Drink Eat Love

It’s Not All Retsina

To most most Americans Greek wine is relegated into two categories: wines that are drunk while on vacation in Greece or “Ewh, Greece makes Retsina.” Well both can be true but what one drinks while in Greece and Retsina just skim the surface of what wine is in Greece. Though wine was not first made in Greece it can be said that Greece is the home to wine culture. Records show that wine production and consumption was in full swing by the 7^th century B.C. and a fixture in all of Greece. Some archeological finds suggest that wine was a staple of the Minoan diet and other ancient civilizations as early as 3^rd millennium B.C. So to say that Retsina is the “alpha – omega” of Greek wine would be a sad misnomer.

A Little R.S. Can Buy You A Mountain

Residual Sugar (R.S.): The total quantity of sugars remaining unfermented in the finished wine. This may include both fermentable sugars (glucose and fructose) and small amounts of those few sugars, which are not readily fermented by typical wine yeast.

The Love in Drink Eat Love

Valentine’s Day is a day that I don’t pay much attention to. When I was in middle school and had my first girlfriend I did but now Shauna and I are more concerned about what is happening on Lost and who the next survivor of Oceanic Flight 815 is. It is not that I don’t want to express my love to my wife or how much better my life is with her but it is the fact that there is a whole ad campaign telling me that my love wants the diamond circle necklace or roses or chocolate. I guess I just don’t like being told what to do…

Needing something Cozy

The past few weeks here in the Bay Area has been windy, wet and chilly. My wife and I have been trying to stay warm in our 100-year-old apartment by cozying up with one-pot dishes and wines to match. As we enter the depth of our Northern California winter (those in the Midwest and Northeast will laugh at us, but it is cold to us Californians) there are certain dishes and wines that can warm a dreary winter evening quicker than Wilfred Brimley with a bowl of oatmeal. This past Sunday and Monday we cooked two dishes that thawed us out and we drank two wines that warmed out souls: Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 from Oakville and Jeriko Estate Merlot from Mendocino. Winter is the perfect time to cozy up with a loved one, a book, and/or a great movie and share a bottle of deep rich red wine.

Wines For Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be a fun time to try a whole slew of new wines or it can be a day to keep to tradition, but whatever your fancy, it is a time for wine! The flavors of Thanksgiving are all across the board and since most people I know do not course out their meal you will have so many different flavors on your plate that picking that "perfect" wine is quite the challenge. As with all the dishes on the table I prefer to have a variety of wines to choose from, not only is it fun to taste a bunch of different wines but it can be a good discussion piece between friends and family.

Top Ten Drinks for October

Finally, it is here. I have told many of you that I would start putting up my ten favorite wines that I have tasted each month. The wines selected below were all tasted in the month of October and are listed in no particular order with an estimated retail price.

Wedding Wines and Thanks!

I would first like to thank all of you that have taken the time to read our blog and for those who reached out to me after I hurt my back. Your healing words have helped me get better. A few of you have asked what wines were consumed our wedding. Here is the list:

To Love What You Do...

Yesterday was a very difficult day for me. Today has not been a cake walk, but I'm trying to come to peace with what my body is going through. I am a VERY lucky person. I work in an industry where I am able to taste wine from all over the world, travel to different parts of the world, eat at amazing restaurants and, above all, meet really amazing people.

Practice Makes Perfect

We just couldn't wait to get to Spain to try our second paella. This one is vegetarian, modifying slightly Mark Bittman's recipe (registration required) in the NY Times last week. Good, simple, fast. Gotta love the taste of pimenton. I better, 'cause there's a lot more where that came from! We had it with a bottle of El Coto Rioja Crianza 2003. It did the job, but even at $11, I wouldn't buy it again.

A Note on Tasting Notes

Jeff & I sat down to taste on Tuesday, as we are wont to do. I think he will be starting to post his tasting notes soon. I'm of a different mind — I generally find tasting notes kinda boring. If they're wildly accurate, they're kinda dry, and if they're too fanciful, they're less about the wine than they are the imagination. Not that imagination's a bad thing, just not too helpful.

Aaaanyway, that doesn't mean that I won't write them (or haven't)... I keep notes for myself to refer back to wines and jog my memory about them. I find that, otherwise, my memory is kinda fuzzy. I tend to have other connotations with a wine other than my tasting of it, which color my overall impression positively or negatively.

And then, there's the to-do about ratings...