About The 30 Second Wine Advisor

Want to learn more about wine, but you’re short on time? Welcome to Robin Garr’s 30 Second Wine Advisor™, our free e-mail bulletin about wine tasting and wine appreciation. We know your time is valuable, and we’ve designed The 30 Second Wine Advisor so as not to waste it.

Published via Substack every other Friday to 20,000 email subscribers, the 30 Second Wine Advisor is concise and to-the-point. The free edition will usually include a short article on a topic of interest; a tasting report on an interesting, affordable wine (usually under $20); wine-related links, and more. An affordable paid edition provides additional tasting notes and more. Either way, subscribe to The 30 Second Wine Advisor on Substack

Below you will find links to 30 Second Wine Advisor articles over the past five years or so. To browse through more than 1,000 articles going back more than 25 years, click here.

Although our Wine Advisor FoodLetter is not being published at this time, you can view hundreds of past editions, including recipes, by clicking here.

Recent Advisors and archives

 

Wine, music: What goes with Beethoven?

A fine, old-school Zinfandel

A tasty, unexpected red blend

Sauvignon Blanc: Love it or hate it?

Dollars and wine sense

To breathe or not to breathe

The wine writer’s dilemma

Reevaluating Sicilian wine

Banned in Burgundy!

Campania earns our respect

Naturally fizzy

Greek wine Odyssey

A cup of Chenin, a pinch of Viognier

Cloudy Bay, inflation fighter!?

What? A real cork?

Don’t overlook Italian white wine

It’s hot. What wine shall we open?

Wine vs. fiery fare

Wine with food or wine alone?

Chehalem: An excellent Oregon Pinot Noir

Zweigelt, a tasty Austrian red

Another year, another Timorasso

Carbonic maceration. Say what?

For paid subscribers: A delicious Beaujolais

What’s a piquette?

Rioja – a delicious taste of history

Mendoza, not Malbec

Excellent Chenin, naturally

Valpolicella: No longer cheap, still good

Bad bunny, good wine

Lambrusco, again?

Regenerative, organic, and delicious

Red wine for health? Not so fast.

Great wine from a war-torn land

Accidental wine cellar

Groundhog Day … again?

Mission: A taste of wine history

Wine notes and pink elephants

A hint of fruit, a breath of … wool!?

Just the facts … about wine

Outstanding Beaujolais, naturally

Not another stodgy Port: Noval Black

Is it still a wine’s duty to be red?

A toast to December holidays

The color of wine

In the news: Red wine and headaches

Holiday feasts: What wine to choose?

Looking for greatness in Chenin Blanc

Don’t overlook Alsace

“Serve well chilled”? Not!

Three amigos: Single varietal vs blends

Tastes like … Oregon!

Maps matter because place matters

Dessert in a glass: Tawny Port

A tasty introduction to Uruguay

Great words about wine

Warming, cooling

A taste of Mount Etna

Getting to know Vermentino

A 21st Century white Burgundy

Picpoul is a lip-stinger … in a good way

Chablis, really

What do I see in wine, anyway?

Australia, I’ve missed you

Two good whites to beat the heat

Looking for cheap Nebbiolo? Good luck …

“Fresh, clean” orange wine: oxymoron?

Rosé: How much should we pay?

‘Tis the season … for rosé wine

Noble and upwardly mobile: A Tuscan favorite

Let’s have a picnic!

The wayward wind …

Nobody would ban this Beaujolais

Is it French? Tasty Chilean Cabernet

French Paradox? Never mind!

Don’t give up on Bordeaux

Green wine for St. Patrick’s Day? Naah.

A Super Tuscan for $10?

Speaking of Montepulciano

You say Montepulciano, I say … Montepulciano?

Winter sipper: Madeira Sercial

Frogs and princesses: Finding good cheap wine

Don’t be afraid: Pop that cork with style

Three good wine books and a Sicilian red

Complex wine … what’s that mean?

This wine is closed (for now)

Orange wine: No, it’s not citrus

Minerality: There’s that word again

A rosé for all seasons

Thinking about the wine we drink

A different kind of red wine

How much should a wine bottle weigh?

Wine shop quest: Chenin Blanc

Obscure but delicious Savoie white

Hola, Señor Pedro Ximenez!

Outstanding Provence rosé

Wine and summertime!

A fresh look at Chardonnay

Cellaring without a cellar

Rediscovering South Africa Chenin Blanc

A matter of degree

Decoding German wine

A physics lesson in a screw cap

Nostalgia and Carcassonne wine

Welcome back, Shiraz!

What’s your story, Syrah?

Sniff! Sniff! What’s that fruit?

Happy New Year, wine lovers!

My top ten affordable wines of 2021

The best of Beaujolais

Wines for the holidays

Hemingway’s Friendly Valpolicella

Is it safe to go back in the … Bordeaux?

Vintage: Year after year

Delicious rosé from Pic St.-Loup

Sniff in stereo

Montepulciano: Best cheap wine?

