In a 1991 segment of “60 Minutes,” the CBS correspondent Morley Safer asked how it could be that the French enjoyed high-fat foods like pâté, butter and triple crème Brie, yet had lower rates of heart disease than people in the United States. “The answer to the riddle, the explanation of the paradox, may lie […]
Read MoreTag: Wines
What Is a Sommelier in the Post-Pandemic Restaurant Economy?
Restaurants are bustling and dining rooms are buzzing. If you want a reservation at the newest and hottest places, you are out of luck unless you know somebody. On the surface it seems that restaurants have safely emerged from the despairing depths of the Covid pandemic and the throbbing hangover that followed. Yet one key […]
Read MoreAround the Wine World, Daughters Are Taking Leadership Roles
As a young woman growing up in the Chianti Classico town of Radda-in-Chianti in Tuscany, Angela Fronti was sure of one thing: She did not want to join her family’s business, doing agricultural work for wineries. She was far more interested in making wine herself, so she earned a degree in winemaking and found jobs […]
Read MoreA Pint of Wine? Britain Plans to Bring Back an Old-Fashioned Measure.
In 2024, the Brits will be able to drink like Winston Churchill again. The government announced on Wednesday that it would allow stores and pubs to sell pints of wine, famously said to be the former prime minister’s favorite quantity of champagne. What? But also, why? It’s a side effect of Brexit, Britain’s official exit […]
Read MoreMike Grgich Dies at 100; His Wine Stunned the French by Besting Theirs
In 1972, despairing of ever running his own place, Mr. Grgich was offered the winemaker’s job at Montelena, which Mr. Barrett was just starting. Mr. Barrett, a Los Angeles lawyer, envisioned making a world-class cabernet sauvignon but was discouraged when Mr. Grgich explained to him that in planting a new vineyard, waiting for it to […]
Read MoreU.S. Airplane Food Is Getting Better, If You’re Flying First Class
Some of the 30 million passengers expected to fly domestically over this Thanksgiving holiday may be stunned by what’s available to eat and drink 30,000 feet up in the sky. To entice more travelers to pay premium fares and better stand out from the competition, major U.S. carriers have been significantly expanding their food and […]
Read MoreA Thanksgiving Road Map
Last Thanksgiving, just as a jubilant Santa Claus was making his way across 34th Street on TV, I noticed something alarming in the kitchen of my childhood home. The oven I had preheated for my stuffing had not, in fact, heated. My dad, flashlight in hand and flanked by a gaggle of panicked observers, crouched […]
Read MoreThanksgiving Wines Under $20
By now, your Thanksgiving preparations may nearly be set. You are on top of the menu, who’s cooking what, seating, tasks for the children. But what about the wine? This is the easy part of holiday planning, with just a few guiding principles to keep in mind. If you’re having a big party, don’t worry […]
Read MoreChile, Known for Its Wines and Piscos, Turns to Gin
Last Hope Distillery is one of the only real cocktail bars in Puerto Natales, a horseshoe of a city that wraps around a windy inlet in Chilean Patagonia. To enter, visitors buzz, speakeasy-style, then hang up their coats and settle in at the bar. A server sets a glass down. “Hi,” the server says. “Have […]
Read MoreWhat if Wine and Cider Had a Baby?
Wine is made by fermenting grapes or other fruit, although apple and pear wines are distinctive enough to have earned their own categories, cider and perry. But a growing number of producers are blurring the styles, blending grape wines and ciders or fermenting grapes and other fruit together, with remarkable delicious results. Some of these […]
Read MoreState Dinner to Bring Together Biden, Australia’s Leader and the B-52s
Five months ago, President Biden canceled a trip to Australia because the United States was on the brink of defaulting on its debt, and it seemed like a bad time to leave town. Then he extended an invitation to Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, for a state visit in Washington — a redo […]
Read MoreIn Provence, Winemakers Confront Climate Change
“You can taste the climate change.” Frédéric Chaudière, a third-generation winemaker in the French village of Mormoiron, took a sip of white wine and set down his glass. The tastes of centuries-old varieties are being altered by spiking temperatures, scant rainfall, snap frosts and unpredictable bouts of extreme weather. The hellish summer was the latest […]
Read MoreA ‘River’ of Wine Flooded the Streets of a Town in Portugal
The wine flowed freely in one Portuguese town over the weekend. Two tanks holding nearly 600,000 gallons (about 2.2 million liters) of wine at a distillery collapsed on Sunday, sending a torrent of red wine down the streets of the small town of Levira. One tank, open at the top, collapsed because of a “structural […]
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