A starring ingredient in gazpacho.

The story titled “Napa Stunner” reported that Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, one of the most prestigious and historical names in Napa, sold out to wine giants Antinori and Chateau Ste. Michelle. This week’s story was so big that it almost obscured Duckhorn’s sale to a mysterious “investment group” and William Hill’s sale from Beam Wine Estates to Gallo.

I am prone to food nostalgia. I tend to romanticize great meals of the past—and remember them in painstaking detail (Sara Deseran and I share this odd skill), and then wonder when I’ll get back to taste, say, the great cheeses at Benoit in Paris again, or a loaf of my mother’s Christmas stolen. There’s a particular sandwich that falls into this class—the Cuban sandwich at Chez Henri in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It has the perfect bread, the perfect ham and roast pork, the perfect pickles and the right ratio of filling to roll. It is an extraordinary sandwich, and it is also very far away. So today, when our office ordered lunch from a new Cuban joint around the corner, Paladar, I crossed my fingers and chose the Cuban.

Although I’m a big fan of the drink, I usually defer coverage of this category to Jordan Mackay. But when I was asked to judge a sparkling Shiraz cocktail competition last week, sponsored by Hardy’s and hosted by Rye (because Jordan was busy moving), I decided, What the hell—I know what tastes good.