Monthly Archives: December 2014

Life’s A Bubble: Sparkling New Thoughts, Fizzy New Year

Posted on December 31, 2014 by intoxreport

In the week before Christmas and New Year’s, it is customary to write a column about Champagne and related species.  And doing what is expected, occasionally a thorn in the paw of creativity, also keeps us focused in this time … Continue reading →

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Six Achingly Bold Wine Predictions For 2015

Posted on December 29, 2014 by intoxreport

Every year at this time I channel the ectospasm of Jean Dixon, who gives me access to a smattering of trade journal wine headlines that will appear throughout the upcoming year.  Use this information with wisdom and circumspection, my children, … Continue reading →

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New Year’s Soul-Search: 3 People Who Are Bigger Losers Than You

Posted on December 26, 2014 by intoxreport

…Or me. At this contemplative season of the year, when we add up our lives on our brand-new shoplifted Wolfram Mathematica 9 calculators, many of us heave sighs of resignation. We are not wealthy, we have not won Heisman Trophies … Continue reading →

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L’Enfant Jésus: Good to the Beaune

Posted on December 24, 2014 by intoxreport

Everything about Burgundy is eternal; nothing about Burgundy is predictable. Except for one thing: The Little Drummer Boy could not have afforded L’Enfant Jésus. When I was a fledgling fan of French phantasmagora, I used to use the mnemonic Beaune—pronouced … Continue reading →

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Château Palmer: Margaux Your Own Way

Posted on December 23, 2014 by intoxreport

If you find the Bordeaux Classification of 1855 irrelevant, confusing, frustrating or all the above, rest assured: You are in good company. The snit of owner Baron Philippe de Rothschild over Mouton’s second-rate status led to decades of lobbying, resulting in … Continue reading →

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Santa Rita’s Coming To Town

Posted on December 21, 2014 by intoxreport

Santa Rita—among Chile’s most beatified producers—has stuffed my stocking with an quartet of wines that should make the naughtiest holiday party a little bit nicer. And ideally, the other way around. Chile’s history of wine production dates to the 16th … Continue reading →

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Repaying The Piper: Napa Vintage, 2011

Posted on December 18, 2014 by intoxreport

Sean Piper has been remarkably supportive of my personal amble through the alleys of annoying wine disquisition, and today, it’s payback time. See, in the spirit of a genuine anti-journalist, I operate this column on a purist catechism of quid … Continue reading →

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MBTB Tasting Room, The Sequel

Posted on December 17, 2014 by intoxreport

I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life and I quite like it here. However, I don’t much like our flag. In the first place, it depicts two bipedal ruminants—an elk and a moose—neither of which are actually bipedal ruminants, but both … Continue reading →

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Merry Meursault And A Châteauneuf Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2014 by intoxreport

Christmas is for the young; so it was with perfect propriety that I sat with eternally young wine merchant Elie Boudt over a couple of French classics as re-interpreted by a new generation of winemaker. The techniques employed were not an … Continue reading →

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Christmas: The Alternate Endings

Posted on December 5, 2014 by intoxreport

Although I wear the social face of an altruistic wine scholar while living a public existence of citizenship, leadership and responsibility (using life skills I learned at the 4-H Club—‘Heart, Hands, Health and Heroin’), the truth of the matter is … Continue reading →

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