When you think of a winery, you probably imagine the bucolic Napa Valley or the dangling vineyard grapes in French wine country.
There's an oft-repeated bit of eno-philosophy that says the wine business is immune to recession because people drink in good times and bad. But it turns out there's a caveat: In bad times such as these, they mostly drink the cheap stuff.
If the two forks of Long Island's East End were sisters, the North Fork would undoubtedly be the innocent, modest one.
Perhaps they're not the first place you think of when it comes to wineries, but these four regions offer character and great wine, without the hoopla.
Ask most wine hounds and sommeliers on either side of the Atlantic where the best chardonnay originates, and the answer will almost certainly be California or France.
Last year it seemed as if the proud wine growers of Bordeaux might actually have to share the financial pain the rest of us were going through. After a wet summer with little sunshine, even the Bordelais -- who like to think their reds are the global benchmark for quality -- were conceding that the 2008 vintage might not be one for the history books. Everyone else hoped that after an overpriced 2007 vintage, Bordeaux prices, which have been mounting steadily over recent vintages, might descend from the stratosphere, aided by weaker global demand.
If you think you're doing your teeth a favor by sipping white wine instead of red, you may need to rethink your tooth-whitening strategy.
When Bruce Gutlove holds up his vineyard's finest bottle of chardonnay, he sees the clarity, senses the anticipated crisp taste, and savors the hard summer of tending to his grapes.
Professional golfers and hackers alike try all sorts of unusual things to avoid the dreaded three-putt: cross-handed grips, staggered stances, elongated putters. Jayson Woodbridge has his own trick. He swings with one hand.
Red wine and chocolate are a darling pair these days. With all those deep, dark chocolate notes right in a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine seems like a natural match for an intensely-flavored, dark chocolate dessert.
When you think of a winery, you probably imagine the bucolic Napa Valley or the dangling vineyard grapes in French wine country.
There's an oft-repeated bit of eno-philosophy that says the wine business is immune to recession because people drink in good times and bad. But it turns out there's a caveat: In bad times such as these, they mostly drink the cheap stuff.
If the two forks of Long Island's East End were sisters, the North Fork would undoubtedly be the innocent, modest one.
Perhaps they're not the first place you think of when it comes to wineries, but these four regions offer character and great wine, without the hoopla.
Ask most wine hounds and sommeliers on either side of the Atlantic where the best chardonnay originates, and the answer will almost certainly be California or France.
Last year it seemed as if the proud wine growers of Bordeaux might actually have to share the financial pain the rest of us were going through. After a wet summer with little sunshine, even the Bordelais -- who like to think their reds are the global benchmark for quality -- were conceding that the 2008 vintage might not be one for the history books. Everyone else hoped that after an overpriced 2007 vintage, Bordeaux prices, which have been mounting steadily over recent vintages, might descend from the stratosphere, aided by weaker global demand.
If you think you're doing your teeth a favor by sipping white wine instead of red, you may need to rethink your tooth-whitening strategy.
When Bruce Gutlove holds up his vineyard's finest bottle of chardonnay, he sees the clarity, senses the anticipated crisp taste, and savors the hard summer of tending to his grapes.
Professional golfers and hackers alike try all sorts of unusual things to avoid the dreaded three-putt: cross-handed grips, staggered stances, elongated putters. Jayson Woodbridge has his own trick. He swings with one hand.
Red wine and chocolate are a darling pair these days. With all those deep, dark chocolate notes right in a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine seems like a natural match for an intensely-flavored, dark chocolate dessert.
As midnight approaches on December 31st, more than a few of us will crack open a bottle or two of champagne to help toast in the New Year.
As the former president of Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Television, Rich Frank has a long list of blockbusters to his credit, from Cheers and Entertainment Tonight to Pretty Woman and The Lion King. He's a born marketer with a knack for convincing the public that we want what he's got. And now he's ready to reveal his latest masterpiece, several years in the making. At his office in Calistoga, Calif., he reaches behind his desk for a dark, unmarked bottle that must weigh five pounds or more. It's called Promise. He hands it over. "This," he says, "is going to be one of those cult wines."
