Essays
Resting hound at a Stellenbosch winery

The fall and rise of Pinotage

by  |  12-05-2020 ~ 27 Comments

Members of the wine trade are cursed to forever wander from party to party and set the record straight with regards to Chardonnay. The ‘Anything But Chardonnay’ crowd still walk among us and it must... more »

What you might not have known about Georgian wine & food, Part II

by  |  27-03-2020

Daria Kholodilina is the co-author of Georgia: A Guide to the Cradle of Wine. Here she breaks down a number of lesser-known facts about the food and wine of this delicious country. See Part I... more »

The demise of “Atwater & Clough”, a cautionary enotourism tale

by  |  17-03-2020

The bankruptcy of Thomas Cook in later 2019 was the biggest news to hit the travel industry in a long time--until of course COVID-19 emerged. This large, venerable travel agency collapsing meant tens of thousands... more »

What you might not have known about Georgian wine & food, Part I

by  |  09-03-2020

Daria Kholodilina is the co-author of Georgia: A Guide to the Cradle. Here she breaks down a number of lesser-known facts about the food and wine of this delicious country. See Part II for more.... more »

A drop of natural water

by  |  07-01-2020

One may look far and wide, but the casal of any Catalan village is a four-walled testament to the religion of concrete that dominated Spanish construction in the later 20th century. It does only as... more »

Yes, #WineToo

by  |  11-11-2019 ~ 4 Comments

By now, most everyone has heard the unfortunate news about sommelier, Anthony Cailan and his reported sexual assault of various women that have both been his subordinates as well other women he's been in contact... more »

The curious business of drinking wine in Britain

by  |  25-10-2019

While the dinner was a pop-up, the location was anything but clandestine being set at Mortimer House in London. The food wasn't secret, radical, or some weird fusion thing served off the back of an... more »

Why wine service matters

by  |  27-09-2019

I've been to a restaurant in Sant Gregori, Girona for several extended family meals on various days for these simple reasons: the food is quite good (see above), it's not far-flung from civilization, and the... more »

Perhaps a #dryjuly for the future?

by  |  28-08-2019 ~ 4 Comments

When living in Spain, July and August mark the time of year that I patently hate as everything grinds to a halt--doubly so when there are the now annual strikes at the airport. While August... more »

When the village goes dry

by  |  07-08-2019

On July 25th the village of Gratallops ran out of water. A village of 226 people, 23 wineries, three hotels, multiple holiday rentals, and seven restaurants/cafés had neither water to drink, nor to shower with,... more »