But — this text could describe almost any food culture. ich.unesco.org/en/RL/italia...

Visual tasting notes on four wines. More at www.makerstable.com/p/presquile-...

My latest. www.makerstable.com/p/substack-i...

Nice. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/d...

My latest. www.makerstable.com/p/notable-la...

My latest—to whet your appetite for this week's cooking marathon. www.makerstable.com/p/that-time-...

A gentle reminder that critics don't always love things just because they're popular.

“Good wine isn’t easy, good wine challenges. Most wines don’t challenge me, don’t ask questions. It’s not a test, just a conversation.” www.makerstable.com/p/tasting-co...

In my latest Notable, I’ve gathered wines that feel timely given the need to provision our racks for the Thanksgiving feast. There’s an American wine, a trio from the French, and a humble Chilean Cab that shows us how, with wine, at least, time is on our side. www.makerstable.com/p/notable-ea...

The marketing department has a thin grasp of ecology.

So good. youtu.be/DNU2MpquTjI?...

Print is sweet.

Word of the day: defector

Over on Maker’s Table, I’ve published an update to my comprehensive guide to choosing Thanksgiving wines. Enjoy! www.makerstable.com/p/thanksgivi...

So good. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/d...

If I had a trillion dollars I could give $3K to every living human in the United States.

Thrilled to find my publication, Maker’s Table, in this short list of terrific wine Substacks recommended by The Wall Street Journal. Many thanks to the wonderful Lettie Teague for the nod. Gift link: www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

My latest. www.makerstable.com/p/notable-la...

You can define the start of autumn as the equinox, the first of September, Labor Day, or Hey the Juncos Are Back.

Wine is vast and complex and it's impossible to know it all. Fortunately, we don't need to. www.makerstable.com/p/curiosity-...

So sorry to hear about your mother, I said. So sudden and so young. Did she work outside the home? Oh yes, they said. She had a big garden.

Eight Italian varietal wines, made from native grapes, from Mt. Etna, Montepulciano, and Barolo. Such wines are, by nature, uniquely expressive of territorio, yet despite their far-flung distribution, the three red grapes evince strong kinship. My latest: www.makerstable.com/p/notable-ea...

My interview with wine writer and photographer Kevin Day about his new book. www.makerstable.com/p/opening-a-...

New on Notable — Wines for sweater weather www.makerstable.com/p/notable-la...

G.D. Vajra wines from Italy are fantastic. @megmaker.com what a great interview! If you are familiar with Vajra this is an interesting and educating read. If you aren't familiar you should be and this may help you get started.

Judy O’Kane masterfully summarizes the inaugural Pinot Noir & Identity Symposium, including keynotes and paper sessions. She deftly encapsulates my own talk on the lexicons and motifs of wine writing about Pinot Noir. (My full paper is forthcoming in WFW 91.) worldoffinewine.com/news-feature...

“Find a trusted person, someone who won’t break your heart, and ask them to read it. Don’t offer a preamble or back story. Don’t explain it. Just let them read it. Once they’ve finished, ask them to answer three questions:” www.makerstable.com/p/ask-three-...

If you are contemplating a tour of New England to gape at fall foliage, get here soon. Peak will happen in the next two weeks, if not sooner. We are in severe drought and the trees are just so over it.

Around the winemaking world, there's a growing interest in the potential of hybrid grapes. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/d...

What's happening with Jimmy Kimmel is about politics and power.

Notes on wines from Vinho Verde, Barolo, Veneto, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. www.makerstable.com/p/notable-ea...

“Formal wine training wasn’t seen as an urgent requirement for writers back then. That’s partly because it was almost entirely unavailable.” www.makerstable.com/p/learn-wine...

I didn’t meet Anthony Bourdain once. We didn’t meet in Paris, in the Charles de Gaulle Airport. I was flying to Bordeaux and so was he. My latest: www.makerstable.com/p/just-sit-a...

“The main thing is to get going, because the ideas come when the pen starts moving. It’s a practical matter: The hand needs to write words, so the brain comes up with something for it to say.” www.makerstable.com/p/get-it-in-...

Font matters.

Hundred Hills Winery is a young project in the rolling landscape southeast of Oxford. I visited on a sultry day in early July, striding the chalky rows before tasting wines in the cellar. My report: www.makerstable.com/p/sparkling-...

www.makerstable.com/p/london-bac... #writing #memoir

My local public radio stations, NHPR and VPR, just got more of my money. #publicbroadcasting

“It was that phrase, ‘dutiful hagiography,’ that reached out from the page and grabbed me by the collar. Because who among us has not read such a profile of a winemaker, or even of a particular wine itself, in the pages of a contemporary wine magazine?” www.makerstable.com/p/no-saints-...

A good piece of writing is a complicated machine. It has a shiny outer shell wrapped around complex inner mechanics. The shell is the surface narrative. It is the topic, and it is almost never the story. www.makerstable.com/p/topic-and-...

My latest essay: www.makerstable.com/p/daily-evid...

U.S. wine export markets have contracted substantially. In April, the year-over-year export value dropped by 41.4%, worsening the 28% decline recorded in March. The three main export destinations for U.S. wine—Canada (-93%), the UK (-29%), and China (-70%)—all reported significant decreases.

“Here at Vajra, we work with science and consciousness. In Italian: scienza e coscienza. The root is about knowledge itself. You know the science—the scienza, technical things—and coscienza says you judge with your heart.” www.makerstable.com/p/an-afterno... #wine #barolo #italianwine

"The El Mordjene affair...wasn’t really about hazelnut spreads. It was about nostalgia, memory, injustice, nationalism, globalization, decolonization, protectionism, racism, identity, immigration, invasion—the same things that all arguments are about nowadays." www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

megmaker.substack.com/p/are-we-try... #wine #writing