Posted 10/31/2008 at 05:43 PM by Cathy
This column originally ran in the Gloucester Daily Times on Wednesday, October 31.Imagine, as you're driving Route 128 or leaf-peeking along some back road of Cape Ann, that the landscape around you was once dominated not by highways and houses, but by vines and grapes that were called upon to produce, with more or less success, a very local variety of wine.The American species of grapes called Vitis labrusca was found in such quantity that the early settlers in New England some 300 years ago sa ...
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Posted 10/30/2008 at 06:14 PM by Cathy
By Lauren Keiper and Hannah HausauerMatching wine and food into a harmonious pairing is like playing matchmaker with potential lovers. It's tricky.There are hundreds of nuances -- in personalities, in textures, in appearance.There are factors beyond your control – temperature, availability, preparation.Still, we try.Turns out that talking about food and wine pairings – especially in the realm of dessert, which was the topic a few nights ago at Miel Brasserie Provençale's Tuesday Tasting – is a l ...
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Posted 10/29/2008 at 11:06 AM by Cathy
By Cate LecuyerEight years ago, Anthony Bruneau's mom made homemade ravioli for the holidays.He brought a bottle of 1997 Barolo, thinking it would complement the meal well. That turned out to be an understatement."I couldn't take a sip without taking a bite, and I couldn't take a bite without taking a sip," he said.The distinct flavors of the wine brought out the pork, hamburger, and veal in the dinner, and it was just round enough to balance out the acidity of the tomato sauce. In a complex syn ...
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Posted 10/28/2008 at 11:44 AM by Cathy
By Ada BrunsteinThe best part of any bottle of wine isn't the first sip and it's certainly not the last. It isn't the swirling or the nosing or the recognition of grape and region. The best part of a bottle, whether you're on your first glass or fifth, is in that moment of "zin" when you look across the table at the person you're drinking with and know, with your glass half full, that you will return to this moment over and over.A wine shop should be no different.The Wine and Cheese Cask on the ...
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Posted 10/27/2008 at 11:40 AM by Cathy
By Lauren KeiperTucked away in this historic neighborhood, South End Formaggio battles quantity versus quality since the small space only allows for a limited wine display – in this case, a "wall of wine." Tight quarters ensure only the strongest survive with the wine buyer's top choices lining the shelves. Cheese, meats and prepared foods hug the back wall. The rest of the store is dancing with hand-selected gourmet gifts and pantry products from around the world.South End Formaggio, as a wine ...
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Posted 10/26/2008 at 11:26 AM by Cathy
By Julia Timakhovich??In our mass market economy, it's easy to forget great customer service.And even harder to find unique products and places.??This is especially true when it comes to big liquor stores, dominated by the same bottles from the same distributors, where the only difference from one to the next is finding a cheaper bottle or a larger sample weekend tasting. That wine is a living product meant to be treated with care, is an idea that can get lost in the shuffle.But it isn't, not at ...
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Posted 10/25/2008 at 11:01 AM by Cathy
By Elizabeth RosenbaumSituated on the corner of Harvard and Beacon in the Coolidge Corner neighborhood of Brookline, Best Cellars is hardly a hidden gem.Wines are arranged by style (rather than by grape or region) and each bottle falls into one of the following classifications: fizzy, fresh, soft, luscious, juicy, smooth, big, or sweet. Some categories are obvious, others a bit more abstract, but inviting graphic design makes the novel approach a lot of fun. The layout of the store is spacious a ...
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Posted 10/24/2008 at 10:40 AM by Cathy
By Beth O'BrienRather than wince when my children propose a family trip to the packy, I congratulate myself for having such perceptive offspring. But that's only because the packy they're referring to is John Recco's Discount Liquors in Newton. The set up of the store, the conviviality of the staff, and Recco's vision for a better way to sell wine combine to serve wine drinkers of all stripes.And their children. (I'm not sure, but that may have more to do with the Tootsie Pops at the checkout.)T ...
