Tempour ($49.99) What: A long, cylindrical wand that fits inside a wine bottle, with pour spout on top. For: The person who thinks ice buckets are too snooty or too bulky or something. How to use: Put the long, detachable “chiller” section of the Tempour in the freezer for a
Kiwi winemakers widen horizons with Riesling, sparklers and more It’s a warm spring night in Queenstown and the mood at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards dinner is convivial as winemakers, uncharacteristically gussied up in black tie, giggle at the PG humor of the emcee and polish off steaks of
James Ontiveros met me at Pappy's for breakfast. It's a farm-country diner in Santa Maria Valley, California, where the omelets almost cover a whole plate. We spent a morning together, while his wife was overdue with twins, which would be their first children. They hadn't chosen names and were planning
Funky aromas, cloudy appearance, some Brett influence and sourness. Crazy, flavorful and fun. Is this another write-up of a low-sulfur “natural” wine? Well, actually no. Because over the last year, I've been enjoying some wonderful craft beers from new microbreweries springing up all over London and the UK. And what,
With all the buzz around California’s 2013 harvest, it’s easy to forget that 2012 was pretty spectacular as well –and it’s hitting the wine shelves now. “2012 was a Goldilocks vintage,” said Alder Yarrow of Vinography and JancisRobinson.com fame, who presented the 2012 vintage, earlier this fall, in New York
A little over two years ago, I wrote a piece for Palate Press entitled “Screw cap vs. Cork: Which is Greener?” in which I compared what we know about the environmental impact of natural cork versus aluminum screw caps. Cork came out clearly on top, save for the strong and
With so much on offer just blocks from my home in southeast Portland, sometimes it is easy to forget the bounty that surrounds our fine city. The Willamette Valley AVA is Oregon’s largest wine producing region, and home to a majority of the state’s wineries, and yet it is only
Michael Madrigale hadn't really intended to bid on the six-liter bottle of 1991 Olivier Leflaive Montrachet, but as he looked around the room at the Acker Merrall & Condit auction, he couldn't find a single paddle in the air. How was this possible? The minutes trudged by, awkwardly, and Madrigale