork trees could have a significant […]
Palate Press Uncorks Swartland Revolution
Earlier this summer (winter in South Africa’s Swartland wine growing subregion) I had the chance to mix it up with the drivers of the Swartland Revolution; the winemakers. Ever since I began to comprehend the unusually high authenticity and quality levels of the upstart region’s wines, I started sharing information about individual pieces of the […]
Tempranillo Shows Range and Value in Rioja
Last month the Vibrant Rioja US tour rolled east from San Francisco to New York. Its campaign organizers staged grand tastings in both cities coupled with two smaller, invitation-only tasting seminars designed to showcase the widest possible range of Tempranillo treatment and expression. It was fun showing up in my Big Apple home town, birthplace […]
Sur Lie and Bottle Aged Muscadet in May
Years ago on a bright seventy degree afternoon, moments after tying off our boat in the Camargue’s picturesque Marseillan port, I fell in love with Muscadet and its Melon de Bourgogne grape lounging in a simple oyster restaurant’s tiny outdoor courtyard. It was a magical few hours. I was taken by the wine’s satiating freshness, crisp acidity, […]