From Mexico's Guadalupe Valley to Blue Hill, Maine, these 10 waterfront getaways offer a toast to the good life.
Spanish scientists unveil an electronic "tongue" that can tell the difference between a chardonnay and a macabeu
There is perhaps no better example of the democratization of wine marketing than Gary Vaynerchuk. His almost-daily, 25-minute video rants about the subject, Wine Library TV, boast 60,000 viewers, who post an astonishing 300 to 500 comments per episode.
Some men never grew up Fortunate like you Some men never found out What it takes to be a dude That's sports and wine -- Ben Folds Five
Dick Vermeil was concerned. He had gotten off to a good start with his 2003 vintage Charbono, a dark, stylish wine that is made only in California. It was a correct wine, mixing the dark brooding touches of this exotic grape with a clean taste of berryish fruit, but then the next vintage, the 2004, had shown an overripe, spirity quality that puzzled a few of the tasters in the room.
Some things just don't make any sense: Elton John and 50 Cent? The Godfather (I and II) and When Harry Met Sally?
Dear FSB: What is the success rate for a small local winery in an area of between 40,000 to 60,000 people?
There's nothing as depressing as internal congratulation, except maybe for an NFL Network think piece, but I've simply got to stop and take note of the truly superior brand of e-mails this week. So let's have a real Morris Plains round of applause for our man in the control booth, Paulie Forrests! OK, Doctor, let's hear from the first stiff ... uh, first e-mailer.
"You sure have a lot of weeds." That's how Doug Tunnell describes the reaction of visitors to Brick House Vineyards, his small estate in Newberg, Ore. He points to plants you don't expect to see among the rows of grapevines: a tangle of blackberries overtaking a bed of yellow yarrow. "Only we don't view them as weeds," he says. "They're plants that offer habitats to organisms that somehow affect our grapes' DNA."
Ten years ago, Blair and Estelle Hunt entered the wine business with nothing more than a bare plot of land.
Popping corks and effervescent bubbles have symbolised success and celebration for more than 300 years.
California's Napa Valley, with its rolling hills, vineyards and prized terrain, produces some of America's finest wines. Here, tradition and craft are everything.
There's a war on bluster, and Fred Franzia is losing. Sure, the CEO of Bronco Wine, the nation's fourth-largest wine company, tells me repeatedly that only a sucker would pay more than $10 for a bottle of wine - including his own $35 Domaine Napa. And that Napa's and Bordeaux's claims about their special soils are bogus: "We can grow on asphalt. Terroir don't mean sh*t." After relieving himself by the side of his Jeep, Franzia recounts a trip to Burgundy where, after an elaborate tasting, he told the winemaker at Château Haut-Brion, "You can bottle gasoline if you can sell that."
Viña Cobos co-owner Andrea Marchiori tightens her smile ever so slightly as she eyes my pant leg and shoe, now spattered with the oxygenated blood purple of malbec wine.
My recent travels in Burgundy have caused me to think a lot about the French. The great issues of the day seem to deal with food and wine.
Daryl Sattui set out to build a modest, 8,500-square-foot winery. Millions of dollars and 120,000 square feet later, he's king of a wine country castle complete with drawbridge, dungeons and nifty little slots for the old boiling oil trick.
Screwcapped wines are quickly gaining popularity, and it's got cork producers coming up with new ways to stay on top
With new wineries, restaurants, and places to stay, Lake County (north of Napa) looks better than ever.
How do you get your product noticed in a sea of look-alike competitors? If you're South African winery Stormhoek, you go Web 2.0, with blogging, viral marketing, and crowdsourcing.
