I had a pleasant visit at the award-winning French Creek Ridge Vineyards yesterday, checking out their annual sparkling wine tasting event. While there, I had a nice conversation with Janet Maki, co-owner and the winemaker at their J. Maki winery, discussing the most recent harvest (which by PA standards was just about perfect – warm…
Century-Ons
An interesting wine tidbit that has been getting some good press lately (e.g., see this article at the Washington Post), is The Wine Century Club. The club doesn’t have many members (somewhere in the low hundreds), and it hasn’t been around that long (about a year and a half). But it’s got spirit, boy! And…
Faker
The September 3/10 issue of The New Yorker has a fascinating article penned by Patrick Radden Keefe (who frequently writes articles for the magazine, most dealing with the dark underbelly of commercialism in terms of con artists, fakes, etc.). This time, the focus is turned on the market for ultra-premium, rare fine wine. Now, it’s…
A sad day in Beer Land… (Michael Jackson – 1942-2007)
Raise your glass of Belgian beer and have a moment of silence to remember the venerable Michael Jackson, esteemed English journalist, author, and critic of all things related to beer. Michael was a frequent contributer to beer periodicals and to his Beer Hunter website, and he was the author of several successful beer tomes, including…