Georgina Bloomberg leads a typical life for a professional rider who trains and sells horses. She is participating in this year’s Hampton Classic, has Olympic aspirations and runs a respected horse farm. This last fact is quite normal until you consider her age—just 28 years old. In spite of these accomplishments, she is nearly always portrayed in the media as an “heiress,” one of those peculiarly old-fashioned words that, when deployed, overpowers all the finer points of one’s personality.

The eyes are dark and wide set, and in most of the photographs they look directly and unflinchingly at the camera. The face is generally serious and unsmiling, but not unfriendly, and radi­ates poise, confidence, and intelligence.

If you have any doubt that there's a mystique to Georgica, just consider how the name is appropriated for luxury goods and services. Kate Spade sells-in an improbable but cheerful pairing of words-a Georgica Beach bralette; Victoria Beckham and Gilt offer Georgica dresses; Jack Rogers has Georgica sandals; and both Canvas Home and Bungalow 5 sell chairs tagged "Georgica." Meanwhile, Georgica Advisors will watch over your investments, and you can reside in a glass-walled Manhattan condominium building called the Georgica.

How a peripatetic food and drink chronicler made the South Fork his home.

It’s hard to have ghoulish thoughts about wine. But after my assistant, James Owen, asked if I planned to serve any Halloween wines, I decided to do some research. I was fully expecting to reach a ghostly dead end.