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After crossing over the majestic Chesapeake Bay Bridge toward sandy seaside shores, you pass bucolic landscapes and picturesque, quiet colonial towns such as Easton, Md. It is hard to imagine the area bustling with bootleggers and rum-runners, but as author Eric Mills describes in “Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties,” that was exactly the case […]

Across the globe on the third Thursday in November, wine drinkers celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau Day. But as you drink Beaujolais Nouveau, remember other Beaujolais (pronounced BOH-joh-lay) red wines offer diverse styles that are equally, if not much more, enjoyable. Beaujolais Nouveau offers an opportunity to sip the first new French wines of the most recent

Halloween means handing out candy to the delight of little trick-or-treaters in costumes. But with a little imagination, adults can have fun of their own — costumes optional — by offering delicious, artisan liqueurs with grown-up confectionery delights. Instead of rummaging through your kid’s stash on Halloween night, grab these intriguing treats from France and

What delicious yet versatile wines pair beautifully with autumn delights such as aged cheeses, roasted chestnuts, dried fruit, spice cakes and chocolates? Madeira, an underappreciated fortified wine, probably did not come to mind. But by sipping Madeira, we become of part of a long, storied American tradition. Madeira wines hail from steep volcanic slopes on

This is the second of a two-part series on wines made at the Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. The legacy of Dr. Konstanin Frank, who helped pioneer the development of Finger Lakes wine country as a destination for high-quality wines, is alive and well today. His grandson,

Munich’s Oktoberfest — a two-week extravaganza of suds, sausages and singing wrapped in lederhosen pants and dirndl dresses — holds sway as the classic German harvest celebration. And while it is true that Oktoberfest custom forbids serving wine, Germans nevertheless adore and celebrate the pleasures of the grape with a legion of wine festivals. From

For afficionados of pinot noir red wines, looking beyond Bourgogne, France, occasionally makes sense. Bourgogne has been the epicenter of high-quality pinot noir production for over 1,100  years, and it remains so today. But taking the adventurous approach beyond Bourgogne is useful especially when late spring frosts, mid-summer hailstorms and early fall mold and mildew damage Bourgogne’s grapes extensively.

The kids are back in school, yet Autumn’s often glorious afternoons and evenings still offer opportunities for fun backyard barbecues and picnics. Serving easy drinking and inexpensive yet delicious wines can make these days more enjoyable. It may come as a surprise that increasingly exceptional wine values for picnics and cookouts come in boxes, not