"What all did this involve?" is a question many curious family members, friends, and fellow wine professionals ask about certification.

Here's the next update of my Sommelier Studies series, focusing on one of my absolute favorite grape varietals.

The Maestro has decided he can't quit his love of learning, and I'm going "back to school," as it were––toward the end of this year, I'll...

For the next few installments of the Maestro's "Clues for the Clueless," allow me to answer some of your most pressing wine questions.

Both of y'all loyal readers will have to forgive my spotty (i.e., completely absent) blogging for the better part of the last year. I...

People rightfully make fun of the highfalutin nature of descriptors for wine that wineries, critics, tasting room staff, sommeliers,...

The pandemic has upended much of our lives, and the hospitality industry is one of the primary victims. In the process, many restaurants,...

Perhaps it was the sense of impending doom resulting from waking up every day in this pandemic, now again in a terrible phase, that...

Years before I came to understand what fine dining really meant––or rather, what it really could mean––my attraction to the best...

I have few particular complaints about my single lifestyle. It allows me to be nimble and spontaneous, easily adapt to new circumstances,...

My mini-crusade to improve my choices and shift my life toward a more ethical food trajectory has involved a multitude of little...

Something I learned from my first visit to Stone Barns is how corporatized and streamlined our food experience has become. There are...

One of the cooler trends we've been seeing emerge during the pandemic from restaurants are take-home, heat-and-eat style dinners. These...

Despite writing it up, I'd never posted this gem from back in the depths of Iowa quarantine in March 2020, but figured no time like the...

I really enjoyed issuing a series of absolutely meaningless "Big Drunk Gay" awards last year, highlighting the very best things I ate,...

Well kids, what can I say? Life is crazy, and my dearth of posts this past month was due in part to my grand adventure in Alaska, yes,...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas and mama figures out there! It's been a wonderful day here in Cedar Rapids. Despite some really...

How are we lucky enough to have barbecue in our lives? I do not claim in the least to be a barbecue expert, so don't @ me, BBQ pros (very...

If you are like me, thirty-plus days of quarantine has begun to spark days of pronounced lethargy and depression––days where you stare...

As long as we can't travel physically, we might as well travel culinarily! Korean food is having a real moment in the Unites States....

We have been drinking a not-very-small amount during this fiasco, and margaritas seem to form the backbone of the consumption. Magically,...

I wasn't planning on creating anything transcendental with this meal, so the Quarantine Cuisine series was supposed to next travel to...

Apologies for the delay in posting this next installment! The Maestro's computer suffered an unfortunate cracked screen, so a new one had...

This week I present a double dose of seafood, because our Fulton Fish Market order was particularly large (so we could trigger the free...

Well kiddos, as you may have noticed, the world has stopped moving. Restaurants and bars are closed, the stock market is crumbling, the...