Chris Carpenter has been the longtime winemaker of Cardinale, La Jota, Lokoya, and Mt. Brave—four top estates—all in the Napa Valley. Last year I asked him about wine’s connection to emotion. What is it about… Continue reading
Four years ago, the World Economic Forum reported that extreme, volatile weather events would cause 12 crops to be extinct within the next few decades. One of those crops was wine grapes. This can’t possibly… Continue reading
The first time I went to the Champagne region, a winemaker took me aside and showed me a glass of Perrier water. These, he said, were not “good” bubbles—not for Champagne wine anyway. The almost… Continue reading
I once found myself staring at a grenache vineyard in the southern Rhône Valley, along with a young California winemaker and a famous French winemaker. The latter was showing us the old vineyard that had… Continue reading
Guest Blog by Nina Rosas Note from Karen: Our friend Nina Rosas, a lover of wine who has worked in the industry for over 20 years, spent hours researching this alarming piece on the historic… Continue reading
Sauvignon blanc is one of the few grape varieties that makes delicious wines all over the world. (Most varieties are confined to just a small handful of places). But where did it come from? Who… Continue reading
As Champagne is in France or Port is in Portugal, Sherry is Spain’s most complex and labor-intensive wine. It was also once Spain’s (maybe the world’s) most tragically forgotten wine. But in the last few… Continue reading
It’s been a phenomenal year. In addition to all of the wines I’ve tasted and written about for articles in 2018, we chose a different, extraordinary “Wine to Know” each week for 52 editions of… Continue reading
Several WineSpeed readers have written in worried about the future of eiswein, one of the most spectacular sweet wines in the world—and one of the most difficult to make. Is eiswein doomed thanks to global… Continue reading
This time of year, scores of photographers and wine lovers line up along the roads of every wine region and whip out their cameras and phones to photograph grapevine leaves turning glorious shades of red,… Continue reading
In the 1980s, I worked for a week picking grapes 10 hours a day as part of a harvest crew for Cakebread Cellars in the Napa Valley. I was assigned to a foreman (Mr. Miguel… Continue reading
A recent morning tasting Screaming Eagle has convinced me of one thing: it doesn’t scream. But it does soar with such an incredible lightness of being it hardly seems corporeal. I was more than impressed… Continue reading
