Little Boxes One of the things I didn’t anticipate about working in wine retail is losing touch with the stories behind an extraordinary bottle of wine. We have thousands of bottles of wine on our shelves, but...

Since I started working in the retail wine industry, I’ve had a lot of surprises — both pleasant and unpleasant (but that’s a post for another day). One of the biggest has been the number of people...

The site of our not-to-be meeting. I still have chandelier envy. I was supposed to meet up with Sharon Kazan Harris of RARECAT Wines last spring in DC, but due to a calamity of unfortunate events, we...

I’ve never been one to lavish much praise on the state of New Jersey.  The sum total of my New Jersey experience consists of driving through on the Jersey Turnpike (which does nothing to dispel the stereotype...

Photo Credit: Jim Sullivan Castello di Amorosa is a full-scale, historically accurate, actual, medieval Tuscan castle in the heart of Napa Valley.  If you’re interested in more history about the castle and it’s construction, I wrote a blog post about that last fall. In...

Quick.  Off the top of your head, name five things that you associate with Arizona.  I’ll go first: CactusThe Grand CanyonRattlesnakesTurquoiseI said cactus already, right? What’s not on that list?  Wine. Fun Fact:  Every state in the US...

One of the perks of being a professional wine student (that’s what I’m calling myself these days) is that I occasionally get some wine samples to review.  I’m particularly grateful to Smith-Madrone for sending me their Chardonnay...

I put wineries in the same category as boats and horses — things I do not want to own.  Once upon a time, I thought owning a winery would be dreamy.  I’d sit on my porch, overlook...

There’s a lot of chatter in the wine world today about viticultural practices — specifically organic, biodynamic, and sustainable practices.  Many vineyards are moving away from conventional practices (which have few limitations on pesticides and chemical fertilizers) and toward one or...

My latest Virginia winery field trip brought me to The Barns at Hamilton Station, located in tiny  Hamilton, Virgnia, just ten miles west of Leesburg.  The Barns at Hamilton Station won this year’s Virginia Governor’s Cup (Virginia’s foremost...