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Religion and Alcohol
The Pilgrims: The Barrel, the Faith, and the Shoreline 1. Before the Barrel Was Opened By 1620, America had already been “discovered” for nearly 130 years—ever since Columbus stepped onto Caribbean soil in 1492. After the Spanish and Portuguese came gold hunters, adventurers, and missionaries. But in 1620, a very different ship approached its shores:… →
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Curious Drinking Customs
A Toast Is a Ritual: Culture, Superstition, and Shared Tradition “Humanity became civilized the moment we began to raise our glasses — not just to drink, but to mean something.” — Anonymous cultural historian 1. Why You Should Look People in the Eye When Toasting In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and parts of France or the… →
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Curious Drinking Customs
The Russian Tradition of Hiding Empty Bottles Under the Table “An Empty Bottle Is No Guest at the Table” The removal of an empty bottle from the table in Russia happens almost instantly — without words, without discussion. The cork is pulled, the beer cap popped, a toast is made, glasses clink, gulps go down…… →
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Curious Drinking Customs and Superstitions
A Sip from the Shoe A Story of Champagne, Satin, and Scandal “A glass may say ‘I love you’ — but a shoe says ‘You won’t forget me.’” There are toasts, there are rituals… and then there are moments that defy all etiquette yet instantly become legend. Drinking champagne from a woman’s shoe is one… →
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Animals and Wine
Horses in the Vineyard: A Return to the Roots “A tractor knows where to go. A horse knows why” — Old farming proverb 1. Historical Background The horse was domesticated about 5–6 thousand years ago in the Eurasian steppes — most likely in what is now Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and southern Russia. Initially valued for its… →
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Celebrities & Alcohol
Postcard from Venice: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Wedding The first two parts can be read here and here. Part 7. From Gondolas to Bellinis 7.1 Gondolas Gondolas appeared in Venice as early as the 11th century — the ideal vehicle for navigating narrow, shallow canals. By the 16th–17th centuries, they had become symbols of… →
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Celebrities & Alcohol
Postcard from Venice: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Wedding The first part can be read here Part 5. A Brief History of Venice Venice — a city built on water. But why here, of all places? After the fall of the Roman Empire, between the 5th and 7th centuries AD, people from cities like Aquileia… →
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Celebrities & Alcohol
Postcard from Venice: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s WeddingPart 1. A Billion-Dollar Venetian Symphony “You understand, of course—this is an artistic take on high society’s drama…” The wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez wasn’t just a wedding. It was a spectacle of the new era. Like Venice itself: beautiful, expensive, a bit mysterious, and… →
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Wine Fraud
The Vintage Scam of the Century Part 4 The first, second, and third parts of the article can be found here, here, and here. The Russian version of this material can be found here The case of Rudy Kurniawan ended with a trial, convictions, and one of the most high-profile wine fraud scandals in history.… →
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Wine Forgery
«The Vintage Scam of the Century» Part 3 The first and second parts of the article can be found here and here. The Russian version of this material can be found here Even after understanding how the counterfeit wines were made, a more difficult question remains: why did the system fail to stop it? How… →
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Wine Forgery
«The Vintage Scam of the Century» Part 2 The first part of the article can be viewed here The Russian version of this material can be found here «Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority» — Francis Bacon Once the story of Rudy Kurniawan became public, the key question was no longer what… →
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Wine Forgery
«The Vintage Scam of the Century» «A bottle, like a man, can hold both truth and lies.» — Victor Hugo Part 1 The Russian version of this material can be found here The world of rare wine is built on trust, reputation, and millions of dollars changing hands at auctions. But what happens when… →
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History & Wine
«A Truly Royal Death»A Too-Sweet Ending… The Russian version of the article can be found here «When history meets fiction —execution ceases to be fact and becomes symbol.” Part 1: Death at Court «Loyalty is the chain that binds destinies, betrayal the axe that cleaves power.» The English Crown was not only a crown of… →
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A Toast to the Past
Chronicles of Alcohol Consumption in the Former USSR Part 2 can be read here… Part 3. «Zavidovo» or The Hunt for Peace It wasn’t Camp David. And it certainly wasn’t Versailles. It was Zavidovo — a dense forest, muddy roads, a distant dacha nestled among birch groves and icy creeks. And yet, for a brief… →
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A Toast to the Past: Chronicles of Alcohol Consumption in the Former USSR
Part 2 — Workers Gone Fishing You can read the first part here… (USSR, 1984) «It’s not about the fish — it’s about the escape». June 1984. Somewhere near Volgograd. Earlier that year, in February, Soviet leader Yuri Andropov had died — just 15 months into his term. A former head of the KGB, he… →