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1 week ago | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
This is a story about how Nancy Sinatra helped inspire an Austrian winemaker to create our favorite rosé this year. We have spent the last couple of months tasting many rosés, including samples sent to us. Almost all of them were OK. Some tended toward light watermelon juice with little character and others had a Kool-Aid sweetness. Oh, yeah! A few stood out. Year after year, we like the Dianthus rosé from Tablas Creek in Paso Robles ($40) and the 2024 vintage was no exception.
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3 weeks ago | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
“For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night,” is a quote that is dear to Dottie. Its author, the late James Baldwin, and the recipient of the letter in which it appeared, Angela Davis, are both Black, lending it a multitude of meanings. Both embraced it as a statement of the interconnectedness of all human beings. We’re now in a time when people and their governments worldwide are moving into silos.
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1 month ago | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
Even those of us who love Riesling tend to associate it with Germany. But there is a hearty band of winemakers in many parts of the world who believe in this grape despite market resistance. They make outstanding examples – even truly dry Riesling, which is so special but can be hard to find.
We were reminded of this recently when we tasted about a month apart two dry Rieslings made by wineries in very different parts of the world.
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1 month ago | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
We began to enjoy the taste of wine soon after we met in 1973, but we began to love wine when we discovered its stories. Hugh Johnson’s “The World Atlas of Wine” gave it geographical context. Even more important to us was Leon D. Adams’s “The Wines of America,” which felt like a guided tour of people and history, like this section on Michigan:
“Two more wineries in Paw Paw offer tours and tasting.
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2 months ago | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
We’ve all had those moments during our wine journeys. Whether we’re new to wine or old hands, some bottles touch us most deeply. They have something beyond great tastes, textures and noses. Something close to soul. We recently had that experience in a way we were not expecting.
We met Éric Taillet for lunch. He makes about 4,500 cases of Champagne in the Marne Valley of France from the “other” grape of Champagne, Pinot Meunier, which is usually a supporting player to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
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Mar 7, 2025 | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
We celebrated Open That Bottle Night with a bottle of Dad’s favorite Brunello. It was just as fab as the last time I drank it with him,
--Phil Masturzo, Akron
When we invented Open That Bottle Night in 1999, to persuade people to finally uncork the wine they’ve been saving forever for a special occasion, we had no idea we’d create a worldwide community. Every year, OTBN, on the last Saturday of February, is wonderful. But this year touched people more deeply.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
Michael Hirby and Schatzi Throckmorton, owners of Relic Wine Cellars in Napa, which makes complex small-batch wines using old-school methods, have a lot to celebrate this year. “It’s our 25th harvest. It’s our 10th year in our winery and it’s our 20th wedding anniversary,” Throckmorton told us when we called the other day to interview them.
As any couple who works together in any industry can attest, it’s difficult to be life partners and work partners.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
Every January, we smile at the first sightings, regular as clockwork: people in new running outfits, determined this year—after perhaps other false starts—to finally get into the habit of running. We nod at each other, recognizing the new class of hopeful souls, and silently wish them success.
New Year’s resolutions can be difficult to honor. Committing to the gear can only get you so far.
If your new interest is wine, you’ve selected a challenging time to dive in.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
When we were new to wine in the 1970s, before America really warmed to it, there was a lot of unusual stuff on shelves. We drank quite a bit of Bull’s Blood from Hungary, for instance, which was charmingly rough-hewn but inexpensive. U.S. winemakers were still experimenting, too. We will always remember the Napa sparkling wine pioneer Hanns Kornell at his tasting room, proudly pouring a traditionally made bubbly made from a grape called Muscat of Alexandria.
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Oct 18, 2024 | 
grapecollective.com | Dorothy J. Gaiter |John Brecher
We understand that baseball and wine is, unfortunately, an odd pairing. We wrote last year that the NBA and many of its players have fully embraced wine. Baseball, not so much. While there are some players who love wine – Rusty Staub of the Expos and Mets was the first we recall, long-time manager Dusty Baker has a winery, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is a partner in the Red Stitch wine brand and former Cubs manager Joe Maddon is a huge fan -- baseball and beer seem synonymous.