Feeling the burn

Provence rosé to beat the heat

Let’s be Franc: This is good wine

Wine and cheese: Pecorino

La Vielle Ferme: Still a top value wine

St. Laurent: The best red wine you never tried

How do you feel about Riesling?

Will work for wine: a blast from the past

Time for Spring wines? Or not?

Chianti? Gimme!

Would you drink a vegan wine?

Pinot Noir, goes with food

The many faces of Pinot Noir

Who’s afraid of sulfites?

Take a gulp of these wine statistics

Can we afford Cabernet Sauvignon?

Shaken or stirred: Lillet

Tawny or Ruby? Name your Port

My top 7 affordable wines in 2020

Ventoux for value

Bubbly this week? Maybe.

Organic wine? Here’s a good one

Try a Soave: You’ll like it

Fall-anghina and Italian whites

How does climate change taste?

Smoke, pandemic threaten vineyard workers

The Dracula Effect: Red wine, purple teeth

Fiery food and wine: Feel the burn!

Chill, don’t freeze

The sad pleasure of that last bottle

Wine tasting goes virtual

When is a cork not a cork?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Time for comfort wine

What’s a punt?

Good news, bad news

Sustainable wine

Georges Duboeuf and his wine

Tariffs, again

Holiday classics

Burgundy for the 1 percent?

Mapping the world of wine

23 and Zin

A chilly night, a fireplace, Amontillado

Trick or treat: Wine tariffs land today

Russian River stories

Anything and Chardonnay

Wine for a brain workout?

Memorable Moulin-a-Vent

Cooling wines for blazing summer

Wine at the Supreme Court

Let’s talk about alcohol

Rye not?

Wine for health? How old are you?

Wine, meet bourbon

Who wants wine ingredient labeling?

The accidental cellar

Back to Bordeaux?

Enjoy a Pinot for our birthday!

Tell us about wines you enjoyed in 2018!

Don’t buy this wine gift … really!

When life gives you lemons …

Wines that make us thankful

Erasing Montepulciano confusion

Rehabilitating Beaujolais … and gin

Is ‘minerality’ a word?

Expanding pizza’s wine horizons

Wine allergen warnings: Good idea?

Mmm, Tawny Port! Why wait?

Don’t water that wine!

Serious Rosé

Leave nothing you love in a hot car

Wine grapes with a laugh

Wild weather threatens wine

Returning to the rest of Italy

Not April Fool: Coffee in your wine

Wine prices: How low can you go?

It’s Open That Bottle … Month!

What if my wine freezes?

It’s 2018! What’s your wine plan?

Happy holidays! Still shopping?

Please, may I have more wine?

Party time! How much to buy?

Two for Thanksgiving

New Zealand’s other grape: Pinot Noir

Fortified-wine cocktails? Why not?

Unexpected wine scents: Petrol

This red wine deserves a promotion

How would Hamilton toast?

A holiday salute to Israeli wine

Any Port in a storm

Wine mind tricks

Do you pair wine and music?

This is your brain on cork

Spritz your wine?

Would you drink wine in a can?

Let’s think pink for summer!

What ever happened to corks?

Isn’t every day National Wine Day?

France elects a friend of wine?

Wine: good for the brain?

Hugh Johnson, encore!

Leftover wine?

Drip, drip, no drip?

Open that bottle!

Who’s No. 1 in wine?

Floods drown California drought

Rediscovering Chile

Sour Grapes: Not fake news, fake wine

A good Nouveau and a cheap Chianti

Bubbly: The chilling dilemma

Favorite “offbeat” grape?

Pascal Janvier 2015 Cuvée du Rosier Coteaux du Loir Rouge ($22.99)

Are screw caps the new normal?

Climate change and wine

Deep data and two good whites

Chardonnay re-evaluated

A summer red and a good book

Beaujolais: Super for summer?

Riesling made simple(r)

Riesling around the world

Can you say “Torrontes”?

Wine label mind games

What’s in a (grape) name?

Looking for Mr Good Chenin

Wine scores: What’s the point?

Can red wine sing without meat?

Red wine value? En Gard!

Let’s explore and taste Alsace

Riesling, I wish I could love you

For a good $10 value, call Italy

Bordeaux QPR: Mission Impossible?

Enjoying bubbly? Lose the flute.

Is QPR dying, or is it just me?

Wine list is meh? Have a cocktail!

Giving thanks for social wine

Wine after the holiday feast?

Go-to wine for the holiday table?

A little wine with your salad?

A fresh look at Lambrusco

Wine Focus: Zinfandel and its cousins

Feel the burn: Wine with fiery fare?

Eat your veggies … with wine?

La Vieille Ferme: 45 years of QPR

Loire Pinot: Rare and delicious

Exceptional Southern French white

Loire wines: A primer

Pursuing balance? Or anti-flavor wine elite?

Great pink wine. Looks white, smells red!

Do old vines make better wine?

The diversity of Italy

Earlier 30 Second Wine Advisor Archives