wine in the news
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Classic Food and Wine Pairings: Sauvignon Blanc + Goat Cheese
For years, I have been aware of several classic food and wine parings and have used them to my advantage on many occasions ("we have to open this syrah — we're eating lamb!"). I have also had some terrific experiences with amazing food and wine pairings in the past. This is something that restaurants can do very well, but at home, most great pairings were almost accidental — the result of a very successful guess or stroke of luck as opposed to premeditation and comprehensive knowledge. So I set out to my favorite wine shop to talk shop (well, wine) with the experts.
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New Food and Wine Pairings: Taste Harmony
Try something. Try having a glass of lemonade with a chocolate chip cookie. Did you hesistate at the very idea? Now, I'm guessing you probably don't even have to go through this charade to wonder how this could even remotely be considered a good idea. And if you don't have that reaction, then by all means, try it. Now once you're past that little exercise (either virtually or in real life), push aside the glass of lemonade, and pour yourself a glass of milk and drink that with your chocolate chip cookie. Ahhhh… a little more appetizing? A bit more palatable? Of course, but you knew that, already. Okay, long story short: lemonade and chocolate (or cookies) do not go together. Why? Well, I could probably go on and on, pontificating on the reasons, touching on principles of food chemistry and taste physiology, but honestly, none of that is necessary and might even be considered overkill. Quite simply, certain tastes together are just not compatible in our mouths.
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New Food and Wine Pairings: Sweet Wines + Chocolate
I'm a person of strong opinions, which I frequently take pleasure in expressing. But when it comes to wine, I try to exercise caution with that tendency, because I feel that the appreciation and enjoyment of wine is a very personal experience that should only be sparingly pre-empted or tainted by 'expert' advice. However, very much like art and design, even among variations of tastes, styles, and approaches, there are still some universal, often fundamental, 'rules,' if you will, about which elements work together and which ones frankly do not. Red Wine and Chocolate do not work together.
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Recent Reviews+Interviews
Napa Trailblazer Continues to Reshape New Identity with Mountain Cabernets — An Interview with the Winemaker of Atlas Peak Winery —
Throughout the 1990s, Atlas Peak Winery built and enjoyed renown in the marketplace for the Sangiovese varietal wine it produced from the elevation after which it was named. But with the new Millennium came broad changes to Napa's wine industry, not the least of which was an upsurge in the production of super-premium Cabernet Sauvignon. This, combined with the vision of new ownership that recognized the producer's untapped potential, led to the reevaluation and overhaul of its entire marketing thrust in an effort to shift the focus and increase the quality of its production. Nearly seven years since Atlas Peak's rebirth as a brand has seen the crafting of a portfolio featuring Cabernet grown in each of Napa Valley's elevated sub-appellations: Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain, and of course, Atlas Peak itself. After having sampled his wines at the California Cabernet Society annual tasting event, I met with winemaker Darren Procsal, along with PR Director Tony Lombardi, to learn more of the winery's new mission "to create wines that showcase their lofty origins."
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Boutique Wine Brand Delivers Charm & Appeal from its Nook on Spring Mountain — Spotlight on Guilliams Vineyards —
Shawn Guilliams is the exactly the type of woman any urban-dwelling 30-something would want to have as a 'cool aunt' — whether because she can easily kick back with you like a buddy, yet on occasion offer pearls of mature sagacity that come from her experience as a mother; or because she can spend the better part of her time tucked away in the secluded recesses of her hillside hideaway overlooking the Napa valley, yet enthusiastically break out of its provinciality to pop into the city bustle when the situation calls for it; or still because she's completely devoid of the pomp and pretense that seem to run rampant among many of the valley's other wine industry notables. Regardless of the reason, she is without doubt an effervescent and engaging personality who makes up half of the team that is Guilliams Vineyards. Her husband, John — a talented renaissance man with a penchant for designing and building his own homes — sustainably farms their 7 acre vineyard along the steep slopes of their hillside property on Napa's Spring Mountain, a district with an elevation of 2,000 ft. It was here that I spent an afternoon with my partner Bill, sitting down to lunch with Shawn, to learn about what life is like for a micro-producer of premium Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Private Estate Vineyard Builder Creates Unique Winery Business Model An Interview with the CEO of Post & Trellis Vineyards & Winemaker of La Honda Winery
A quasi-urban wasteland of industrial warehouses and technology business parks, Redwood City is, without a doubt, among the unlikeliest of locations for a producer of premium California wines. But it was in this very setting that I found myself during a recent visit to La Honda Winery, one of the increasingly numerous of its kind and part of the "urban winery" movement. Curiously, upon closer examination, I found some very significant differences separating this from other wine production facilities located amidst the metropolitan sprawl: a surprisingly inviting aesthetic reminiscent of more visitor-oriented wine regions and a compellingly unique business model based in barter with growers who are also clients. I sat down with CEO and winemaker Ken Wornick in the tasting room of his charmingly appointed winery to taste some of La Honda's recent San Francisco Chronicle award-winning wines, and to learn more about his singular approach to grape growing and wine production under the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.
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wine in the news
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