by Christopher J Davies
Wine, Roses and Cuisine Perfectly in RomeThe Perfect Winter VacationBy Christopher J. DaviesIf you are thinking about making a winter vacation to Rome, odds are that you really love delicious food and wine. Rome's mild Mediterranean weather allows you to eat outside as early as a sunny March afternoon. Best of all, you will find the city less crowded than during spring or summer.Rome's many tourist sites are within walking distance of the world famous Spanish Steps which climb a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti. The Scalinata-as the steps are known to the Romans-is the widest staircase in Europe.At the top sits one of the highest acclaimed hotels in the world: The Hotel Hassler. It is owned and...
by Ron Kapon
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Los Angeles may be some of the finalists but the winner for best food and wine is clearly Las Vegas. There are 170 Master Sommeliers in the world (the result of wine knowledge and blind tastings are part of the rigorous exam), 74 live in the USA and of those 17 work in Las Vegas. There are 75 Wine Spectator Grand Award winning restaurants worldwide and six are in Las Vegas. 33 of the 788 Best of Award of Excellence restaurants are also situated there. With that as a basis, follow along with me as I slice, dice and slurp my way through the best food and wine of Fun City.Janelle Brown of the New York Times in 2004 wrote: "When the Rat Pack moved out, Las Vegas lost its reputation for chic. Between the ubiquitous frozen margaritas, the roving bach...
by Steve Boston
Whether purchasing a collector’s vintage bottle, appreciating a wine’s sweet aroma and savory taste or simply storing it for a special occasion, most wine connoisseurs agree that appropriate storage is the key component to collecting wines. Storage OptionsStorage options range from an in-home wine cellar, wine vaults or cabinets, off-site private storage areas, to a rack placed in the corner of the basement. In-home wine cellars or boxes may be purchased to install from price ranges anywhere from a few hundred dollars all the way up to $4000 for serious collectors. For most collectors, however, a pre-made option generally serves the same purpose. For a select few, primarily investment collectors, it may prove to be more cost effective to have a storage area custom built by a qualif...
by Laura Ness
At this year's ZAP, the 20th annual festival of all things Zin, I sought out new winemakers and old vines. Which was sometimes old winemakers with a new label, and occasionally, old vines being worked on by a new winemaker, or a fairly new winemaker doing something new with old vines. And I wanted to taste the Zin-based blends: featured at separate tables this year. Thanks to the ZAP program, the event was sliced by appellation, price range, old vines, vineyard designates, wines made by women: even winemaker’s hair color. So many fun ways to cut this slightly nutty, rum soaked fruitcake.First, the absolute talk of the town was Vittorio’s Secret, a righteously decadent in its own right Zin blend from old vine Mendocino Zin (63%), Petite Sirah (19%) and Carignane (18%), crafted by Bob K...
by Jenny Benzie, Advanced Sommelier + Champagne Taster
So, you've invited a group of friends over, every one is bringing a bottle and you want to make sure your wine tasting event occurs without any 'flaws.' Below are a few mistakes to avoid if you are hosting a wine tasting event to ensure you get a 'Gold Medal!'Dirty glassware can cause your wine tasting event to go from 'Brilliant' to 'Dull.'. Here are a few tips to ensure clean glasses: * Don't just pull the glasses from your cabinet or a box - they will have a stale, cardboard smell. * Don't wash your glasses with soapy water - this can leave a film. * Never use a paper towel to dry your glasses - this will leave an 'off' odor in the glass (and lint!). * Rinse your glasses with warm water and gently dry by hand with a polishing cloth. How can you identify what's in the glass ...
by Stef Smulders
Though frequently called the Tuscany of the North of Italy, the Oltrepo Pavese in Lombardy is fairly unknown abroad. Tourists pass the area closely when traveling to the real Tuscany, to Umbria or further south. This is a pity as the Oltrepo really offers something worthwhile for almost every tourist, especially food and wine lovers.The area offer several attractions: smooth hills, medieval villages and castles, panoramic views, authentic Italian food and local wines. The Oltrepo happens to be the largest wine producing area of Lombardy and one of the largest in Italy, especially of the Pinot Nero. The landscape is scattered with vineyards that are freely accessible for hikers or even mountain biking.The Oltrepo Pavese is part of the province of Pavia, in the southern part of Lombardy. Olt...
by John Horvatinovich
Hiro Sushi has helped pave the way for other sushi restaurants in the Omaha area. What helped the community eventually accept and appreciate sushi is what owner Milton Yin set out to do 8 years ago. That was to deliver a diverse menu and a memorable dining experience. Offering Japanese and Chinese menu items, Hiro Sushi was able to draw the excited and even reluctant consumers into the restaurant to experience something new and unique to Omaha. Currently the menu is still very diverse, and even if you are not a seafood fan, there are plenty of items to choose from on the menu. Hiro Sushi has many signature items and one of the most popular is the Salmon Plank. Trust me when I tell you, it is one of the best salmon dishes you will ever have. They start with a thick Scottish salmon,...
by Brothers Drake
Is it like wine? Or is it like beer?Mead is alcohol made from honey. It is not wine and it is not beer. It’s mead.There are 3 basic forms of fermented alcohol in human history: There is beer, wine, and mead. We enjoy them all! However, all of them start from some kind sugar and it is the source and amount of sugar that primarily defines the fermentation style:If the primary sugar source is grain, it is beer.If the primary sugar source is fruit, it is wine.If 50% or more of the sugar source is honey, it is mead.Mead is not a kind of wine or a kind of beer. It is historically our 1st major form of fermented alcohol because we had access to honey everywhere we hunted or gathered food. It’s an amazing gift from nature… and it’s the mother of wine and beer. Humankind had mead lo...
by Ron Kapon
Americans love lists so while visiting Graycliff Hotel and Restaurant in mid-December I asked owner Enrico Garzaroli how many bottles of wine were in his cellar. He mentioned 250,000 so I researched larger cellars to compare and came up with two names: Berns Steak House in Tampa, Florida has 500,000 bottles and Tour d’Argent in Paris has 450,000 bottles. Graycliff has at least a container load of each of the 10 wines they serve by the glass (that’s 40-ft containers). The majority of the wines are direct buys from the winery or several wineries close by, so to minimize the transportation costs they receive wines by the container load, not just a couple of cases here and there.Captain Howard Graysmith, a famous pirate of the Caribbean, originally built the Graycliff mansion in 1740. In ...
by Paul W. Jameson
How many times have you read a wine review or had a wine salesman tell you, “this wine really expresses its terroir,” and you nod knowingly without knowing what that person is talking about?Can you taste slate in a wine whose grapes were grown on soil covered with slate? Does a wine smell and taste the way it does because of the exact place where the grapes were grown? One of the most controversial concepts in wine is the notion of terroir (pronounced tair WAHR). At a basic level, terroir is the characteristics of the particular place in which the grapes were grown—including soil and subsoil, elevation and aspect, precipitation, air flow, water drainage, sunlight, and temperature—that give a distinctive aroma and flavor to the wine. For some, terroir is more mystical than that,...
