WINE

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
When I got laid off from the dot.com world in 2001, I found myself "drinking for a living" as I began my career in wine. When Evan Charest, who previously worked as the Corporate Beverage Director for Patina, got laid off from a tech company, he took his severance pay and decided to open a wine bar in 2018. So what would be a better name for the wine bar than Severance? Severance is a charming wine bar with exposed brick walls and a warm, inviting feeling. It is located on Melrose Avenue in the space that was once home to the former Smoke.Oil.Salt. Unlike its predecessor that specialized in Spanish food, Severance features a hybrid of Quebec-Swiss fare prepared by Chef Weston Ludeke.
28 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
Some of the greatest wines in the world are from Burgundy (Bourgogne) in France. It is wine region that produces some of the worlds most legendary wines, as well as some of the most expensive wines. But the world of wines from Bourgogne is far more vast than the sought-after top producers. There are beautiful and affordable expressions of white and red Bourgogne wines that can be enjoyed anytime, especially with Thanksgiving dinner, and that is why Bourgogne Wines are the Please The Palate pick of the week. Bourgogne (Burgundy) can seem intimidating. What is important to note is Bourgogne wine is influenced by its terroir and there is huge potential for exploration. Understanding just a few basics makes it that much easier to start picking out wines in a store or on a restaurant list and finding some great values!
23 November, 2019
I recently wrote about having dinner with representatives from two wineries in Spain. What was all the more special about this dinner, aside from the delicious wines and exquisite food from Auburn Restaurant, was the company. I had the pleasure to dine with two women from two different regions who are both in positions of power at winery cooperatives. I shared their stories in the Napa Valley Register which you can read here. ************* I recently had dinner with representatives from two wineries in Spain. One winery is in Rias Baixes on the northwest corner and the other in Calatayud on the northeast corner. What both wineries have in common is that they are both cooperatives and both have women holding positions of power.
The wine world has long been dominated by men, and Spain, as much of the old world, has had a tradition of machismo. But women are making a name for themselves. Enrollment of women in Spain’s university winemaking programs has increased by more than 40 percent over the last 20 years. No longer stuck in the lab or in marketing, they are making the wine and running the wineries. And, I had the pleasure to sit down with two of these women and learn about them, their stories and taste their wines.
19 November, 2019
From morning to night, Bar Avalon in Echo Park is the place to be. Located in the Mohawk Collective development on Sunset Boulevard, Bar Avalon is a casual neighborhood restaurant where you can start your day with coffee and end your day with wine. Bar Avalon is located inside a brick building with floor to ceiling glass walls. Inside the space is has high barn-wood ceilings which make the space seem larger than it is. Exposed brick walls and leather booths warm the space. The open kitchen offers seating so that you can watch the cooks work. You can also sit at the bar that is cleanly decorated with wine bottles. There is also an outside patio where one can dine and also where you will find planters with herbs that the kitchen uses. All in all, it is a cool east-side space.
14 November, 2019
It's not often that I get to taste a wine from my birth year. But, at a retrospective tasting of Cantina Terlano wines from Alto Adige, I got to go back almost 50 years and taste beautiful wines from 1971, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2002 and 2015. If you didn't think white wines like Pinot Blanco could age, you are mistaken. The ability of these wines to age is extraordinary. Relive my retrospective journey that I wrote about in the Napa Valley Register and share here.

It is not every day that you get to sit down and taste a retrospective vertical of wines going back almost 50 years, which also includes a wine from your birth year. But I had the privilege and pleasure to do that at TexSom with Cantina Terlano from Alto Adige.

And to top it off, this retrospective vertical tasting was of Pinot Blanco, a white wine. Yes, white wines with age.

12 November, 2019
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