Recent Purchases: Vintage Bubbly

  If the first step towards curing addiction is admitting one has a problem, then maybe I should admit I am hooked on online wine auctions. They are a fantastic opportunity for bargains, especially on bottles that make less frequent appearances on retail shelves. I recently picked up a magnum of vintage Champagne from one [...]

Ginger Lime Sauce with . . . Anything!

There’s hot chiles and corn meal from Mexico which pop up in everything from side dishes to main meals. Marinara sauce from Italy is layered on pasta, pizza, and grilled chicken, not always in the right proportions or preparations, but it’s ubiquitous. There’s hot-and-sour this and hot-and-sour that, and there’s cream sauce, which might properly [...]

Sartori 2009 Ferdi with Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Garganega is not a grape you read very much about. Yes, it produces a white wine, and yes, it’s Italian, but no, its name doesn’t appear on the label very often. If you searched the term “Garganega” on any of the major wine sites, you’d get a few hits, but not like the data dump [...]

Wine with Asian Food

Alright, let’s just admit it: The first rule in wine-food pairing is “drink what you like.” Don’t let the wine guy talk you into a glass of wine that you wouldn’t ordinarily order just because it’s the “right” wine for the food. However, if you can get past this first rule, the second rule is [...]

Pairing with Chinese food

Go into any Chinese restaurant and you’ll see more beer bottles than wine bottles on the tables. It’s not like the proprietors get a kickback from Tsingtao or Singha brewers, it’s just that the American public is convinced that only beer goes with Chinese cuisine. Oh, there’s the occasional sparkling wine – a terrific substitute [...]