No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures; no ascetic can be considered reliably sane.

No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures. No ascetic can be considered reliably sane.

Reading well is one of the great pleasures
that solitude can afford you, because it is
at least in my experience, the most healing of pleasures.

Back in 1990, there were fewer than 20 wineries in and around Paso Robles, a farming community midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Most of the wines produced there were rustic, highly tannic and alcoholic, with little charm or finesse.

Generally speaking, when Australian winemakers try to make delicate, European-styled wines of finesse and lightness, the wines often come across as pale imitations of the originals. One exception is Australian Riesling, delicious, dry wines meant to be consumed in their first two years of life.

My first trip to Japan, in 1998, began with an enormous crowd of Japanese paparazzi and television crews, all waiting for me to clear customs in Tokyo (a first-time experience for this wine critic). Over the next five days, the attention never waned.