Drinking wine is easy. Tasting it is hard. That’s why I’m introducing The Tastemaker, an occasional series on STBNY about the challenges, joys and mysteries of wine tasting.

As my regular STBNY readers (all 4 of you!) know, I’m a Francophile. To paraphrase Chico Escuela, France has been bery bery good to me.

Eric Asimov’s recent article about sommeliers who taste wine before serving it has sparked a lot of discussion in the wine blogo/Twittersphere. The practice doesn’t bother me, but the piece, and the reaction it provoked, got me thinking a lot about my sommelier pet peeves. The majority of my encounters with sommeliers have been positive…but I’ve had my fair share of negative experiences. And when things do go bad, it usually plays out a little something like this.

I like to tell people that wine isn’t as complicated as it’s made out to be. And that’s usually the case … except, of course, when it’s not. Take, for example, Bonarda.

Happy anniversary to me and Paul! We celebrated with a fantastic dinner at Blue Hill Stone Barns, where we ate and drank well — and did a little inter-species mingling.

Quick, when I say “Soave” what do you think of?

Last week Paul and I had the pleasure of hosting Stu Smith, co-founder of Smith-Madrone, for dinner. We had been looking forward to this get-together for a while, but a recent controversy in the wine blogosphere added a new sense of urgency to the event.

One of the highlights of my recent college reunion weekend was a trip to the Yale Farm.

I picked up this wine a few weeks ago at a hit-or-miss liquor store in my neighborhood. I’ve bought some real gems, as well as a few losers, at this shop. Fortunately, the Evodia fall into the former category.

As I mentioned in my Argetsinger Vineyard post, Lisa Hallgren’s breakfast tart was the culinary highlight of the weekend. Here, at long last, is the recipe.