Chile’s Gravity Castle
I eat breakfast at an outdoor table. The view of the expansive Colchagua Valley below…
Pre-Thanksgiving Pairing: Pink Grapefruit, Avocado & Watercress Salad – with a Riesling
Summer has long drawn to a close and winter is circling in. It’s time to take a break from writing about people involved with the world of wine, and just enjoy…
The Magical Little Wine Store of Jarnac
Charles Capbern-Gasqueton meets me by the River Charente in the town of Cognac in southwest France. He is tall and broad-shouldered. He has wavy dark hair, wears a loose red…
Another Book and a Bottle
Ready to crack open a new book and uncork a fresh bottle? Let's go with non-fiction again. The book is titled Priceless - How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen…
Corner Lot Wine
The heat registers in the mid-90’s. It is July. Today, the first blast of blistering summer heat hits the town of Sonoma in northern California. By 7:30 P.M. it has cooled…
The Alpine Cave
It is mid October. The sun is about to dip below mountains, but the light is still bright. Leaves have autumn colors. The white Alps look gorgeous. The temperature is…
Straw Bale Wine
Last week a group of about twenty people worked above 8,500 feet elevation in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico. We built a straw bale house. We huffed and puffed and stacked…
Where Vines and Wetlands Mesh
Thirty years ago, sheep herders struggled to feed their families in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. There were then only one or two wineries in the region. Today, dozens of vineyards…
A Book and a Bottle
As a break from reading about people who work with wine (which is the subject of the forthcoming book Vino Expressions - People, Wine, and Loving Work), let's experiment with a new notion here. Rather…
Irish Wine
The Irish village of Lusk, from the Gaelic word Lusca - meaning cave, is located 22 kilometers north of the city of Dublin. The visual centerpiece of the village is a beautiful fusion of…