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. Next door to Warner on Kalamazoo Street is the million-gallon St. Julian cellar, with a handsome tasting room built since a fire destroyed part of the building in 1971. Mariano Meconi started this winery in 1921 at Windsor, Ontario, as the Italian Wine Company, moved it at Repeal to Detroit, and five years later brought most of its equipment to Paw Paw.” 

Wine is about history, geography and people. Rarely has a book combined the three more powerfully than “The Wines of California” by Elaine Chukan Brown, from Academie du Vin Library ($44.95 at amazon.com and the publisher). And this book brings something additional, something different, as Brown explains:

“In looking at the state’s wine history within a larger context, I have tried to demonstrate the connections between its successes and pivotal challenges, its triumphs and the costs that came from them. This includes acknowledging that its history of winegrowing has depended on the labor of people of color. Other histories on the wine industry have tended to overlook or erase this reality. By incorporating this important part of wine’s development, we can better understand the history of California and perhaps also what solutions for today’s labor issues might be possible.”

The book doesn’t only discuss every wine region of the state in depth, but, in many capsule introductions, includes the first peoples. 

Santa Barbara County.

Known for: Pinot Noir, Sideways.

Lesser-known strength: homes to Charlie Chaplin, Oprah Winfrey, and Ronald Reagan.

Leader in: savory Chardonnay, Santa Maria BBQ, pinquito beans.

First peoples: Michumash.

Consider the elegance there of combining humor and education, history and current affairs. That’s a good example of the whole book.

Brown is a highly regarded speaker, writer and educator whom we have known for several years. Brown and Dottie serve on the board of the Wine Writers Symposium at Meadowood, which is sponsored by the Napa Valley Vintners trade organization and Meadowood Napa Valley. At the Symposium in 2023, for a panel called Writing Across Styles, John interviewed Brown about a 793-word masterpiece Brown had written for Wine & Spirits called “Caribou Bones and Burgundy.” Brown is Indigenous – Inupiaq and Unangan-Sugpiaq – from what is now Alaska. As John spoke with Brown about the creation of that article, Brown explained that it really was all about their family and started to cry. Then John started to cry – and then everyone in the whole room cried.

(Elaine Chukan Brown, Dottie, and sommelier, Miguel de Leon)

The book is dedicated to Brown’s daughter, Ellaita, and “For Dottie, who did it first.” So we would not pretend for a minute that what you are reading here is objective. But it is true. 

This book is core, essential. For anyone just beginning their journey, this will put wine in context in straightforward language with little jargon. For example: Cabernet Sauvignon’s “move into the steep slopes and mountain ridges of the state brought recognition of mountain tannins. While there are high elevation Cabernet vineyards elsewhere in the world, nowhere else is there a high enough concentration of them to create the notion of a mountain Cabernet.”

Like Karen MacNeil’s “The Wine Bible” and Jancis Robinson’s “The Oxford Companion to Wine,” this book needs to be on the shelf as a reference.  For those who want more structured learning about wine, there’s Kevin Zraly’s “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course,” which celebrated its 35th anniversary edition in 2020.

Those of us far along on our journeys will find all sorts of interesting material, too. We thought an American Viticultural Area was primarily a defined geographical place of origin. Turns out it’s more than that: “The Mendocino Ridge AVA only takes in vines grown at 1,200 feet (366 meters) and...

Lamberto Frescobaldi thinks long term – really, really long term. He is the 30^th generation of one of Italy’s most storied winemakers, with prominent family roots going back more than 700 years in many endeavors -- economic, political, cultural. So when Frescobaldi, president of his family’s company, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi, plants its first flag in the U.S. – specifically, at a small winery in Oregon – it’s worth taking special note. Why did he do this? And why not Napa?

We’ve all had those moments during our wine journeys. Whether we’re new to wine or ...

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. For whatever reason, wine lovers truly embraced the concept: There’s no better day than today to celebrate.

What is it like to taste 149 wines in two days, taking notes on each one, with Waffle House in-between?

In January, we were judges for the Virginia Governor’s Cup, which is hosted by the Virginia Wineries Association in partnership with the Virginia Wine Board and the Virginia Vineyards Association. We have been enjoying and writing about Virginia’s wines for decades. Horton Vineyards Viognier and Norton were early favorites going back to the ’90s, about the time we visited the now-sold Swedenburg Estate Vineyard in Middleburg. We discovered the fine, Champagne-method sparklers from Thibaut-Janisson Winery more than a decade ago. But this is the first time we participated in the judging.

When Sarah O’Herron and Ed Boyce founded Black Ankle Vineyards in 2002, people told them they couldn’t make fine Syrah in Maryland. HA! Not only is the Mount Airy winery well-known for its Syrah, but on Feb. 22, in front of the world, O’Herron and Boyce will open their Syrah from 2007 and 2022 and taste them along with a very famous French Syrah. “Throw down with that one,” O’Herron told us. “Go big or go home,” Boyce added.