Anticipation is in the sunshine flooding these vineyards' meticulously tended rows nowadays. At Napa Valley's Far Niente wine estate, that not-quite-knowable date is coming.
For many, nothing says summer like a chilled glass of Chardonnay. But for vintners Kathryn and Craig Hall, getting people to pour from their bottle has been an uphill battle.
Press the switch to open the curtains in your valley-view room at the Poetry Inn, and you're suspended with the primary-striped hot-air balloons of postcard fame. Pedal up the Silverado Trail to the Miner Family villa, climb the steps, look west over your shoulder, and a world-class view is yours too. The first might be a decade's splurge; the second, just a weekend getaway. There are many ways to enjoy this wine country.
Just hearing the word "champagne" conjures up images of sparkling wine, popping corks, and wild celebrations. But mentioning that other Champagne -- as in the northeastern region of France -- evokes a much more complex bouquet. Filled with wars, political clashes, and controversy, the bubbly region and its eponymous drink have produced a rich history worth toasting to.
Whether you're looking for mud baths or bike routes, a castle or just a good meal, Travel + Leisure steers you in the right direction on this easy drive from San Francisco to Calistoga, California.
I grow all reds -- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Malbec, and Pinotage. I made a blend in 2002 -- Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. It's a nice drinking wine, called the David Frost Par Excellence 2002.
Federal prosecutors looking into allegations of counterfeit wine sales have sent subpoenas to rare-wine collectors and to some of the world's leading auction houses, including Christie's in London and Zachys in New York, according to a published report.
British Columbia's lake country is producing Pinot Noirs and Rieslings well worth tasting. Here, a Travel + Leisure wine expert's primer on the best way to explore the region -- and which bottles to take home with you.
One weekend morning in 2002, Michael Brill had the sort of epiphany that commonly befalls successful businesspeople - particularly tech businesspeople who live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fed up...
Drive for an hour north of San Francisco following Highway 29 and you will enter the majestic wine country that is Napa Valley.
YES, YOU COULD JUST PLOP YOURSELF down on a beach in Jamaica this winter, but in most cases, it'd be no different from that beach in St. John's. Or Florida. Or California. The same is true of skiin...
"Think of the world's great travel destinations," says Luca Paschina, wine maker at Barboursville Vineyards near Charlottesville. "Each has history, landscape, food and wine. That's the beauty of Virginia. It has all these things."
Call it the wine snob problem. You prepare a recipe out of a glossy magazine, but when you head to your local wine store (or for most Americans, your local supermarket) for the recommended 2003 ripe merlot with "soft tannins and a medium long finish," it's nowhere to be found.
Why is it that wine has a singular ability to reduce otherwise worldly men and women to insecure, stuttering naifs--or worse, swaggering poseurs? It's mystifying, frankly. But as chef Mario Batali ...
"Andy Grove had a saying when I worked at Intel," says Chuck McMinn, a Silicon Valley veteran who spent 25 years at the chipmaker and a series of startups. "If you can't measure it, you can't impro...
Forget about that jet-fuel ouzo. Greek wineries are finally getting props from sommeliers, but they need U.S. reps. to market their product.
The first time Blair Pethel drove the tractor out onto his newly acquired vineyards in Burgundy, he flipped it. Such accidents are common in the region, and they can be fatal. (There are two or thr...
"You simply can't build a $20 million mansion that doesn't have a wine cellar!" declares Jeff Smith, a wine consultant based in Beverly Hills. He's not joking: One client who recently retained his services is in AA but wanted a lavish cellar to impress guests.
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Red or white? It's the first question you ask when choosing a wine, right? Silly you. What you should be looking at, see, is whether it's a grand cru or a reserve. And do you adhere to the Parker scale? (You really should, you know.) And last, you philistine, do you want something lithe and supple, or firm-structured with good harmony?
You're at a nice restaurant in a strange city with a group of important clients. The waiter circles around and decides to hand you, of all people, the wine list. While you can fake it at the the tw...
