Archive for the ‘Food & Drink’ Category
A Wine Tasting With Tom Meadowcroft
The seductive and sometimes confusing kaleidoscope of colorful labels on the shelves of wine shops (or on view at online websites) often obscures, to lift some words from an old song, the long and winding road that gets that bottle from the grapevine to you. The physical aspects of the vineyard, weather throughout the growing [...]
With summer gone…Lagrein, Madiran, Garnacha, Cabernet…Chinon!
With summer fading into the past, one compensation for earlier nightfalls and chillier water temperatures that limit swims to only intensely sunny midday outings is the pumped-up output happily spilling out of the vegetable garden. The squash vines have wound out into improbable places, and, if one pokes around under those umbrella-like leaves, there are [...]
A Plea to Wine Lovers
Pessimist by nature that I am, my fears about the state of the wine universe were revived by two incidents within the space of one week. When the check engine light came on on a Thursday afternoon, I called my excellent and innovative car mechanic, who has the additional distinction of being a dedicated wine [...]
In certain regions some wines are famous, while others are ignored…
It’s always gratifying to have one’s theories confirmed and that’s what happened when I ran into a friend who belongs to an exclusive wine tasting group (at least I think it’s exclusive because no matter how many times I’ve hinted, I’ve never been invited). Once a month this group gets together, one person prepares dinner [...]
Some Italian Wines You Should Know
Looking at the Leonard Freed photographs of Italy on these pages prompted me to think about the tradition, artistry, romance and chaos of Italian wines. Italy is reputed to have the highest count of indigenous grapes of any country—estimates of upwards of two thousand—and quite a few wines are imported here that are undeservedly overlooked. [...]
Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 2004
“see how it quivers and whispers in the glass” —George Farquhar Those clever English playwrights of the 1600s were, apparently, keenly attuned to the allures of champagne in all of its aspects. Movement and sound, after all, add sensory dimensions to champagne that other wines don’t have, another reason for our fascination with it. That [...]
Some Outstanding Whites from France, Italy, Spain, and New Zealand
Sometimes I think I’m the only person in the room who likes white wine, but in this case we were outside celebrating a friend’s birthday in her charming garden on a small bluff overlooking the harbor. Someone came over and thanked me for recommending a wine to a mutual friend. “She told us about it [...]
The Rosés of Provence
If it were possible to bottle up the spirit of a place in a wine, my vote would go to the rosés of Provence. Warm, radiant, cheerful and decorously seductive, their appearance alone sparks the thought that a few sips will transport one to a world of sunshine and tranquility. Who wouldn’t want to have [...]