Why Feb. 22? Because it’s Open That Bottle Night 2025, when so many of us, from Prague to Walla Walla, uncork memories from a special wine. We created OTBN in 1999, when we wrote The Wall Street Journal’s wine column, because the most common question we received was some version of this: “I have this bottle from our wedding/my grandfather/an auction that I keep saving for a special occasion. When should I open it?”

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.

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. Some beverage alcohol drinkers are embracing Dry January, a pause from imbibing that’s intended as self-care. We say, good for them if that’s what they want to do. They’re adults. In all things, one should act responsibly. Personally, we are more aligned with the Gentle January view of Hadley Douglas, who with her husband T.J. Douglas owns the Drink Progressively Group and The Urban Grape wine shops in Boston and Washington D.C.  We’ve written about their annual Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color. “Gentle January is all about embracing what makes you feel complete, satisfied and happy. Punishment-based resets are not allowed,” she writes in the newsletter “Hadley’s Guide to Gentle January.” Throughout January, she enjoys sparkling wine, she writes.

“I worry about Westernization of January -- do more, be better and never rest all in the name of guilt, punishment and regret. I don’t want to pick up a new routine in January, or set rules that can’t be broken.” 

The wine world right now is awash in controversies, from the excavation of the colonial underpinnings of historic wine regions to the classist remnants that still haunt the enjoyment of our favorite libation today. And concerns abound. If you’re worried about wine and its effect on your health, it probably hasn’t helped that you likely feel some whiplash from the competing research on that question. Just last week, the surgeon general proposed that wine labels carry new health warnings about cancer, and camps for and against that idea have been at it.

Along with other industries, the wine industry is nervous about President Trump’s campaign promise to impose tariffs on foreign goods. During his first term, he slapped tariffs on some European goods including wine, which caused higher prices. President Biden rescinded those tariffs. Trump’s aim with tariffs, he says, is to create jobs and boost home-grown manufacturing. However, once again there’s concern about rising prices not only on imported wines but also on domestic wines as distributors and others in the chain of the domestic wine industry, including restaurants and wine shops, increase their prices to make up for the losses in the imported wine segment.

We have enjoyed wine almost daily since 1973. It enriches our lives. It encourages us to slow down, to see and hear each other more clearly, to delight in the food  before us or the way the setting sun plays on nearby trees and buildings. It transports us to where the wine was made, to the rich history of the place and the people responsible for it. Friendships, our understanding and appreciation of others, have been forged with it.

But back to the issue of gear and what you truly might need for your enjoyment of wine. If anything is so complicated that it staves off enjoyment of it, it’s our experience that folks will just walk away from it. Yep, shoes need to be comfortable and supportive if you are going to run in them, but you don’t need a different glass for every type of wine you drink. Dottie collects vintage glasses and china. Name the shape and we’ve got it, probably multiples of it. Remember when Champagne coupes, said to have been shaped like Marie Antoinette’s breasts, were out and flutes were in and then tulips? Enjoying wine is a multi-sensory experience. Treat your eyes to it, too. In other words, choose what feels special and appropriate to your mood and the mood of the wine. We acknowledge that a lot of time and money have been spent designing wine glasses to enhance the taste of wine, but we also believe that enjoying wine should not be stressful. John did require pliers to open a bottle of Cristal to propose to Dottie in 1978. But usually when it comes to stress and wine, the grape grower and winemaker have done the heavy lifting.

We have had a few wonderful wine experiences with clunky hotel glasses. And for the holidays, Zoë gave us John and Dottie Bobble Heads made by an artist with Etsy and it features us holding Styrofoam glasses. In fact, what Dottie was really holding was a clear plastic cup of some nondescript white wine that was poured at the world premiere of Colette Robert’s Off-Broadway play “The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel.” Zoë was part of the three-person band that played on stage throughout the riveting production. Needless to say, the wine and the after-show nibbles were enjoyed.

For the record, we believe that all wine vessels should be clear glass, free of any sort of adornment, and for most types of wine, everyday glasses should hold at least 20 ounces, not that you’re going to fill them to the rim. (We use some of Dottie’s small, delicate vintage glasses for sweet and dessert wines.) Everyday glasses should have long stems so that you can swirl and your hands won’t be so close to the bowl that they warm the wine, unless you want to warm the wine. And they should be dishwasher safe and affordable so that you don’t worry about breaking them. (These are great gifts for the w...

We paid $7.25 for a 1978 Château Meyney in 1981. That same year, we spent $12.99 – the equivalent about $45 in today’s dollars – to buy a 1979 Ste. Chapelle Chardonnay from Idaho. Why in the world did we do that? Because we’d never seen a wine from Idaho before.

Around this time of year, we cheer “Out with the old and in with the new!” If that’s a sentiment we truly embrace, why do we celebrate with the same old Champagne? Look, we understand: The holidays don’t seem like a good time to take a risk. So too often for our special bubbly -- the one we share and care about -- we end up spending around $70 on a reliable, well-known label. Sometimes sameness can be comforting.