Blog — wine education

Ask someone what they think of Beaujolais and you'll probably get one of two responses. Either a dismissive wave of the hand because they associate it with Beaujolais Nouveau and cheap party wine, or genuine enthusiasm from someone who has spent time with the Crus and knows what this region is actually capable of. If you're in the first camp, this post is for you. If you're already in the second, welcome. You already know. The Beaujolais Nouveau Problem Beaujolais Nouveau is both the region's greatest marketing triumph and its biggest reputation problem. Released every third Thursday of November just...

There are wine regions and then there is Burgundy. No other place on earth has inspired the same level of obsession, scholarship, and reverence from wine lovers. It's a region where a single vineyard row can mean the difference between a $30 bottle and a $3,000 one, where centuries of monastic winemaking shaped the modern concept of terroir, and where Pinot Noir and Chardonnay reach expressions that winemakers everywhere else spend careers trying to understand. If you're just getting into Burgundy, welcome. You're in for a lifetime of discovery. If you've been here a while, you already know there's always...

If you've spent any time around wine enthusiasts, you've heard the word terroir. It gets thrown around at tastings, written on wine labels, and used to justify why a bottle from one hillside costs three times as much as one from the valley below. But what does it actually mean? The short answer is that terroir is the complete natural environment where a grape is grown. The long answer is a lot more interesting. The Literal Translation Terroir comes from the French word terre, meaning earth or land. But in the wine world it means much more than just the...

If you've been paying attention to the wine world over the last decade, you've probably noticed orange wine showing up on natural wine lists, at trendy restaurants, and in the Instagram feeds. But what exactly is skin contact wine, and why does it taste so different from everything else in the glass? Here's everything you need to know. What is Skin Contact Wine? Skin contact wine, commonly called orange wine, is made by fermenting white grapes with their skins left on. That might sound simple, but it's a fundamental departure from how most white wine is made. In conventional white...

If you've been exploring the world of wine long enough, you've probably come across the acronym GSM on a wine list or at a tasting room and wondered what it means. GSM stands for Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre — three grape varieties that come together to create some of the most complex and satisfying red blends in the wine world. Here's everything you need to know about GSM wine, where it comes from, what it tastes like, and why it deserves a spot in your glass. Where Does GSM Wine Come From? GSM blends have their roots in France's Rhone...