SNOB Wines, Not What You Think

By Michael DeLoach - SNOB is an acronym for the four major “green” wine designations: Sustainable, Natural, Organic, and Biodynamic. You may want to add some of these wines to your cellar or give them as Holiday gifts to friends who are earth-friendly in their wine choices. Here’s what you need to know. S is for Sustainable Sustainable means you can Keep It Going. It’s a common-sense agricultural principle that calls for...

Wine Shoppers: Which One Are You?

By Michael De Loach, President, Hook & Ladder Winery - Archetypes abound and the wine world is no exception. There are many varieties of wine drinkers, species of snobs and subsets of admirers, collectors, expounders and travelers. But by far my favorite group to study are wine shoppers. Which kind you are? Bargain Browser I’m a bargain browser. I spend an inordinate amount of time in the wine section hunting down that...

When To Decant Wine

By Robert Paul - The short answers is, you can (and should) decant wine more often than you think. Over years my wife and I have amassed a nice collection of wine decanters. They sit on the sideboard and sometimes in the china cabinet and a few I haven’t seen in years, which means they probably ended up in a neighborhood  tag sale. Sometimes our decanters emerge without their crystal stoppers to be flower vases. But a few...

Putting Wine in Context

By Michael Green - Repeat this mantra: “All wine need not be great. All wine need not be celestial.” Believe it. Own it. Don’t forget to breathe. Now sip! In this information age and urban environment, in which most of us live, we are besieged with wine criticism and reviews that often proclaim the best wines…..the greatest wines….the “you must beg borrow and steal to get a bottle of this limited wine.” A critique might...

Summer Picnic Wines

By Michael Green - The sweat trickled down my brow. With each and every sip, my whole being became overwhelmed, lethargic and terribly unhappy. Physiologically and “gustatorily,” I was perspiring and parched. Very parched. No, this is not a scene from a Harlequin romance, but perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Let me set the scene – New York, Central Park. An outdoor concert. I believe it was Pavarotti. Le Nozze di...

Summer Wines – What You Need to Know

By Marsha Fottler - Michael Green is one of America’s premier wine and spirits celebrities, serving as the Gourmet Magazine wine and spirits expert for 19 years along with making appearances on the Today Show, Food Network, MSNBC, and CNN. His wine stories as they relate to food, travel, business and lifestyle have appeared the New York Times, Fortune Small Business, and Entrepreneur Magazine, and his advice is sought...