Eliza Dumais

3 weeks ago | decanter.com | Eliza Dumais

And while I, myself, am partial to adjectives, the practice of old-fashioned numerical scoring is nevertheless alive and well. For context: ‘Scoring is just a shorthand that tells you how good a critic thinks a wine is compared to its peers,’ explains Matt Walls, Decanter’s Rhône-oriented wine critic (and the Regional Chair for Rhône in the Decanter World Wine Awards). ‘For winemakers and [commercial] buyers, scores are a useful tool. For retailers and importers, they help market and sell wines.

1 month ago | swurlmedia.com | Eliza Dumais

Featuring over 60 essential wine terms, the SWURL Guide offers clear, approachable definitions that demystify the language of wine. Whether you’re just starting out or building on what you know, this illustrated guide helps you navigate the world of wine without the fuss. For European customers, please visit Rerenga Wines to purchase the guide.

2 months ago | decanter.com | Eliza Dumais

Generally speaking, I prefer to know what things are before I put them in my mouth. The wine world, however, maintains a near-obsessive fixation on the opposite practice: Tasting blind a game whereby you might find yourself paying $90 for a bottle of you-don’t-know-what simply for the love of sport.

2 months ago | ediblebrooklyn.com | Eliza Dumais

On a scale from one to wild, the contemporary cocktail garnish is hard to place. At present, your drink—regardless of what, exactly, you’ve ordered—seems just as likely to arrive topped with a tidy curl of orange peel as, say, a proper octopus tentacle, or perhaps an entire quail. Therein lies the problem of the garnish: Nontraditional innovation is certainly a positive, but when does innovation cross the absurdity threshold? How much caviar do we really need on any given table?

2 months ago | punchdrink.com | Eliza Dumais

Alice Feiring has been writing about natural wine since long before “chilled red” and “skin contact” emerged as standard subheadings on wine lists. In fact, her work predates popular use of the moniker “natural wine” itself. “My first big wine story came out in 2001—after which, I was immediately branded as a natural wine writer,” she says.