Liz and I stopped in to a recommended wine shop this weekend where we bought a very good Sancerre. When Liz twisted the corkscrew before we tasted the wine, however, the cork cracked into pieces, leaving a fine powder floating at the top of the wine. A quick pour from the top and a toss in the sink resolved the issue, but it was still annoying.

I have been MIA for a couple of weeks, which I shall attribute to the business of turning 30, but I will now attempt to delve back in. I was also hampered by the sudden death of my one year old hard drive. (Really, Dell. Tsk tsk).

I had no input on what I would prefer as my birthday beverage; but as I entered the room, a glass magically appeared in my hand. If only that happened more frequently...

Before Liz and I moved in together I used to live on Beacon Hill, one of the most picturesque neighborhoods in Boston with its steeply sloped streats and red-brick buildings. It measures only one square mile, but houses over 10,000 rich old folks, young working professionals, college studients, and former presidential hopeful John Kerry. Charles Street Liquors was my local wine shop. It was also the home of my favorite local wine shop, one in which the owner would routinely order difficult-to-find wines for me. I found a favorite white blend of mine there, Sokol Blosser Evolution. I picked up a 1975 DH Andresen Colheita Port for a friend's 30th birthday that was to die for. I had good wine, so life was good.

After reading about it at Lenndevours, and then again in Food & Wine, Liz and I decided to throw our collective hat into Wine Blogging Wednesday, hosted this week by the equally great Wine Cask Blog. This week's theme was "Regular vs. Reserve," which ties in nicely with my post on what makes a quality wine:

It has come to my attention through our regular readers -- we actually have a couple -- that we haven't been posting enough. To make matters worse, these same regular readers say that we haven't been posting enough about the wine we've been drinking -- too much about the wine industry, not enough about the wine.

Starting with this post, Vinilicious will be dedicated to blogging about the wine we're drinking. With the wine, we'll also give some background on the grape variety, the appellation, and the winemaker, if possible.

What to drink on a rather bleak Saturday afternoon in April, sitting around with two old college friends you haven't seen in a while? Hmm. How about a sparkling wine from England? Brilliant idea, old chap. I happened to have a bottle of Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2004 from West Sussex, kindly transported from the motherland by an expat friend of ours, so I popped it open. Light and tart with plenty of fizz, it was also delicious when I added a bit of black current cordial to create my own version of a Kir Royale.

Ah, wine and cheese. A glorious combination, and even more glorious when four of each are at your disposal. I had the good fortune to attend Cheese Tuesday at L'Espalier earlier this month as a final celebration of turning 30, and I would have to say it is the best wine tasting I've attended thus far in this town, not to mention extremely good value for the price. The cheese that night came from Vermont Butter & Cheese Company. The owners were on hand to provide a bit of history, and L'Espalier's wine director, Erik Johnson, also spoke about how he chose each pairing. I must admit, because this restaurant is so high end I was expecting a bit of snobbery when it came to the realm of wine. But I was wrong.

A friend of mine named Sully, who is now on the verge of becoming a first-time dad, was known back in the day for his annual New Years Eve party. It always started out elegant, all collars and ties and cocktail dresses, but like all great parties it always ended messier than it started. On the eve of 2001, because I've longed to make it in the world of hip hop, I dropped $250 for a bottle of Cristal and brought it to the party.

Yes, I know it was foolish, but I was young and impetuous. And I also knew very little about wine at the time.

In Eric Asimov's latest post on his blog, he offhandedly recommends reading the wine list at NYC's Hearth (sandwiched around his usual beautifully descriptive tastings both away and at home). Having eaten at Hearth for my birthday in February, I remember the wine list well -- we showed up without reservations, so I read it while waiting for a table at the bar. I recently re-read

The folks responsible for Hearth have recently opened Italian eatery Insieme in the Michelangelo Hotel. New York readers, please report back here after trying.

The character jiu (酒) means "alcohol" in Chinese, and the word is used to describe most fermented or distilled spirits. "Beer" in Chinese is pijiu (啤酒), and baijiu (烧酒), the most popular alcoholic drink in China, is distilled from sorghum or other grains and tastes somewhere between grain alcohol and burning gasoline.