Roy Lichtenstein,

I've been rediscovering Berkeley lately, and will report on lots of great local restaurants. Do stay tuned.

Lessons in Good Living: Part One

L-I-V-I-N: 2001 LeRoy Vosne-Romanée, 1983 Chateau Latour, 1990 Domaine Weinbach Cuvée Ste. Catherine.

Wine tasting can sometimes be counter-productive to blogging, at least in the short term. Pictured above, three reasons why I’ve been mostly absent from the internet this week. This handsome trio in the photo capped an epic Tuesday evening, which began with a blind tasting of 2007 California Pinot Noir (Kosta Browne, Papapietro Perry, Chasseur, and three others; my full report to follow next week). Before this throw-down of mailing-list Pinot, I had already spent the entire day touring Napa wine country with my friend [... read more ...]

The World's Most Difficult Wine Quiz: Bordeaux

As part of my on-going preparation for the Certified Wine Educator (CWE) exam in 2010, I’ve continued to compose a few short quizzes that really test the depth of knowledge for the world’s most important wine-growing regions. Again, this quiz may not actually be the most difficult in the world, but it’s not amateur hour, either. Much like the 20-question quiz I created for Burgundy Grand Cru, these 25 questions concerning Bordeaux require much more than a superficial knowledge of the region. For the most part, this quiz looks beyond the five First Growths, and delves into the lesser-known [... read more ...]