Matt Skinner, an affable bloke from Australia who recently published Heard it Through the Grapevine, conducted an Australian wine tasting at City Winery on Varick Street. Part tutorial, part tasting, and part promotion, the event took place in the belly of City Winery, at tables with little room to elbow or aggressively swirl, beneath towering [.]. MORE >>

Equipos Navazos La Bota de Manzanilla #8, and La Bota de Amontillado #9 , Eric Solomon Selections / Polaner Imports. 8 is no longer available and I don't know the price, #9 retails for about $65. That's right - two wines for this week, both incredibly special, and both incredibly rare. He also brought a trove of olive oil , but that's another story. MORE >>

SPIT and SIPPED: Bordeaux 2008. After better-than-expected but still largely tepid reviews, Bordeaux 2008 took a shot in the arm form Robert Parker who raved about it. All the action is summed up nicely, with charts of price action, on FT.com’s Alphaville blog. Lost?&#. SIPPED: wine growing. Wine in London, yes. But vines? Apparently so. MORE >>

Aglianico, the grape originally to have come from Greece, is the exclusive ingredient in this dry red wine from the Puglia region of Italy. Alcione Aglianico di Puglia has a deep, red color, and on the nose, an intense bag of barnyard, bacon, and black raspberry jam with strange hints of plastic, then vanilla and dark ripe cherries. MORE >>

Dear Sticks and Stones , Ever since that night we had together I haven't be able to get you out of my mind. It's true. I'm not playing coy. No more games. miss you. miss your husky blackberry concentration, your heady fancy French perfume, your notes of sage and orange rind and clove. In this world gone mad I want you all to myself. am who I am. MORE >>