“[Great Oregon pinot noir] … is about the complete power of gracefulness. When I’m drinking a pinot noir, I want it to taste like Grace Kelly just walked into the room.”

“Wine is earth’s answer to the sun.”

“Nothing makes the future look so rosy as to contemplate it through a glass of Chambertin.”

“Wine is so special because it is mankind’s one source of comfort and courage, his only medicine and antiseptic, his one resource to renew his tired spirits and lift him above his weary saddened self… Continue reading

“One day her mother said to her, ‘Come, Little Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine. Take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they… Continue reading

“I defy you to go down to San Francisco and find anyone today who wants to get hot and sticky picking grapes for $30 an hour.”

“A raisin tastes like a raisin. It’s bad for the wine industry when [grapes get so ripe that] wine from all places tastes the same.”

“As surprising as it may seem, wines are like fabrics with multiple and diverse physical aspects that may be pleasant or horrifying. There are smooth wines and rough wines, supple wines and stiff wines, harsh… Continue reading

“Great wine is born not in the vineyard, but in the brain.”

“We think of syrah as pinot noir with more structure. Syrah is for pinot noir lovers with really sophisticated palates.”

“Knowing what minerality is reminds me of that line about pornography: I know it when I see it.”

“I know that knowing a lot about wine means I know how little I know.”