Posted 01/30/2009 at 01:50 PM by Cathy
The Wine, Travel and Food book club meets the last Friday of every month at the Cornerstone bookstore in Salem, and I'm quite certain that most of the attendees are there to discuss, earnestly and in detail, the book pick of the month.I'm there for the wine.Cornerstone, bless their hearts, allows us to discuss our books over a glass or two of wine. We all pitch in and normally wind up with something that's even appropriate to the book we're reading. This month's book was Learning to Bow: Inside ...
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Posted 01/27/2009 at 09:43 PM by Cathy
When I walked into Formaggio a few weeks ago for the tasting hosted by winemaker Tony Coturri, I thought I had mistakenly walked into a reading by Walt Whitman. Coturri looks, alarmingly at first, so much like the iconic portrait of Whitman – think long long gray beard and penetrating but kindly eyes – that you half expect to find verses from Whitman's Leaves of Grass printed on the back labels of Coturri's wines.In reality the liaison doesn't go that far, though residue of Whitman's transcenden ...
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Posted 01/26/2009 at 10:01 PM by Cathy
By Jill S. SheminSure they served wine tonight. But wine is smart enough to know when it's been beat.Like tonight. Tonight, it was about the pork. Twelve different versions of it, in fact.At Boston University's annual Taste of Elegance event – sponsored by Cargill Meat Solutions, The Pork Board, and Pennsylvania Pork producers Council – guests gather to sample pork dishes created by Boston's top chefs. The flavors and accompanying dishes spanned ingredients from Asian miso glaze or coconut pork ...
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Posted 01/25/2009 at 03:00 PM by Cathy
By Julia TimakhovichFamous chefs and winemakers who visit our city are usually guarded from the public, protected by PR, assistants, and expensive entry tickets to fancy events.Then there are very famous food industry folks, those masterminds you wouldn't mind paying to meet, who wander by on rare occasions without much marketing or warning.That was the case last Thursday at BRIX on Broad, who hosted a free book signing and wine tasting event with chef and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich.BRIX on B ...
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Posted 01/24/2009 at 04:43 PM by Cathy
By Beth O'BrienKendall-Jackson teamed up with Crowne Plaza Boston-Natick's executive chef Wayne Scire last night to present a dinner featuring hearty, mid-winter fare paired with wines from Kendall-Jackson's estate vineyards. At five courses, not including the hors d'oeuvres and peachy Mionetto prosecco served at the opening reception, the meal was reminiscent of the Roman Empire in its lavishness but without all of those silly togas and droning speakers.Fortunately for us present day diners, Ke ...
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Posted 01/23/2009 at 02:31 PM by Cathy
By Julia TimakhovichWhen was the last time you purchased a New Zealand Syrah?Or tasted another red from the other land down under?Or tore apart from your favorite glass of Sauvignon Blanc, for which New Zealand is so deservingly famous?Last Friday, Boston University and wine program instructor Bill Nesto hosted a two-hour tour of New Zealand. Five representatives from New Zealand – including two winemakers whose wines the class was tasting – also led the seminar.The purpose, primarily, was to ed ...
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Posted 01/22/2009 at 06:10 PM by Cathy
1. Taste a little bit, even a sip or two, every day. The more you taste, the easier it becomes because the experience of wine grows increasingly familiar. The key is to start looking, and to get in the habit.2. Accept that you can do this on a budget. There is no better time to be a wine consumer. Why? Restaurants and wine shops all over town – there is bound to be one where you live – are vying for your business by offering special deals here, discount offers there, try-before-you-buy options s ...
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Posted 01/21/2009 at 09:28 PM by Cathy
"We don't carry Veuve Clicquot," the salesperson at BRIX on Broad said, to my surprise."Really? Why is that?""They refuse to source only their own grapes," he said."Hmmm...?" I said."I mean, they buy their grapes from growers all over the Champagne region," he said. "So you can't tell where the grapes are actually from."It wasn't that I romanticized Veuve Clicquot as the kind of artisanal producer that has (I confess) always had a soft spot in my wine lover's heart. It was more that Veuve Clicquot ...
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Posted 01/20/2009 at 01:57 AM by Cathy
By Austyn MayfieldFor the next 70 years or so, one defining question will filter through dinner parties across America."So, where did you watch Obama's inauguration?" While the millions of zealous observers who poured into the greater D.C. area for the inaugural festivities will be able to say they were on hand for the official celebration, some of the most happening shindigs bearing witness to this historic event happened right here in local Boston neighborhoods.Almost 200 guests ushered in the ...