This May the Supreme Court struck down laws banning direct-to-consumer shipments across state lines by wineries. The court held that Michigan and New York can't bar out-of-state winemakers from shi...
The art of wine making may be thousands of years old, but a South African vineyard is using the modern technique of photo imaging technology to get the most out of its highest-yielding grapes.
Wineries and wine quaffers had reason to raise their glasses Monday, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states cannot prohibit consumers from buying wine directly from out-of-state wineries.
I hope there's a sequel to "Sideways," the wine-soaked movie that's had a dramatic impact on American consumers.
Unless you know a lot about grapes, trips to the local wine shop can be unsatisfying: lots of bottles you don't recognize, a few you do, and confusing price ranges. Having a sommelier at your side-...
"Take it back," snapped Robert Mondavi, his pulse quickening with rage. What had been a festive family celebration that day in November 1965 got eerily still. Robert and his brother Peter had toile...
It's an 85-degree day in September, and Mike Wood of Wood Family Vineyards in Livermore, Calif., is inspecting his 14 acres of merlot grapes. He wanders between the rows of vines, sampling grapes t...
The Millbrook Vineyards and Winery is a popular stop for tourists looking for a bit of culture and culinary indulgence, all in a country setting.
The Millbrook Vineyards and Winery is a popular stop for tourists looking for a bit of culture and culinary indulgence, all in a country setting.
The party starts in half an hour. The shrimp cocktail is on ice, the rumaki are in the oven and you've perfected your hot toddy. Hair? Fabulous. Mistletoe? Check. And then it hits you. Champagne, g...
Every few years, wine lovers anoint a country or region as their new darling. In the 1970s, it was Napa. Then came Sonoma, Chile, Australia and others from the New World.
You walk into an upscale restaurant, and the waiter drops a tome as thick as a college biology textbook onto your table. Like that long-forgotten text, it's filled with foreign words and strange co...
This summer a French politician named Alain Suguenot proposed a novel way to rescue the ailing French wine industry: Create an official body modeled on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to c...
In our last issue we reported on biodynamics, a radical viticultural method whose proponents claim it produces superior wines by combining elements of astrology and homeopathy with organic grape gr...
It's been a tough few years for French winemakers.
Winemakers are often considered an odd lot. A good number of them hug trees, wear Birkenstocks, and so on. But there is a movement sweeping the wine world that makes Greenpeace look moderate. It's ...
At the largest gathering of European winemakers outside of Europe, French vintners have a message for American consumers: come back, s'il vous plaît.
The sorry stats say that as much as 10% of all wine is infected with TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole), a compound found in plastic, burlap, and--more to the point--cork. A mere nanogram can make a live...
California's wine country, it turns out, was hit just as hard by the economic downturn as the rest of the world. Prices for some of the most coveted brands plummeted by a third, and profits of high...
Ah, the legendary romance of winemaking. Apple-cheeked peasant girls treading grapes under a harvest moon. Intimate tastings. And, of course, multispectral imaging and neutron probes. Huh?
A few years ago in London, six City bankers, celebrating their good fortune to be City bankers, dined at the restaurant Petrus, a lavish place with a wine list to make a French king drool.
This April, at chateaus across Bordeaux, merchants and selected oenophiles from around the world will gather to taste the first sampling of a vintage rumored to be among the best in years. The wine...
Many red wines today taste a little like Black Forest cake in a glass: dense, with gobs of fruit, a splash of black cherry, and a twist of vanilla. For that you can thank (or blame) Robert M. Parke...
Champagne, once the very definition of swank, may be losing its fizz. Savvy sippers are now buying sparkling wines, which have increased dramatically in quality and availability but not yet in pric...
Most Americans know about the health benefits of red wine, but recently science has given us another one--a chemical called resveratol. It's found in red grapes grown in cool climates, and research...
