A perfectly-balanced dessert wine menu does not just happen: much thoughtfulness and love goes into it before its vibrant siren song emerges at your table, beckoning you to sample a naughty sip. I had the good fortune to sit down with Andrew Bresnik, Wine Director of Bricco della Regina Anna and learn how a well-rounded dessert wine menu is born and how you can work your way through it. Bricco is a delightful neighborhood wine bar and bistro tucked

Johannisberg Riesling. Kloster Eberbach. The Geisenheim Research Institute. These famous names remind us that the Rheingau has always been at the center of Germany’s winemaking tradition.

Last month we explored the wines of Mt. Vesuvius in Campania. This article will explore the wines from Italy’s other famous volcano, Mt. Etna. Mt. Etna is in the eastern portion of Sicily. It is the highest active volcano in Sicily at just under 11,000 feet often capped with snow. It is a beautiful place and mystical setting.

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. Twice, when dining at La Beaugravière, a restaurant in the town of Montdragon near the southern Rhone Valley wine growing areas, we have ordered the very same pair of wines. La Beaugravière has a renowned list of Rhone wines available, perhaps the best in the world. So why would we order the same pair of wines on a second occasion? Because we found them to provide an ideal contrast with each other, and to both be ideal companions to the simple Provençal food served at La Beaugravière.

This is what happens when I find myself home alone on a cold rainy night with a lot of unopened wine and an iTunes habit that borders on obsession. This list, though somewhat thoroughly researched, is far from scientific. But hey, if VH1 can produce the Top 100 Child Stars of All-Time , why can't I make a similarly pointless wine song list? I have too much time on my hands. Cheers. 1. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant by Billy Joel How can this not be the #1 wine song off all time? It begins and ends with Joel's instantly recognizable lyrics "A bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of rosé instead?" and the imagery of an in-his-prime Billy Joel with a gorgeous date (perhaps ex-wife Christie Brinkley?) dining at a New York City restaurant and having this verbal exchange with a waiter just makes it that much more perfect. This song made wine cool to a generation of Billy Joel fans. On an A&E special, Joel said he came up with the "Bottle of white, bottle of red" line while he was dining at a restaurant and a waiter actually came up to him and said, "Bottle of white... bottle of red... perhaps a bottle of rose instead?". In a later interview, Joel cites the second side of The Beatles album Abbey Road as one of the main influences behind Scenes From an Italian Restaurant .

There's a California Blue Oak tree atop the property at Twisted Oak Winery in Murphys, California. It’s not exactly twisted, beaten ruthlessly by winds or somehow malformed from earthquakes or lightening strikes, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. The name of the winery however, is more fitting for owners Jeff and Mary Stai (pronounced “stye”) and their renegade and irreverent brand of wines, than for a tree. Launched in 2003, Twisted Oak Winery takes its philosophical cues more from Monty Python than UC Davis.

Let’s do some free association. I’ll say a word, and you respond with the first word that comes to your mind. Ready? Here we go: Tasmanian. Chances are good that you just said Devil . That’s certainly what I would have said a month ago. But now that I’ve been to Tasmania, the first word that comes to my mind is Pinot . Or, depending on my mood, maybe Riesling or sparkling wine .

The origin of Cognac dates back to the 16th century when Dutch settlers came to this French region to purchase salt, wood, and wine. However, the journey back home made preserving the wine difficult and they needed to find a better way to conserve it. They started by distilling the wine into eau-de-vie, which was a good solution for preservation, but eventually they realized a second distillation made for an even finer, more elegant and pleasant product. This is essentially the birth of brandy. In fact, the word “brandy” comes from the Dutch word “brandewijn” which means burnt wine.

Budgeting for a meal out entails a lot more than just scouting prices for a nice bone-in ribeye. If you plan to add pre-meal cocktails and a nice bottle (or two) of wine, your liquid expenses could dwarf your food bill. Some restaurants are notorious for sticking it to consumers when it comes to wine, and it isn’t unusual in Las Vegas or New York to pay 300-400%+ of retail prices per bottle. There seems to be a direct correlation between the “status” perception of the restaurant and the pain you will feel at the wine pump.

In the region of Campania, a wine is made that is a very nice every day wine that sells for a fair price and, in the hands of a few wineries, presents a very good buy. The really fun thing about this wine, however, is the name. I am speaking about Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio. Long before winemakers started putting cute animals on their labels or giving their wines fanciful names in order to market them to the general public, Lacryma Christi wines were flourishing.