La Rioja, as a wine region, has it all. There are three distinctive sub-regions: the Alavesa, Rioja Alta, and Rioja Baja. The primary city most central to all three sub-regions is Logrono, where the Ebro River runs through. Actually, the Ebro River weaves its way all the way through La...

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with Benoit Gouez, the charismatic Chef de Cave of Moet & Chandon. Benoit was traveling through the U.S. to speak with Sommeliers and wine buyers -- Champagne lovers throughout the country.

Moet & Chandon has always been a leader...

The Locke-Ober Café, one of the grand restaurants of not only Boston, but in the United States, closed its doors for business this past October, after being in business for 137 years. Needless to say, a lot of history has passed through their doors. So, for the restaurant that was...

Italian wines have enjoyed what seems to be a never ending growth in the U.S. marketplace. According to a March 2012 article on Decanter.com by Richard Woodard, "Italy has nearly a quarter of the global wine market." The same article cited the United States as the most significant...

Beppe D'Andrea is a dynamic and enthusiastic spokesperson for his native Tuscany. He is the leader of the Slow Food Movement in the Chianti Classico region. He is a long time winemaker, who has transferred his skills to the promotion of the region, and he is also the Senior Brand...

Wine and food have been intertwined throughout history. In more recent times, trends have taken some curious turns. The culinary path of fine restaurants, with a movement started in France in the 1970's, had a reaction to covering inferior proteins, with heavy sauces. Their reaction spawned Nouvelle Cuisine. Nouvelle Cuisine...

Good restaurants have as many universal qualities as unique qualities. Customers often are looking for telltale signs they are in a good place. Prompt service, an attractive room, innovative menus, extensive wine lists and fair pricing are all basics that many people, including restaurant reviewers focus on.

I asked four...

The Napa Valley might be a very different place if Margrit Biever had never lived there. Robert Mondavi, her husband, had a vision for world class wine from the once bucolic Napa Valley. Today, that vision might not seem like a big deal, but at that time, 1966, it was...

Marco Caprai has taken on the work originated by his father, Arnaldo Caprai, in the beautiful Central Italian winemaking region of Umbria, and followed a very conscious path to work with the grapes that are unique to Umbria, and more specifically, the sub-region of Montefalco. Umbria, famous for its stunning...

There has been much written lately about the shortening of wine lists in trendy restaurants. Lettie Teague wrote a very good piece in The Wall Street Journal, and this has been a trendy restaurant topic. Along the same line of reason, restaurant menus have shortened up too. These...

Near the end of last year, I attended an event where Kevin Zraly, the famed wine director from Windows on the World, was leading a panel discussion on wines from Spain. When the subject turned to an aging issue on Gran Reservas from Rioja, Kevin searched the audience to find...

Although we Americans have difficulty pronouncing the words on German wine labels; The Mosel wine growing region is considered by many to be the defining region for Riesling. I think if you ask other winemakers, the resulting wines are the reason others in the world are inspired to produce Riesling...

Hermann Wiemer created one of the most important wineries in the United States. In the 1970s while pioneers of fine wine in California were creating an international sensation that exploded with Steven Spurrier's tasting in Paris, Hermann Wiemer was very quietly creating excitement with selected vineyard sites around Seneca Lake...

America's suburbs rarely support extremes of anything. Certainly, in the restaurant business, suburban restaurants are generally safely themed and executed. So, when a chef like James Beard award winner Michael Ginor opened his personal cuisine restaurant, Lola, in Great Neck in September 2009, I got involved and waited to see...

When I met with Pierrette Trichet, the Cellar Master for the House of Remy Martin, I could not help but be impressed by her intelligence and elegance as well as a steely determination. She needed every bit of that steely determination for she is not only the only female...

Everything about Paumanok Vineyards is impressive. Paumanok, owned by the Massoud family, is a winery that owns all of their vineyards, and estate bottles all of their wines. This is an important element of the process, because it enables them to control the grape growing from beginning...

Yesterday, I was caught a little off guard by a seemingly easy question.

"What are the current trends in wine?"

I thought about it, and realized my answer is not just a country and a grape varietal. My answer mirrors many categories outside of the wine...

Joe Dressner, a top wine importer, and one of the leading voices for non-manipulated or "un-spoofulated" wines, has recently passed away from brain cancer at the age of 60. His Louis/Dressner portfolio of wines (He was a partner with his wife,Denyse Louis, and Kevin McKenna) is one of the...

South Africa might not be at the top of the obvious list for culinary destinations, but there are a lot of reasons why you might want to rethink that list.

Peter Tempelhoff, currently the Executive Chef overseeing the five Relais Chateaux restaurants within "The Collection by Liz...

We are very fortunate to live in a time when most of the wine produced in the world is good. Good in the sense of being correctly made, and palatable. For many consumers, that is just fine. I understand the sentiment. I want to own a car that is...