Amarone Specialist: MASI AGRICOLA
According to Masi Agricola’s press guide, the company takes its name “from ‘Vaio dei Masi,’ a little valley purchased by the Boscaini family in the late 18th century.” Seven generations of Boscainis have made wine in the Veneto. Under the leadership of sixth...
AMARONE: IN A CLASS BY ITSELF
There is no other important red quite like Amarone. Amarone is a celebration of the senses. Its heady fragrance overflows with scents of cherries, ripe plums and violets, as well as intriguing wisps of plump raisins and Church incense. Its zone of production, its...
January 21 Wine News: From Vatican City and Rome
So Pope Francis doesn’t enjoy only sweets, especially, ice cream. He drank Italian wines with his meals in the Philippines and only two days after his return on January 21 he received a delegation of some 180 Italian wine producers, vintners, sommeliers, and...
2012 Sauternes
The illustrious dessert wines of Sauternes had a difficult vintage in 2012. Three of the most renowned chateaux, Yquem, Rieussec and Suduiraut, did not produce a 2012. Yquem did not produce a 2010 either, which will undoubtedly preserve its reputation and inflate the...
January 2015 Value Wines of the Month:
2013 Massimo Prestige Vineyards Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: My local store carries this wine for about $9.00 and it’s a steal. I’m a great fan of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, and this one leaves no doubt about its origins with its gooseberry-lime...
The Birthplace of Gewürztraminer
While Gewürztraminer has strong associations with both Alsace and Germany, few realize that it originates from the South Tyrolean town of Tramin at the foot of the Dolomite mountains in an area now known as the Alto Adige in reference to the Adige river that flows...
DIGGING DEEP IN THE CELLAR
Properly aged wine may be an anachronism, but if you have the time and patience, the rewards can be stupendous. True, in aging wine you never know what you’re going to get. More often than not it’s a disappointment. But like digging in a mine, you will occasionally...
Book Reviews: WINE, SPIRITS and RECIPES
WHISKY DREAMS “Having Your Dram & Eating It Too” By Riannon Walsh 203 pages, $19 What a lovely book! I rarely review a cookbook favorably if it doesn’t have good photography. Well, this one has no photography and it’s still a special book. It’s one...
Tuscany’s Mediterranean Wine Road
In May of 1985 I attended a party at Palazzo Antinori in Florence, to celebrate the family’s 600th anniversary in the wine business. I was seated next to Lodovico Antinori, who told me about his recent development of property in Bolgheri, where he planned on...
Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula
Though wine is now produced in all 50 states, here in California I see more wines from the West Coast, Europe, South America and Australia, than wines from other states. My experience with Michigan wines was limited to judging a few Rieslings at The San...
Rodelio Aglibot: “Food Buddha”
I first met and interviewed Rodelio Aglibot at the opening of “Me Geisha”, his restaurant in Rome, in early December 2015. Although he divides his time between Chicago and Los Angeles, he is a globetrotter so we have seen each other several other times in Rome....
Paul Stradner: One of the Youngest Chefs in Germany to Earn 2 Michelin Stars
During my three-day stay in Baden-Baden I was a guest of the super-elegant, long-family-run (1872-1969), luxurious Brenners-Park Hotel & Spa. “For almost 150 years it has been pampering the world’s VIPs be they European royalty, business brains: John Jacob Astor...
SOS for the Birthplace of Spaghetti all’Amatriciana
August 24, 2016 3:36 AM: Aglioni, Borgo of Capitignano (L’Aquila): I felt a heavy dull thud. Then I heard my husband Luciano calling me: “Lucy, hurry, wake up, this is an earthquake. Quick.” When I opened my eyes I saw that he was nervously pulling up his blue jeans,...
Athena Restaurant: Enjoy the Sunny Flavors of Greece in the Heart of St. Augustine
The wholesome, heart-healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet have been touted and exploited for decades. This may account for the ever-growing popularity of Greek restaurant food in North America. Whether you believe this to be true or not, a perfect location to do...
Chef Nicosia Does Piemonte
For over a decade, we’ve had the pleasure of dining at Sassi (in Scottsdale, Arizona) alone and with friends and family, celebrating an event or simply the day. The mostly southern Italian-inspired menu with many imported products and housemade pastas tastes sublime...
