Pale Fire: Part I

Pale Fire: Part I

I remember when I first got into wine eons ago. I had just moved to San Francisco, so was only an hour and change from Napa and Sonoma. No surprise that I initially cut my teeth on California wine, which didn’t involve learning any classifications or Byzantine wine...
Gin and beef

Gin and beef

I’m not a big gin drinker. But my wife Carla likes the occasional Martini. I made one for her the other night using Plymouth 80-proof. Plymouth is also my go-to gin for Negronis with Carpano Antica the vermouth of choice and the required Campari. Negroni aside,...
Personal Tasting Strategies Part III: Palate

Personal Tasting Strategies Part III: Palate

In the last post I detailed my internal strategies for smelling a glass of wine. As I mentioned, I think smell is by far the most important aspect of tasting. So I do most of the work assessing a wine on the nose. By the time I taste a wine, I’m only doing two things:...
Personal Tasting Strategies Part II: Smell

Personal Tasting Strategies Part II: Smell

In the last post I explained my internal strategies for looking at a glass of wine in the context of using the deductive tasting grid. At one point I mentioned I thought that the nose of a wine—or smell—was by far the most important aspect of tasting. If anything,...
Personal Tasting Strategies Part I: Sight

Personal Tasting Strategies Part I: Sight

In the fall of 2009, I worked with good friends Taryn Voget and Tim Hallbom on their project called “Everyday Genius.” Their goal was to deconstruct and model what I do internally when I smell and taste wine. To accomplish this, we set up two video sessions with Tim...
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...