IntelLet the familiar grape bring a friend.
Burgundy in San Francisco, West Coast Aligoté and New Zealand’s aromatic whites: three routes beyond the usual bottle.
Keep the Chardonnay. Put something less predictable beside it. Discovery is much easier when no one feels that their favorite bottle is being taken away.
This week: West Coast Aligoté, New Zealand’s aromatic whites, a conversation with Elaine Chukan Brown and Burgundy in San Francisco. Four routes past the usual order.
A sideways step can be enough.
The next generation of wine drinkers does not owe the industry a conversion experience. We have to make curiosity enjoyable. A familiar bottle beside an unfamiliar one is a small, generous way to do that.
As a winemaker, I want someone to care about what is in the glass. As a consumer, I want the freedom to enjoy it without getting the answer “right.” A good introduction leaves room for both preferences. It also makes the next unfamiliar bottle feel like less of a gamble.
Meet a wine writer through her own conversation.
Earlier reading · May 12
Put Elaine Chukan Brown on your reading list alongside the producer names. Vinography’s conversation with Brown, “On the Significance of Wine,” offers a person-led route into the subject.
The people explaining wine influence who feels welcome in the conversation. I am interested in voices that make room for someone arriving with a different background, vocabulary or reason for drinking. The bottle is only one part of that welcome.
Keep Aligoté on the shortlist.
Grape reading · August 14
Vinography’s “West Coast Aligoté Shines” is the grape detour. Aligoté gives a white-wine shopper a concrete name to ask about when the conversation keeps circling the same labels. Follow the feature for its producers and assessments.
I like a discovery that starts with a specific request. Tell your shop what you normally enjoy and what you want to spend; ask whether they have an Aligoté worth trying. Curiosity works better when someone helps connect it to your taste and budget.
Burgundy comes into the city.
New this week · October 17
“Burgundy Comes to SF: Notes from La Paulée de San Francisco” brings a social setting into the week’s reading. Read the account for the gathering and its wines.
The part I want more of in wine culture is the shared occasion: people, food and an excuse to spend time together. A famous region can inspire that kind of curiosity without turning every dinner into a geography lesson. Hosting is part of how wine stays relevant.
Give New Zealand another place in the conversation.
New Zealand’s aromatic whites offer another direction through an earlier Vinography feature. Save that read beside the Aligoté piece before your next purchase.
The useful comparison is personal: which bottle would make the food, the company or the evening more interesting to you? You can keep the familiar favorite and still build a little range. No one needs to graduate from what they already like.
Sources & further reading
Vinography · 2026-10-17
Vinography · 2026-08-14
Vinography · 2026-05-29
Vinography · 2026-05-12