The Wine Idea

A few years ago, I visited the island of Vulcano, one of a flotilla of small land masses that poke up from the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northeast coast of Sicily. It’s the place that gave European languages the word volcano, and one of four of Italy’s active, above-ground volcanic centers is located here. I didn’t climb its…

The mystery of what exactly constitutes human nature seemed a step closer to solution when, in 1800, a young boy was found living without family or adult supervision in the wilds of the Aveyron in south central France. To contemporary theorists of human behavior, the apparently feral child presented a unique opportunity to observe what an individual who had never been subject to socialization of any…

THIS WEEK IN THE WINE CORNER: Good of you to take time to talk with us here in the Wine Corner, Easter Bunny. Few people know that you’re passionate about wine. We have so many questions for you. EASTER BUNNY: I’m all ears. TWWC: We hear you have an extensive wine cellar in your hutch.…

  Human beings are marvelously equipped to enjoy the vast and detailed spectrum of sensations brought to them by their food and drink. Strange then, that science should maintain that our ability to taste is limited to our powers of detecting a mere five distinct and foundational elements. These are sweet, sour, bitter, salty and the recently designated umami (savory). It’s astonishing that the…

That’s Stanley Tucci (left) and Anthony Shaloub as a pair of devoted but mismatched brothers running an Italian restaurant in the 1996 film Big Night. Primo (Shaloub) is a gifted chef who longs to express himself through his mastery of classic Italian cuisine; bro Secondo (Tucci) just wants to fill the dining room with paying customers. This proves…

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,…