Posted 12/25/2008 at 07:20 PM by Cathy
I texted the word "turkey" to 411511.Eight seconds later I received suggestions for three wine pairings from eWine Match:1. Little Penguin Pinot Noir2. Beringer Founders' Estate Cabernet Sauvignon3. Wolf Blass Yellow Label ShirazSo much for white wines with white meat.Then, since my family eats only seafood on Christmas Eve, I texted "lobster."Seven seconds later I had two matches:1. Souverain Alexander Valley Chardonnay2. Beringer Founders' Estate Pinot GrigioThis was fun! And potentially helpf ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/24/2008 at 01:37 PM by Cathy
(Note: This column ran in today's Gloucester Daily Times.)Call them suggestions. Or just call them gentle encouragements. Either way, they'll set you on the path toward a resolution to "Learn more about wine" in 2009.1. Suggestion: Take a sip here. Then take a sip there. Repeat.Rationale: Wine is a great big world. The way to get a handle on it is to focus only on what's in your glass right now. Enjoy it. Take your time with it. There will not be a test. The key is to pay attention to the wine y ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/22/2008 at 07:57 PM by Cathy
? Local wines are growing in popularity as they ride the wave of the Slow Food movement (if you're eating local, it won't take people long before you'll want to drink local too), and as local growers and winemakers fine-tune their varietal selection to our specific microclimates. The Massachusetts Farm Wineries and Growers Association is developing a "CSW" program, which stands for Community Supported Wine. It's similar to the popular CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture programs, where par ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/20/2008 at 01:42 PM by Cathy
Test and Image by Austyn Ellese MayfieldGood wine is always in fashion. But for some, pairing wine with fashion is an even more rapturous idea.Just ask Drew Payette, a recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and creator of Gee Whiz jewelry, based in Dedham. Payette recently hosted a holiday wine tasting and jewelry trunk show, with jazzy renditions of carols playing in the background and fresh poinsettias setting a festively chic atmosphere. Guests were invited to taste nine different w ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/19/2008 at 08:05 PM by Cathy
A. Shiraz when spring is here – what pleasure equals this?With streams to sit by, wine to drink and lips to kiss,With mingled sounds of drums and lutes and harps and flutes;Then, with a nice young lover near, Shiraz is bliss. (Jahan Khatun/Davis)B. A rose is still a rose, wherever it might grow,And wine is always wine, wherever it might flow;And if the sun should rise up in the western skiesThe sun is still the sun, wherever it might rise. (Rumi/Davis)C. With wine beside a gently flowing brook – ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/18/2008 at 10:26 PM by Cathy
Here's the thing about the people who run The Wine List in Hyannis: they've got their heads screwed on right.Yes, they know all about creating an inviting space to sample and purchase wine.And yes, they know that wine only gets better when it accompanies the right food. (That's why there's a demo kitchen right there in their shop.)But they also know that they're part of a larger community, and they do what they can when they can (which happens to be often) to help out.This Friday (December 19) s ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/17/2008 at 06:22 PM by Cathy
To view this essay, please click on Photo Essays at the top of this page, then BCAE Farewell, Gamble Mansion. ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/16/2008 at 06:22 PM by Cathy
By Courtney HumphriesNothing caps a celebratory moment like a champagne toast—the golden liquid bubbling in fluted glasses, hands raised in unison, the chorus of clinking as glasses are brought together in a celebratory communion. We may toast occasion with all sorts of drinks, but champagne says: this moment is special. At a reception at the Boston Center for Adult Education on December 11, a champagne toast also became a bittersweet moment, a chance for the Center's patrons and staff to say go ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/15/2008 at 06:09 PM by Cathy
By Beth O'BrienIf Sir Francis Bacon was right and knowledge is power, then those of us who attended the Champagne seminar and tasting at Gordon's Fine Wine and Culinary Center in Waltham will hold our guests in thrall this holiday season. Pernod Ricard's Tod Umbach shared the long and tumultuous history of the Champagne region, named for the Latin term for countryside. At the crossroads of Europe, the area was quite literally the stomping ground for legions of soldiers as different countries cro ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/13/2008 at 06:01 PM by Cathy
By Ada BrunsteinThe Boston area has no shortage of bars and eateries. The South End, Beacon Hill, and all the Squares in Cambridge are jam-packed with food 'n booze. But there's a new hot spot in town that's well worth visiting, even if it means stepping outside the comfort of your own neighborhood. South Boston's Fort Point is the proud home of two new venues: Sportello and Drink. I went to both on a Friday night, which was easy because Drink is right downstairs from Sportello in what used to b ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/11/2008 at 04:53 AM by Cathy
