October 2, 2007 – 10:29 am
I admit it. I never made it to that glass of Pinot Noir I had intended to sip after salmon. I never even made it to the salmon. On Saturday, I found out that Clos du Bois’ Calcaire Chardonnay won the coveted Best in Class sweeps at the Sonoma County Fair, and all weekend long […]
October 1, 2007 – 4:34 am
My dad just sent me this link and I found it fascinating. Scientists recently mapped the Pinot Noir grape (the first fruit to be mapped), and it turned out to be more complex than the human genome (30,000 genes versus 20–25,000 in humans). Hmmmm . . . think it can edit my novel for me?
Tags: […]
September 29, 2007 – 8:44 am
If you were drinking a glass of wine RIGHT NOW, what would it be? My friend Agent Red White (woops) from The Wine Spies sparked this train of thought. When I was describing Swirling Notions to him—a place where we ponder the thoughts that swirl around after the cork is popped . . . what’s […]
September 25, 2007 – 2:32 pm
Normally, here in Sonoma, it doesn’t really feel like fall until October or November. That’s when the leaves begin to turn and wood smoke tickles your nose. But this year is different.
Last week, when the calendar marked the official start to autumn, the clouds hung low and dark and the air smelled wet. And when […]
September 11, 2007 – 3:53 pm
I was driving through Alexander Valley noodling this month’s challenge for Wine Blogging Wednesday—to write about an indigenous grape variety. At first, my thoughts went far afield to the unusual varietals I’ve discovered in foreign lands—Kekfrankos in Hungary, for example, or Assyrtiko in Greece. But as I watched the emerald carpet of vines whiz past me and […]
August 28, 2007 – 8:15 am
The other night, inspired by the Roasted Tomato Roundup I was putting together (and by a recipe from Figs Olives Wine), I made an impromptu dinner, tossing cherry tomatoes and chunks of eggplant with olive oil, garlic, thyme and olives and roasting it all in a well-worn Le Creuset pan until the mixture was fragrant and […]
August 14, 2007 – 7:46 am
I got an e-mail from my friend Jason yesterday asking for advice on preserving tomatoes. Poor thing (envious sarcasm there) is going to Europe for three weeks just as his tomatoes are coming into their own. He’d gotten some great canning advice from Kalyn’s Kitchen, but I admitted to him that I’m a bit intimidated […]
I know it’s the middle of summer, but I just picked the first full batch of green beans off our towers in back (check them out . . . I think Christopher’s just going to have to be in charge of the ‘high harvest’ work) and couldn’t resist bringing up this article on Red with […]
You guys brought up some great questions about storing wine in response to what temp to serve wine. So I dug about for cellaring strategies for those of us who can’t afford a cave of our own.
Cellar Basics
First off, here are the conditions we’re trying to emulate from a real wine cellar:
• A consistent […]
I read an article in the New York Times the other day about how white wine is often served too cold in America. It sparked several conversations (including an impassioned plea by me about considering the circumstances and pairings . . . for instance, I argued, a crisp white served icy cold with a fritto misto is […]
