Aug 13, 2009
Little revelations are always good because they tend to speak to principles to live by. Here’s my latest (and I’m embarrassed that I’ve only lately realized it): I don’t want serious restaurant critics to pay for their meals nor serious wine critics to pay for a drop of wine. Why? I don’t trust a restaurant or wine critic to accurately or honestly evaluate their experience when part of that experience is filtered through the dent their object of evaluation made…
Aug 10, 2009
Growing up, my parents, George and Alverna, never threw dinner parties, unless you consider the family and close friends that made the pilgrimage to our home on Thanksgiving and Easter to feast on Turkey and roasts a dinner party—I don't. There is something of a hint of obligation in attending a holiday gathering. Attendance at the "Dinner Party" is neither obligatory nor infused with the kind of tradition that holiday gatherngs impose. The Dinner Party—a good one— is, and should…
Aug 7, 2009
Let us sit together and speak of knowledge as men do. Always ask: What does this reviewer know? We know what he thinks, but what does he know? This command comes from one of the smartest, most experienced and most knowledgeable wine writers/reporters/critics I've ever known: Dan Berger. He wrote it in his latest issue of his "Dan Berger's Vintage Experiences" in an article entitled Analyzing Marketing. In this article he lists a series of aphorisms and truths that he…
Aug 5, 2009
Aug 4, 2009
Who likes Etymology? Who likes Wine? I've got the book for you: "History of Wine Words". The book is subtitled "An Intoxicating Dictionary of Etymology and Word Histories from the Vineyard, Glass and Bottle." I'm not sure this book is going to garner a wide number of readers for the same reason I think there are far fewer people reading down this far in this post: most people didn't get past the word "Etymology" and if they did, a number…