Once upon a time, children of all ages made a trip to the department store to buy their father the traditional gift of a tie for Father’s Day. In today’s “work from home” world, few men wear ties any more. So, what’s a gift giver to do? Champagne or a sparkling wine is always a gift that never goes out of fashion, and happily, for the buyer and the recipient, good value and quality are found in numerous regions. One such place is the Trentino region in northeastern Italy. Surrounded by the majestic Dolomite Mountains, this young appellation has quickly gained recognition for well-made classic ..read more

Bouquets of colored roses convey a range of emotions from “I love you” to “thank you,” and can be complemented with like-colored still or sparkling wines. A pink rose expresses gentleness and grace, words that describe the salmon-colored nonvintage Delamotte Rosé Champagne.  Made by the viticultural team of its sister house, the renowned and regal Salon, Delamotte’s rosé is a blend of 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay. The two grapes are sourced from grand cru vineyards and fermented together, bringing a graceful balance of elegant fruit flavors and refreshing acidity. Whether at brunch o ..read more

The Champagne region is home to the world’s finest sparkling wines made from chardonnay and pinot noir. While large brands and “houses” dominate the retail market, it’s wines from the small producers that connoisseurs seek. Moet et Chandon and Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin are the proverbial 500-pound gorillas with their huge volumes (tens of millions bottles annually) backed by the mass-marketing muscle of parent company and French luxury goods conglomerate Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton. Much less known are the excellent growers’ Champagnes in this first of a series that I will be writing about. In ..read more

New Year’s Eve, 2017 During 2017, I tasted a medley of good wines that did not fit into one of my weekly themed columns. They are well made and range from good-value drinking to collectables. So, as we say farewell to 2017, we can say hello and “good buy” to these  worthy bottles. Everyone loves a bargain, which forms the business model of Della Terra Winery Direct. Founder Brian Larky skips the national importer level of America’s three-tier distribution system, allowing distributors to buy directly from the producer and saving an average of 20 to 25% markups on every bottle. T ..read more

Whether the party is in a hipster bar, elegant restaurant, or at home (be it ever so humble), New Year’s Eve calls for the world’s most stylish wine: Champagne. Style is a matter of taste and Champagne has two: blanc and rose. A few weeks ago, the New York-based Wine Media Guild of which I am a member held its annual holiday Champagne tasting and luncheon at Il Gattopardo, an upscale Italian-themed restaurant in a 1897 Beaux Art Renaissance townhouse on Manhattan’s West 54th street. An appropriate setting for what was to be poured. Spread across three tables were 22 rose Champagnes r ..read more

Sparkling wines not only set a party mood, they can set the dinner table, too. Though recent trends in glassware disfavor the flute for sparkling wines—some say it inhibits the ability to release aromas—no one ever questions the joy bubbly brings, no matter the vessel. If you’re panicked about the large bill that can accompany large parties, consider  greeting your guests with glasses of Domaines Paul Mas sparkling wine made with the method traditionelle, the same method as Champagne, but absent the Champagne price. (Only in the Champagne region may the proprietary term “method Champenois ..read more

  After a two-year Covid hibernation, the wine world is gradually awaking—and so am I. I shook off the cobwebs and attended a recent portfolio tasting in Manhattan, hosted by Independence Wine & Spirits. Hundreds of wines were presented—an impossible task to properly taste in a five-hour event—here’s a selection I favored. My first choice was the table devoted to Champagne with the wines from Andre Jacquart of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, the Grand Cru-rated village that is home to some of the finest Champagnes in the region. In 1958, Andre Jacquart took the reins of the family estate changi ..read more

After 16 years in San Francisco, Wine & Spirits magazine moved its Top 100 Symposium tasting to New York City in 2020. Two months later, New York City was ground zero in America for the coronavirus. The following year the event went virtual, but as we learned in so many ways, there’s no substitute for personal contact. Last month, the magazine’s publisher and editor Joshua Greene and his staff returned to the in-person format in New York City. Safety precautions limited the participants to 60 wineries who poured their awarded wine and another one or two wines of their choice. Around the ..read more

Celebratration is synonomous with Champagne and sparkling wines. And while the pandemic has robbed of us of many joys—and one could ask, what is there to celebrate—the makers of these delightful sparklers bring sunshine to gray days. A few years ago, I introduced Evelyne Roques-Boizel, the fifth-generation owner of the excellent Boizel Champagne house (see Boizel Champagne is a welcomed addition to the American Market ). Recently, I enjoyed the richly flavored nonvintage Boizel Reserve Brut produced by her two sons Florent and Lionel, who have taken the reins. Its 55% pinot noir creates a Bo ..read more

For millennia, Jews made wine for religious and everyday consumption. Much of that winemaking has been ballyhooed, thanks to Manischewitz—an unfair representation of the state and quality of kosher wines. In the last 30 years, Israeli winemaking has employed modern techniques in the vineyards and winemaking. Research in ancient grapes and international varieties has helped the category and now, commonly, kosher wines have the rich flavors and plush textures of their non-kosher brethren. Segal, which dates to 1925 and is one of Israel’s historic family wineries, was bought by the large Barkan ..read more