Here’s the annual Thanksgiving wine list you’ve all been waiting for. Look the selections over, pair a couple with your holiday meal, and enjoy a spectacular day with family and friends. Once again, I want to thank my panel of experts: Andrea DiFiore, store manager and wine director at Andover Classic Wines at the Shawsheen […]

To loyal readers of this column, I always preach that you should buy a wine for what’s inside the bottle and not because you like the fancy label. I must admit, however, I am a sucker for wines featuring dogs on the labels. And yet I’ve never owned a dog in my adult life. Maybe […]

It’s rare when a $9.99 bottle of wine emerges as the “best of show” at a grand tasting event, but Wine ConneXtion co-owner Sam Messina was glad to pin the honor on Napa Valley’s Trim Cabernet Sauvignon two weeks ago. “The winery burnt to the ground in the recent California fires. All the stock went. […]

I’ve never been comfortable about being on the high seas, so when my wife suggested we take the first ship cruise of our 26-year marriage, I balked. Then our friends suggested a wine riverboat cruise to Bordeaux — an idea that seemed enticing. The rivers, they said, are mostly shallow. There are no waves, no […]

“What’s the first thing that pops into your head when I mention Argentina?” That’s the question I asked the Wine Goddess, my wife Mary Lee, and she replied, “Eva Peron, the Broadway musical, and the song ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina!’” It’s a good answer, but not the one I was expecting. So I refined […]

The Pinotage red grape and wine are unique to South Africa. Pinotage is also one of the least understood — and appreciated — wines in the world, and for good reason. Early vintages of Pinotage, created in 1925 as a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, were not very good. Critics complained of its poor […]

Bruno Cottini is a fourth-generation family winemaker at Agricola Cottini, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I knew from the first time my father sat me down in a tractor I would be doing this,” said Cottini, 33. “I love working with my family, in the fields, turning the grapes into wine. Even […]

Cool September evenings are geared for grilling steaks, sausages and burgers on the grill and washing them down with big, hearty red wines. The best values this time of year are the Cabernet Sauvignons, Old Vine Zinfandels and Malbecs, which produce juicy, savory flavors that bring out the best in grilled fare. Over the Labor […]

The calendar says summer is over, but it doesn’t mean you should put away your summer palate. There are still plenty of wonderfully warm and cozy September and October days ahead, so don’t put away the cool sipping rosés and white wines just yet. Recently, the Mill City Oenophiles Club held its monthly wine-tasting seminar […]