Lifestyle

We now have four categories of wine - red, white, rosé and orange. Orange wines have a long history of being made and are basically white wines that are made like red wines, meaning the wines spend time on the skins, where they impart color. But many people think of orange wines as those sour beer-like wines that are nothing like what we think of wine. However, not all orange wines are beer-like and many producers are making skin-contact white wines in order to enhance the texture of the wine. I wrote about some of these wines in the Napa Valley Register, which I am sharing here. It used to be an easy choice — do you want red wine or white wine? Then rosé grew in popularity and the choice was between red, white or rosé? But now, more and more, restaurants have a new section on the wine list offering orange wines, also called amber wine.
Orange wines are made like red wines. When we make red wines, the color comes from the skins. For rosé wines, the time the grapes spend on the skin is less than for red wines, resulting in a lighter red shade, or pink, wine. Orange wines are made from white wine grapes where the skins are kept on for hours, days, weeks or months, resulting in wines with orange or amber hues.
10 December, 2019
The Holiday season is here! If you are looking to get into the spirit, head to Severance Wine Bar in West Hollywood for their Office Holiday Party Pop Up, inspired by everything from Planes, Trains, & Automobiles to The Office. Drinking Champagne and Sherry based cocktails, eating some sweets while surrounded by tacky holiday decorations make the Severance Office Holiday Party Pop Up the Please The Palate pick of the week. Owner Evan Charest was laid off from a tech job on Christmas Eve in 2017. In 2018, he opened Severance Wine Bar with the severance money he received. And here we are at Christmas time again, so what is better than drinking cocktails inspired by the one of the worst yet funniest workplaces, Dunder Mifflin. Through the month of December, the space next to Severance Wine Bar on Melrose Avenue has been converted into a tacky office holiday pop-up. Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, for $20++, you will get a complimentary cocktail or a sparkling wine flight. So get into the holiday spirit! The cocktail offerings are all Champagne and Sherry based. Each is named after a Christmas themed movie that will test your trivia knowledge.
07 December, 2019

One thing about wine is that general statements are difficult to make. There is not one definitive way to make wine. There are hundreds of...

03 December, 2019
I love going on food tours when I am traveling in a new city as they are a great way to see a city and learn about the culture. I find nothing more fulfilling than when I can meet with locals and experience their culture through their eyes. And that is why Eatwith, the world's largest community for authentic culinary experiences with locals, is the Please The Palate pick of the week. Eatwith is in more than 130 countries and they are bringing people together through food. Cooking classes, food tours and dining experiences are hosted by home-cooks, food-lovers, MasterChefs and Michelin-starred chefs. My Eatwith experience was with Christina Xenos, a professional chef, cookbook author, recipe developer, and journalist based in Los Angeles. I have known Christina for years as a journalist but had yet to enjoy her cooking. When she announced her dinner, featuring cuisine from Sifnos, the Cycladic island in the Southern Aegean Sea and said the proceeds of the ticket sales would benefit the Union Station Homeless Services in Los Angeles, I bought my ticket. Christina is Greek-American and her family roots are from the islands of Crete and Milos. She travels there annually and this past summer she visited Sifnos, the birthplace of the first Greek cookbook author Nikolaos Tselementes. An island known for baking in clay pots, she worked with farmers and cooks while on her trip to learn these traditional recipes.
30 November, 2019

I love meeting winemakers and learning their stories of how they got to where they are in the wine industry. Everyone has their own path...

26 November, 2019

When I think of caviar, I think of a luxury product that is very expensive. In fact, it is often well beyond my budget. So, when I have the opportunity to eat caviar at an event, I am never one to shy away from it. But, now, thanks to Imperia Caviar, caviar is something to be enjoyed on a daily basis. The quality, the taste and the value make Imperia Caviar the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Caviar is a very good for you. It is a super-food. It is a source of vitamins and minerals, including Omega 3, vitamins A, E and B6, Iron, Magnesium and Selenium. Caviar is good for our minds and it is also an aphrodisiac. With all of these health benefits, we should be eating caviar every day. And Imperia Caviar is making that possible.

Imperia Caviar was founded by Sony Mordechai in 2018 with the goal of making caviar feel less like a splurge and more like an everyday delight. The caviar comes from sustainable, eco-friendly sturgeon farms and it is made by hand to ensure the best quality. The sturgeon are grown in a nearly wild environment and rely on the purity of fresh water. There are no preservatives and no hormones used.

16 November, 2019
One year ago, the Please The Palate pick of the week was the Lost Spirits Distillery Tour in Downtown LA. Founded by Bryan Davis and Joanne Haruta, Lost Spirits Distillery is a producer of rum and whisky but also the creators of one of the most unique tasting experiences. Unfortunately, due to a small fire earlier this year, Lost Spirits Distillery closed for a few months and now they have reopened in a new location with the Lost Spirits Distillery Tour version 5.0. And again the Lost Spirits Distillery Tour is the Please The Palate pick of the week. Whether you like spirits a little or a lot, the Lost Spirits Distillery tour is a one-of-a-kind experience to do with friends. Once you enter the doors of Lost Spirits, you will be And transported to another world with twists and turns. It is rather surreal. From a maze to a boat ride to a submarine ride to a carousel, you are also learning how Lost Spirits Distillery makes their spirits and the history behind the liquors.
09 November, 2019
Of course when you think about the Willamette Valley in Oregon, you likely think of it as a land of Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir definitely reigns in the region and as a likely partner, Chardonnay is also planted and well-regarded in the Willamette Valley. But, the Willamette Valley is far more diverse than you might think it is and there are a number of producers who are working with other grape varieties and these grapes are well-suited to the region. I explored some of these grapes in my column in the Napa Valley Register, which you can read here.
Say ‘Napa’ and people think Cabernet Sauvignon. Say ‘Burgundy’ and people think Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Say ‘Piedmont’ and people think Nebbiolo. Say ‘Oregon’ and people think Pinot Noir.
It is easy to think of the Willamette Valley in Oregon as one large Pinot Noir-producing region. After all, of the 24,436 acres* of vineyards, 16,536 acres* are planted to Pinot Noir. At the same time Pinot Noir was planted in the 1970s, Chardonnay was also planted. The Willamette Valley shares the same latitude as Burgundy, so it makes sense that if Pinot Noir is suited for the Willamette Valley, so is Chardonnay. However, there are only 1,941 acres* planted to Chardonnay.
29 October, 2019
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