Terroir, appellation, varietal — the story of a wine begins in the ground. Explorations of the world’s great wine regions, from the Rhône to Rioja, Tuscany to Texas.
There are evenings that feel composed rather than simply lived—like a song that knows exactly where it’s going, yet lingers just long enough on every note. Tonight is one of those evenings. Lisa and I sit across from one another, a bottle of 2017 Dancing Heart from Cliff Lede Vineyards open between us, and already…
There are wines you admire. There are wines you collect. And then there are wines you celebrate life with. For Lisa’s birthday the last couple of years, we’ve slipped into a booth at Dallas’ Il Bracco, ordered something beautifully simple—often steak, sometimes pasta—and asked for a bottle of Tignanello. It has become our tradition. And…
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…
Prologue: The Sun Rises over Alta Langa As dawn painted the sky in hues of rose and gold, we awoke in the embrace of Villa Alta Langa. The promise of a day in Barolo, a realm synonymous with sublime wines and rolling vineyards, lay ahead. The air was thick with anticipation, and the echoes of…
It’s no secret that I love France’s Rhone Valley. From the northern villages where the vineyards are only a couple of acres and are on hillsides so steep they are almost impossible to cultivate, home to the wonderful Condrieu appellation to the southern Rhone where the Pope (Clement V, the first French Pope elected in…
The application of scientific analysis (including DNA testing) to the world’s wine culture has answered many questions about the true origin and history of varies vitis vinifera varietals used in modern winemaking. However, no amount of scientific data will ever fully replace or eliminate the role of romantic myth in explaining the origin of wines….
If you’ve seen the movie “Sideways” you know that Miles (one of the main characters) has a deep and profanity laced aversion to Merlot. After the movie was released, winemakers swore to what they called “the Sideways effect” – a steep lowering of demand for Merlot and a significant uptick in Pinot Noir sales (which…
You don’t have to go to France or Italy to find decent wine. You don’t even have to go to California or Oregon. There are about 3,000 commercial vineyards in the United States and there’s at least one winery in every state (even Hawaii). Many of the wineries obtain their berries (grapes) from across state…
I suppose it’s no surprise that the bottle that comes to mind first when I’m “musing” is my 1997 Brunello di Montalcino. Brunello is certainly the king of Tuscan wines and is among the most well-known and best wines of all of Italy. It derives from the Sangiovese varietal native to Tuscany. Sangiovese (Latin for…