What Is Natural Wine?
“Natural Wine is farmed organically (biodynamically, using permaculture or the like) and made (or rather transformed) without adding or removing anything in the cellar. No additives or processing aids are used, and ‘intervention’ in the naturally occurring fermentation process is kept to a minimum. As such neither fining nor (tight) filtration are used. The result is a living wine – wholesome and full ofContinue reading “What Is Natural Wine?”
‘There’s a crack in everything’ [PLAYLIST]
I’ve had a hard time writing, even thinking, retrospectively about this year. In so many ways, it’s because 2020 isn’t really ending on December 31st. For wine folks like me, this year has been defined by a pandemic that is not just ongoing, but worse in the United States than it’s ever been; by theContinue reading “‘There’s a crack in everything’ [PLAYLIST]”
Green Spain
Verdant, and green, and mild, we’re a long way away, literally and figuratively, from the sangría/bullfight/flamenco/paella Spain that lives in a lot of our imaginations. From the French border on the Bay of Biscay to the fractal Atlantic-facing coastline of Galicia, this is a land of cod fisheries and sidrerías, bagpipes and runes carved inContinue reading “Green Spain”
Aligoté Has Terroir
“In the past, aligoté was planted at the top of Chambertin! Musigny blanc was half aligoté! It was half of Corton! After phylloxera, most replanted with easier-to-grow chardonnay and put aligoté on the other side of the road where no one ever planted anything but carrots and potatoes. This was the sad story of ruined aligoté.” [Laurent Ponsot, to Alice Feiring]
“Not Champagne”
Champagne is not the only place that makes bubbles, and it’s not the only way bubbles are made! Two days after whatever all of us end up doing on a pandemic NYE feels like a good time to contemplate sparkling wines that are wines first…
Press
Articles, interviews, and pieces of wine writing that I want to share.