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Posted 01/16/2009 at 05:41 AM by Cathy
No, Cambridge 1 in Harvard Square is not the place you go looking for fine wines.It is, however, the place you go looking for pizza. Fun pizza. Unusual pizza. Pizza you just dig into.You need a wine to go along with it. Nothing big or red. Something you don't have every day. Nothing ponderous. Something lively.In other words, something pink. Rosé, to be specific.Not that rosés are all lightweights. Quite the contrary. They're the social climbers of the wine world, inching their way up the ladder ...
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Posted 01/15/2009 at 06:10 PM by Cathy
1. Taste a little bit, even a sip or two, every day. The more you taste, the easier it becomes because the experience of wine grows increasingly familiar. The key is to start looking, and to get in the habit.2. Accept that you can do this on a budget. There is no better time to be a wine consumer. Why? Restaurants and wine shops all over town – there is bound to be one where you live – are vying for your business by offering special deals here, discount offers there, try-before-you-buy options s ...
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Posted 01/14/2009 at 09:28 PM by Cathy
"We don't carry Veuve Clicquot," the salesperson at BRIX on Broad said, to my surprise."Really? Why is that?""They refuse to source only their own grapes," he said."Hmmm...?" I said."I mean, they buy their grapes from growers all over the Champagne region," he said. "So you can't tell where the grapes are actually from."It wasn't that I romanticized Veuve Clicquot as the kind of artisanal producer that has (I confess) always had a soft spot in my wine lover's heart. It was more that Veuve Clicquot ...
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Posted 01/13/2009 at 10:15 PM by Cathy
CAUTION. It is 100 miles south to the nearest town at Monson. There are no places to obtain supplies or help until Monson. Do not attempt this section unless you have a minimum of 10 days' supplies and are fully equipped. This is the longest wilderness section of the entire [Appalachian Trail] and its difficulty should not be underestimated. Good hiking!That's how the signpost reads at the northern trailhead of the 100-Mile Wilderness in Maine. Right.That's like saying, to the more urban-oriente ...
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Posted 01/10/2009 at 05:23 AM by Cathy
Sure there was the 2005 Darioush Merlot from California; it was deep, focused, and succulent. And there was the Darioush Caravan Cab from the same vintage, which to my palate was even better and more refined than the Merlot even though Caravan is Darioush's "second label."And there was the 2007 Robert Foley Pinot Blanc, also from California; it was elusive and coy, playful and lively, fresh and floral, and somehow balanced too.But even with all of this carousing from the Californians, respectabl ...
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Posted 01/08/2009 at 07:00 PM by Cathy
ASSIGNMENT: Five-course food and wine pairingWHERE: Boston University Wine Studies course, Level 3WHEN: Wednesday, January 7, 2009MOTTO FOR THE MENU: A good pairing should allow you to eat and drink more, without your palate getting exhausted.THEME FOR THE MENU: Understated ExcellenceLESSON LEARNED: This menu pulls together wine experiences, and food and wine experiences, that I have enjoyed tremendously all over Boston during the past year of preparing 365daysofwine.com. Appetizer: Heirloom to ...
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Posted 01/07/2009 at 10:25 AM by Cathy
Note: This story ran in today's edition of the Gloucester Daily Times.There you are, seated at your table in a local restaurant, and you're handed the wine list. Do you...A. Not even look at it. B. Look at it, realize – again – that you don't know where to start, so you set it aside and order a Coke.C. Order the cheapest bottle on the list.These days Option C may not be such a bad idea – many wine buyers pride themselves on finding a reasonably-priced and very suitable wine to offer their customer ...
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Posted 01/06/2009 at 10:06 AM by Cathy
I am confident that there are certain wines that pair exceptionally well with Indian food. Gewurztraminer, I've heard, is a good bet. So is Chablis. As for reds, I've been told to try something with low tannins but rich flavor, like Gamay or Dolcetto.Why, then, Passage to India in Salem offered a (notably high-tannin) Cabernet Sauvignon as their featured pairing earlier this week, I do not know.It was lunch, we were having the Chicken Tikka Masala – which was excellent – and I went for the featu ...
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Posted 01/03/2009 at 10:48 AM by Cathy
The range of sparkling wines at many retail shops varies from a fairly standard Bouillot Perle de Vigne (at $15.95), to a sparkling wine from California (Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir at $19.95), all the way to Dom Perignon 2000 ($149.95) and Veuve Clicquot LGD Riva Gift Box ($199.95).But as I browsed the aisles just before New Year's, I could not pull away from the Veuve Clicquot.It may have been the distinctive orange label, which is recognizable to anyone with even a passing familiarity with wi ...
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