This article was updated in July 2026. A number of decades ago, sparkling wine was either pricey champagne or sweetened, effervescent plonk made by bulk winemakers in California, such as Gallo or Italian Swiss Colony. For those of you old enough to remember, Andre and a sweet sparkling red wine called Cold Duck should bring back a smile or a bad memory. Today, the sparkling wine opportunities are much broader with availability from most winemaking regions of the world. But the giants of...

Two weeks ago, we wrote about the joy of drinking the red wines from Bordeaux during colder months. As promised, this week we’ll address...

As we write this column, most people are confined largely to their homes as the coronavirus continues to spread across the country. Like...