Deep Wine History in Bulgaria’s Melnik Region
It is autumn, 1760. A camel train is winding along the cobblestone road, shaded by arching fig and plane trees. The camel drivers trace the course of the Melnishka river,…
Dispatches
MoreChill Red Wines For Summer
Inhibitions drop considerably in summer. Everybody let’s it all hang out. It’s time for some seasonal exhibitionism. Clothes get remarkably skimpy. Parts of the body start getting sunburnt that haven’t…
Podcast
MoreEpisode 29: Villa Melnik in Bulgaria
This podcast comes from the beautiful and exotic Melnik wine region in Bulgaria. We’ve traveled here to visit the preeminent regional winery, Villa Melnik. Nick Zikatanov had a dream to…
Episode 28: Chris Tolley of Moon Curser – Part 2
Listen to the podcast here:
This is the second part of my podcast interview with Chris Tolley of Moon Curser Vineyards. If you’ve listened to the first part of this…
1001 Wine Routes
MoreThe Tokaj Trail – From Budapest to Eger and Tokaj
The wines of the Tokaj region vie with some of the greatest names in history for the title of most admired wines in the world . Both in price and…
Bucharest And The Dealu Mare Wine Route
Romania’s wine history is very deep and rich and yet its wine culture is tantalizingly undiscovered. Winemaking here has been going on for 4,000 years without interruption. Conquering armies have…
Burgenland – Austria’s Red Wine Contender
If Austria’s international reputation for white wines has beefed up recently (led by Riesling and Grüner Veltliner), the red part of the Austrian wine equation is doing its best to…
Primorska – Slovenia’s Wine Heaven
How many places does a Wes Anderson movie meet a James Bond location meet a Conde Naste travelogue? And in how many of those places do you also have the…
Bierzo – Wine Secrets On The Camino De Santiago
The wine world is full of secrets. Some are well-kept, some less so. Among the world’s myriad wine regions there are many, many fascinating secrets. And likewise among the world’s…
Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast Wineries – Split, Hvar and Beyond
When the makers of the film Mama Mia decided to use Hvar on the Croatian Adriatic coast as the location for Mama Mia 2 instead of the island of Skopelos…