Winery Confidential
And why the wine world has never been the same In 1976, Paris was ready to laugh. A British wine merchant thought it would be funny to host a blind tasting: French judges, French wines, French confidence. On the other...
How One Man’s Report Card Changed Wine Forever
And why we don’t play by it Robert Parker didn’t look like the kind of guy who would change the wine world. He was a lawyer from Baltimore who loved to drink and hated how confusing wine felt. Back in...
The Grape That Was Never Supposed to Rule
How Cabernet Sauvignon went from a vineyard accident to the loudest voice in the room Cabernet Sauvignon wasn’t some grand design. It wasn’t born under a royal decree or written into ancient scrolls. It was a vineyard accident. Cabernet Franc...
The Call That Changed Our Cellar
How 500 bottles of Oregon Chardonnay landed at Bruno It was a Saturday night. I was half-distracted, glass in hand, when my phone lit up. LJ was calling. Now, LJ isn’t just any winemaker. He’s part craftsman, part connector —...
The Wine Club Scam Hiding in Plain Sight
What “12 Bottles for $79.99” really gets you. Trust us, it’s not much. You’ve seen the ads. “70% OFF your first case.” “12 wines for $79.99 — delivered to your door.” It sounds too good to be true. That’s because...
For The People Who Actually Make the Damn Wine
Labor Day isn’t about press releases. It’s not about shelf talkers. And it sure as hell isn’t about the people who just sell wine for a profit and a Linkedin profile. About six months ago, I was scrolling through Instagram...
An Open Letter to the Ones Who Still Care About What’s in the Bottle You won’t find these wines at your local Costco. Not because they’re rare (though they are). Not because they cost $500.But because they weren’t made for...
Before the Label and the Bottle
And why we’re going back there—just for a moment. Wine’s been around for over 8,000 years. The first records of it come from Georgia (the country, not the state), where people stored fermented grape juice in clay vessels called qvevri....
A note from the founder You don’t need another wine brand.You’ve got grocery shelves full of “award-winning” bottles and restaurant lists priced like rent. But here’s what no one really says out loud:The wine industry is basically a cartel. A...