Wine Enthusiast Magazine

2 days ago | wineenthusiast.com | Evan Rail

Ten years ago, the Olympic Tavern in Rockford, Illinois, often had up to 30 beers on draft. In 2025? Not so much. “That was the height of craft beer—it was easy to keep 28 handles on tap,” says Zak Rotello, the bar’s third-generation owner. “Now, fast-forward 10 years and I have less beer on tap than ever: 21 beers out of a total of 30 handles. The others are wine and spirits.”It’s not just Rockford.

5 days ago | wineenthusiast.com | Maria Yagoda |Maria agoda

Few civilians find themselves blind tasting wines. Wine pros and reviewers, however, employ the method to eliminate pre-existing expectations and bias as they assess a wine’s merits. For Wine Enthusiast blind tastings, all bottles are cellared for at least three weeks before they are reviewed, in order to eliminate a phenomenon called “bottle shock.” Then, a tasting coordinator removes the corks and places the bottles in paper bags that conceal the labels and shape before the tasting begins.

6 days ago | wineenthusiast.com | Christina Pickard

For a nation roughly the size of Colorado, New Zealand produces an outsized amount of wine. Around 105,000 acres are devoted to wine production. On the North and South islands, where most of the population lives, grapevines dot the dry riverbeds, valleys, lake edges and rolling hills pocked with limestone boulders. Vineyards span the subtropical Northland region to arid Central Otago, the most southerly commercial wine region in the world.

1 week ago | wineenthusiast.com | Kathleen Willcox

Classic recipes have a funny way of causing food fights. From deep dish pizza to your family’s “real” recipe for Grandma’s meatballs, it’s rare that the origin story of and precise elements required to make a beloved dish or drink are universally agreed upon. The roots of and ingredients for the Black-Eyed Susan Cocktail are no exception. It’s the official cocktail of the Triple Crown’s Preakness Stakes, a horse race held annually on the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

1 week ago | wineenthusiast.com | Kate Dingwall

The wine industry has been plagued with capital-B Bad headlines as of late. People aren’t drinking, especially the young folks who are supposed to fill in for boomers as they age. Climate change continues to rain down on the industry. Sales slumps seem here to stay—and they’re only going to get worse as tariffs take hold. We’re in the midst of a game of will he-won’t he, as beverage pros wait with bated breath. All in all, it’s a pretty depressing time to work in adult beverages.