Over the two plus decades that I have been teaching about food and wine I have, of course, evolved my philosophies in keeping with changing palates, evolving wine styles, and culinary changes (and challenges). The one paramount concept that has remained a constant for me is that, for most people, experience (the totality of who you are with, what the occasion is, where you are dining, etc.) trumps food and wine matching perfection. If you ask Joe and Mary Consumer what their most memorable epicurean occasions were, they are more often based on context rather than the actual synergy (or even epiphany) of the wine and food. The couple in love enjoying crappy Italian wine and mediocre risotto at a little trattoria in Siena likely recall their occasion with great fondness though if they had the same wine and food combo at home on a Tuesday night, it would not carry the same emotionally attached result. Continue reading »

A tough question to answer. First off, the period that starts essentially around Halloween and ends just after that long brunch on New Year’s Day is probably the most important time of year for anyone in the wine (and spirits) biz as more than a disproportionate amount of sales and consumption happen in this time frame. When you hear your trade friends toss out that end of the year phrase OND what they mean is October/November/December- the holy trinity of wine sales quarters! Continue reading »

The more they stay the same. Or so it appears… somewhat.

Always anticipated, Restaurant Wine, a formidable on-premise publication driven and written by MS/MW Ronn Wiegand, has come out with its annual ‘Top 100’ on-premise wines and brands served. While there is some news… well, it looks pretty much the same, at least as far as who is in the rankings. Ronn takes on this ample project annually and in so doing ranks wines and brands based on total 9-liter cases consumed across the entire spectrum of American restaurants licensed to serve wine, from the casual segment to fine dining restaurants and from bars and lounges to hotel banquet departments. Continue reading »

Cute, no? While it’s certainly not the case in terms of global percentage metrics (especially when compared to grapes like Chardonnay), Riesling has long been the darling of wine aficionados and the sommelier set. Driven by activist importers (Rudi Wiest, Terry Theise etc…), domestic powerhouses (Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pacific Rim etc..) and a fanatical group of winemakers and fans, the folks who work with Riesling have taken a very novel and energetic approach towards spreading their gospel. Continue reading »

This recent few weeks has found me (again) in Asia but this time not in Korea, rather Hong Kong followed by Singapore. As the MS ‘brand’ continues to grow, Hong Kong is a new market for us, the nightly table provided great fodder for recapping the day, planning for tomorrow and of course letting our proverbial hair down after being in classroom and/or examination mode all day.

While the jet lag is tough and the work load formidable, the local dining makes up in part for the wear and tear on the body. Impeccable Chinese food in Hong Kong (the whole roast pig was extraordinary) and a delightful mix of cuisine in Singapore (including my de rigeur share of Char Kway Teo, a sublime noodle dish), all washed down with tasty wines and non-stop great stories. On one of these occasions, with a bunch of folks in tow, I did what I so often do and asked the table about their memorable food and wine experiences. Continue reading »

As summer furthers itself along, I find myself increasingly doing two things I love: al fresco dining- celebrating the summer’s bounty, and watching lots of baseball as a fan (and as a ‘arm chair’ manager). Both provide great enjoyment, some creative planning and, when well executed, are the source of both pride and pleasure.

Indeed over the past weekend , cooking in the heat of an Alamo (California) summer afternoon, a friend and I were discussing the merits and importance of baseball leadoff hitters whose job of getting on base (with regularity) and setting the stage for their fellow hitters is a crucial role. A team’s chances of winning are greatly improved if you have a leadoff hitter that executes consistent hits. And how does this relate to wine and al fresco dining you ask?

Quite simple. As you set up outside, prepare your grill/bbq/smoker (or whatever heat source you intend to utilize) and plan your lazy afternoon of eating and drinking, you need to have the right ‘leadoff’- wine… and, I would add, foods. The recipes for me are pretty consistent- prosciutto and melon, grilled asparagus, heirloom tomatoes with olive oil and basil and plates of oysters on the half shell with a ‘choix’ of mignonette sauce or juicy and squeezable meyer lemon wedges. So, who do you ‘bring to the plate’ to face such a dizzying array of timely fare? Continue reading »

In chatting with some aspiring wine enthusiasts over the weekend I was delighted to inform them that all fifty states are now producing wine- what a far cry from a decade or so ago.

I began teaching about wine in 1990 for the trade, and had a class that I instructed called ‘Wines of America”. Now as then, California dominates/dominated the landscape being responsible for nine out of every ten bottles of wine made in the USA driving the majority of American wine sales. I’ve read differing statistics but now-a-days, that number is closer to seven out of every ten bottles sold, with California still maintaining a vinous stranglehold of sorts.

Yet, things have changed. Those initial classes I offered up in the 90’s always began with the question of how many states in the USA made wine commercially. I recall that the answer started in the low 30’s in that first offering and gradually climbed as the American wine industry grew and matured. The rest of the Pacific Coast is well established and has always been a contributing part of that answer. Washington and Oregon indeed have very healthy and thriving industries in wine and have for decades. The growth in quality, number of wineries and the like has been staggering. The Pacific’s dominance now meanders deeper and “internationally” to the north (Canada’s Okanagan) and the south (Mexico’s Guadalupe valley in the Baja peninsula). Continue reading »

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is how do you know when to buy a wine? Or simply put, how do you know if a wine will age well? Great questions..complex answer.

The easy part of it is to know that certain attributes in wines will enable a wine to age longer. Tannin and sugar are two obvious preservatives. That’s why many of the longest lived wines are sweet dessert wines and big full-bodied and intense reds. Indeed collectors who are serious regularly collect big tannic reds like Bordeaux, Barolo, Cote Rotie, Napa Valley Cabernet along with their Sauternes, TBA Germans and, of course, Vintage Port.

Acidity too is a needed for a wine to age and high levels in wines with balance are often good indicators of wine’s ability to cellar well. Continue reading »

I was up in Seattle recently speaking at the wonderful and annual event, Taste Washington, a two-day gathering celebrating the state’s cornucopia of wine and food. I missed last year and was amazed at how many more wines there were this time around. Some of which I had never heard of before prior to stepping up to a tasting table. The state’s now 540-plus wineries seem to be expanding virtually at a daily rate and many of the new wines are simply incredible. I was especially heartened to try a number of really superb Rieslings during a seminar I participated in called ‘Riesling Rocks the Rim’, a snapshot of the state’s offering and a demo on how they pair well with Asian dishes.

The wines in the seminar, six of them, represented an selection of dry and off dry styles and from wineries that ranged from larger producers to smaller ones. The food, an assortment of five offerings from the menu of the celebrated Wild Ginger restaurant, provided an apropos assortment of taste profiles (heat, salt, sweet etc.) from which to platform Riesling’s ability and proclivity to pair up nicely with these non-western offerings. While all the wines were quite tasty (no duds in the chosen six), I was especially enamored by a couple: Continue reading »