Johnny Apple was a larger than life political journalist on the New York Times who wrote about “war and revolution, politics and government, food and drink, and the revenge of living well from more than 100 countries” according to his October 2006 obituary in that organ. Three years after his death, his wine cellar is being sold off by his widow, Betsey. Any takers for a bottle of Thelema Sauvignon Blanc 1996? But how ironic for a man remembered as “bursting out of his corner office to declare that one reporter had ‘misspelled fettucine Alfredo!’” to leave behind a cellar containing a magnum of De Tornen (sic) Fusion V 2002 or that rara avis indeed, a magnum of Knonkp (sic) Pinotage 1999. But at least the Big Man had the good taste to have both Pinotage and SA Sauvignon Blanc in his cellar.

Johnny Apple