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Screw it

by Thor Iverson | August 25, 2008

Wine openers with a twist

“Does anyone have a corkscrew?” Ask this at any random gathering and you’ll likely be handed a medieval instrument of cork torture, the winged auger. Here’s how it works: you angle the “wings” upward, push the screw into the cork, and attempt to twist the too-tiny handle. You’ll have to push down, too, because the dull point of the auger won’t penetrate the cork without significant pressure. Finally, after the application of sufficient force, the auger descends — its passage completely shredding the interior of the cork — until it plunges through the other side and deposits a shower of cork crumbs onto the surface of the wine. You then clasp the neck of the bottle and the bottom of the corkscrew in one hand, while squeezing the winged levers together with the other. Given a new wine, this extracts the cork about a quarter of the way, after which you must tug and wiggle and twist and grunt until the mangled cork pops out of the bottle, a few teaspoons of wine chasing its release and landing on the nearest stain-prone surface (usually, your shirt). Or, the cork breaks, necessitating an 45-degree-angled approach for the second attempt (since the center of the cork is now completely stripped, and thus useless). If the wine’s old, the initial attempt at extraction causes the auger to rip back through the gaping wound opened by its entry, leaving a ragged cork still in the bottle, though one newly equipped with a tiny hole through which you can pour wine infused with a hail of cork dust.

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Sweet 100: 2008

by Thor Iverson | July 25, 2008
Bring out your shopping carts It was a hit last year, judging by a tripling of Massachusetts’s annual wine revenues and a commensurate escalation of my salary. (Okay, okay, none of that happened. Sigh.) And so here it is again: a list of 100 wines you...

Sipping Style

by Thor Iverson | July 11, 2008
The frontiers of fermentation Now that it’s clear that cutting-edge liquidity can’t be left in the hands of financial types, it’s time for those of us interested in the liquids themselves to take that edge back. Usually, hipster quaffing is left to the...

Sunny delights

by Thor Iverson | May 30, 2008
Summer in Boston. It starts sometime in late June, dries up the remnants of the three months of rain that preceded it, and beats a hasty retreat a few days after the returning students have lugged their belongings from U-Hauls to their fourth-floor walk...

Wine by the numbers: Meeting the burden of proof

by Thor Iverson | May 05, 2008
NOT THAT anyone reading this ever engaged in the highly illegal practice of underage drinking, but remember when it was all so much simpler? (For your friends, I mean. Not you. You went to church every day, asked for extra-credit assignments, helped old...

Twist: Bottle of the sexes

by Heather Bouzan | May 05, 2008
WE'LL BE HONEST: if it has an alcohol content, we're happy to drink it. But some people get all snooty in the beer-versus-wine debate. Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware, and Marnie Old, an accomplished sommelier, are two...

The Road Less Traveled: Examining the lure of the obscure

by Thor Iverson | April 07, 2008
AMONG A certain cadre of music fans, near-anonymity is a virtue. The tinier the fan base and the more micro-specific the genre, the better. A trio of yaks playing klezmer standards on didgeridoo? Sure, great - until they take their act on the road, that...

Primavera Verde: Sauvignons put a spring in your sip

by Thor Iverson | March 10, 2008
IT'S NOT easy being green." So sang a triangle-mouthed frog puppet, once. Of course, at the time he had a hand jammed up his ... well, anyway, I'm not sure his plight applies to us. Still, mention "green" in the context of wine...

Magnum Carta: What makes a wine list great?

by Thor Iverson | February 25, 2008
THERE'S A restaurant in Girona, Spain, where the wine lists (yes, plural) are delivered on a rolling cart, because they're too heavy to carry and too bulky to peruse on the table. Most of the world's great wines are represented, they're...

Bumbling into Bubbly: A sparkling feet of imagination

by Thor Iverson | February 06, 2008
"OH, I CAN'T. It goes right to my head!" And with this phrase, a thousand eager hands (attached to lusting hearts) reach forth, offering yet another glass of sparkling wine to their dates. But is it true? Does sparkling wine really accelerate...

Riesling Rocks: A grape that leaves no stone unturned

by Thor Iverson | January 28, 2008
AN ACQUAINTANCE of mine once made a personal study of the great vineyards of Germany. His methodology: put whatever stones or soil he found there into his mouth, taste, and compare. Maybe he was part chicken and had some sort of vestigial gizzard, but...

The Dating Game: Every wine has its year

by Thor Iverson | January 08, 2008
MY DINING companion looked up from the wine list, perplexed. "But it's supposed to be a great vintage." "Yes, it is. Which is why you shouldn't order it." He dropped the list on the table, exasperated. "Did anyone ever...

Double Trouble: Two wines are better than one

by Thor Iverson | December 12, 2007
LIKE SOME sort of tipsy Noah's Ark, the world of wine comes in pairs. Or maybe that means it's like socks. Or pants. You'll pardon me if I struggle with this whole simile thing; I'm a metaphor man, myself. Anyway: the point is that there...

Rouge Gallery: Gifted reds for your holiday green

by Thor Iverson | November 30, 2007
I GET A lot of interesting questions, yet I always have trouble with this popular query: "What's a good wine to bring as a gift?" Why so tough? Because it's virtually unanswerable without knowing the recipient's preferences. Which...

Wine Dining: Pre-pairing the perfect feast

by Thor Iverson | November 19, 2007
SIX COURSES in, I knew I was in trouble. It was my introduction to wine, food, France. And, more important, to my girlfriend's family. I was in some forsaken little village in Lorraine, sitting at a table with her parents, other relatives, and their...