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This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register.
I was sitting in an outdoor patio in Healdsburg on a classically beautiful early afternoon. The sun was shining, a nice breeze was blowing and I ordered oysters. With the briny, delicate oysters, a natural pairing is a crisp, acidic sauvignon blanc.
Although I was in Sonoma, I found myself sipping a sauvignon blanc from Mt. Beautiful from North Canterbury in New Zealand. While it is not uncommon to find New Zealand wines throughout the U.S., there is a connection between Mt. Beautiful in New Zealand and California.
David Teece, founder of Mt. Beautiful, is a New Zealand native who lives in Berkeley, California. Raised in Lower Moutere along the Tasman Bay on the South Island of New Zealand, Teece’s father started a trucking company that transported items from outlying farms to the cities. His father also purchased a fallow quarter-acre lot next to their home, which Teece and his brother cultivated crops.
Soft, hard, fresh, aged, delicate, stinky....there are so many different kinds of cheeses from France. This week I got to taste a delicious selection of French cheeses at an event hosted by the French Dairy Board called "Fall in Love with Formage" and that is what I did. Hence, French cheeses are the Please The Palate pick of the week! With more than 1200 different French cheeses, many names which are hard to pronounce,  are accessible, affordable and delicious. The cheeses presented at the event came from the The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills which is one of my favorite stores to go to. Here are a few favorites: Brie Le Chatelain - A soft, bloomy-rind cow's milk cheese from the pastures of the Vosges Mountain region of France. This creamy, smooth brie was even better on top of a thick piece of fresh bread and a touch of olive oil on top.
This story originally appeared in California Winery Advisor. When we go wine tasting, so much of what we remember are the experiential tastings. A walk in the vineyard, a barrel tasting, one-on-one with the winemaker and food and wine pairings are all experiences that one will recall once they get home. I found two memorable wine tasting experiences in Santa Barbara that took food and wine pairing to another level. Cheese is the most common wine pairing at a winery. There are also pairings with tapas and chocolates, as well as with molecular gastronomy spoon bites in which an entire meal is deconstructed and then reconstructed into one bite that mimics the dish. I once found a pairing with snack foods. The common theme with most wine and food pairings is that the wine is paired with savory bites. But the key with wine and food pairing is to have fun and try different things to see what will work. So, if you have a sweet tooth, here are two fun wine tasting Santa Barbara experiences - with cookies and cupcakes.
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