by admin | Mar 27, 2024 | Blog
Many studies have shown how playing an instrument or singing helps shape the brain in young children. That’s no surprise given how playing music involves multiple skills, including reading musical notation, following a conductor’s movements, listening to others...
by admin | Mar 13, 2024 | Blog
“Wine is complicated. Almost impossibly so.” Jamie Goode from his book, Flawless: Understanding Wine Faults Unless you’re a winemaker or chemist, there’s a lot we take for granted about wine. At the very least, you can buy a random bottle off the shelf and odds are it...
by admin | Feb 28, 2024 | Blog
Praveenp, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Over the years I’d heard rumors about a mysterious coffee from the mystic east. It was said that this particular coffee was made from the berries of the coffee plant eaten by wild creatures, with the cherries excreted and...
by admin | Feb 14, 2024 | Blog
It was February, 2013. I was in Singapore teaching an MS class. At some point near the end of dinner one night, fellow MS, Brian Julyan, and I suddenly thought we smelled natural gas in the restaurant where we were dining. Or mercaptan, to be precise, which is added...
by admin | Jan 31, 2024 | Blog
In the early 70s, there was a time when the gaucho look was all the rage in women’s fashion. Suddenly, suburbs were afloat in bolero hats, leather boots, and gaucho pants, which always looked like bloomers that had somehow lost their bungee. My mom even had a poncho...
by admin | Jan 17, 2024 | Blog
One of the questions I’m most often asked is about the meaning of life. Which, as anyone knows, is 42. Sorry, inside joke. Actually, the most often asked wine question is a variation of how someone can learn more about tasting. Or how someone studying wine can get...