If you love jazz, you know Duke Ellington, whose big band was a kind of heartbeat of the genre for fifty years, beginning with the 11 piece orchestra he led that … Duke’s LawRead more

The First Drink Problem may not have the philosophic cachet or be as daunting as the celebrated Chicken-Egg Conundrum, but it does seem to linger. It appears that the question has … Which Came First, Wine or Beer?Read more

The First Drink Problem may not have the philosophic cachet or be as daunting as the celebrated Chicken-Egg Conundrum, but it does seem to linger. It appears that the question has … <span class="entry-title-primary">Which Came First, Beer or Wine?</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Whatever you think … that's not it.</span>Read more

They come from the mountains or the desert, most often — wild, uncultivated places where the hand of man has yet to make much of an imprint. They are themselves of … Bees in the BonnetRead more

Write a newspaper wine column as your correspondent did for years, and you quickly learn that to get the work done you have to settle into a routine. For me, step … When the Opposite of Dry Isn’t WetRead more

Wine has many faces. If it didn’t, how could we write a fresh essay about it every week, not to mention the occasional draw from the archives we twitch a feather … X-ray or Portrait?Read more

Like you, perhaps, we wonder about why the price of a certain wine is as it is. We know that it has something to do with the costs or production, the … A Few Words from Wine CountryRead more

Inspiration for the cartoon above arrived one day after a customer voiced a concern we hear from time to time, generally from folks recently returned from time abroad. Still basking in … When We Drank It in TuscanyRead more

The question of whether nature or nurture takes precedence in our ongoing debate about human behavior just won’t go away. Advances in genomics have only made the matter more contentious. Our … Can a Big Idea Be Found in a Glass of Wine?Read more

The 20th may have been the American century, but it was during the 18th that we made the transition from an ethnically uniform but marginally viable colony of the British Empire … What Yankee Doodle DrankRead more

Would it please you to know that you may well be a better judge of wine than you imagine? That you — as an enthusiastic but likely untrained amateur  — may … Is It Red, White or Pink? (No Peeking)Read more

Where did my wine go?  It’s a question we’re often called upon to answer. It’s true that we sometimes move things around a bit to keep the Wine Corner looking fresh. … Gone Baby GoneRead more