San Diego is the eighth-largest city in United States and the second-largest in California, yet it rarely garners a mention in the gastronomic press. The climate is pretty much perfect year-round, there is a historic walkable downtown less than a 10-minute cab ride from the airport, you're never far from a beach, a taco, an orca or a mating lemur, and you can get good seats to a visiting Giants baseball game at a fraction…

 
Miles Macquarrie of Kimball House (Decatur, GA); verte and blanche absinthe

A couple of weeks ago, leaning at a far corner of the grand bar that forms one half of spanking new Atlanta restaurant Kimball House, resident cocktail mind Miles Macquarrie and I got talking about absinthe, its history, the associated lore, and what on earth to do with it. 

The spirit carries a lot of baggage from its former heyday, and there…

As sommeliers, it is our job to take the nebulous proposition for a "nice, dry, red" and turn it into a wonderful, expected or unexpected glass of wine. I know that my mind starts to race, and after a mini-oenophilic interview—"what were you thinking...

In September 2013, the Guild of Sommeliers sent several of our members to the region of Alto Adige for an immersion in its culture and wines. Following is their collective report on the region.

Versoaln: “The Oldest Vine in the World”
By Mark Thostesen

A long, twisting drive up winding mountain roads provides vistas of sunset-drenched vineyards and foggy apple orchards. Alexandra, our local guide, speaks animatedly…

Overview of the Wine Industry New Zealand’s wine story began in 1819 with the first vine plantings in the far north of the North Island. No particular varieties or their origins are documented with any accuracy. Written evidence that Pinot Noir...

During my time in the food and wine world in New York City, Chicago and Aspen, I always thought that Las Vegas would be the last place I would ever end up working. That's where sommeliers go to die. After moving here seven years ago, my opinion certainly has changed...either that or I am already in heaven. Now I can understand why some wine people wouldn't want to sell '82 Bordeaux and DRC on a nightly basis, but why…

"The Beautiful South" trade tasting was held this past week in London, featuring hundreds of producers from three countries of the Southern Hemisphere: South Africa, Chile, and Argentina. Wines of South Africa (WOSA) generously paid for three Master Sommeliers and 16 other members of the Guild of Sommeliers to travel to London for the event. We asked for a full report from the three Masters and comments from all Guild…

In my fourth and final article on Loire wines I cover the western end of the Loire Valley - Anjou, the Pays Nantais and the Vendée. Anjou is frequently linked with Saumur but as Anjou and the Nantais share the same geological structure it makes equal sense to link these two adjacent areas. Both are part of the hard, igneous rock of Brittany - very different from the clay and limestone of the Paris Basin that runs eastward…

A few months ago, perhaps on a random whim, Ray Isle of Food & Wine Magazine invited me to be one of the five sommeliers pouring for the Reserve Tasting tent of Food & Wine’s Aspen Classic, the pinnacle of that organization’s various summer fests.  I took it as a real honor.  But these kinds of events usually bring a mixed bag of experiences--the good, the bad, and the somewhat, well, grotesque (a number…