Sparkling Holiday Champagne Punch - This is a delightful winter holiday punch with pears, cranberries and Sparkling Wine. You can use Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, Crémant or any other type of bubbles you can find—we especially love all the latest Central Coast Sparkling Wine. If you use a drier sparkler, just use less ginger ale. You can also adjust the amount of […]
Vin Chaud: Heavenly Mulled Wine - I once attended Christmas Eve Mass in an old cathedral built in the 1100s in Lausanne Switzerland. What I loved the most about this was the musty, mystical feel of the church filled with villagers in the cold night, the fact that I could understand much of the sermon in French, and the vin chaud […]
Summer Wines: Rosé from Provence, Rioja & Santa Ynez - My favorite summer wine is rosé. Its lovely pink hue and delicate flavor win me over at almost every meal, as it flirts with me from the bottle; I just can’t’ say no to it. It’s as refreshing as a crisp white on a hot day, but slightly big enough with a few tannins and […]
Greek Wines: Drinking History with Elegance - I’ve always been a fan of Greek wines. They’re lean, racy, elegant and complex, all at the same time. Greeks still possess a vigorously old-world wine-making mindset and I, for one, am thankful. You won’t find any fruit bombs here, but you’ll find wines that can compete with Bordeaux’s best blends or nuanced whites from Sancerre, France. […]
Is it Triennes Rosé Season Yet? - I know it’s not rosé season. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I sit in front of a roaring fire as I write this, but I can’t stop thinking about drinking a frosty glass of Triennes rose. I’m thinking about how its soft melon-colored floral acidity flushed down slow, languid bites of luscious Morbier cheese […]
Greek Wine Goes Best, Even in Wine Country - They say local wines, and cocktails, go best with the local food. So what to do when dining at an authentic Greek restaurant in the middle of Santa Barbara county wine country? Go Greek. Petros in Los Olivos is the third of Petros Benekos’ restaurants in southern California, where he serves up high-quality, delicious and […]
What to Drink with Foie Gras: Monbazillac Dessert Wine - Monbazillac is really the great foie gras wine. Neighboring Sauternes (you know it, Château d’Yquem from Bordeaux) is usually regarded as holding this position, but Monbazillac is indeed from the same region as the French home of foie gras, the Dordogne. This region is well-known by foie gras lovers — producing 90% of all foie […]
Château Bouscassé: Wine Worthy of a Lover’s Last Night - Matching the right wine with specific foods/dinners can dramatically enhance both the food and the wine, as well as the dining experience. And sometimes your dinner company too. To accomplish this, the wine needs some acid, good balance and something interesting to offer for pairing — like a pleasing mix of spice, fruit aromas or bold […]
Rioja Crianza: Tempranillo Everyone Should Drink - Rioja Spain is a red wine heaven full of Tempranillo. This lovely, russet-colored, medium-bodied varietal excels in all renditions here in its homeland of Spain’s oldest wine region. The Spanish have a foolproof way of guaranteeing what the drinker will get in the glass…at least as far as time in the barrel and time in […]
Txakolina: Basque Wine with the World’s Best Grilled Food - On my recent trip to Spain, I got to eat at the world famous Asador Etxebarri (Anthony Bourdain’s best meal of his life – and mine now too) in the middle of Basque country in Spain. Home of the world’s Grill Master Victor Arguinzoniz, he’s known for cooking with fire over coals and wood, and […]