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Posted 10/23/2008 at 10:51 AM by Cathy
By Austyn MayfieldAnyone who's ever spent any time in Allston is more likely to associate the neighborhood with frat boys and keggers than with sommeliers and Bordeaux. But hip city residents know that nestled halfway between Boston University and Boston College, in the heart of student central, stands Brookline Liquor Mart, one of the area's most iconic wine shops.The store is almost camouflaged from the street, with its recessed entrance and store-front-meets-loading-dock exterior. The flicker ...
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Posted 10/22/2008 at 12:49 PM by Cathy
When an organization or winery or group of vintners come together to present a line or vintage of their wines, they usually put a lot of time and effort (and money) into setting the stage for the optimal delivery and optimal reception of their wines. This often means renting a private room at a fine dining restaurant or hotel.Here's the thing about these type of formal presentations of wines: they're stiff, and they're stuffy, and they make the wines seem precious.Precious is exactly what some o ...
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Posted 10/21/2008 at 12:10 PM by Cathy
Roger Corder knows full well that almost anyone who picks up his book – The Red Wine Diet – will have already heard of the scientific research documenting the link between overall health and consuming moderate amounts of red wine. This is not exactly breaking news, yet a significant portion of Corder's book is dedicated to explaining in more-than-passing detail the science behind the claims. "Skip over it if you like," Corder writes at the beginning of Chapter 3, "but it explains exactly how my ...
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Posted 10/20/2008 at 11:29 AM by Cathy
The idea of getting together, once a week or so, with six or eight of your closest friends and tasting some 12 or 16 wines within a single stretch of time may sound like heaven or hell, depending on your enthusiasm, willingness to shift focus, and tolerance (for the wines and for your friends). Let me suggest a few arguments I've noticed recently that may persuade anyone toward the more celestial end of the spectrum:? Pouring several tastes at a time enables you to compare and contrast tones and ...
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Posted 10/18/2008 at 11:25 AM by Cathy
Okay, I admit it. When I'm shopping for wine I do not often pick up a bottle that's under $10.But this one, a 2005 Bonizio Sangiovese, was from the Maremma district of Italy in southern Tuscany. The Maremma is one of the hottest properties in the wine world today; an acre in the Maremma is going for more than some of the most reputable acreage in France.This one, this 2005 Bonizio from the Cecchi winery, was also made from Sangiovese grapes, which is a varietal I haven't been associating with th ...
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Posted 10/16/2008 at 07:24 AM by Cathy
To view, click Photo Essays at the top of this page, then Boston Winery. ...
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Posted 10/15/2008 at 07:26 AM by Cathy
This article ran in today's Gloucester Daily Times."I make my own wine." That isn't a sentence you hear often on the streets of Gloucester.Unless it's October, which is winemaking season, and you're talking with certain members of the Portuguese and Sicilian communities here who use home winemaking equipment to produce their own vintage. You'll also hear it if you happen to meet someone, like Gloucester resident Arthur Campagna, who does in fact make his own wine at a facility in Dorchester call ...
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Posted 10/12/2008 at 06:26 AM by Cathy
Go to enough wine tastings around town, and you start to see some repeats. This, it turns out, is a good thing, a reminder that every glass and even every sip is different than the one before. This variety – the spice of life, as they say – is the beauty of drinking wine for pleasure.Take the 2006 Argentiera Poggio al Ginepri from Italy's Maremma district, which I tried last week at Shubie's Harvest Wine and Food Festival in Marblehead. "Moderately distasteful," I wrote then. "...a little awkwar ...
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Posted 10/11/2008 at 06:26 AM by Cathy
Go to enough wine tastings around town, and you start to see some repeats. This, it turns out, is a good thing, a reminder that every glass and even every sip is different than the one before. This variety – the spice of life, as they say – is the beauty of drinking wine for pleasure.Take the 2006 Argentiera Poggio al Ginepri from Italy's Maremma district, which I tried last week at Shubie's Harvest Wine and Food Festival in Marblehead. "Moderately distasteful," I wrote then. "...a little awkwar ...
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Posted 10/10/2008 at 10:36 AM by Cathy
Ever fumbled around the shelves of a library or bookstore, looking for that one specific book?Ever give up on that one book in lieu or something better or more interesting you find in its place?I've known serious students who swear by this "research" technique. Call it the law of biblio-proximity.Last week in a library in Cambridge I was looking for a book called Essential Winetasting by Michael Schuster. I never found it. Instead, on the shelf next to where it was supposed to be, I pulled a boo ...
