Some bottles prompt more than just tasting notes. These are the musings — on time, memory, family, and the way a great wine has a way of making us think about the life we’re living.
“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.” — Ecclesiastes 9:7 There is something fitting about the name. A cloister, in its oldest sense, is a covered walkway enclosing a quiet courtyard — a place monks built not to escape the …
Read more ““Drink Your Wine with a Merry Heart.” — Ecclesiastes 9:7”
“We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost.” — Rush, “Bravado” There is a bottle of 2019 Barolo in my cellar — a Serralunga from a small producer I found on our last trip through Piedmont — that I have been thinking about opening for the better part of six months. …
Read more ““We Will Pay the Price, But We Will Not Count the Cost.” — Rush, “Bravado””
Why Texas Wine—and Benjamin Calais—Deserve a Second Look I’ve been fortunate to taste wine in some of the great regions of the world. From the Rhône to Barolo, from Paso Robles to Hunter Valley, I’ve stood in cellars old and new, listened to growers talk about soils and seasons, and learned to appreciate how deeply …
There are wines you analyze—and wines you enter. Châteauneuf-du-Pape has always belonged to the second category for me. Not because it demands reverence, but because it invites memory. The story begins in the early 14th century, when the papacy relocated from Rome to Avignon. Pope John XXII looked across the Rhône Valley and saw a …
Read more “The Pope’s New Castle and the Old Art of Friendship”
In the realm of the oenophile, there exist moments when the essence of the grape transcends the mere act of tasting, becoming an ethereal experience that intertwines with culture, art, and the sensory tapestry of life itself. Such was the nature of my sojourn into the heart of Valpolicella, where viniculture is less an industry …
As the autumn leaves begin to paint the landscapes with a palette of auburn and gold, I find myself embarking on a journey—a pilgrimage of the senses, if you will, through the rolling vineyards of Italy. My adventure begins in the storied region of Valpolicella, a place where the vines whisper tales of tradition, passion, …
Winter hasn’t quite loosed his steely grip on the Chesapeake Bay area. Although this evening ended in a brilliant sunset with clear skies levelling golden rays through the still leafless trees in our back forest, it began with a cold, damp drizzle. But that was okay because Lisa pulled out some leftover cassoulet from the …
Read more “Landslide, or “This Much I Do Remember” (with a nod to Billy Collins)”
In my mind I’m immediately transported back to many evenings in Italy where the wine, the conversation, the poetry, the music all dissolved into a perfect starlit Tuscan sky.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I don’t always make the best decisions regarding wine purchases. I taste a lot of different wines from a lot of different wineries from all over the world, and I have rarely ever met a wine I didn’t like. Couple that with the idea that if I taste at a winery, …
Wine can make us reflective . . . thoughtful. It can help us celebrate, facilitate good conversation, and enhance our appreciation of food, music, and art. It even aids in the interpretation of poetry and literature. Can it teach us anything about life? I’m sure you won’t be surprised that I will argue that it …
Read more ““But time makes you bolder, children get older, I’m getting older too . . . “”