Arturo Ciompi

Aug. 7 was a grand day to be in uptown Charlotte. Winding down from a four-week national tour, Joel Peterson, winemaker of Ravenswood Winery, was in town to show off his seven single-vineyard signature wines, the central prize and passion of this superb estate. A few lucky tasters imbibed this prestigious lineupwines that are standard-bearers […]

Dry Creek is one of Sonoma County’s bejeweled locales. Bound by the Alexander and Russian River valleys in California, the tributary is a mere 15 miles long and two miles wide. Certainly Chateau Margaux epitomizes the Margaux district of Bordeaux. Does Dry Creek do the same? History tells us that Zinfandel and Dry Creek have […]

On Aug. 8, at a theater near you, the story of the Judgment of Paris (not the Greek myth) will be on display. Long the provenance of wine geeks, this is the tale of Steven Spurrier, an energetic British citizen whose career training took place at Christopher & Company, England’s oldest wine merchant. By 1970, […]

Columbia Crest has always had a populist outlookwell-crafted wines at mostly affordable prices. A solid business model has evolved into a beacon, as these wines stubbornly retain their thrifty price tags while remaining paragons of high quality. It has become second nature to expect the terrific value that represents this winemaking team in Washington State. […]

A recent wine tasting in Cary was one of just six stops on Frederick Wildman & Sons’ Grand Tour 2008. A large slice of their portfolio was represented, with many of the winery owners on hand to pour and discuss their wares. It was a wine-lover’s dream to speak with Etienne Hugel of Alsace’s Hugel […]

The usual hoopla, except more so, is accompanying the imminent release of the 2005 Bordeaux reds. The combination of a very weak dollar with what seems to be an extraordinarily good French vintage, is spelling misery for American wine drinkers and collectors alike. Mostly gone are the advantageous days of buying wine on a presale […]

Oscar night is party night at our house. It’s also an excuse to open some wines that I have cellared and serve them to like-minded aficionados. Among this year’s wines of interest was a 1996 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages. This blend of five Bordeaux varietal grapes (with Cabernet Sauvignon dominating) was Wine Spectator‘s Wine […]

Vegetarian cooking and fine wine: Are they compatible? Can Moosewood and Mouton Rothschild find happiness together? In my early 20s, struggling as a freelance musician, I worked part time at a combination health food store and restaurant in New York City. Gary Null, with his array of vegetarian and better living books, owned the store […]

What better theme for the new year than noveltieswines I’ve learned about only during the last moments of 2007? The first involves an entire growing area, that of Monterey County. I’ve tasted with pleasure the odd bottle of Jekel and Lockwood vineyards before, but I have never tasted a flight of small production reds from […]

How to be original, or at least interest worthy, when compiling a holiday wine gift list? It’s something we journalists must bravely face each year. So, with a twinkle in my eye, here are some ideas to consider. Unless you know for certain what type of wine a friend or relative enjoys, don’t buy a […]