In this increasingly wine-savvy country, it is no longer sufficient to have around the house, say, a haphazard assortment of mysterious international whites, some of dubious provenance and others p...
In more than 20 years as a professional eater, I have sampled (read: drunk) enough wine to irrigate an artichoke field in California. Back in the early 1980s, restaurant wine lists were largely con...
A glut in California wines, coupled with a flood of inexpensive imports (particularly from Australia), makes it easier than ever to buy a good bottle of wine for under $15. For the last languid day...
When Wal-Mart launched its own wine label--Alcott Ridge Vineyards, produced by E&J Gallo--in 2000, wine buffs answered with a chorus of snickers about the new "white trashfandel" and "nasti spumant...
California bacchanal
Wine critics tend to be a notoriously demanding bunch, but if you read what they're saying about the 2000 vintage in Bordeaux you'd think they'd tasted heaven itself. Wine Spectator's James Sucklin...
The main problem with getting away from it all, it seems, is that the rest of civilization is trying to get away from it all too--generally at the same time and the same place you are. So your supp...
During a recent visit to Charleston, S.C., we were amazed to discover one of the broadest wine selections we've seen--in, of all places, a Piggly Wiggly. Can it be? Dom Perignon and Opus One in ais...
What is it about lists that we love so much? From People's 50 Most Beautiful People to the Billboard Hot 100, the top ten vacation getaways, the Fortune 500--it just goes on and on. And then, of co...
You're way past cheap Australian reds and bargain-basement Chileans. Plunking down 30 bucks for a California chardonnay is no big deal, and you're familiar with even the most obscure Oregon pinot n...
Want a hobby that enables you to learn a craft, spend time outdoors, and impress your friends? You have a lot of company. The number of wineries in the U.S. has doubled in the past 20 years to more...
We gave $100 to Paul Roberts, wine director at Houston's Cafe Annie, to see what he'd buy.
We sent $100 to Karen Densmore, owner of acclaimed Boston restaurant Truc, to buy whatever wine she wanted--as long as she told us what she chose.
It's 11:30 on a hot June morning at Gallo's Frei Ranch vineyard in Sonoma County, and Gina Gallo, her streaky blond hair twisted up in a stub of a ponytail, is rushing into the tasting trailer. She...
Even in our gilded age, this spring's Napa Valley Wine Auction was amazing. Tickets to the four-day charity event, priced at $2,000 per couple, sold out within a week. The food was fantastic--salmo...
FORTUNE gave $100 to Brandon Carr, maitre d' and wine buyer at Four Square, in Durham, N.C., to see what he'd buy.
Last year Delta Air Lines sent 16 of its international BusinessElite flight attendants for a crash course at the Vinum Wine Academy in France. We gave $100 to one of them, Kate Glynn, and asked her...
NAME: Sarah McCarthy, wine steward and buyer at Cascadia, Seattle
We handed $100 to Christie Dufault, sommelier at Vincent Guerithault on Camelback, in Phoenix, and a tour guide to France for Butterfield & Robinson. Her mission? Buy wine and take notes:
--SNOWSHOES Hot gear for the cold. With the recent growth of recreational snowshoeing, a wider and more affordable selection of models has arrived on the scene. Today's snowshoes are light, durable...
When Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers was growing up in Wisconsin, wine was something that came in a screw-top bottle. Now it's something he handcrafts in his big backyard. Winemaking is no m...
When was the last time you sipped a flute of champagne? At a wedding? At an anniversary? Last New Year's Eve? Well, if you think of breaking out the bubbly only on special occasions, you're not alo...
I was recently shopping at Zachy's in Scarsdale, N.Y., the largest wine retailer on the East Coast, when there was a fuss behind the counter. The customer ahead of me, a salesperson quickly explain...
The 1997 Burgundies are still six months to a year or more away from your wine merchant's shelves, but the vintage will likely be one of the most overpriced in recent memory. The early warning was ...
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