Hi! Greetings from an erratically springy/wintery NYC! I gave tasting last week for my friend Meron Langsner at the real estate firm of Cooper & Cooper, fifty-three floors above the metropolitan fray. In honor of our vertiginous location, I themed the tasting around high altitude wines, taking us on top of the world in wine growing region of Europe and beyond, philosophizing about struggle and slope along the way. My tastings are part education from my years on the floor in fine dining as a...

Hello! Hope you've been faring well this month -- and that this pairing rounds out your February with a great sip and sounds. I know I loved piecing this together for you. Enjoy! “...and there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher...

Hello! These days, and especially in January, it seems like we’re saturated in conversations about the question: “to drink, or not to drink?” The topic is nearly always about alcohol – a broad genus with many varied species from moonshine to Château d’Yquem. It’s like talking about the entirety of foodstuffs as “calories” and failing to distinguish between an apple and a Dorito. Anyhow, I’m here to keep us on the artful side of things – first, because it’s where my talents lie, and also to...