Sept. 18 marks Grenache Day. It is a day to honor the unsung hero of the wine industry: grenache.
The question has been: Why isn’t grenache, as well as the other...
In the vast city of Los Angeles, there is an ever growing list of restaurants that I want to try. Two of the restaurants that have been at the top of my list are Alimento, Chef Zach Pollack's restaurant in Echo Park, and Love & Salt, Chef Michael Fiorelli's restaurant in Manhattan Beach. These two restaurants are located 24 miles apart from each other, but with Los Angeles traffic as it is, they seem like worlds apart. But from two sides of the city, these two chefs came together to make lunch during Los Angeles Food and Wine 2015.
The lunch took place at Love & Salt in Manhattan Beach. Love & Salt offers a menu that is a mix of Italian, Mediterranean and Californian. Alimento offers a menu that blends Northern Italian cuisine with California influences. The essence of this lunch was to have two passionate chefs come and have fun cooking together, and that they did!
Harvest 2015 is well underway in most wine regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The grapes are being picked and made into wine. After all, that's what vineyards are for. But, as we discuss the important topic of food waste and hear about chefs utilizing scraps in the kitchen, what about in the vineyard? Grapes are crushed to make wine and then the skins can be used to make grappa or can be used as compost. But, have you ever thought about the leaves or the stems?
While in Greece earlier this summer, lunch in the vineyard of Elinos Winery in Naoussa, we were shown how creative one can be utilizing elements from the vineyard.
Elinos is a family winery owned by the Taralas family. The name Elinos comes from the Odyssey and has multiple meanings – wine, crushing grapes, the top of the vine (helix), Greek wine. Dimitrios Taralas retired from banking and purchased the vineyard in 2006. The vineyard, situated at an altitude of 1000 feet, is located on the eastern edge of Naoussa, at the highest point of Mount Vermion, in the Imathia region of Macedonia, Greece. At 25 acres, it is the third biggest single vineyard in Naoussa. They grow Xinamavro, as well as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malagouzia, Preknadi, Moschomavro, Negoska and Roditis.