Menu for Hope is a charity fundraiser supported by food and wine bloggers worldwide. It was started by Pim Techamuanvivit who blogs at Chez Pim and is now in its 5th year. Last year Menu for Hope raised over $90,000 for a school lunch program in Lesotho. Find out more about the Menu for Hope [...]

How the mighty have fallen. Last year we were riding high with extreme wine accessories. This year we’re going back to basics for our holiday gift giving. Wines, glasses and books. Period. Wine Sweet wines are the perfect wine gift. Practically everybody loves them but either can’t admit it or won’t buy them for themselves. [...]

Are vintages subjective? 8 out of 10 cats would agree that wine ratings are based on personal taste. Vintages, on the other hand, seem to be more grounded in the firm reality of weather and climate and their effects on the grapes. A good year is a good year, no? CLICK TO SEE THE FULL [...]

Selecting the perfect yacht juice Yachts? Rosés? But the markets are tanking and the summer is over! Damn the reality1, full speed ahead! For the past few years rosé sales have power-sailed at a record pace. No one knows exactly why given their perpetual image problem due to (in no apparent order): White Zinfandel Rosé [...]

This article appeared in the August 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) A man walks into a restaurant just outside of Naples and barks out his order. “I want three things: a pepperoni pizza, a green salad and a bottle of red wine – Chianti.” This guy just wasn’t about to get sweet talked into [...]

This article appeared in the June 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) People who know nothing about wine – no, not you, I’m talking about people who think Chardonnay is a brand name – somehow know enough to say “I like a dry wine” even if they don’t. Yes, the underlying insecurities that seem to [...]

“I’ll be pouring some excellent Cab Francs today.” Whatever happened to “We’re tasting some excellent Cab Francs today?” Everyone seems to be pouring everywhere these days. Am I the only person who thinks that this sounds strange? What would the equivalent be with chocolate chip cookies? “I’ll be placing some excellent chocolate chip cookies today?” [...]

This article appeared in the December 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) So what do you get for the wine lover who has everything? Bottles of wine can be tricky unless you really understand the receiver’s preferences very well. And even then, the element of surprise – the hallmark of any good gift – ups [...]

An evening at the Autour d’ un Verre Copyright 2007 Brice Dunwoodie This article appeared in the October 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) People used to say that you can’t get a bad meal in Paris. Sadly, this is no longer true (perhaps it never was!) and the same goes for wine. Still, there’s [...]

It used to be said – actually quite often – that wine people are all so nice. But Bacchus got bored of that. Polite disagreements turned into towel-swatting. Towel-swatting turned into fisticuffs. And fisticuffs turned into an all out head-in-the-turnbuckle, tomahawk chopping, pile driving, suplexing brawl. Yes, the world of wine has become like professional [...]