A Sommelier's Guide to Wine+Food
On Thursday Feb. 23rd 6-8pm PST I’ll be leading an online wine tasting featuring the wines of Mendocino county. All you need is wine to join in…not necessarily from Mendocino but it’s better if you do. The organizers of ReverbCON asked if I’d do this tasting to give more awareness to the wine region way [...]
Jane Portalupi and her winemaker husband, Tim Borges met as kids in northern California over thirty years ago. As grown ups they married and started Portalupi Winery in Healdsburg, California. Tim and Jane set out to craft wines worthy of their Italian heritage yet stay true to their location in Sonoma. I love working with [...]
. Every year we’re faced with the all-important question of which wines to serve on Thanksgiving day. Not just during Thanksgiving dinner but throughout the day. As we get together to give thanks on this American holiday, it’s useful to point out how France helped shape our history. Not only did the French give us [...]
It’s been over 20 years since 16 Candles hit the big screen, but the Long Duk Dong character is a classic. When I tell people about #LanguedocDay, almost half of them reply with something funny like, “Long Duk Dong Day?”
Hello Friends! Wine Lovers across the U.S. will want to tune in online November 10, 2011 as we introduce (or re-introduce) AOC wines from the Langeudoc region in the south of France. The Languedoc (pronounced “long-dock”) produces many of the grape varieties you already know, including Syrah, Grenache, Viognier and Mourvedre to name a few, [...]
. INGREDIENTS 4 bone-in beef short ribs 1 TBSP vegetable oil 3/4 TSP fine sea salt 1/2 TSP black pepper 2 carrots, chopped 1 medium onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 (14-ounce) can whole San Marzano tomatoes in juice, puréed in a blender with juice 1 1/2 cups dry red wine 4 [...]
Cabernet day isn’t just about celebrating Cabernet Sauvignon. There’s another Cabernet based wine that doesn’t get as much love as the “King of Grapes,” and that’s Cabernet Franc aka Cab Franc. Cab Franc is a like Darth Vader—dark, brooding, a little funky and often misunderstood. Deep down below the surface, Cab Franc is really a [...]
On September 1, 2011 wine lovers around the world will converge online to celebrate the Cabernet grape. No matter what social media site wine lovers are on they can share anything related to Cabernet and as long as it has the #CabernetDay hash tag it’ll be searchable. Last year’s Cabernet was one of the first [...]
. Here’s your chance to step with pep into any social setting and drop some wine knowledge like an old school beat. No one likes the snooty know-it-all wine snob in the room, but you can still impress the pants of people by knowing how to taste wine like a sommelier. As a side note, [...]
Pairing Local is all about finding localized wine+food pairings in each region of the world. In this episode I visit Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander in Yarra Valley, Australia and meet a man who knows something about how your palate works. Winemaker, cheese maker and trained chef, Steve Flamsteed took time out of harvest to create pairings [...]