Posted 05/08/2008 at 11:49 PM by Cathy
How does someone who's 25 years old come to be Wine and Beverage Director for Jody Adams at Rialto? In other words, how did you get the job?If you are asking me I would say I was lucky! But most people who know me believe that I have depth of knowledge on wine, particularly Italian wine. Jody is a luminary chef and restaurateur, she saw a passion and drive in me that I think spoke to her. She is also a very smart entrepreneur and she saw my age as a huge asset, which many people might have not. ...
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Posted 05/07/2008 at 07:44 PM by Cathy
Here's the thing about tasting a flight of Pinot Noirs: this particular wine oxidizes quickly, so its composition and character literally change while it sits in the glass. You've got to go back and retaste the samples, and they may taste drastically different than they did the first time. We came to Domaine Carneros to try a horizontal tasting of Pinot Noirs that were all grown within the Carneros AVA. For me, every one of the wines did taste drastically, unsettlingly different every time I tri ...
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Posted 05/06/2008 at 07:05 PM by Cathy
Eggs I'd seen before. Piggies and hippos were something new.Viader winery in Napa uses egg-shaped concrete fermentation tanks as part of their initiative to farm and process grapes biodynamically. Rudd Vineyards in Oakville aren't biodynamic, but they use the egg-shaped tanks to ferment part of their Sauvignon Blanc harvest. (The pigs and hippopotami look like the eggs rolled on their sides, with legs added for stability.) The challenge today, for the Mastering Wine class I was taking at the Cul ...
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Posted 05/05/2008 at 09:58 PM by Cathy
This week I'm taking a Mastering Wine course, taught by Karen MacNeil at the Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley. Each morning the class visits a different winery. Each winery arranges a carefully orchestrated tasting in order to highlight one particular learning goal of the course.Franciscan was our first stop, and the focus was Chardonnay. What was extraordinary about this tasting was the opportunity Franciscan gave us to compare unblended wine samples, that is, samples taken dire ...
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Posted 05/04/2008 at 06:03 PM by Cathy
I was on my way to the airport today when a friend of mine – a very good friend – tucked a few vouchers for free alcoholic beverages into my pocket. United Airlines' wine list isn't exactly renown but, en route from Boston to San Francisco, I didn't mind the distraction.There were two options, a white and a red, both handed to me in 187 ml bottles (about two glasses) with plastic cups. I unscrewed the cap on the white, a 2007 Chardonnay Clásico from Ventisquero winery in the Casablanca Valley of ...
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Posted 05/03/2008 at 11:04 PM by Cathy
Shelf-talkers that describe various wines aren't the only signs you'll see these days in the wine section at Shubie's Marketplace in Marblehead.There's also this one:Wines for the Weakening Dollar: As the dollar weakens, wine prices on imports will be creeping higher and higher. Now's the time to tuck a few of your favorite wines from abroad away for a rainy day.?That rainy day, my friends, is here. You know it, I know it, and so do the people who sell us wine."The rising price of wine changes y ...
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Posted 05/02/2008 at 05:39 PM by Cathy
It was a wine shop's version of a train crash.Eric Olson locked the door to his wine shop last Sunday evening and everything was fine. Then he unlocked the door Monday morning, and everything was definitely not fine."I knew right away I was in trouble," he said, as soon as he opened the door and felt hot air from inside the shop whoosh toward him. Olson rushed around opening doors to let cooler air in, but it was too late. Olson's wines were cooked. And so was his goose.In the span of less than ...
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Posted 05/01/2008 at 11:16 PM by Cathy
Interview by Vivian Ku, Guest ContributorHow did you become interested in wine?I have always been interested in wine, it was never a mystery or taboo in my family to have a glass with dinner, but professionally, I never considered a career in wine until I spent a year in Adelaide, Australia pursuing a Master's degree in Gastronomy. Day trips to McLaren Vale or the Clare Valley became a weekly routine and soon I started to think that the wine world would be a really fun place to have a career. Ca ...
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Posted 04/30/2008 at 11:37 PM by Cathy
"This is one of my favorite places to eat."That's what I heard when I sat down for lunch at Flynnies on the Avenue in Marblehead today. I looked around.Maybe it's a favorite because it's a neighborhood kind of place. Most of the people who came for lunch walked right up to the bar with the kind of assurance that comes only from being a very-regular regular.Maybe it's a favorite because the staff looks you square in the eye and says no, she wouldn't recommend that dish for you or yes, he does thi ...