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Posted 10/09/2008 at 09:55 AM by Cathy
By Grace GuAt the portfolio tasting of Café Europa last week, held in a cozy little conference room in the Charles Hotel at Harvard Square, I could have tasted wines all the way from the Marche to Monterey. But, in the interest of focus and moderation, I decided to limit my travels mainly to Hungary and Uruguay.(I know, I know. Some people have it rough.)First stop Hungary.Hilltop Neszmély and Törley Winery presented wines of accessible prices and exceptional value. Several of Hilltop's wines we ...
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Posted 10/08/2008 at 11:16 AM by Cathy
"Inaugural vintage" isn't a phrase you hear every day.And wines from an "inaugural vintage" aren't something you drink every day.But at Smith and Wollensky on Arlington Street tonight, that is exactly what we did.The wines came from Windsor Sonoma, a new operation led by vintner Pat Roney and winemaker Marco DiGiulio. The most impressive of the wines, for me, was their 2006 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir – beautifully balanced, light on the palate yet substantial from just the right dose of t ...
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Posted 10/07/2008 at 06:15 PM by Cathy
Here in Boston we're starting to get over the white wines of summer. Not that we ever stop drinking Chardonnays or Rieslings completely, but there's a time and a place for everything and sometimes the place for whites is summertime. In flip flops. On the back porch or out on the beach.That is perhaps even more true for rosé wines, that happy complement to warm weather and warm-weather foods.But if you're French and you live in Provence – situated in the far southeastern corner of France along th ...
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Posted 10/06/2008 at 09:22 PM by Cathy
Earlier this spring, grape growers in Napa were dealing with 21 straight days of frost. Just a few weeks ago, during harvest, growers in Burgundy experienced a "miracle of the sun" with 22 straight days of sunshine.You may not always think of wine as an agricultural product, and you may not always think of grape growers as farmers. But picking up a bottle of wine is in many ways like picking out a head of lettuce: depending on where they're grown, grapes and lettuce are susceptible to similar va ...
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Posted 10/04/2008 at 12:15 PM by Cathy
By Brian ShenThe demo room at Boston University culinary center was packed last week for a class called "Latin Evolution."An excited crowd waited to be impressed by Jose Garces of Amada and Tinto restaurants in Philadelphia, and an Iron Chef America winner. The crowd couldn't help their excitement: it isn't often that we see the man who brings the food of Peru to fine dining. Garces' latest concept blends Peruvian and Asian cuisine; the crowd was there to learn, and to taste, exactly what this m ...
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Posted 10/03/2008 at 05:47 AM by Cathy
By Cathy Huyghe and Hannah HausauerAt some of the larger-scale "grand" tastings geared toward consumers rather than trade professionals, you notice that the people pouring the wines aren't always the most knowledgeable about their product. And often they don't need to be. Their customers for the night are simply there to have a good time (consumers), not to conduct official business (trade). Tonight however – at the Shubie's Harvest Wine and Food Festival (for consumers), held on the back lawn ...
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Posted 10/02/2008 at 09:41 AM by Cathy
What if we spent our lives eating only beautiful food? (This, I wondered as we ate dinner last week at BandG Oysters.)I'm not talking about food that is made to look beautiful on the plate. I'm talking about food that looks beautiful "in person" and then is still identifiable as that food when it is presented on a plate.I'm talking about food that J. Ruth Gendler would have recognized 25 years ago when she wrote this about Intuition in The Book of Qualities:[Intuition] doesn't cook much. She e ...
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Posted 10/01/2008 at 11:16 AM by Cathy
Note: This article ran in today's Gloucester Daily Times.There's a certain moment when you realize a change is in the air.It's when you pull a light jacket from the closet before you head out the door in the morning.It's when you add a heavier blanket to cover your bed at night.And, when you're thinking about what's in your glass, it's when you realize you don't want light, refreshing, cooling anymore. You want something more substantive, earthy, warming.That's when it's fall, and that's when ma ...
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