Happy Weekend, Every time you go wine shopping, you bring two things with you: 1) Your wallet 2) Your bias You navigate the store looking for the familiar, and you never venture into the unknown parts of the wine world. For my English speaking wine drinkers, they balk at suggestions of Germany, France and Italy. […]
Author: Brian McCann
Impress Your Friends With The Value of Second Wines
Happy Weekend, Sticking in the spirt of last week, I want to talk to you baby bottles. No, not half bottles again, today we’re focused second bottles from top producers. What is a Second Bottle? A producer releases a second bottle as a companion to their flagship bottle. Think of it as a hedge. In poor […]
Why Half Bottles Are Full Of Value
Happy Weekend, Half bottles are under-appreciated, and therefore, under-purchased. As a wine beginner, you now have the knowledge advantage. But before you start buying small-size everything, one ground rule: Avoid most white wines, like fresh, youthful ones and sparkling. Other than that, you’re ready to purchase. The benefits of half bottles include: Buying Wines Outside Your […]
4 Lessons From a Wine Criminal
Happy Weekend, There’s lots of wine names you should know. Jancis Robinson, Karen MacNeil, Steven Spurrier, and plenty more who I’ve talked about in past issues. But, Rudy Kurniawan may be unfamiliar to you. Rudy is the world’s greatest known wine criminal. It’s estimated that some 550 million USD worth of wine still exists in […]
Sour Grapes: An Oral History
This is an early sneak peek at a project I’ve been working on for years. The story for the best wine true crime documentary evolved from the two different directors meeting in the back of a courtroom. Jerry: I co-directed the film with Reuben Atlas and we came at it from slightly different angles. It […]
Champagne: The More You Know
Happy Weekend, Want to know the easiest way to piss off a wine snob? → Call any sparkling wine Champagne. Want to really piss off a wine snob? → Take their real Champagne and drown it in orange juice. Listen: I love Champagne, but I do believe part of my soul died when I saw […]