Alder Yarrow is the resident wine columnist for the Gilded Fork. Born in Sonoma County, California (specifically the Sonoma Coast appellation), Alder grew up with vineyards as a background to his summer explorations and adventures, and wine tasting trips with visiting relatives were commonplace.
While he worked in the catering business as a way of earning pocket money through high school, he was always more comfortable behind the bar than in the kitchen. When finally old enough to serve himself, he began paying attention to wine a lot more closely, and hasn't stopped since.
An obsessive note taker, Alder travels to explore the world of food and wine at every opportunity, coming home with notebooks filled with stories, facts, and wine tasting notes. His interest in wine is broad and egalitarian, and he enjoys opportunities to explore the more extreme and lesser known wine growing regions and varietals. Alder claims to have no single favorite type of wine, but If pressed he will admit to an abiding love of Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as the wines of the Loire, Burgundy, the Languedoc, the Rhone, Australia, and California, to name just a few.
His unpretentious approach to wine has made him a beloved cellar dwellar at the Gilded Fork, as he embraces a spirit that is a beautiful pairing for our approach to food. Alder is a bon vivant, a gentleman, and a certain rising star in the world of the grape. (There is a rumor going around that the editor-in-chief has a secret Alder Altar, but she will neither confirm nor deny this.)
Since January of 2004, Alder has been publishing Vinography.com, where he writes daily about wines, the wine world, and good restaurants around the globe. Vinography has garnered praise from Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and 7x7 Design Magazine, and is widely recognized as the world's leading wine blog. More than a million readers a month seem to agree with that sentiment.
