Clicquot vs Moët: The 1814 Race that Taught You to Buy Champagne by Name
Jean-Rémy Moët had the Emperor, the mayoralty, and the larger house. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot had a boat and a head start.
The Polished Palate
Learn to trust your palate—then apply that discernment to everything else in life.
Live Last read · last published · next check
Latest posts
Your Favorite Wine Got Riper. A Person Decided How Much.
Harvest in Beaune runs 13 days earlier than it did in 1988. Growers have 4 ways to answer that, and the one they picked is the wine in your glass.
Austrian Producers Cheated to Fake Ripeness. The Answer Was to Stop Faking Anything.
A chemist sold the trick, dozens of producers bought it, and a tax deduction brought it all down.
Blind Tasting at Home: 3 Experiments that Reveal What You Actually Taste
You never have to go fully blind on day one. Hide the price first, then the place, then everything. Each layer you cover teaches your palate a different lesson.
The Last Thing Netflix Called Uncorked Scored 94% with Critics and Moved No Wine at All
A Korean importer sold 50 cases in two days because of a comic book. That is the bar prestige television keeps failing to clear.
The Terroir Question: 3 Tastings That Show What's Real and What's Marketing
The back label promises somewhere special. 3 side-by-sides show you when to believe it, and when the premium went to a copywriter.
What Chasing a 100-Point Score Actually Costs, in Dollars, Vines, and One Criminal Conviction
One spring Robert Parker missed his Bordeaux trip, and economists finally got a control group. What they measured explains the last forty years of wine.
Why the Same Wine Can Taste Different from One Year to the Next
A vintage is one season's weather. It changes everything in some regions and barely registers in others. Knowing which is which is a superpower at the wine shop.
Why Oakville Cab Tastes Different from Stags Leap (and What to Look for on a Label)
Two Cabernets grown a few miles apart, and nothing on the front label seems to explain it. Learn to read the two addresses and you can predict their style before you pull the cork.
Why a Wine from a Desert Can Taste Fresher Than a Wine from a Cool Coast
Elevation, the direction a slope faces, and the ground itself each control how a grape ripens. Together they set a wine's acidity before a winemaker makes a single decision.