FAO HONORS SLOW FOOD PRESIDENT CARLO PETRINI
On May 26th the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), headquartered in Rome, Italy, named Carlo (better known as “Carlin”) Petrini, one of the founders of Slow Food and today its President, FAO Special Ambassador Zero Hunger for Europe. With over...
Spices for Salt
Flavor enhancement with spices rather than salt: these recipe hacks should allow you and your family to drastically reduce sodium intake while pleasing the taste buds with newer, sharper, spicier delights. Important thing—I know I've said this before—is to use...
NOT LONG ENOUGH AT THE FAIR
Ever been to a trade show? If so, you know they’re oppressive: they reek of relentless deal-making; of order forms, checkbooks, credit cards and PayPal, with Apple Pay soon to join. Buyers and sellers seem to have few interests beyond prices and delivery dates,...
The Carriage House Restaurant: Grand Dining in Louisiana’s Houmas House Plantation
Kevin Kelly loves dragonflies. When he first toured the property as a prospective buyer, a dragonfly landed on his shoulder. For him, it was an omen. This was where he needed to make his home. From the time he purchased the plantation in Darrow, Louisiana, Mr. Kelly...
The Mansion Restaurant in Louisiana: Nottoway’s Display of Culinary Excellence
Executive Chef Michael Loupe, who studied and cooked in France and all across Louisiana, came to The Mansion Restaurant at Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, LA in the fall of 2014. His menu features classic Louisiana cuisine, but it changes seasonally, even...
Idaho Idyll
Until last fall, when I participated in a tasting tour of southern Idaho, I’d passed through the state perhaps half a dozen times, always on my way to somewhere else. It’s easy to forget how big the United States is, and how big the individual states are, particularly...
Oh, Savannah!
It doesn’t seem possible that this is our first visit to Georgia’s first city. SAV airport is sleek and friendly. We’re on our way a little after 10 on New Year's Eve. Sequined revelers light up Savannah’s Historic Center. Our B&B is off Broad Street, past the...
The Crystal Coast: The Catch of the Day
A few years ago when Betsy Cartier was looking for a new place to settle, she told her husband, “I will know it when I see it.” Then, she discovered the Crystal Coast. (Map) Within weeks, they were packed up and on their way to Beaufort, North Carolina. Now, Betsy...
The Elegance Of Bordeaux
Will Ottley visits the French City of Bordeaux and discovers exemplary organic wine. Bordeaux became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007. Synonymous with the French wine trade, the city has 376 listed monuments dating from the 17th to the 19th century. Bordeaux...
Gondoliers Unite to Protect Their “Venetianess”
It is impossible to feel lukewarm about Venice. The historian Edward Gibbon, author of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, complained about “its stinking ditches dignified with the pompous denomination of canals, while novelist D.H. Lawrence called her an...
Character in Carmel
It’s not as though I was surprised those three days in Carmel-by-the-Sea were so pleasurable. How surely this one square mile penetrated my psyche was the zinger. Homebound along the Salinas Highway, smiling at the fog as it tended the vines in the Highlands beyond,...
Kringle, the Official State Pastry of Wisconsin
There is a lot to enjoy in the charming small town of Racine, Wisconsin. Located on the shore of beautiful Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Chicago, Racine has lovely beaches, parks and trails; Frank Lloyd Wright architecture; an amazing art museum; zoo; and the...
Zenzi Glatt: Merano’s Forever Young Senior Hotelier
Born in Castelrotto on December 27, 1914, Zenzi Glatt came to live in Merano when she was 10 years old because of its better schools and has lived here ever since. She is a pioneer of hospitality. In 1948 she opened Pension Mignon and soon opened up a beauty...
Paris Not So Long Ago: Night. Rain. Fog. Confusion. Savoir Faire.
© 2015 by Bill Marsano photos by Scott Clemens This is, I imagine, telling tales out of school, but tell I must. It’s a good tale, which is the best of all possible reasons, and its star, my friend K., is too shy to write it herself, although I have pestered her to do...
Mayakoba: So Much More than Its Cuisine
“Casual dining by the sea” is how the concierge described Punta Bonita Restaurante, located on the pristine beaches of the Riviera Maya. That description didn’t even come close to capturing the essence of our visit to Mayakoba or our exquisite, memorable...