Stories
Origins, grapes, and producers, small stories beyond the glass.
Stories · Qvevri · Georgia
What Is a Qvevri? Georgia’s Buried Clay Vessel, Amber Wine, and How to Choose a First Bottle
A qvevri is an egg-shaped clay vessel used in Georgia to ferment, age, and store wine. Buried in the earth for steady temperature, long skin contact can turn white grapes amber. Learn how the method works and how to pick a first bottle.
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Stories · Sparkling · How to Choose
What Is Sparkling Wine? From “Devil’s Wine” to Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, and How to Choose
Bubbles in wine were once treated as a fault. Learn the main methods, how Champagne, Cava, and Prosecco differ, and how to choose a first bottle and serving temperature.
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Stories · Orange Wine · Japanese Food
What Is Orange Wine? A Guide to Taste, Pairing, and Choosing Your First Bottle
Orange wine contains no oranges. Learn how skin-contact white wine is made, why it can taste tannic, how it pairs with Japanese food, and how to choose a first bottle.
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Stories · Wine Storage · Basics
How to Store Wine: Temperature, Light, and Position Before and After Opening
The advice to keep red wine at room temperature does not tell the whole story after opening. Learn how to store wine before and after opening at home.
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Stories · Natural wine
What is natural wine? How it differs from organic, how it tastes, and how to choose
Natural wine brings healthy grapes and a place to the glass with as little added intervention as possible. It is not the same as an organic label or a no-sulfite claim. How you buy and store it decides whether the bottle arrives intact.
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Stories · Symposium · Music
Why do people sing while drinking?
Singing while drinking is not reason’s defeat. In the Athenian symposium wine unlocked speech and music. After empire fell, a Burgundy monk kept vines and chant alive. That promise reaches today’s glass.
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Stories · Croatia · Malvasia
Why did the master of the Sistine ceiling seek white from across the sea, not Tuscany?
Indifferent to food, Michelangelo cared about the quality in his cup. The fine whites of Florence and Rome often came across the Adriatic via Venice. That line lives on as Istarska Malvazija.
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Stories · Georgia · Qvevri
Why did Queen Tamar bury 185 wine jars in a cliff cave?
As Seljuk armies pressed from the south, George III and Queen Tamar carved Vardzia into the cliff. Its marani held 185 qvevri, wine as sustenance under siege. Barefoot at prayer, then victory at Shamkor in 1195, it is said.
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Stories · Ancient Greece · Macedon
Why did Alexander the Great keep drinking undiluted wine?
Fourth-century Athens diluted wine to stay civil. Macedon drank it straight: akratos as proof of manhood. Alexander’s cup carried Dionysus, the murder of Cleitus, and a contest said to have killed forty-one men before he died at thirty-two.
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Stories · Canary Islands · American Revolution
Why was the American Revolution fought with wine, not gold?
When Continental paper money collapsed, Canary Malvasia crossed the Atlantic as liquid currency. Smuggled past the blockade, it bought guns, powder, and blankets.
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