aMuse Bouche: Burgundy Spice
With Burgundy’s rich and strongly flavored dishes, it’s easy to see why tangy Dijon mustard would be a specialty here. At a Moutarderie tour at Edmond Fallot, I learned the difference between Dijon and Burgundy mustard.
Australia Uncut in San Francisco
Australia is known for their regional blends but at a Wine Australia trade tasting in the city last month, I got a better appreciation for their single varietal wines and how well they reveal the essence of the terroir, and the winemakers, there.
The Côtes de Bordeaux: Affordable Bordeaux With Pedigree
When people think of red Bordeaux, they usually categorize them by Right Bank or Left Bank. But there’s another family of reds called the Côtes de Bordeaux crafted by small, family-owned wineries with a lot of care, pride and in many cases, world-class knowledge.
A Fresh New Look at Australian Wines From One of Its Oldest Brands: Hardys
Australia is one of the most underrated major wine regions in the US in part, I think, because of a simple …
Passion for Italian: The Grandi Marchi in San Francisco
Passion for Italian doesn’t describe the rapt attention of the trade audience at the Grandi Marchi tasting last month in SF. Instead, it describes the passion of Italy’s greatest producers for their own uniquely Italian grapes, and their efforts to improve, revive and communicate them to the world…
Spreading French Joie de Vivre to the Masses: Vin de France
Don’t tell Managing Director Valerie Pajotin that Vin de France are mere “table wines”, even though technically, that’s what they are. For Valerie and a contingent of her colleagues from Anivin – the trade group for Vin de France – these wines have the potential to become a global force majeure
Behind The Legend of Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon
My reference wines for benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon are Napa Valley and Bordeaux, so when I had the chance recently to taste through a vertical of Don Melchor wines from Chile’s Concha y Toro with winemaker Enrique Tirado in San Francisco, they were going to have a pretty high bar to meet.
Escape to Chile In Your Own Back Yard
At a lovely Wine Country lunch this past week in Sonoma, I was transported to Chile with very unique dishes paired with …
The Wine Lover’s Sake
At a recent sake tasting at the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco, Sake Samurai Timothy Sullivan told us we really shouldn’t call sake a wine “a sake is a sake”. Still, it’s hard for a Wine Muse not to taste sake like a wine and by doing so, I could really appreciate these sakes even more in terms of flavor, quality craftsmanship, long tradition and yes, terroir.
Mount Veeder Appellation – Napa Valley Mountain Wines With a Twist
It poured yesterday in the Napa Valley but it didn’t stop hundreds of fans from crowding the annual Mount Veeder Appellation annual …