Where do we go from here?   How about four point one kilometers northwest of the Mousetrap? It’s walkable and certainly bikeable, especially on a slightly humid yet gorgeous Chicago evening, although you will have to cross under the Kennedy… You made it! Aren’t you glad you biked/walked and don’t have to deal with... Read more →

Refreshingly familiar yet eclectically left-of-center, drinking well-made Albariño wine is like listening to seriously catchy alt-pop tunes from CHVRCHES, Tegan and Sara, and HAIM. Tangent, a label of Niven Family Wine Estates out of the Edna Valley region in California’s San Luis Obispo County, has played a big part in bringing... Read more →

The wine world has its own version of a Star Trek convention or Comic Con. It’s called Hospice du Rhone—three glorious days in Paso Robles, California, of letting your wine geekdom fly.   The 2018 festival, which took place April 26-28, was the first I’ve ever attended, having been kindly invited as a member of the wine media.... Read more →

Where do we go from here?   The words are coming out all weird! Where are you now, integrity, when I need you? Well, Dear Reader, perhaps I just had the bends and I was really sinking that low. So. Let us depart the barrel-aged imperial stout/corprocratic times of the recent past. Let’s walk or bike approximately six hundred... Read more →

There’s an ingrained perception—and no one could be blamed for subscribing to the belief—that the only French Chardonnay worth drinking is expensive French Chardonnay. So, you have to hand it to Eric Solomon Selections at importer European Cellars for having the balls to put the NOVELLUM Chardonnay on the market. This 13-dollar... Read more →