We love cheese and really had to start looking around to find what we wanted during covid. Let’s hope the tariffs don’t put another burden on cheese lovers.

We had visited just about all of the wine regions in California during my many years in the wine business. This trip we got a ground floor glimpse of the up and coming Tehachapi Mountain AVA and a last image of the disappearing Cucamonga Valley AVA.

The weather was brutally hot in Missouri but the winery cellars were cool and full of great wines made from Native and Hybrid grape varieties.

How about a little love for Bourgeois

I love Michigan wine. Yet, I never really felt that even the best of our wines compared to the best in the world. I was wrong!

In spite of the rain, we enjoyed a bit of California sunshine in every glass of Chardonnay

We are getting too old to be hoarding wine. Time to drink them!

We never get tired of Tucson. The golf is uniquely desert style, the food scene is farm to table, the wines are great and the weather in March and April couldn’t be better.

It’s time to start a new blog post on the exciting bargains we find during the holiday season and beyond.

I’m such a chocolate nerd that one time when calling on Fortino’s in Grand Haven, I mistakenly purchased a large chunk of baking chocolate. Yes, I devoured it in minutes. CHOCOHOLIC ALERT!!

Can you belive it? I still have a few bottles of just about every wine I’ve ever made. I’m finding a few gems but mostly tired old wine. The purpose of a library is for learning, and as I taste these old wines, I am! Most of this was written in the summer of 2021 while unpacking after our move from Holland to Ann Arbor. There are many updates, as we re-taste the wines that did not end up in Scott and Ruth Walker’s vinegar culture.

We’re always looking for a pasta sauce that combines the rich meaty flavor of Bolognese with the brighter flavors of marinara. Here is an easy recipe that does both and neither to excess.

A must for New Year’s Day for good financial luck with the collards representing folding money and the peas representing coins

Lots more bargains from Trader Joe’s, Costco, Sam’s, Aldi and elsewhere for 2024

While in Winston-Salem teaching a session at the American Wine Society convention, we headed out to the wine country to get a taste of North Carolina wines.

We had a great opportunity at a Lakeshore American Wine Society tasting to see if our friends liked older or younger wines.

For 2024, I’ll continue digging up old wines from the cellar before both Alice and I are subterranean ourselves.

The greatest sites from the best wineries are simply without pier.

As the number of Zinfandels on the store shelves seems to be shrinking, the quality producers are still alive and well insuring a diverse offering of quality wines.

Michigan's lost highway, US-12, used to be full of tourist traps in the Irish Hills sort of like a mini Route 66.

When Xfinity lost Bally Sports Detroit we did enjoy watching all the other nationally prominent teams play and see all of the great ex-Tigers in action. But, eventually we got homesick for Tiger baseball and started looking for a means to “have our cake and eat it too”.

Michigan is a great place for a short or long vacation. Even if you only have a few days, there are so many pieces of it you can bite off. Here are a few good stops to make in your next trip to the north and west side of the state.

There is nothing like a simple meal with a simple wine. LIFE IS GOOD!

Today on a mid-week trek to Plymouth for some Italian goodies, traffic was light and the store not as busy as it usually is. We were surprised, however, that the trattoria was packed. It is no mystery why.