Many people resolve to drink less come New Year’s Day. A few days of post–holiday season liver pampering aside, I generally resolve to drink more: more of a new varietal I’ve discovered, more of a certain winemaker, or perhaps more at a favorite wine bar where there’s always something interesting on the shelf. Read the full article.
I used to teach wine and chocolate pairing classes back in Buffalo at the wine store where I worked; nearly every time I did, I got some snide comment on twitter about how there will never be a good wine and chocolate pairing. Yet my attendees were happy, everyone said they’d tried something new in the class and discovered a pairing they liked, and the class, which repeated, inevitably filled up far in advance. Read the full article.
At a holiday party this week I had the chance to catch up with my Mitchell Vineyard coworkers after a few weeks of post-harvest rest; they’re planning trips to South America and ski expeditions this winter before it’ll be time to get out to the vineyard again in the spring. Over a few really cool homemade wines––especially a bottle of 2009 marquette and 2013 aromella that was still in progress, but already tasting lovely with great muscat character––I realized how much I still had to learn if I want to make great wine in this fascinating location. I also realized how incredibly lucky I’ve been to fall in with these folks, especially Dave Mitchell, and I was inspired to compile an (incomplete) list of what I learned about wine this season. Read the full article.
Read the full article.The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people. All of us will spend many years, if not generations, recovering from that profound hurt. But the decades of oppression and brutality and another, unintended effect, and that was that it produced the Oliver Tambos, the Walter Sisulus, the Chief Luthulis, the Yusuf Dadoos, the Bram Fischers, the Robert Sobukwes of our time––men of such extraordinary courage, wisdom, and generosity that their like may never be known again. Perhaps it requires such depth of oppression to create such heights of character. My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds.
Disney World is a surprisingly fun place to be a wine drinker. While the up-charges at restaurants are almost always jaw-dropping, if you’ve saved up for the trip and you’re willing to splurge here and there, the wine lists and even some of the wine shops offer an interesting selection of world wines. I was excited to find Black Pearl’s Oro at the resort bar near where my family and I were staying, but that pleasure paled in comparison to my reaction when I first spotted the wine list at Jiko Restaurant. Read the full article.