Written by I remember sitting at a bar in Tbilisi a few years ago, watching a young, trendy sommelier explain to a table of four exactly “how orange wine works” using words like phenolic complexity and ancestral methodology. He was charging them forty euros a glass for what was essentially a beautifully flawed way of making wine. … Continue reading “Skin-contact Wine and Who It Is for”
I remember sitting in my old dining room on a sweltering July Tuesday, watching a young, trendy sommelier try to explain to a regular why their pale pink glass was “technically superior” because of some obscure, high-altitude skin-contact method. It was pure theater. Most people think the magic of a good summer pour is some … Continue reading “Rosé Is Not Red Mixed With White”
I’ve sat through enough dinners to know that most people approach a wine list like they’re staring at a high school physics exam—terrified of looking foolish, so they just point to the most expensive bottle with the prettiest label. It’s a racket, frankly. I once watched a young man spend forty pounds on a vintage … Continue reading “Sparkling Wine Beyond the Famous Name”
I once watched a sommelier spend ten minutes performing a choreographed dance around a bottle of vintage Krug, talking about “ethereal lightness” and “the soul of the grape,” while the customer just looked confused and checked their watch. People treat the process of how sparkling wine is made like it’s some sort of mystical, untouchable … Continue reading “Why Champagne and Prosecco Are Made Differently”
I remember a wedding in 2012 where the host spent three months obsessing over the vintage of the Chardonnay, only to end the night staring at forty unopened bottles of expensive Sauvignon Blanc and a frantic, half-empty crate of cheap Prosecco. It’s a classic mistake: people treat wine orders like a high-stakes math exam or … Continue reading “Working Out How Many Bottles You Actually Need”
Stop trying to impress people with a wine list that looks like a mortgage statement. I spent twenty-six years watching guests arrive at my table clutching a bottle of some overhyped, triple-digit vintage, only to spend the entire evening too intimidated to actually pour a glass. They think knowing how to choose wine for a … Continue reading “Buying Wine for Eight People Without Guessing”
I once watched a sommelier—a boy barely older than my former sous-chef—try to lecture a regular on how to pair wine with difficult foods while they were eating a spicy, vinegar-heavy seafood stew. He was talking about “molecular structure” and “aromatic bridges,” but all I could see was a man trying to sell a bottle … Continue reading “The Foods That Fight Wine and What Wins”
I spent twenty-six years watching people stare at a wine list like it was a final exam, paralyzed by the fear that they’d pick something “wrong.” There is this pervasive, expensive nonsense floating around that you need a degree in oenology to understand how to pair wine with food, as if the goal is to … Continue reading “Pairing by Weight and Acidity, Not by Colour”
I remember sitting in my old dining room after a particularly grueling Friday service, staring at a half-empty bottle of decent Sancerre that had been sitting on the sideboard since lunch. I had a choice: pour it down the drain or try to save it, and back then, I thought I needed some expensive, high-tech … Continue reading “How Long an Open Bottle Really Lasts”
I remember a Tuesday night in my old dining room, about fifteen years ago, when a young, eager sommelier tried to perform what he clearly thought was a grand theatrical gesture with a vintage Bordeaux. He was so busy trying to look sophisticated that he practically wrestled the bottle, eventually snapping the cork into the … Continue reading “Opening a Bottle Without Ceremony or Damage”