Knowing where your food comes from has become a familiar directive to anyone paying even the slightest attention to health and lifestyle news.  At the Culinary Round Table dinners at Robert Sinskey Vineyards in the Napa Valley, knowing from whom your food comes allows consumers to explore more intimately why organically grown and locally sourced foods makes sense.  At the latest Culinary Round Table dinner, Deborah and Jim Durst shared their passion for organic produce, opening up a dialogue among the small group of diverse guests and providing inspiration to all.  The relaxing ambiance in the trellised courtyard of Robert Sinskey Vineyards overlooking Stags’ Leap, over …

Authentic Madeira from Portugal is one of the great fortified sweet wines in the world.  Madeira’s unique character has its origins as a wine made to travel, given the island’s location in the path of trans-Atlantic trade between the Americas, Europe and the Indies beginning in the 15th century.  It was the long sea voyage that necessitated the fortification of the still wines with brandy or rum to keep the wines in good condition.  During the 17th century when the Indies was Madeira’s major market, Portuguese producers discovered the exquisite evolution of wines stored in the hot holds of …

One of the producers that impressed me at a recent Madeira tasting in San Francisco was Vinhos Barbeito.  Achieving quality in fortified sweet wines is not so easy.  If one doesn’t have fine balance of the alcohol, acidity and sweetness, the wine will taste “hot”, cloying or flabby.  The Barbeito wines were none of these.  I spoke with family member and winemaker Ricardo Freitas on their philosophy on quality and how they achieve it.  By European standards, Barbeito is relatively young, established only in 1946 by Ricardo’s grandfather Mario Barbeito de Vasconcelos who began by making …

How does one pair Madeira with savory foods?  It is a sweet fortified wine that doesn’t appear on the face of it to go well with foods.   What does make it suitable for food is the characteristic high acidity that other fortified wines like Sherry – with its low to moderate acidity - and even Port with its balanced acidity, do not have.  Also, while even “dry” Madeira has some residual sugar, they always finish dry.  Another factor that ties Madeira to a range of interesting cuisines is the range of complex flavors.  While …

Winemaker Emilio Rodriguez of Terras Gauda in Rias Baixas

High expression, or “alta expresion” is a termed used in Rioja for new wave red Rioja, but in the northwest of Spain, winemaker Emilio Rodriguez of Bodegas Terras Gauda seeks ultimate expression of the heirloom whites of Rias Baixas and reds of Bierzo. Combine his wines with the tapas of Gerald Hirigoyen’s Bocadillos Restaurant, and one experiences the authentic flavors of Spain the way they are meant to be.
Rias Baixas is the only exclusively white wine appellation in Spain located in the northwest region …

There are only a few people in the U.S. wine industry for whom, if you mentioned their first name, everyone would know exactly who you were speaking of.  Zelma Long’s lifetime achievements would overwhelm anyone, but for Zelma, its just been a matter of intense curiosity, high standards and focus.  I caught up with her earlier this week to chat over scones at Jimtown Cafe in Alexander Valley.
Zelma was one of the first women to receive a Masters Degree from UC Davis and went on to become head winemaker at Robert Mondavi and Simi Winery during the 1970′s …