Potent potables

As a general rule, I prefer drinking wine to talking or reading about it. Forced to choose between a $30 bottle of wine and a $30 book about wine, I'll almost always take the former. But it never hurts to have a good reference manual in close proximity to the corkscrew. The Washington Post once described The Oxford Companion to Wine as "the greatest wine book ever published." That's a ... If you're looking to make a patriotic statement with your wine choice this Thanksgiving, here's a suggestion: Give thanks to Ridge Vineyard's Paul Draper by drinking one of his wines. Draper, 70, is arguably the greatest winemaker America has ever produced. Ridge's Monte Bello, produced in a vineyard high above Silicon Valley, has been the iconic American cabernet sauvignon for nearly four ...

Not so long ago, rosé Champagnes were bastard bubblies, largely shunned by the wine-buying public and dimly regarded even by many of the people who made them. Now, suddenly, rosés are the most fashionable sparkling wines, and among the trendiest wines period. They are ubiquitous in nightclubs and obligatory at weddings. Sommeliers are pushing them with unprecedented zeal, and many wine ... ... show. Both of these books will disabuse you of that notion. The winners, and probably all of the losers, spend weeks brushing up on obscure vice-presidents, operas, and potent potables in an effort to gain an edge. I have a newfound respect for the peoplt that come away from these games a winner. If you have to read just one ... Cleopatra supposedly crushed an astronomically expensive pearl in a glass of wine and drank it just to prove how rich Egypt was. These days, depending on the wine, you can leave the pearl out and still drink something like Egypt's GDP. The most sought-after wines are getting remarkably expensive. Some 2005 red Burgundies are selling for double and even triple the prices they commanded in other ...

... years, conventions have tightened up a little. There are no longer open bars in hospitality, although there is frequently beer, and more potent potables at the many private room parties. “Nudity is not a costume” is ... a fact of convention life, many of them fueled by the above-mentioned potables. But be discreet. There is someone else who will always be remembered as ... This is a story about a bottle of wine. A very expensive but also very delicious bottle of wine—a wine that so captivated me when I first tasted it that I immediately resolved to taste it again. What followed was an almost two-year odyssey that tested the limits of my resourcefulness and perhaps also exposed the warping effect that wine has had on my brain. In mid-November, at a homey ... Tension is bound to flare over the $19 million toilet NASA purchased from Russian aerospace firm RCS Energia, as only half of the International Space Station will enjoy the upgrade—the American side. The toilet justifies its steep price by being able to recycle urine as drinkable water, Waterworld-style. The Russian half of the station is stuck with the old latrine. They'll have to continue to ...