When tasting a wine for the first time, one of the first things I ask is, “what is the winemaker trying to say with this wine?” Are they trying to make a generic grape or are they trying to express the place the grape is grown — or maybe something in between? After sitting down...

I’ve been doing some spring cleaning on my social media sites. This week, YouTube is getting a little tidying up. Old videos that are no longer relevant are going bye-bye. I came across this video from July 2009 during a visit with Tracy and Blake of Settembre Cellars in Boulder, Colorado. They converted their entire...

During the NFL draft some buddies and I like to get together and fire up the grill. We cook all sorts of meats in honor of America’s favorite past time. What goes better with football than meat? Day one was all about pork. I smoked a few racks of pork ribs and pork shoulder for...

Although this recipe calls for Black Cod, the price per pound for Black Cod can be a bit steep. If you don’t want to pay $25 per pound for that buttery textured fish, you can opt for regular cod or even halibut. A white fish that’s fatty and isn’t too fishy will soak up the...

Some of the gems I’ve come across lately represent the bang for the buck this region is known for:   Saint Hilaire Blanc de Blancs Brut AOC Blanquette de Limoux – $12 The history books suggest Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire created the first sparkling wine, almost a century before Champagne. Today, almost...

Every year Hollywood’s elite head to Southern France for the Cannes Film Festival. But along the way, many celebrities take a side trip France’s largest wine growing region for provincial dining and wines of Languedoc. Languedoc is not only France’s largest wine growing region, but it’s also one of the world’s largest wine regions; rivaling...