Parts is parts

Parts is parts

The image in the middle of this post is decidedly out of focus. I took it in Hong Kong in February of 2013 when I was there to do an MS class and exam. Tommy Lam, our local contact, insisted on taking us to his favorite hole-in-a-wall noodle joint for lunch. It was...
The Aromatics

The Aromatics

I call them the aromatics, the most floral and flamboyant of all white wines. If they lived in a visual world, it would be somewhere between the saturated Peter Max-like design of the Beatle’s Yellow Submarine and the Barbie movie. In other words, glorious shocking...
Tasting fortified wines

Tasting fortified wines

Tasting fortified wines in a double blind scenario for an exam presents its own unique set of challenges. But as with tasting still table wines, focusing on color, age and/or the level of oxidation, the use of oak, and method of production are key to being able to...
Why is this wine so expensive?

Why is this wine so expensive?

*Photo by Peter Granoff, MS Wine, as with love, is a many splintered thing. Or at least that’s what a daytime soap from back in the day told me. But wine is complicated, also like love. Take price, for instance. Why is it that some bottles cost a few shekels while...
My doppio at Café Sant Eustachio

My doppio at Café Sant Eustachio

The experience was like boarding a plane in China or riding the 30 Stockton on Muni in San Francisco. Both require the tenacity of a Blue Heeler, complete disrespect for social distancing, and the use of one’s elbows. But instead of pushing my way to an aisle seat on...