by Rosie Carbo
Culinaria, a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization that creates year-round events centered on food and wine, relishes its annual festival. For one, it’s an open table with a place for everyone to dine in chic elegance or backyard casual. The annual Culinaria food and wine festival is set for May 15-19 at venues in and around the Alamo city. Everything from charming Chardonnays to Mystic Merlots and capricious Cabs will be poured at all events. Additionally, non-wine aficionados can select from an array of superior spirits or handcrafted beer at several of the indoor and outdoor events during the five-day festival. The lengthy list of sponsors includes HEB, where many of the domestic and international brands of fine wines are available. The organization started under another name in...
by Ron Barker, Cigarvolante Llc
A recent article in Forbes highlighted a new Jolie/Pitt wine that has brought new interest to rosé wine.Jolie-Pitt’s New Wine Is Scarce, Twelve Best Rosé’s To Try InsteadSince starting the Virginia Wine and Cigar Trail 3 years ago I have had the opportunity to taste a number of new varieties and styles and several that I have disdained in the past, like rosé and have, with few exceptions, been delighted. One of the pleasant surprises is the number and the complexity of the rosés that we have had the opportunity to taste and pair. We have paired with 5 of them across our 15 (to date) wineries. Across the 5 we have paired them with 4 different cigars, some of them with two cigars that bring out different characteristics. Holly Grove 2010 Sunset RoseThe 2010 Sun-set Rose’ was produc...
by Jackie Gonzalez
Latin cuisine, music and art under one roof will help those in need.(Miami, FL - April 2013) - Latin Events Network, an event planning and management company, will hold the First Annual Latin Taste Fest in collaboration with charity partner, Feeding South Florida on Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 4:00 - 10:00 p.m. in the International Ballroom at the Hilton Miami Airport, the event hotel sponsor, located at 5101 Blue Lagoon Drive.The Latin Taste Fest is a food, wine, and spirits extravaganza that will feature cuisine samplings, wines, beers, brand liquors, gourmet cooking classes, accompanied by an eclectic variety of live Latin musical entertainment, among other exhibits and activities soon to be announced. The event will include a variety of top local Latin restaurants that will offer a ta...
by John Cesano
John on Wine Spotlight winery: Testa VineyardsBy John Cesanopublished 03/28/2013 in the Ukiah Daily JournalComfy. Comfy is how I feel when I visit Testa Vineyards, just north of Calpella at 6400 N. State Street.From the rustic metal farm antiques used as installed art decorations to the red checked cloths covering wood-round topped wine barrels, and from country music playing on the radio to old wooden picnic tables - all surrounded by head pruned old vine vineyards, a lake, mustard growing between the vines when I visited, and a three bedroom vineyard rental guest house with a winemaker's dream: a cellar for barrels and cases. Testa Vineyards has a warm, unpretentious, welcoming vibe; Testa is defined by its comfortableness.The Testa family has farmed grapes in Calpella for more than 100 ...
by John Cesano
John on WineFriends don't let friends Vacu-VinBy John Cesanopublished 04/04/2013 in the Ukiah Daily JournalOne of my wine industry jobs was with the Wine Appreciation Guild, one of the industry's largest publishers of wine books and a one-stop distributor of both wine books and accessories. My job was to sell wine books and wine accessories to winery tasting rooms, wine shops, and other specialty merchants in 42 California counties.There was one item I refused to sell.Vacu-Vin. There is no wine preservation system more ubiquitous. Gwyneth Paltrow told Oprah that it is a "must-have" in her kitchen. Every frau and pretentious wine poser in the country has one. Sales of the devices number in the tens of millions.For the one or two of you who are unfamiliar with Vacu-Vin, here's what the manuf...
by John Cesano
JOHN ON WINESpotlight Winery: RIVINOBy John Cesanopublished 04/11/2013 in the Ukiah Daily Journal"Welcome to RIVINO," owner Suzanne Jahnke-McConnell greeted me on my recent visit. Together with her winemaker husband Jason McConnell, Suzanne runs the winery at the vineyard Suzanne's dad has been growing grapes at for the last 20 years.RIVINO is a made up word, a portmanteau, a combination or joining of two words, River and Vino. Vino is, of course, Italian for wine, and the grapes for these wines are grown in vineyards alongside the Russian River.RIVINO winery on Cox Schrader Road in Ukiah, east adjacent to Highway 101, is an Estate winery, meaning that the wines are made from grapes grown, crushed, and fermented on site. Estate wines often exhibit vineyard specific characteristics. All of ...
by John Cesano
John on WineWinery spotlight: Barra of Mendocino and GirasoleBy John Cesanopublished in the Ukiah Daily Journal on April 18, 2013The cypress tree surrounded Barra event center on North State Street, just north of Calpella in Redwood Valley is home to a wine tasting bar that plays host to special private events. On recent visits I have seen the large interior space set up beautifully for a wedding reception and a baby shower.Invited to taste through the wines of both Barra and Girasole, I found Barra of Mendocino wines are bigger and feature a mix of specific oak barrels, often Louis Latour barrels to bring specific notes to the wines, while Girosole are largely stainless steel tank driven wines with just a small percentage of French and American oak for flavor.My tasting hosts were winemak...
by David Brown
When one embarks on building their own collection of wine, storage is key. It's not simply a question of buying several cases of white wine and putting it in a fridge, and bottles of red wine and bunging it on shelves in the kitchen. Environment is a key factor in allowing wines to age and mature in the way that they are supposed to.If you are without a magnificent and spacious cellar, then there are wine storage alternatives. For red wine, choose a wine rack but for white, using a wine cooler is a perfectly viable alternative for keeping wine chilled. With so many models to choose from, how do you know which is best? Hopefully, this will be a helpful guide for you when making your selection.In terms of size, the best rule of thumb is to picture roughly how big you want your collection to ...
by Ron Kapon
The Mexican Mayan Riviera (South Cancun) is, in short, a public relation dream of a name. First and foremost, let’s get the geography lesson out of the way; Quintana Roo is a state in Southeastern Mexico on the eastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula with a population of 1.3 million. The Caribbean Sea is to the east and the nation of Belize is to the south. If the name Quintana Roo is not familiar, look at some of the cities contained within the state; Cancun (800,000), Playa del Carmen and the island of Cozumel enhanced further by the Mayan Ruins at Tulum, Oxtankah, Coba and Kohunich among others.In the late 1960’s the Mexican government built the city of Cancun from a small fishing village to attract more American tourists to the area. In 2012 there were over 1.6 million visitors from ...
by Mike Meisner
Argentina is most widely known for their wonderful Malbec varietal, which has gained worldwide exposure and appreciation for its quality and affordable price. Yet most people are unaware of the white counterpart from the region, which migh be just as wonderful as Malbec. The Torrontés varietal is exclusive to Argentina, and can be found at some stores with a careful eye. This varietal is not highly recognized by the United States, or elsewhere for that matter, but is one that you should absolutely try if you can find it. The varietal is considered to be one of the most aromatic wines around – with huge flavors of lemon, crème brulee, and citrus exploding off the surface. The wines made from the Torrontes grape have been the visiting card of Argentine Wine Producers and have lead to man...
