Category Archives: GENERAL

It’s nice to have extremely strong feelings on a subject you have no opinion on. For example, for reasons known but to blog people, I am frequently asked whether I think the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen.  Why … Continue reading →

MISSION:  To set a comprehensive quality standard to the cache of inexpensive fortified wine available to ghetto-oenophiles, disadvantaged residentialists and homeless guys on the Southfield/Lodge on ramp holding ‘Will Work for Drugs’ signs. SELECTION CRITERIA:  Each bottle had to cost … Continue reading →

If you happen to be a French person, there is absolutely no down side to believing that Americans exist solely for your amusement.  It takes some of the sting out of having gone from world domination in the eighteenth century … Continue reading →

When I was a young turk just discovering that unlike the jug of Gallo that my mother hid under the sink, wine isn’t universally sold by the tanker-load, I tripped across a intriguing red with a baffling and irreverent name—Cigar … Continue reading →

Was 1984 a vintage year?  Just ask George Orwell. To clarify (prior to any need for clarification), I have never had a DUI or any alcohol-related driving offense, although—hand before God—I once rear-ended a drunk while perfectly sober, augmenting an … Continue reading →

  Woo hoo! If there were any presses left in the journalism industry, I’d hold ‘em!  I’ve been invited to enroll in an online French Wine Scholar program!   My homies, especially the ones who repair large pieces of manufacturing … Continue reading →

According to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most celebrated of the ‘Fireside Poets’ and among the first American whose works were genuinely considered to be on a par with the brilliant bards of Britain: ‘Sweet April! Many a thought … Continue reading →

Château Musar Rouge, Bekaa Valley, 1994, about $60 (Review by Broadbent):  Trademark Musar volatile acidity. Well integrated with good meaty and fruity aromas melting together. Domaine du Pégaü Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Réservée, 1993, about $120 (Review by Parker Jr. … Continue reading →