Category: WINE

It sparkles. It bubbles. Is it Champagne, Cava, Asti Spumante, Prosecco, Sekt? Determine where the grapes are grown and how they are fermented 1.  If they are from the Champagne region of France and are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Pinot Meunier – it is likely that you have Champagne in your glass (and the bubbles […]

The Taste of Planet Bordeaux recently held a wine/pairing seminar at restaurant BoBo in New York’s Greenwich Village. The event was hosted by Michael Madrigale, Ambassador for Bordeaux, who introduced us to the pleasures available to the eye, nose and palate by teaming Calvisiusm caviar with wines from Bordeaux. Bobo’s Chef, Nelson Maldonado, developed a creative menu […]

  It costs a fortune – the teeny tiny salt-cured fish eggs of the Acipenseridae family known as caviar. According to the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), the fish roe of the sturgeon is the only fish egg that can be classified as caviar. We covet the roe and will spend whatever it takes to […]

If you consider 8,000 acres of land devoted to viticulture (2012 USDA Agriculture Survey), then you will believe that Texas is very serious about its wine industry. In the Beginning The Texas wine story begins in the mid-17th century when the Franciscan’s established the first vineyard in North America at Ysleta on the Rio Grande […]

I’ve always followed the rule that anything worth doing is worth doing excessively.” – Robert Parker The Time before Parker The wine industry as we currently know it did not exist when Robert Parker entered it in 1967. Although he was a history major and a law school graduate and practiced as an attorney for […]

When you receive an invitation from Marie-Christina Batich to join her for a wine /dine media event and you are smart – you will immediately RSVP. It is a certainty that the opportunity to taste interesting wines paired with unique cuisine will add up to an excellent investment of time and energy and lead to […]

When I was told that there was a thriving wine industry in Indiana – I thought it was the beginning of a riddle. Well, much to my surprise (and delight) I learned that wine production and consumption is growing in Indiana and the reviews from wine competitions indicate the industry is gaining domestic and international […]

With 99 percent of the population of Turkey noted as Muslim, it is frequently a surprise to learn that Turkey produces excellent wines. Turkey is an anomaly in the region. Compared to its neighbors (Syria and Iraq to the south; Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan to the east) this country is considered progressive […]

Where can you find 26,000 acres of vineyards, 40 diverse wine grape varieties and 200+ wineries producing premium wines in the USA? Need a clue? Think West Coast! No. Not Napa, Sonoma or Monterey! Think Central Coast. The correct answer: Paso Robles. Positioned 6 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, bordered by the Santa Lucia Mountains on […]

Wine tourism: Good wood does not make a great wine, it reveals it Wine Barrels: French or American … From the soil and the vineyard to the bottle and the table, the humble grape has a complex journey. Sadly the time and the place the juice spends in fermentation and aging is frequently overlooked and […]