All posts by Stephen Meuse

Yes is welcoming. Yes is affirming. In negotiations, yes is the thing we strive to get to. Sell wine in a retail venue and you quickly learn that frequent , enthusiastic applications of yes! is veryt sound policy indeed. But, from time to time,  a forthright no is what’s really called for — especially when…

We called it the wine corner, though it was really more of a nook, or maybe a just a crevice.  Nonetheless, many exceptionally well-made and interesting wines called it home, as did we. As you have likely heard, we’ll very soon up sticks, bottles and personalities as we emigrate to our space inside the new…

  Armed with all the weaponry in the arsenal of amour, he presses his suit. She, with an eye on the history of this particular species with her own, is naturally wary. This is well beyond Montagues and Capulets. The parental blessing? You can forget that. Still, there is something charming about the way his whiskers…

It’s hardly normal for me, your wine, to write this way to the person who does me the honor of being my consumer.  After all, to be drunk and drunk appreciatively is what all wines live for.  And I hope you won’t take what I have to say as any sort of personal affront. I…

The universe, it seems, is a one way street. From the Big Bang to whatever may be its final state, it advances in one direction only: from the present to the future and never the other way around.  The British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington (that’s he chatting amiably with Albert Einstein, above) memorably described this…

Wine may well be the original International Man of Mystery. Since wine isn’t (and can’t be) made everywhere, it must travel from often remote locales and through many hands to arrive on your retailer’s shelf and, eventually, on your table. To be frank, not much of its sales chain is very transparent (that’s the mystery…

To judge from the conversations I have with friends, colleagues and Formaggio Kitchen clientèle, something called balance is considered a desirable trait to discover in a wine.  It seems reasonable enough, since balance is something we value and try to maintain in many aspects of our lives.  We strive to create a healthy work-life balance,…

As a winemaking technique the process known as carbonic maceration has some public relations issues: Its association with mass-market Beaujolais nouveau for one; a few too many syllables in its name for another. Throw in that it involves grapes that are never crushed and somehow ferment without the help  of yeasts and you’re losing people…

As we prepare to close out a year like no other with a holiday season like no other, it’s a good time to think about the meaning of gifts and what’s behind them. It’s often said that it’s the thought that counts. But the point of a gift — or one point, surely — is…

Dear Santa, It’s the night before Christmas! We can’t believe it’s been a whole year since your last visit. So much has happened. We’ve gone vegan. And you, we hear, married your longtime partner. Mazel tov, you old romantic! This is a holiday season like no other, so we’re especially delighted to welcome our dear…

The national authorities responsible for such things have strict rules about what can be said on a wine label. But there’s always room for creativity, and it can be hard to know where legally sanctioned terms leave off and marketing begins. In the latter category are references to the age of vines that are the…