January 2007
Posted: Jan 31, 2007 12:22pm ET
Does the announcement that Riedel has come out with a new glass specifically designed for Oregon Pinot Noir strike you as funny as it does me? What's next? A special glass for Santa Ynez Valley Pinot Gris? Look, I admire what Riedel has done for wine glasses as much as anyone.
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Posted: Jan 26, 2007 1:24pm ET
Reviving Rosemount was at the top of the to-do list for Foster's when the big Australian beer and wine giant took over Southcorp in 2005. The brand had been slipping since its heyday as a privately-owned winery in the 1990s.
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Posted: Jan 24, 2007 3:14pm ET
Last fall when I reviewed Go Fish , the new Napa Valley seafood restaurant, it was a mixed bag. Ken Tominaga's sushi bar was turning out some splendid sashimi and sushi, but the western side of the kitchen seemed to be misfiring.
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Posted: Jan 22, 2007 12:43pm ET
When I started planning this weekend , I went through my cellar and made a list of mature wines I have been saving for a special occasion. Then I contacted all the participants and asked what wines they would be willing to contribute to the proceedings.
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Posted: Jan 21, 2007 6:40pm ET
To celebrate a milestone birthday (OK, it's our 60th), my wife and I invited six friends who share our love of good food and wine to rent a big house with us in Napa Valley for four days. Many of them are serious cooks.
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Posted: Jan 17, 2007 8:51pm ET
Gotta hand it to those Aussies. Just when you think they're all falling over each other to reach a mass market by putting kangaroos, wombats, emus, geckos and other critters on their labels, they go and make you smile with something else.
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Posted: Jan 15, 2007 2:41pm ET
That flavor you hate in the wine but the guy next to you loves? To you, it's a flaw. To him, it's welcome complexity. Somehow, I'm not surprised that this topic came up in comments about Pinot Noir. I had written that I found some of the wines in a recent tasting green and earthy.
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Posted: Jan 11, 2007 6:53pm ET
My friend Archie invited me to join him for a tasting of California Pinot Noirs at the Vintners Club in San Francisco the other day. I gladly accepted. Little did I expect the astonishing range of opinions.
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Posted: Jan 8, 2007 12:34pm ET
Years ago I discovered, quite by accident, that red wine can taste just fine with chocolate. It was at a dinner where the dessert, one of those dense, not-very-sweet, runny chocolate cakes where the center oozes a molten river of dark brown goodness, had not yet become a cliché.
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Posted: Jan 5, 2007 12:17pm ET
How do you feel about flights? Not the airplane kind, but groups of wines that have something in common? It's become a staple at wine bars, and wine-oriented restaurants are starting to offer them, too.
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Posted: Jan 2, 2007 2:30pm ET
Does Riesling or Chardonnay go better with crudo , the Italian approach to raw fish? I am planning to prepare a crudo course to start a big dinner later this month to celebrate a milestone birthday. My usual choice for raw fish dishes is a light, fragrant, non-oaked dry white wine from Friuli, or perhaps a Falanghina from Campania, because of its crisp texture.
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