HOME

PROFILE: JOY SPENCEMaster BlenderAppleton Estate Thirteen years ago, Jamaican-born Joy Spence was appointed Master Blender at Appleton Estate, making her the first female Master Blender in the spirits industry.  A hot, heady summer night found Spence in Boston introducing her premium rums to a small audience of the press.  Rum... Read More

RAIMUND PRÜM  6OS.A. Prüm Owner/WinemakerMosel, Germany The winemaker from the Mosel’s distinguished Prüm family is known as “Raimund the Red”.  As his flaming scarlet hair is a beckoning beacon of fine Riesling, friends affectionately nicknamed him “Der Specht” or “Il Pico” – the woodpecker!  Prüm has slowly grown his father’s... Read More

In my fortified wine classes at Boston University, Marsala rarely gets more than a mention or a sip. Hardly any can be found in retail shops beyond the inexpensive Marsala Fine category usually purchased for cooking rather than drinking. Marsala wine was born in the port of Marsala on Sicily’s... Read More

Many are the forces pulling centrifugally to fragment the unity of Chianti, the wine. The soils, exposures, microclimates, grape varieties and clones, political boundaries, production methods and regulations, and fashion are all subject to tremendous, sometimes bewildering, variegation. What hold the center are an ancient tradition that connects back to... Read More

As the beer industry settles into its prime time sales part of the calendar year, beer buyers from pubs to package stores remain focused on keeping the right balance of products on hand to meet a difficult-to-predict demand from consumers. Sales of bigger brands, including volume leaders Budweiser and Bud... Read More

It’s easy for veteran retailers or bar managersto be blindsided by the Next Hot Thing.  To wit: it’d have been impossible to foretell that an elderflower liqueur would take the market by storm, let alone stay on consumers’ radars years after it launched; meantime, brands that spiked in sales when... Read More

Organic spirits and those made using green production practices continue their transition into the mainstream as consumers put a higher value not only on taste but on the increasingly important issue of sustainability and environmental impact. Conversations with local retailers, regional and national brands all speak to raising the bar... Read More

Some people in the food and drink world gain recognition for being proficient at detecting a trend long before it’s identified in the mainstream, and keeping it fresh and relevant with style and artistry. Others establish an identity by creating a niche for themselves where there’s long been a gaping... Read More

GIO’SGOING LIKE EIGHTY ON THE VINEYARD A traditional Italo-American restaurant taps its fifth generation.Wine and food rites go back 3OOO years – even longer – around the Mediterranean. When Italians and Greeks came to the new world, traditions of vine and table remained a binding force, and a source of... Read More