Category: Ramblings and Rants

How Would You Like an All-Expenses-Paid Wine Trip?
File this under things I always meant to do but have never gotten around to…. Every year an organization called
And the Winners of Rhone Rangers Tasting Tickets Are…
Thanks to all who entered the Limerick Raffle. We had some choice submissions (see below). The two names I picked

Aubert de Villaine on Fake Wines
. “We didn’t realize there was so much controversy.” De Villaine is, of course, the co-director of Domaine de la

The Essence of Wine: Tropical Fruits
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch The languid allure of the tropics finds some of its most sensuous expression in the

GOTCHA!: Wine Collector Rudy Kurniawan Arrested by the FBI
Though it may go unnoticed by a large part of the wine world, the high-end collecting and auction world was

The Essence of Wine: Cured Meats
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch For omnivores, the scent is unmistakable and for many, just as irresistible. From the smoky

A Brief Tale of Three Vintages in Napa Valley
For the past few years, just prior to the big barrel auction that the Napa Valley Vintners uses to fund

2009 Burgundy Vintage According to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Pick your metaphor. It’s the wine world’s equivalent of being invited to the White House for a dinner, or to

What Wine Drinkers Can Learn from Leonardo Da Vinci
, so a talk on creativity from him didn’t come entirely out of the blue. Even though wine was not

The Essence of Wine: Chocolate
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch Montezuma’s gift was given first to the heavens, and only then to the rest of

Napa’s Best Cabernet: Tasting at Premiere Napa Valley 2012
It looks like the California wine industry is officially out of the recession. Yesterday, at the annual Premiere Napa Valley

The Essence of Wine: Pepper
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch Lives were lost. Empires were built. The new world was discovered. All for the sharp

Next Week: My First Wine Trip to Germany and Austria
I’ve always wondered just how many Rieslings I could taste in a single day before my teeth cracked and fell

Wine, Rap, and the Power of Product Placement
comes out that glorifies the grape, and sales shoot through the roof. Rap may well be the best thing that

The Essence of Wine: Cherry
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch Biting into a perfectly ripe cherry represents one of life’s perfections of flavor and sensation.

The Essence of Wine: Wet Stones
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch Perhaps you have lingered in a mountain stream, climbed alpine ridge-tops or descended crevasses. Perhaps

Don Cornwell, The Fine Wine Bidder’s Hero
Don Cornwell may well be a wine fraudster’s worst nightmare — a highly motivated, highly educated, and extremely experienced collector

Social Media and the Wine Industry: A New Era
Ordinary wine consumers may want to skip this post. On occasion I write purely for the wine industry, and today

The Essence of Wine: Vanilla
Image © 2012 Leigh Beisch Sprung from the legendary blood of forbidden lovers suffering the wrath of a father king,