In 2001, the large sunny coastal yet verdant Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south east of France beside the Mediterranean and north of Spain produced more wine than the entire United States.
So you’d think it wouldn’t be too hard to find a wine from Maury, located in Roussillon. Or to find one from Roussillon. Continue reading →
The school bell has rung! School’s out for summer! And we’re celebrating the shades of summer days with a yellow Chenin Blanc and a salmon pink rose both from L’Ecole No. 41!
And what goes with these wines and warm summer days? How about fresh fish and vegetables cooked on the grill? Continue reading →
Rosé in Italian means rosato and rosato in Italy means Puglia because if you’re looking for rosato in Italy, the place to go is Puglia where over 40% of Italy’s rosati (plural for rosato) comes from.
Some even say the birth place of this popular pink drink is Puglia!
There’s a wine for every food
and a food for every wine!
The secret is in the sauce… and the preparation!
While some insist drink what you like, and pair the wine you like with the food you like BUT while you MAY like it, and everybody’s chemistry is different, some pairings are A+, others awful, and some just all right.
What I like isn’t always what Sue likes. She loves jalapeños, onions, celery; I don’t. In fact, I have a hard time digesting green peppers and onions. I’m not fond of celery, and I really find that celery seed has a strong flavor that hangs around and doesn’t do well with wine.
Over the years of pairing and writing about food and wine pairings has taught us a few tricks– especially when pairing wines with vegetarian dishes.
WINE PREDATOR’S TOP 10 TRICKS FOR FOOD AND WINE PAIRINGContinue reading →
To be honest, I’m swimming in samples of wine. It is, after all, sample season: it gets too warm to ship over the summer. I don’t say this to brag. It’s just a fact, a fact that I am very grateful for, and that I’ve worked hard to achieve. I’m on a lot of lists and I’m offered many amazing opportunities to taste wonderful wines from around the world.
But that’s what I did with Oregon’s A to Z Wineworks: I asked for samples. Like I needed any more wine to write about…. but I had to. I needed to know more.
“Instead of pruning, how about a pick up party?” I asked Steve Zambrano as we climbed into my car with my dog Cisco.
Steve is always interested in having new experiences and learning more about just about everything under the sun– and the moon and the stars! I’ve known Steve for at least 25 years as we both moved around the Ventura art scene, especially around Art City. He’d helped me with broadsides at Kinkos, he was a regular at poetry and other events I put on, and more. Last month he joined in the rose bottling party at Clos des Amis— where he helped bottle under the tutelage of one of his former Ventura College art instructors, Bruce Freeman.
Give it to Steve, asking him to a pick up party didn’t phase him one bit. In fact Steve is the kind of guy who hangs out in Hollywood with a porn star with a huge handmade sign hawking fake “Maps to the Homes of (Porn) Stars” just to get a response.