T hey are those little secret shames, lurking in our lives. Sometimes they are in our face. Sometimes they dwell in a state of hibernation. ...

W here has everybody gone? They were here all month, the patter of feet above my hot particles, constantly, back and forth; running, draggin...

A mericans can be so influenced by the oddest junctions between aspiration and sensibility. A retail friend was lamenting that this summer a...

A few months ago it started to get to me. 2012 has been a challenging year in many respects. But after five years and 900 blog posts, I&#...

From the "My Way or the (Appian) High Way" dept. "calling all cornuti" J ust when you thought wine marketers couldn...

I t was like any other day. A little longer than most, perhaps. As I rose at 5:00 AM to drive 200 miles to work in Shreveport, I packed ligh...

L ast week in San Francisco I presented a piece to a group at the Society of Wine Educators conference. Called Deconstructing DOCG, it was ...

W ith all the stuff that is thrown at most of us on a daily basis, it seems to be getting harder to have those singular moments where the ou...

T welve years ago at this time, life was a living hell. The summer was unrelentingly hot; my wife’s disease was entering its final stages an...

W alking along a hiking path, on the edge of the continent and from the neighboring northward country, the longtimer came upon a glen. The...

L ast night I found myself in a most wonderful predicament. High in the hills of Marin County for a small concert, with people I didn’t know...

From the "Two Geralds are better than one" dept. U pon setting foot on the west coast, the 2nd time in a month, I am in awe o...

L ast night, over a wonderful dinner, our host brought out two dessert wines, a Sauternes and a Vin Santo. The Sauternes was a famous one, C...

T onight in front of a sold-out crowd in the back room at my favorite Italian store I led the group through a tasting of Italian wines. T...

An Italian Wine Blog I t doesn’t happen that often. You’re planning a meal at home and choose a wine. The wine turns out to be the wrong cho...