Lifestyle

Need a bottle or two of wine for dinner tonight? Want to learn about wine? Where are you picking up your next bottle of wine?...

20 February, 2020
Wines labels tell us about a wine. But the Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino label tells us a story. And that story has been brought to life in a one-woman play entitled "As Wine Flows By". The story is about the Malbec grape and its journey through the centuries as represented by four female figures. It is the story of a grape, of a family and of a wine and you can read about it as I wrote in the Napa Valley Register and share here. A wine label can tell us a lot about the wine inside. It tells us who the producer is, what grape(s) are in the wine, and where it was produced. The back label might describe what the wine tastes like or tell a story about the vintage, the harvest, or something quirky and humorous. The label of Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino tells a story. It tells a story of the wine, of the Catena family and of the Malbec grape.
13 February, 2020

As I think about where I plan to travel in this new year, I keep thinking about my trip to Italy last fall. Campania, in...

11 February, 2020
Traveling to wine country is a fun getaway. There are many regions to visit along the west coast, and the Willamette Valley in Oregon is one of them. We fly into Portland and drive to the charming town of McMinnville, only one hour away. It seems that McMinnville is a central spot to explore the Willamette Valley. But, the Willamette Valley is much larger than you would think. It is more than Portland to Salem. It actually extends to Eugene. Heading to the South Willamette Valley is a quieter, more rural experience which I wrote about in the Napa Valley Register and am sharing here. In the last few years, the Willamette Valley has been receiving extraordinary press, ratings and awards for its wines. It makes up only one percent of the wine made in the United States but is ranked fifth in production and third in number of wineries. More and more people are traveling to the Willamette Valley to explore the wonderful Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Pinot Gris and more.
06 February, 2020
With the ability to watch movies from our homes, heading to the movie theater is not as common today. But, there is something special about sitting back in a large dark theater with surround sound and watching a movie on the big screen. At Studio Movie Grill, watching a movie combines the grandeur of watching a movie on a big screen with the comfort you would get at home. Add in-theater dining and personal service and that is why Studio Movie Grill is the Please The Palate Pick of the Week. Studio Movie Grill, established by Brian Schultz in 1993, is the first movie theater concept to offer in-theater dining. He started with one theater in 1993 and today there are more than 250 screens throughout the United States. Studio Movie Grills can be found in 34 locations across California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Virginia.
11 January, 2020
Advice is given to use by many people in our lives. Our parents, our teachers, our mentors, friends and strangers can share a few words that can impact us for ever. Perhaps these are words we heed on a daily basis or we try to integrate into our lifestyle. What advice do you carry with you? In my recent column in the Napa Valley Register I shared some of the advice that winemakers have shared with me when interviewing them for the Wine Soundtrack podcast. Perhaps you have been given some of the same advice or perhaps some of these words will inspire you. Either way, may this be a wonderful new year! ************** When I was a little girl, my mom said something to me that I would never forget. I was nervous about going to a party and whether I would know people and have fun. She told me that you make your own good time. I could go with a negative attitude and would likely not have fun. Or I could go with a positive attitude and see what would happen.
This advice is something that I have carried with me throughout my life, and I approach everything I do with a positive attitude and an open mind.
09 January, 2020
Another New Year's Eve has passed. Some people stay at home, some go out to dinner, others head to parties to toast the new year at midnight. What my friends and I do is what we have been doing since December 31, 2013. For seven years, we head to Big Bar in Los Feliz to celebrate. December 31, 2019 was no exception and that is why New Years at Big Bar is the Please The Palate Pick of the Week. In general, I find New Years Eve to be rather anti-climatic. For some, it is like any other night but for others, there is so much planning and plotting to make the evening different from others because you want to be in the right place at the right time when the clock strikes midnight and the new year starts. But, after all that preparation, it is over in a moment. This is why I love spending New Years Eve at Big Bar. After lunch with friends, we head to Big Bar. Big Bar starts celebrating at 3:00pm and over the next 10 hours, they celebrate for each time zone. That is 10 time zones in 10 hours and each time zone comes with a special cocktail created in honor of the country celebrating. This year's theme had us traveling across time zones and across zones with a Back to the Future theme. The drinks were created by Cari Ha and her team at Big Bar and the menu was designed by Dave Stolte. And of course, the charming Eugene Lee was on hand to take photos.
04 January, 2020
Generational family businesses are common in the wine industry. The passion and love for wine is passed from generation to generation. The younger generations learn from their parents and grandparents and then pass on the same to their children. Yair Margalit started Margalit Winery in Israel with the idea of building a business for future generations in his family. Today his son Asaf is running the winery. I had the pleasure to speak with both Asaf and Yair about their story and what I loved so much was the relationship between father and son. Asaf talked about how he received one of the best educations in wine from his father Yair, the author of two of the most comprehensive wine books and I share their story in the Napa Valley Register which you can read here. ********************************* We look up to our parents. We learn from our parents. They are our role models and our teachers. We then go to school or work and study under experts in our field of choice.
But when your father is the author of "Concepts in Wine Chemistry," as well as thesuccessive, "Concepts in Wine Technology," the most comprehensive education you can get on wine making is from your father.
 Dr. Yair Margalit studied chemistry at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where he received his master’s degree and a Ph.D in physical chemistry, with a focus on nuclear magnetic resonance. He worked for five years at the Israel Institute of Biological Research where he was the head of the physical chemistry department. When he was a visiting research professor at UC Davis in the chemistry department, he developed an interest in wine.
Ironically, the door of the enology department was literally in front of the physical chemistry room and Yair was drawn to it. While on his first sabbatical, he took some courses and found that his background in chemistry made enology an easy subject for him. By his second and third sabbaticals to the U.S., Yair came to work as a scientist in the Department of Enology, as well as Department of Chemistry. Yair knew at that point that wine would be his second career.
17 December, 2019
Show more
Loading...
Copied!