By Amy McCoyIt's Monday. The start of the week. You should be reading your book for book club but what you really want is a wine club. One with great food, camaraderie, tasty wines, maybe even Sangria thrown into the mix. But no clean up. That's a tall order. How could you pull this off?It's easy. The Ashmont Grill Monday night wine club. Cozy atmosphere, communal seating, four small courses, each accompanied by a different wine. Perfect.This past Monday night was the Ashmont Grill's wine club h ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/10/2008 at 04:18 AM by Cathy
Note: This article ran in today's Gloucester Daily Times.Have you ever heard someone describe the smell of a wine as something fairly arcane, like lychee? You hear that, and you realize you're not even sure what a lychee smells like, much less that you'd be able to differentiate it from, say, an Asian pear.You're not alone. Trust me.There are ways around this, ways to get your sense of smell into practice so that you'd no longer be at a loss for words once you put your nose into a glass of wine. ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/09/2008 at 04:36 AM by Cathy
By Amy McCoyPretend we're in a small hill town in Italy, and we've discovered a fabulous, small production wine at the local enoteca. Now let's pretend that the food they served with it at the tables out in back was fresh, local, and exactly perfect. Fortunately we don't have to pretend we weren't able to bring a bottle or two of that wine home with us, because we can find that very wine and locally sourced Tuscan-inspired food at Tomasso Trattoria and Panzano Market in Southborough.Tomasso Trat ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/08/2008 at 03:26 AM by Cathy
By Jill SheminBOKX 109 is worlds away from the cars zipping along Route 128 that runs right behind it.An upscale, modern restaurant that takes style and cuisine seriously, BOKX 109's schtick is 'modern American steakhouse.' On December 6, BOKX 109 entertained the wines of Phillipe Blanck's vineyard in Alsace, which has been in his family for centuries. Blanck's wines are distinctive yet subtle and, when paired with an eclectic menu that chef Evan Percoco created specifically for the tasting, the ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/07/2008 at 02:01 AM by Cathy
To view this photo essay, click on Photo Essays at the top of this page, then click on DIFFA. ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/06/2008 at 01:52 AM by Cathy
By Ada BrunsteinThe Dining by Design Dinner Gala on December 6 – hosted by DIFFA, or Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS – marked the grand finale of an unusual two-day exhibit at the Boston Design Center.The idea is simple. Top designers and their sponsors create a dining area – or tablescape, to borrow the evening's parlance – which comes complete with table, tableware, decorations, lighting, even the walls. Boston's charitable design-lovers buy their $500 ticket, dress to the nines, dr ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/05/2008 at 04:12 AM by Cathy
By Pooja SinhaOver 400 wine connoisseurs, designers, artists, social elite, culinary enthusiasts and financiers descended on the Boston Design Center on December 5 for DIFFA's final stop on its 2008 eight-city tour. DIFFA – Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids – brings together international corporations, food and wine sponsors, and designers to create national and locally inspired installations and table-scapes. The efforts culminate in a charitable event called Dining by Design, which en ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/03/2008 at 10:58 PM by Cathy
Back in February I attended a tasting in the barrel room at Chappellet, on Pritchard Hill in Napa. Winemakers and growers from the immediate area poured wines from their vineyards, and the tasting overall was remarkable for the consistently high quality of wine after wine after wine.But it was Stagecoach Vineyards whose wine – specifically, its 2005 Black Bart Syrah – stopped me cold. It was one of those wines, and there are not many, that you swirl-sniff-sip, and then everything around you beco ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/02/2008 at 05:36 AM by Cathy
A friend of mine, who'd just arrived from Connecticut, sat down for dinner and handed me a small newspaper called the New England Wine Gazette. It's published out of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and its articles pull the curtain back on the wine scene across the region, and especially in places like New Hampshire and Newport."New Hampshire Winery Association Promotes a Growing State Industry," goes the title of one article."Newport Vineyards Wines Best of Show at the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competit ...
0 comments
More >
Posted 12/01/2008 at 05:00 AM by Cathy
"I don't know how you're going to feel about this," I said to my friend after I sniffed the wine then handed him the glass. I was projecting. The wine was a 2006 Bera Arcese Bianco, made from the Favorita, Cortese, and Arneis grapes in the Piedmont region of Italy. The only grape I knew was Arneis, so the wine was an exploratory exercise for us both.The wine was almost coppery in the glass, the same deep nutty color of butter in a sauté pan that's just beginning to brown, right before you sear t ...
0 comments
More >
