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…

Simple Pleasures

Last week I turned 31. Not a number that conjures up grand parties or great reflection, but for me it was a day of simple pleasures and lead to a wine discovery this week. On January 21st, I was invited to see the Golden State Warriors with three good friends. I am an avid Warrior fan, and the chance to sit two rows off the floor on my birthday was not something I could pass up.

The four of us met up in the parking lot pre-game for a little wine geek tailgate: A bottle of Bollinger Champagne and a bottle of Italian rosé that I cannot remember at the moment. This is the way everyone should do the pre-game. Before we went into the arena JD, one of my pals and owner of a very small wine importer/distributor gave me a bottle of Catina Tollo Pecorino (no it is not bottled cheese). I put the bottle in my trunk and off to the game we went. The Warriors lost by one point with one second left, tough loss.

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:

Love (Why The Cylons Don't Get It)

We're late arrivals to the Battlestar Galactica bandwagon, and we've been making up for lost time over the last few weeks, obsessively watching the DVDs through Netflix between our numerous social engagements and work wrappings-up. The pace has quickened somewhat over the last few days, as Amberly has been convalescing from her surgery on Wednesday — recovering well, thank you very much — even going so far as buying a few episodes on iTunes when Netflix wasn't fast enough.

Yummy At Any Age

Who says you have to be a wine geek to drink old or odd wine (or both)? We just spent a weekend with friends on Lake Tahoe, and I brought out a few older white wines that people just fawned over. These were "little wines" - a 2001 Hochheimer Hölle Kabinett Riesling from Domdechant Werner and a white Entre-deux-Mers from Chateau Bonnet, also '01 - not immensely age worthy, but not over their prime by any means.

It's All Greek: A New Love in My Life!

So I have stopped and started this post about five times and I have just decided that I must get it down on "paper." I love wine and maybe a little too much. It is an OCD force in my life (for good and bad). As I continually search for wines, spirits, and beers that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, I am more often than not disappointed. It is not that the wines I try are bad, but they simply do not excite me or leave me wanting more.

Two years ago I attended a tasting that featured a group of Greek wines that I thought were very interesting and defied what I had previously experienced in Greek wines (albeit, I had tried only about two wines). This brief encounter led me to want more. In November 2006 I sat down with one of the sales reps who calls on me and she pulled out six wines, four from Domaine Skouras of Nemea and two from Domaine Sigalas of Santorini. Immediately I was blown away and got very excited, started feeling those hairs creep up and getting that warm fuzzy feeling... Then she told me the price! I nearly keeled over.