Take the Shot
A hunter’s breakfast at the Knights of Columbus hall, my father’s three words, and what to pour with venison, moose, bear and hare. Four printable recipes included.
A Beginner’s Guide to Tasting Wine Without the Pageant
At a Napa tasting room, I watched a young woman on her first solo wine trip get a little smaller with every pour. This is the beginner’s guide I wish someone had handed her: what each step of tasting is actually for, why the best hosts pour small, and five side-by-side pairs to try at home.
The Chocolate on the Pillow
A late check-in, a toilet paper roll folded into a neat point, and the story of how a Cary Grant romance in St. Louis may have put chocolates on hotel pillows everywhere.
Meet the Winemakers: Julie Schreiber
Her first vintage was at Corison in 1999, before the winery had walls. Consulting winemaker Julie Schreiber on fourteen years as a chef, 110-mile harvest days, and why a balanced wine is a major chord.
Picked by Lantern
Late on Halloween afternoon in Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley, an old man in a barn coat asks a new tasting room host how the north block came in this year. His name isn’t on the member list, but it is in the 1894 picking ledger by the door.
Meet the Winemakers: Angelo Pera
Backstage Winery, Oak Knoll District, Napa Valley. Answered in writing, October 27, 2026. Every day at Backstage, in the old
Before the First Sip
Every winemaker in Meet the Winemakers gets the same last question: one pour, one stranger, what do you say before they taste it? None of them started with the tasting notes.
Meet the Winemakers: Mark Henry
Mark Henry calls himself a farmer before a winemaker. He has grown Sangiovese, Aglianico, and a dozen other Italian grapes on a Nevada County hill since 2000, after learning the cellar from Roberto Nannetti in Montalcino.
The Slow-Season Shift
The guests who walk in on a quiet November afternoon are mostly members and returning guests. Here is how tasting rooms and small hotel front desks can be ready for them.
The Last Guests of the Season
A founding member walks into a quiet Dry Creek Valley tasting room in November ready to buy a case, and walks out with nothing. Fifty years earlier, the Stanley Hotel’s last guests of the season changed everything for that hotel.