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

From a wine critic's perspective, there are far too many innocuous, over-oaked, over-acidified, or over-cropped wines emerging from California. While those sins would not be a problem if the wines sold for under $20, many are in fact $75-$150. That's appalling.

Fettuccine Alfredo is dangerous for your health.

These are the people who do studies that your carry-out Chinese meals are saturated in fat. I'd just like to meet them! I mean, what do they do for pleasure?

Scores do not reveal the most important facts about a wine. The written commentary (tasting notes) that accompanies the ratings is a better source of information than any score regarding the wine's style and personality, its quality level relative to its peers, and its relative value and aging potential.

I'm an anti-industrial kind of guy.

I've always followed the rule that anything worth doing is worth doing excessively.