THE BUSINESS TIMES – [PARIS] With butter spread thin and wine output drying up, whatever next for the unlucky French? A shortage of foie gras, the must-have liver pate that takes pride of place on most Christmas tables [ … ] Read more at : Butter, wine, foie gras: French face triple whammy as shortages abound, – THE BUSINESS TIMES
It’s a common belief that winter is red-wine weather, but WTOP wine guy Scott Greenberg says some white wines go with cold weather like flannel sheets.
After all, big red wines are the perfect accompaniment for cold-weather fare, such as stews and chili. And they can be tongue-warming good on their own as well [ . . . ] More: Wine of the Week: Don’t put away the white wines for winter – WTOP
Mother Noëlla Marcellino is a scientist, a world-famous cheese maker and a Fulbright Scholar who also happens to be a cloistered Benedictine nun.
For her expertise and knowledge, she has been featured on “CBS Sunday Morning,” has had her journey unveiled on the PBS documentary “The Cheese Nun,” has championed sustainability on the Netflix series “Cooked” with foodie Michael Pollan and has been written about in The New Yorker.
None of this would have happened, she insists in a telephone interview from the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, without guidance by the hand of God from her early years of making cheese for her community of nuns in fulfillment of her vow of obedience. Divine providence also was present, she says, while she studied the biodiversity of cheese-ripening fungi for three years in France as a Fulbright Scholar, then as she became a regarded advocate of preserving the tradition and biodiversity of cheese.God still guides her now, she says, as she serves her community away from the cheese, as webmaster for the abbey. [ . . . ] Read More
A nicely designed plate of cured meats, luscious cheeses, snappy fruits and specialty mustard has become a standout menu item at several Charlotte restaurants. Here are seven tasty (and Instagram-worthy) charcuterie boards in the Queen City from $7 to $60. (1) Cheese & Charcuterie Board at The Cellar at Duckworth’s 330 North Tryon St. Price: [ . . . ] See More at: The 7 tastiest (and most Instagram-worthy) cheese and charcuterie boards
Check out which Washington wine just landed at No. 2 on Wine Spectator’s prestigious Top 100 list for 2017 — Syrah Walla Walla Valley Powerline Estate 2014 ($45)
In anointing it the second best wine its panel sampled this year, the magazine called it “a knockout Syrah, precise and impeccably built but explosive with personality. Smoky roasted meat and floral blackberry aromas combine with bold, supple flavors of dark plum, pepper and licorice. The tannins are big but polished.”
A syrah from Walla Walla beat out some heavy hitters from Bordeaux and other prestigious wine regions. Three other Washington wines also made the Top 100 list [ . . . ] | More at: A Washington syrah was named second best wine in the world
WINE | Our columnist’s top picks include works by Jon Bonné, Peter Liem and Peter Hellman.
Wine writers attempt to reveal wine’s mysteries, strip away its pretensions, simplify its immense variety. Of course, if we ever succeed, no one would need us anymore.
The latest to try is Jon Bonné, with “ The New Wine Rules: A Genuinely Helpful Guide to Everything You Need to Know ” (Ten Speed Press, $15). This slim volume of practical advice — each of the 89 new “rules” is just a few paragraphs — headlines this holiday season’s books for the wine lovers on your gift list.
Bonné is an authoritative voice. He is a senior contributing editor for Punch, an online drinks publication, a former wine editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, author of “The New California Wine” and the forthcoming “The New French Wine,” and an occasional contributor to The Washington Post Food section.
As you might suspect, the premise of “The New Wine Rules” is that the old rules no longer apply. Bonné told me in an interview that he didn’t want to write the traditional basic wine book. “You can Google grape varieties,” he said. “I wanted to write for people who are already buying wine and want to know enough about it to enjoy it, and maybe to hold their own when they run up against someone who claims to know everything about wine in an obnoxious way.” [ . . . ]
Read More: The stuff of the best 2017 wine reads: Everyman advice, a con man, a legendary region
Pas De Merde 