There is  great deal of discussion lately of the alcohol levels in wines, with many suggesting the higher alcohols we are seeing just aren’t attractive. But there is one thing about the alcohol in wine that doesn’t often get mentioned: We like alcohol. It makes us feel good. I was reminded of the obvious as I read a story by Michael Chatfield in the Hollister Freelance. In the story he poses a good question: If it doesn’t have alcohol, is…

Wall Street Journal wine writers Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, in writing about the loosening of state laws that make access to wine easier, made note that what we need to develop in this country is a "Culture of Wine." You hear a lot about different "Cultures" these days: "Culture of Death", "Culture of Life", "gay sub-cultures"….All these cultures are pretty hard to define.  They usually mean something different depending on what the user of the phrase believes. But, it…

             In the course of feeding your passion for wine you come across various "accessories" that you are told you must have in order to do it right: Corkscrews that look like animals, 2000-bottle freestanding cabinets, cute "wine charms". The list of wine accessories is mighty. Then there is wine art. That weird genre in which landscapes and bottles are represented in normally very amateurish or cute ways. But sometimes you come across an artist whose…

Winefairy.com has produced an outstanding interview with Jonathon Nossiter (you can listen to it at the winefairy website), director of the controversial film Mondovino and chief propagandist for Romance. In the interview, conducted by Wine Fairy Lynn Chamberlain, Nossiter makes a statement that should be understood by anyone who believes wine is best when it reflects the terroir where it was made. Nossiter suggests that the meaning of terroir should be amended to mean the culture and traditions of a…