not drinking poison in paris

Exclamations are ridiculous words. We emit them in surprise or joy or horror with little forethought, and this spontaneity places them in...

Brunch in France is sort of a sham.  It is as though at some point in history a Frenchman visited America and observed an American diner ...

Most wine geeks learn to take the recommendations of non-aficionados with a cellar full of salt. This is because wine, or rather the idea...

My excuse for the recent blog drought: I've been traveling. The Native Companion and I spent twenty-four hours in the town of Bordeau...

Earlier that evening, the wine director of renowned Barcelona wine fortress Monvínic , Isabelle Brunet, told me something that surprised ...

Whenever conversation turns to the subject of hospitality in Paris - which is to say, very, very often - I try to remind myself and oth...

When I mentioned to a friend that cave-à-manger pioneers  Le Verre Volé were to open an épicerie beside their well-established wine shop...

This past fall my friend / colleague R and I were sent to Barcelona to install a display in a department store. I was delighted to at la...

One uses metaphorical language to describe wine because our language is under-equipped with literal terms to describe taste and smell. W...

On whom can we blame the undying, slightly questionable fad for Brit nostalgia  ? Pete Doherty ?  The Kinks ? More recently, perhaps my f...

It's axiomatic that French wine towns contain great bistros. Less of a given, though, is how many great bistros. It often happens th...

The Native Companion moved into a new apartment recently in a different part of town. On the one hand this will mean an awkward trafficky...

I got a kick out of Japanese Rhône winemaker Hirotake Ooka 's apron the other day at Caves Augé 's Rhône tasting. What on earth...

I agree to attend blind tastings for various reasons, none involving having any aptitude at blind tasting. I'm actually sort of the ...

When vignerons ask me about my blog, I tend to become Mitt Romney. "It's a blog about ... wine in Paris," I'll affirm,...

The guiding principle of the Bro-gundy road trip my caviste friend J and I took last fall was thrift. It's like this with most of the ...