Northwest Italy’s Dolcetto is a funny little wine. The name means “little sweet one,” but a touch of bitterness is usually...
Steak. It’s America’s favorite excuse to open a red wine. Why is that? Perhaps its the thickness of the meat, which requires...
I can’t seem to get my head out of Italy and France. You’ll have to pardon me for the clear...
Recommending wines and writing about them isn’t a new phenomenon. Just ask Pliny the Elder or Leonardo di Vinci about...
I’ve been ignoring New World wines on Opening a Bottle lately, probably because I’m going through a roots phase with France and Italy...
Some styles of wine have a clear echelon of quality, while others require a bit more triangulation to figure out. The...
The Dark Beast of Italian Wine
A conversation with Luca Currado on Piedmont's "White Nebbiolo"
Back in April, I wrote about the Zenato family of Veneto’s Valpolicella region, and how their “baby Amarone” (my words,...
They did it again, those winemaking monks of Abbazia di Novacella. After tasting their Schiava, Lagrein and Pinot Grigio (the latter...
For a moment, think of the wine inside a bottle as a story. As you drink it, it has a progression:...
I’m at a point in my Nebbiolo-drinking career where I honestly can’t say whether I prefer Barbaresco and Barolo more than the...