Tasting Champagne By Myself
A Guest Blog By Terry Theise I had a report to file. I’d been tasting wines from my portfolio (which the growers had been kind enough to send me) and suddenly there was the first… Continue reading
PENFOLDS CALIFORNIA COLLECTION’S GLOBAL LAUNCH
Over the last few years, we’ve heard an occasional murmuring that Penfolds—Australia’s most famous winery and the winery behind the iconic wine Grange—had purchased vineyard land in California and were up to something “big.” What… Continue reading
How to Write About Wine: An Interview with Karen MacNeil
SommelierBusiness.com: The author of the bestselling wine book talks about how one can champion writing with a much broader view of wine. As the author of The Wine Bible, which is now the bestselling wine… Continue reading
12 Days of Christmas Onward
by The WineSpeed Team
The 12 Days of Christmas have been celebrated in Europe since before the Middle Ages. They begin with Christmas Day and continue until the evening of January 5th, which marks the arrival of the Magi—the… Continue reading
Karen’s 2020 Wine of the Year
I tasted a lot of great wine in 2020, despite it being one of the worst years imaginable for so many of us. And more than in past years, the pandemic meant I also raided… Continue reading
IDEAS FOR GIFTS TO MAKE YOU MERRY
We see a lot of wine books, accessories, and wine-related gear throughout the year. If you are looking for insider-vetted Best-Bets for making the wine lover in your life smile during this season of giving,… Continue reading
Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells
by Harold McGee
Book Review No one knows more about the science of food and cooking (and no one explains it better) than Harold McGee whose book On Food and Cooking is the bible on that subject. Now,… Continue reading
WINE GIRL
by Victoria James
BOOK REVIEW For several years in the 1980s, I was the wine buyer for a hip New York restaurant. Back then in the city, there weren’t many people who called themselves sommeliers. And most of… Continue reading
The Eagle Doesn’t Scream
A Visit to Screaming Eagle
The following blog is based on a piece originally written in the fall of 2018, and has been revised for this Special Edition of WineSpeed devoted to Oakville, Napa Valley. A recent morning tasting… Continue reading
RISKY RELATIONSHIPS: The Eight “Killer” Foods That Can Make Wine Taste Terrible
Anyone who loves food and loves wine, knows that the marriage of the two can be the ethereal equivalent of 1 + 1 = 3. Although, I have to admit, on any given night, I… Continue reading
Why Wine Matters
Reprinted from October 5, 2015 What is it about wine that I hold so deeply? What is this endless attachment? I have always known what it is not. It’s not about scoring or competitive… Continue reading
Do Women Have Better Wine Tasting Ability? Here’s What the Research Says
We’ve all heard it said a hundred times—women are better at tasting wine than men. But can that possibly be true? For most of my professional wine career I, for one, have been skeptical of… Continue reading
