WineFashionista
Joy Sterling – Iron Horse Vineyards
Expert Opinions – My article in San Francisco Magazine
Celebrating Diversity in Winemaking

Joy Sterling – Iron Horse Vineyards

Wine

Expert Opinions – My article in San Francisco Magazine

Wine

Celebrating Diversity in Winemaking

Wine

Riedel For Less, A Lot Less

Wine

wpid-riedel13-2010-06-23-07-08.jpeg

This doesn’t happen often. Riedel, maker of some of the most expensive wine glasses in the world, is having a sample sale in New York City. Save the dates – April 26 through April 28 from 10Am – 7pm. If it’s anything like Riedel’s first ever sample sale last summer, it will be worth getting in line extra extra early. I know because I was at that sale and number 5 in line.

Whether you agree with Riedel that specific glass shapes make the wine taste as good as it should, and better than any other wine glass out there doesn’t matter. The line is sexy and modern, and looks great regardless of what you pour in it, be it a $200 Napa Cab or 2 Buck Chuck (has anyone tried that, does 2BC taste better in Riedel?) Read more

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Oakland, CA is Wine Country

Wine

When you think of Oakland, the other city by the San Francisco Bay, you probably don’t think of it as wine country.  There aren’t any vineyards, bucolic settings or palatial wine tasting rooms.  Instead, you find a gritty, industrial vibe, one that dares to thumb its nose at traditional wine country.  This is wine country in the city.

23 wineries now call Oakland and surrounding areas home.  This is more than a trend, not only  in Oakland, but around the country. City Winery is in New York City.  Boedecker is in Portland and Henke is in Cincinnati.  While the labels may have appellations from Napa Valley to Long Island to the Willamette Valley, the grapes are brought into a downtown setting to be made into wine.

Part of the attraction for vintners going urban is cost.  They don’t have vineyards, and downtown industrial space can be a lot less expensive than a small plot in Napa or Sonoma.  What you do find is real passion and talent for winemaking.  Most urban wineries make small lots, but it’s the wine they want to make, and drink. The tasting rooms are accessible to a wider population too.  Imagine taking the subway to a winery.  You can in New York.  Urban wineries are changing the landscape, so to speak, and definition of wine country.

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The Himalyan Sherpa Behind this Wine Label

Wine

The Himalayan Mountains and the Sonoma County wine country couldn’t be further apart. But not to one sommelier, so inspired by a man who leads expeditions up and down Mt. Everest, that she put his name on a wine label.

Meet Ngima Sherpa. Nepalese by birth, with family in Tibet, he now has a wine named for him, Ngima’s Cuvee. Last night Ngima (pronounced knee-ma) was at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in San Francisco for the launch of this wine.

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Birth of a Wine Culture in America

Wine

The French have it, the Italians have it, but does America really have a wine culture all its own? You bet we do. It took awhile for this to develop, but in 2010, for the first time ever, we Americans drank more wine than the French. Quite an accomplishment.

How did we get here? How has wine become a part of our culture? That’s the focus of How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now, a current exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

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Oh No You Didn’t…You Brought a Boxed Wine?

Wine

Oh yes I did. I brought a boxed wine to a recent gathering of my cookbook club. A few weeks earlier an odd-shaped box arrived on my door step. Super heavy for the size of the box. What in the world could it be? A box of wine. Sure, why not. Hmmmm.

The octagonally-shaped box holds three liters of wine, which is equal to four 750 ml bottles. No wonder it was so heavy.

This is the latest model I’ve seen in modern day boxed wines. I know, boxed wine has an image problem, but it’s been more for what’s inside the box (usually plonk) than the box itself.

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Grant Achatz Life, on the Line

Food

Grant Achatz is on a book tour. Last night he was at Omnivore Books in San Francisco. An intimate setting for 40 of us who snapped up tickets to meet Achatz and hear a reading from his book. Omnivore books is a tiny, one room book shop lined with shelves holding an exceptionally curated selection of books about one subject, cooking and food. Any foodie worth his or her sous vide or lobster foam knows by now about Grant Achatz, chef owner of Alinea in Chicago. For those who don’t know, he’s a protoge of Thomas Keller (French Laundry) and Ferran Adria (El Bulli), and has become famous for his innovative take on molecular gastronomy.

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Do you know any woman who has just 17 pairs of shoes?

Fashionista

A poll about women and shoes is making its way around the internet. Conducted by ShopSmart (published by Consumer Reports), it finds that the average woman owns 17 pairs of shoes. Just 17?? They didn’t talk to me or most of the women I know. The survey also goes on to say that on average women buy only three pairs of shoes a year and spend about $49 per pair. Guess they didn’t poll any Carrie Bradshaws.

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