Stephen Bitterolf, the Wine Director at Crush , conceived of this event with an eye towards the famous La Paulée Burgundy dinners where everyone competes to bring the finest bottles and people walk from table to table tasting each others' wines. 2000 Prager Riesling Smaragd Achleiten. That's right - Austrian wine, La Paulée style. MORE >>

To accompany the restaurant’s extensive charcuterie menu, wine director Michael Madrigale runs an innovative program that focuses largely on wines from the Rhone and Burgundy. The current nugget is… Eric Texier, 2000 Hermitage rouge for $69. We all want to order wine like a pro at a restaurant. Bar Boulud. 212) 595-0303. MORE >>

Now the California wine conversation was interesting, because we were just served two wines, a Merryvale Chardonnay 2008 and a Domaine Roumieu Bonnes Mares 2000. The majority of the sommeliers, however, felt that for the price of the California chard they could have bought a killer white Burgundy. so now we are having beer (!) MORE >>

We tend to value the idea of vinifying individual plots separately, as in Burgundy, and increasingly now in Champagne. enjoyed the 1997 and the 2000, but I have had both of these wines before and enjoyed both vintages more on those other occasions. The company was great, and so were the food and the wines. Delicious. MORE >>

And one day you spend $75 on a great producer's villages Burgundy from 2004, and you realize that it might be true that good producers make good wine in all vintages, but there are better ways to spend $75. beginning with the first ever vintage of 1997, and including 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004. still have it, actually. MORE >>