William Rice

Price and pinot noir! The pain of one can put the potential pleasure of the other on permanent hold. All too often the seductive label of a red Burgundy (or...

The pinot grigio grape (called pinot gris in Alsace and by most American wineries that make wine from it) is receiving a well-deserved second look. The widespread popularity of mildly...

Wine-lovers are beginning to perk up when they hear the words "Argentina" and "malbec" linked. To understand why, try Alamos Ridge Malbec from Argentina's Mendoza region. Produced by the quality-conscious...

The 1996 Parducci Mendocino Chardonnay earned wine of the week status last year, and this 1997 is even more worthy of it. Tasting blind (without knowing the wine's identity), I...

Just when the explosion of new wineries across California seems to quiet down, another producer emerges offering wines too enticing to ignore. This Blackstone merlot is a blend of very...

No longer hunter-gatherers, or self-sustaining farmers, or even city folk dependent on local harvests for fresh food, Americans approach the new century comfortable, even blas, about their grocery stores. As...

Wine snobs keep insisting it is impossible to produce really fine wine in deep Southern California, and Callaway Vineyard and Winery keeps proving them wrong. The winery's 1998 sauvignon blanc...

Winemaker Phyllis Zouzounis has made one sturdy wine with this zinfandel, from grapes of five small vineyards in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley. The zinfandel grape has thrived in the...

Looking for a white wine with a "different" taste? Try this pinot gris, which is bold with a fresh, floral nose and a dry taste with citrus notes. Pinot gris...

The Sutter Home winery made its reputation on white zinfandel and continues to produce good-value red zinfandel. But here's proof that this is no one-grape winery: a 1997 pinot noir...