Author: John Brown

As I sit here composing this column and look out my office window at the first snowflakes of the year gently falling, it truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas – and Hannukah. I can also tell because many of my friends are calling asking me to suggest a wine for the special…

One of the faithful Thanksgiving traditions in our Italian American family involved spirited discussions around the holiday table. The decibel level of these emotionally charged altercations could sometimes exceed the sound of cicadas at war. During these holiday debates, no subject was too grand, obscure or off limits. We would debate everything from presidential politics…

I’m convinced that my obsession with wine and food can be attributed to fifty percent of my ancestral composition – the Italian half. I suppose I should credit the other half (Irish) with my fondness for stronger beverages, and for blarney – my penchant for long-winded descriptions of things (like wine and food) most normal…

My brother fancies himself a gourmet cook, but rather than disagree with his delusion, I usually just nod and let him go about blissfully concocting his latest comestible contrivance. I must admit, though, that he does usually deliver on his culinary creations, but the kitchen devastation left in his wake requires HazMat-like intervention to clean…

The best summertime red wine that pairs well with the widest variety of meals from salads to pastas is pinot noir. Of course, the most revered pinot noir in the world is produced in the Burgundy region of France, but only Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes can afford to drink that stuff on a regular…

One of my pet peeves with the wine industry over the years has been their occasional practice of inventing a new term to describe an already defined word. This results in only further confusing we already bewildered American wine consumers who must regularly deal with labels in foreign languages and nonsensical descriptions of wines as…

Once the weather moderates, some folks can’t wait to hit the pool, dust off the old golf clubs or dig in the dirt and plant things. Not me. Warm weather gets me in the mood to create delicious  salads and follow that course up with a stick to your ribs, spicy and hearty entrée of…

On May 24th, American wine lovers should raise a glass to celebrate the most momentous occasion ever for American wine. I’m referring to “The Judgement of Paris” where a gaggle of California wineries were pitted against the greatest French wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy in a blind tasting in the ‘City of Light.’ On that…

Taming my ravenous appetite is always a work in progress, but a chance glance at my profile in the hallway mirror made it clear to me that something must be done to reconfigure my …figure. Last time in this space, I mentioned my plan to switch from the heavier foods of winter to less hearty…

Spring is about to bloom (I hope) and this is a time of year that I tend to transition from the fuller-bodied reds of winter to lighter style white wines that are more suitable to the foods we consume in the warmer months. What I love about wine- among the most obvious sensory pleasures it…