A Case of Vitis Vitiligo: Zýmē “...
Azienda Agricola Zýmē sits in the heart of Valpolicella. where Amarone, Italy’s grandest red, is produced. Zýmē, the brainchild of Celestino Gaspari, produces an excellent Amarone and a phenomenal Amarone Riserva, but my wallet’s not deep enough to enjoy them. Luckily, due to a genetic mutation, Zýmē also produces a wine that is not only affordable, […]
A Lucid Afternoon in New Orleans
Our last afternoon in New Orleans found Michael Graves and I drinking absinthe around the corner from Faulkner’s house. It was early November — the sunny, dry sort of day that lends itself to open-air alcohol consumption, a cultural staple of the Big Easy. A professionally trained chef, Mike is the food guy to my booze […]
Bruno Trapan “Terra Mare”...
Monday night, after a day spent glued to the keyboard, I went to Amali, a sustainable Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper East Side, to taste a few wines by Bruno Trapan, the winemaker at Trapan Winery in Istria, Croatia. I went in knowing as much about Croatian wine as I do about neurosurgery, but I […]
Industry Standard: A Vodka to Redeem ...
If wine is the intersection of art and science, vodka is a hairy man with a mean uppercut. At least, that’s what I believed until last Monday. After a couple hours and a couple more drinks at The City Foundry in Sunset Park, David Kyrejko and Zachary Bruner managed to convince me otherwise. Kyrejko and […]
Bussing Out
They’ve started putting safety videos on buses now. As if A) anyone would watch a safety video on a bus, and B) anything would be different if they did. I refuse to wear a seatbelt on a bus — it’s a matter of principle, or at least a matter of habit. When I took the […]
Dear Portuguese stranger who asked me...
Dear Portuguese stranger who asked me for directions around 4pm last Sunday at the 49th Street Subway Station, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t know by heart how to get to the World Trade Center Memorial. I’m sorry I had to look it up on my phone. I’m sorry I told you to take the […]
Flying Home
Hours before the sun, Francis picked up Luke and me from Cumberland House and drove us to London-Gatwick. Going through customs was easy, because this time Luke didn’t have a six-pack of Cascazilla in his bag (I offered to chug them all at JFK clearance, but the TSA wasn’t having it; lucky bastards probably drank […]
Biking to Kazakhstan
Over his time in Europe, Luke’s family has tripled in size. Since we arrived, Rosemary has commandeered his social calendar – he sees new relations every day. Keeping track of all the second, third, and fourth cousins he’s met has been difficult for him, and impossible for me. That one was arrested at an environmental […]
Shooting the Pool, Taking the Piss
“It’s the gravity,” I said, sending the cue ball straight into the corner pocket. “It’s all wonky this side of the planet.” “Sure,” scoffed Graeme, sinking another two reds, “the gravity.” Luke and I had been looking for a pool table since we got to Europe. We now regretted finding one. “And the weights,” Luke […]
Best Bros, Transit Woes
In Amsterdam, it’s easy to get lost. Under the usual circumstances, Luke and I found ourselves separated in a foreign country, trying to reach an outskirts bus station before our ticket back to London burned up like so much hash in the hands of a tourist. Through the execution of such extraordinary skills as following street […]