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Posted 04/29/2008 at 10:32 PM by Cathy
Margaret River is on the "bump" that juts out from southwestern Australia; its land mass sits somewhere in between the Indian and Southern Oceans. It's hours away from any major city either by car or by plane. Locate it on a map (if you can!) and you'll immediately start to feel sorry for it. Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane are a continent away (literally); even Perth is a good three hours' drive. Margaret River can claim more than its share of wineries, but samples I've tried have seemed as unc ...
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Posted 04/28/2008 at 10:15 PM by Cathy
They were distinctive. They had lots of personality. Each had their own flavor. Each brought something unique to the table.That describes the wines at Rialto's winemaker dinner tonight. It also describes the women who make them.Rialto fêted four women winemakers at a special event tonight, and hearing them talk about their wines was like hearing a purpose statement of their lives.For example: "I don't produce everyday wine," said Diane de Puymorin. "I produce wine for quality."And: "I taste wine ...
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Posted 04/27/2008 at 09:36 PM by Cathy
Anyone with any interest in food and wine who finds herself in Portland, Maine should – must – visit Rabelais bookstore on Middle Street. There are obvious reasons for this: the store is dedicated to books on wine and food, they carry the latest titles as well as out-of-print and rare books, and they'll give you all sorts of tidbits, both gustatory (in the form of bite-sized cookies on the counter) and commercial.Like this one:Ten books on cocktails can be sold for every one book on wine. That's ...
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Posted 04/26/2008 at 04:00 PM by Cathy
Here's what I love about tasting wines straight from the barrel or tank: they're raw.Raw, as in unfiltered. Raw, as in no make up. Raw, as in young and full of promise and brash and honest. Wines that are raw don't have many places to hide.So when Maren Hosmer lined up several barrel and tank samples at a tasting today – right alongside finished wines from Hosmer Winery in upstate, New York – I thanked my lucky stars. And I thanked Maren Hosmer herself for being thoughtful and brave enough to br ...
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Posted 04/25/2008 at 10:05 PM by Cathy
1. It's approachable, meaning it's sorted into categories that don't scare anyone, like Fun and Aromatic Whites (New World and Old World). Not Quite Reds and Dry Rosés. You get the idea. One category of the list is even devoted entirely to Environmentally Friendly Producers.2. Sure they have their "reach wines" – including at least four versions from Joseph Phelps of Napa and the iconic Penfolds "Grange" from South Australia – but I was more psyched about the long list of bottles available for $ ...
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Posted 04/24/2008 at 08:49 PM by Cathy
Who is the audience for Wine That Loves? I get the vibe that it's targeted to a younger demographic. Is that accurate? Our target audience for Wine that Loves is people who love food and want to enjoy the best possible food and wine experiences. The whole idea behind this wine is that this is the wine that makes your dinner even more delicious! Younger people have picked up on it first, but anyone of any age who has tasted it realizes that this is a really great way to eat.What has been the feedb ...
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Posted 04/22/2008 at 11:45 AM by Cathy
It doesn't take much to make me happy. Just put three glasses in front of me with three tastes of wine. Add a preformatted tasting sheet to take notes, and let me at them in peace and quiet. At a Wine Studies course at Boston University, every Tuesday night, we taste anywhere from eight to twelve wines on average. We pour the first flight - three wines, usually - about 45 minutes into the class and that is one of my favorite times of the whole week.
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Posted 04/21/2008 at 11:35 AM by Cathy
A few months ago I wrote about an elderberry liqueur I'd never heard about, called St. Germain. I tasted the liqueur as part of the classic St. Germain cocktail – 1/3 liqueur, 1/3 soda water, 1/3 Prosecco - at the housewarming party of a friend of mine who puts a premium on quality ingredients, whether she's serving food or drinks or both. It was love at first sip. It practically inspired poetry, or at least an elaborate use of metaphor.
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Posted 04/20/2008 at 11:32 AM by Cathy
Andrew Rodgers is the closest I've ever come to meeting a real-life farmer. He's young and personable (and handsome, not that I noticed), and he was about to sell us two laying hens to raise at home for their eggs.
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Posted 04/19/2008 at 11:27 AM by Cathy
The very first wine on the list at Zoes Tapas and Bar is the Zonin Prosecco Special Cuvee Brut. We were feeling, well, peppy tonight and a Prosecco seemed to fit the mood. The share-everything mentality of a tapas place did nothing to quench the peppy fire. So Prosecco it was.
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Posted 04/18/2008 at 12:00 AM by Cathy
Depending on the weather, you could see all the way to Boston. Depending on the time of day, you could watch birds migrating from the mainland to one of the islands peeking up from the surf. Depending on what you tuck inside your shoulder bag, you could enjoy a spring afternoon sipping wine at one of the most extraordinary and little-known vantage points in eastern Massachusetts.
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