Michael Whitehead

Rogue wine warrior Michael Whitehead began his wine career in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which he describes as a cross between modern Spain and 50's Havana. Luck and great fortune took him across the great wine regions of Europe, the trenches of Middle America and eventually to Napa Valley where he spent a long vacation working with a “veteran” family of the wine industry. He currently resides between Miami, Florida and Cartagena, Colombia. Besides writing about wine, Michael also consumes and occasionally sells wine, reads fiction, surfs and prepares extravagantly rich vegan desserts.

A fair restaurant corkage fee is:

There is no corkage at the beach.

A tell-tale sign of a wine snob is:

A clean Tastevin.

The wine region I most want to visit:

Patagonia, Argentina

My "wish list" of wines I want to acquire soon:

Anything left in the world from Jacky Truchot.

My biggest wine pet peeve:

Those who won't drink Riesling and Rose wines because they are sweet and pink. When did sweet and pink become a bad thing? Also, people who drink wine in Crocs. Appropriate footwear should allows be worn.

My favorite wine quote:

"There are days when solitude is a heady
wine that intoxicates you with freedom,
others when it is a bitter tonic, and still
others when it is a poison that makes
you beat your head against the wall."
Colette

My dream wine to one day taste or own:

2002 Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos in Melchizedek format.

The best wines I have ever tasted:

1921 Chateau d'Yquem, 1959 LaTour and 1912 Lafite

The people with whom I most often enjoy wine:

Family, friends and strangers.

The last wine I had that I absolutely loved:

2005 DRC Echezeaux

What I think of the movie Sideways:

Who doesn't want to be an English teacher, write a novel and drink Cheval Blanc? I wish my failure was a success and I could toast with one of the greatest wines.

My thoughts on the 100 point rating scale made famous by Robert Parker and emulated by seemingly everyone:

In the United States of America, everything rates somewhere on a scale. Why should wine be excluded? Consumers make the decisions. And we are all consumers.

My wine travels have taken me to the following wine regions:

France, Germany, California, Oregon, Augusta-Mo, Italy and Spain

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