I couldn’t residet the challenge posed by New York Times wine columnist Eric Asimov in today’s post on The Pour, where he describes how he’d stock his cellar on a $1500 budget. Actually, it was a comment by Paul that really got my competitive dander up–he pointed out that Eric’s list would only generate 1…
Wine Blogging Wednesday Results
If you’re looking for some great holiday sparkler ideas, look no further then the Wine Blogging Wednesday results posted by Culinary Fool. This month’s theme was sparkling wine, just in time for the holidays! Read this WBW for links to dozens of sparkling wines that will delight you–or at least not embarass you. And if…
WBW: Westport Rivers 2002 Brut Cuvee RJR
I remember the dramatic POP of one of the first bottles of bubbly I opened (definitely not real champagne!)…great sound, until I realized the geyser was rapidly dousing our apartment walls. But now, for my first Wine Blogging Wednesday event, I’ve got the experience to open the sparkling wine to a gentle “poof” followed by…
A Birthday Tasting
My birthday fell in the midst of a very hectic stretch for Jodi and me, so we decided enjoying a home cooked meal would be the way to go. We decided to invest some of the money we would have paid for a restaurant meal on a good wine (or two) and headed to The…
Pairing Wine & Indian Food
I love Indian food, especially when paired with a good glass of wine. So when Mallika wrote on Quick Indian Cooking about matching wines and other beverages with Indian food, I had to add my 2 cents. Especially after finding an interesting match for last night’s takeout supper of Chicken Tikka Masala and Aloo Palak…
November: A Month of Meals & More
November was my first full month of blogging here on CookingChat, and I’ll mark that be introducing a new feauture that recaps some of the culinary highlights for the month. Memorable Meals: Thanksgiving is always a special meal, and I ate my share of mashed potatoes to celebrate my Irish heritage. Butternut Chicken Risotto was…
A Tale of Three Zins
What distinguishes a great wine from a good one? Of course, there are so many variables, volumes can and probably have been written on the subject. I felt I know some of the elements, but thought comparing two zinfandels from the same producer would be a good case study to learn more about what makes…
2004 Ayler Kupp Riesling
An $8 bottle of wine probably does not warrant a long review; yet I feel obliged to share such a good find! Some time ago I was turned off against Rieslings–I had a few that were too sweet for my taste, and I prematurely wrote off the varietal. But I have come back around to…
Wine Recommendations for Thanksgiving
My parents have the potentially daunting task of preparing the Thanksgiving feast for our family. My contribution is usually limited to bringing a salad and wine…so the wine had better be a good one! A food blog must have it least one Thanksgiving post, so I thought wine recommendations would be appropriate seeing as I’m…
New Zealand Pinot Noir
Trying to find good pinot noir on a budget isn’t easy. Getting out of Burgundy, California and Oregon is often necessary to find a pinot worth drinking for under $20. And for this challenging grape to grow, under $20 seems to be a reasonable bar for qualifying as a bargain. The quest for a good…