Browsing Tag

pinot noir

Wine + Food Pairing
The Only 5 Wines You Need for Thanksgiving Dinner 2019

One of the nice things about hosting a Thanksgiving dinner is that historical precedent has done much of the menu planning for you. And the seasonal produce calendar does the rest. There’s turkey, dressing (or do you say stuffing?), mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce. But what about the wine? Wine for Thanksgiving is a big deal, especially here in California. Of course, we’re all free to drink whatever we like with what we’re eating since the days of rigid pairing rules are over. After a couple decades of adult Thanksgivings, I’ve noticed that some wines create more delight–and pair with Thanksgiving’s rich, earthy and sweet flavors–better than others. So I created a list of wines that win when paired with most anything on your Thanksgiving table. If you can’t find these exact wines that’s OK; just use these five categories as a guide to happy Thanksgiving wine pairings…
November 27, 2019
Wine Reviews
Have You Heard About Domaine Faury-Gros Pinot Noir?

François Gros is pretty good at understatement. Which means he’s a master at that Gallic style of sharing big news in an offhand way. He says has a barrel company. Translation: He runs the U.S. business for H&A one of the nation’s biggest barrel-leasing companies. Business is good — two years ago he leased about 2,300 barrels. This year he’s already moved three times that amount. “I have trucks and warehouses… it’s crazy.” But not too crazy to meet me at The Oxbow on a Thursday morning for a wine tasting at the picnic tables. We’re here because he mentioned in passing he makes pinot noir with a friend, and at the time, they only sold it by word of mouth. Turns out this friend is another Frenchman— Simon Faury, the winemaker at Merryvale Vineyards. They had had bumped into each other in Condrieu at Domaine Yves Gangloff…
July 31, 2019
Drinks, Sparkling Wine
Drink This: Richard Grant Cuvée Rosé Brut

I never know where I’ll discover a great sparkling wine that I’ve never tasted before. This summer, it happened at the grand opening of the Axiom Hotel, a tech-enhanced 152-room boutique hotel near Union Square in San Francisco. The owners kept vintage touches like scrolled columns and exposed brick, adding tech amenities like Bluetooth enabled 42-inch flat-screen TVs in rooms, Pac-Man and Space Invaders in the upstairs lobby and fiber-optic cable Wi-Fi that’s lightening fast and free. The hosts were showing off their signature cocktails like the Axiom, an updated sour with rye, honey, lemon and two kinds of bitters. And it was hard to ignore the dancers in the green LED-light suits. But I was more interested in the unfamiliar bottle of sparkling wine I spotted behind the bar: Richard Grant Pinot Noir Cuvée Rosé Brut. When I finally got a glass at the downstairs bar, I loved the…
September 20, 2016
Celebrity Chefs, Food + Recipes
Experience the Magic of Pigs & Pinot with Chef Charlie Palmer

Don’t you love the way some combinations of food and drinks are just perfect together? Milk just begs for cookies, pizza needs beer, and according to celebrity Chef Charlie Palmer, pig likes pinot noir. He should know. His Pigs & Pinot benefit that started seven years ago as a fun way for Sonoma food lovers and Pinot makers to come together to raise money for charity has become the hottest ticket in Healdsburg. Tickets for the March 23-24 event at Hotel Healdsburg sold out in about five minutes. But don’t despair. Dry Creek Kitchen is hosting a series of events this month that celebrate the wonderful flavors in both pork and pinot noir. Chef Valette is creating a three-course Sonoma Neighbor Dinner Menu of some of his best por dishes for $36; it’s $51 paired with two wines. Sommelier Drew Munro has added more international pinot noirs to the wine…
March 8, 2012
Celebrity Chefs, Champagne, Drinks
Champagne Daniel: You Can Take it Home with You

I’ve been in NYC for a few days of press interviews and book signings to promote The Bubbly Bar. The highlights included taping a Better.tv segment with Audra Lowe that airs later this week, making cocktails for Betsy on Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food with Betsy Karetnick. But in between all the running around, I was lucky enough to be able to steal away to a few of Chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurants that included the fabulous new DBGB Kitchen & Bar where we had the most perfect gourmet burgers and housemade sausages and DB Bistro Moderne, where I enjoyed a a light lunch of an Indian spiced squash soup, Alsatian tart and an Eliot Spitzer sighting. One element that I found in all three restaurants – besides the amazing food, interesting decor and top-notch service, was the Cuvée Daniel Champagne. It flowed most freely at Restaurant Daniel, where we sipped glasses of…
December 14, 2009