I am admittedly quite unfamiliar with East Coast wines, especially when it comes to the little state of Maryland. So when Roy Albin of Royal Rabbit Vineyards invited me to taste his wines, I was both enthused and curious. Flipping through books and scouring the internet, I had trouble finding any solid, reputable information on Maryland as a wine country. So I turned to Roy, not just for a wine tasting, but for a bit of terroir background as well. 
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A Day with “DoctorWine” Daniele Cernilli
I’ve always been a fan of Italian wines. In fact, previous to my career as a wine writer, I visited the bucolic country, soaking up every ounce of wine (and pasta) I could find. But at that time I sipped without understanding or truly appreciating the vast diversity of the great country’s regions, native grapes, and winemaking methods. So the chance to learn from the highly acclaimed wine editor and critic, Daniele Cernilli — aka “DoctorWine” — was a most welcome one. Last week I had the chance to do just that at the San Francisco Wine School.
Book Review: The Winemakers by Jan Moran
As you can probably tell from my library of books, not all wine books have to be non-fiction or reference material. I believe it was Horace who said, “The aim of the poet is to inform or delight, or to combine together, in what he says, both pleasure and applicability to life.” So it is, that good fictional literature will still teach us something about ourselves or life in general. And good wine literature will teach us something about, well, wine (and probably, still, ourselves and life in general…).
The Winemakers, by Jan Moran does all of the above. Sure, at its core, it’s a romance novel, but it bridges the gap between that traditional “chick-lit” genre and historical fiction while teaching us a bit about wine in the process.
Book Review: The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil
categories: Books
I bought this book because, as a writer, I want to make sure I never run out of words — and also, I want to make sure I have a keen understanding of all the wine words that are out there. There are loads of wine reference books in the world, but I figured that something called The Wine Bible was bound to be one of the most complete. And it is — in more ways than one. Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible is a book for wine study and for wine fun.
The Withers 2015 Peters Vineyard Pinot Noir
Andrew Tow, found and owner of The Withers Winery, wasn’t always a fan of California wines. Instead, he gravitated toward the more traditional wines of France and Italy. Here, he felt, the wines were more authentic, with hands-off winemaking methods, and resulting wines that are less about alcohol and texture but more of a celebration of real fruit. Now that he has his place in the California winemaking scene, his goal is to bring that “Old World” style to this “New World” regime. “The ‘New California’ is the ‘Old California,” says Tow. And so it is with his 2015 Peters Vineyard Pinot Noir: a California “classic” that expresses all the nuances that the land, the fruit, and the gentle hands of the winemaker has to offer.