Posts tagged as:

wine

Hints of Cherry and Witch’s Urine? (1400 AD)

Thumbnail image for Hints of Cherry and Witch’s Urine? (1400 AD)

By Tony Perrottet
Today’s oenophiles have to consider the possibility that their valuable wine bottles may be corked, oxidized, “maderized” (ruined due to over-heating), re-fermented (gone fizzy in the bottle) or sullied by a contaminant.
Things were much easier in 16th century Italy: You could just blame the witches. It was commonly believed that after their [...]

Read the full article →

If Wine Could Talk

Thumbnail image for If Wine Could Talk

How did the triple-expansion steam engine of the late 19th century drive Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to absinthe, La Fée Verte?
By Michael Bywater
The wonderful John Aubrey, snapper-up of well-considered trifles, wrote in his Brief Lives that “When a boy, he did ever love to converse with old men, as living histories.”1
You might say the same of [...]

Read the full article →