As mentioned many times on this blog, one of my most memorable vacations was a cycling trip through Tuscany. There were so many sights to see and on a bike I had the choice of stopping whenever I wanted if one caught my eye, and naturally what caught my eye related to wine. I'd usually stop at a winery, enoteca, or even a vineyard. MORE >>

I don't get away very often, but when I do, I try to bring good wine. The trouble is choosing it. This year we returned to the Baja of Mexico, which carries its own problems in choosing wine. For another, you have to anticipate your own tastes, which can be a moving target at best. You could drink this alone. Lovely paired with all those tacos. MORE >>

Mosel winemakers love to talk about the blue slate of their soils. discussion of Chablis couldn’t be had without mentioning Kimmeridgian. Coonawarra has its terra rossa and Rutherford has its dust. But what about the soil in Rioja? But many of the structured, most age-worthy wines from Rioja come from vineyards in the calcereous soils. MORE >>

Friend of the blog, Mike Steinberger, started a series of posts on his blog wherein he plays Wine Ethicist, answering (or posing) questions on etiquette in the wine world. The arrest of Rudy Kurniawan was all the buzz everywhere I went this week (well, except my local grocery store, where nobody cared). Hit the comments with your thoughts. MORE >>

Timothy Egan has a piece up on the Opinionator column of the NYT with a provocative thesis on the correlation between teetotalism and presidential leadership: “The nondrinkers, at least over the last century or so, were terrible presidents.” But in gazing at the drink preference of Mt. ” American wine leaders and liters MORE >>