In Chicago, the most prominent of all sommeliers is a young woman
named Alpana Singh. She manages the wine lists for the city's leading
operator of high-end restaurants, and also hosts a restaurant review
program called "Check, Please!" on the local PBS station.
Singh wrote a less-than-memorable book a few years ago, but her
blog is must-reading for anyone who enjoys pairing wine with food. You
can tap into her vast knowledge of the subject at:
WhatWouldAlpanaDrink.blogspot.com.
Although quite successful in her career, Singh maintains a
down-to-earth attitude and readily admits to enjoying "comfort food"
every bit as much as the fancy dishes...
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Times have changed in Berkeley since I was a kid.
Growing up in Southern California as a pre-teen in the 1960s and a
teen in the '70s, everything I heard about Berkeley involved the word
"radical."
The people who went to school there were radical. The university
professors were radical. The politics of the people was radical.
Raised by loving but hopelessly "square" parents, I came to equate "radical" with hippies, long hair and...
They say you can tell a lot about a man by the size of his shoes.
Ahem, but does the same hold true for wine bottles?
Sometimes.
Take the magnum, as an example. The magnum (or mag, for short)
holds two standard-sized bottles of wine, or a total of 1.5 liters. In
a supermarket... or a drug store with...
I'm always up for a good wine festival, and the 2010 California Wine Festival looks like a good one.
Better make that two.
There are two separate events planned, one in Orange County and one in Santa Barbara County.
The one in "The O.C." is scheduled...
In another life, before "old media" imploded, I wrote two weekly
wine columns - one for the food sections of traditional newspapers, and
one for so-called "alternative weeklies," which are heavily focused on
arts and entertainment.
With Valentine's Day coming up, I thought it would be fun to
resurrect one of my old "alt. weekly" columns for a publication in
Sonoma County that dealt with wine and its role in romance.
The opening paragraph, which references a pair of iconic television characters, will provide some...
Even as the economy headed south last year, the United States saw
the number of wineries within its borders increase to 6,223.
The message is clear: Ever so gradually, America has become a
wine-drinking nation. As more and more people become aware of the
health benefits associated with moderate wine consumption... not to
mention the pure enjoyment that a glass of wine can bring...
Quick: What's the fastest growing white wine variety in America?
Chardonnay? Nope. It's the No. 1 white wine in this country, but its growth rate has been somewhat flat in recent years.
Pinot Grigio? This variety is growing in popularity, but certainly not with lightning speed.
No, the "winner" is...
If it were up to me, I would ban, delete and otherwise eliminate the phrase "spaghetti wine" from the English language.
I'd also extract it from the Italian lexicon and any other tongue prone to uttering it.
Reason: It is not a complimentary term. Just as the "spaghetti
western" was known as a lesser genre of motion picture, and thus
frowned upon by cinematic snobs, the "spaghetti wine" was thought...
The 19th annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Festival is
less than three weeks away, and this year's theme is "Zin in Paradise."
In this case, "paradise" is defined as "Hawaii," and the event -
scheduled January 28-30 in San Francisco - will feature a dinner
spotlighting Hawaiian regional cuisine.
Here's a day-by-day look at what's planned...
Oregon's bucolic Willamette Valley sits between the Cascade
Mountains and the Coast Range, stretching some 100 miles from north to
south as it follows the Willamette River.
One of the valley's towns is Corvallis, home to Oregon State University.
As is the case in most college towns, Corvallis offers ample opportunities to enjoy liquid refreshment in multiple forms.
In fact, it's quite possible to go on a...
