Go Light with Torrontes
Argentinean white goes perfect with warm winter
By Josh Perilo
I left the house on Tuesday to move my car and I wasn’t wearing a coat.
Yes, this is the wine column, but I felt that sentence needed to be said. It’s both thrillingly amazing (considering the snow spanking we got last year) and very, very scary. By the way, thanks, Al Gore! I still have trouble sleeping whenever it’s unseasonably warm. Read more
Impress the Sommelier
Ignore the barolos and go for a Valpolicella
By Josh Perilo
I had been sorely missing my good, angry friend Jesse since he and his wife moved to Los Angeles. I knew that I could always rely on him for a good fight or two about everything from the meaningless to the epic. Now, my sparring partner was gone. Read more
Food and Family
Recipes from my grandmother’s kitchen to yours
By Josh Perilo
No disrespect to my wonderful, sweet mother, but my passion for cooking did not come from her. No, I would describe my mother’s relationship with cooking more like a daily wrestling match in which she choke-slammed it into submission. With five kids (four of them boys), there was little room for creativity or improvisation—it was all about what would fill us up as quickly as possible while still trying to stay somewhat healthy (although I’ll never forgive her for the canned green beans). Read more
Penniless Picks
The best wines of 2011
By Josh Perilo
From the moment I smell turkey in the oven to the seconds before the ball drops in Times Square, I rejoice in the same holiday gift every year: a bevy of “best of” lists. Top TV shows, top movies, top albums…it is my No. 1 annual guilty pleasure. Read more
Lights, Camera, Fermentation
Taking a sip of celebrities’ newest hobby, winemaking
By: Josh Perilo
My wife and I had just finished watching the Orson Welles classic The Third Man. The credits were rolling and my head was swimming—not only from the brilliant piece of cinema I had just seen but from the man, Welles himself, and what would eventually become of him. Read more
The Ins and Outs of Decanting Wine
By: Josh Perilo
I always tell people that Brad and I were friends long before he was rich and successful. However, that certainly doesn’t stop me from taking advantage of his generosity as far as fine wine and food are concerned. This time of year, he tends to pull out several incredibly expensive bottles of wine from his small stash. And he always makes a huge spectacle of bringing them out, presenting them to the crowd and then handing them over to me.
The Many Tastes of Spain
Northern regions are rich with red variety
By Josh Perilo
There is a common understanding now among foodies that there is no such thing as “Italian food” as such. Thanks in large part to Mario Batali, the understanding of Italian food is of a cuisine that digs into what is local and available and makes the absolute best possible food from those resources. The idea of a homogenous Italian identity has become passé and quaint.
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Tracing the Roots of Home Brewed Soda
How I learned to embrace my root beer obsession
By Josh Perilo
So, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I am completely, 100 percent obsessive. When I discover a new object of interest it swallows me whole and consumes me for months, sometimes years at a time.
In junior high school it was musical theater. In high school, I was lost to the world of miniatures for two years. A decade ago, I discovered the world of wine.
Hanging Out With the In Crowd
French wines that aren’t from the “it” regions of France
By Josh Perilo
Paul sat staring at the map of France I had provided for the tasting. I was packing up leftover materials and chatting with some of the guests when I realized he hadn’t moved for a good five minutes. I approached him cautiously.
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Coffee for Everyone
Give your cup of joe the same scrutiny as a fine wine
By Josh Perilo
When I opened up my current issue of Wine Spectator, a feature article I was completely unprepared to see in my monthly wine rag intrigued me. Buried among the reviews of new releases from Carneros and Burgundy and lists of the top wine destination restaurants in America was a feature article on something that had nothing to do with wine—a full-page, Penniless Epicure-length article on Ethiopian coffee and why the writer (Mark Pendergrast) thought the beans from this part of the world were better than those from anywhere else.
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