Arturo Ciompi

There’s a neighborhood in Paris where parking is out of the question. Instead, people are let off or whisked away in Mercedes and Rolls-Royces, and entering a shop signifies that price is of no concern. There’s a doorman at the ready inside each entryway and a cast of women who seem to spend every waking […]

Arturo’s GradesAll New! I now use the five-star system that dates back generations and has had a special appeal to me as suggested in The Great Vintage Wine Book by English writer Michael Broadbent. My take on the system works as follows: Don’t bother Not very good Fair to moderately good Good Extremely good Superb […]

Charles Shaw Winery is the Everyman of the wine universe, that ordinary individual whom the public roots for in the face of extraordinary circumstances. History was made this year on July 12, when the 2005 Charles Shaw Chardonnay was named “Best California Chardonnay” at the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. In the words of […]

Many Americans feel a slight inferiority that comes from the fact that our nation is a young one. Naturally, we don’t have structures that have survived for millennia, we don’t have heroes dating back to the Punic Wars, and we don’t have wines written up in Samuel Pepys’ diary. We do, however, have a very […]

If you’ve ever drunk a white Bordeaux, Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé, then you already know the seductive charms of sauvignon blanc. The French have never found it necessary to point out what grape you were consumingonly that you enjoyed the village name and the crisp, fresh results. This nomenclature was enough to entice generations to […]

In March I received about 25 e-mails from readers, all very interested in knowing where they could find a wine I had recommended. It was the 2004 Altano, a Portuguese red from the Douro region. This dry wine, made from the same grape varieties used to make sweet succulent Port wine, is just delicious and […]

In 1987, exceptional Bordeaux reds from the 1950s were available for purchase at what today can only be called insane prices. Insane because, as opposed to the cutthroat expense of such wines today, nobody was very interested! I was buying collectible Bordeaux classics with decades of bottle age on them (something required for these wines […]

Consider the square pegs facing the round holes. Those wineries that: 1) Believe in the traditional grapes of their region, the local specialty that speaks history along with the exhilaration of not being internationally styled. 2) Grow Sangiovese in Napa Valley or Shiraz in South Africa, spitting in the face of accepted practice. 3) Accept […]

Last Sept. 3, I embarked on a whirlwind tour of the Valdepeñas region of Spain, home of Don Quixote, windmills and millennia-old wine traditions. On my return I sat down to write my impressionsand nothing happened! What could I say about a series of unspectacular to good wines that the rest of the world could […]