Tag Archives: Wine Tasting

New Wine Books: “The 100 Burgundy” – Building A “Dream Cellar” (Assouline)

March 11, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

An exceptional Burgundy is not only well crafted and well balanced, it also must have essential qualities reflecting its own terroir as well as those unique to the particular vintage, distilling the very essence of the vine itself and the earth from which it springs.

Essential reading for all fine wine aficionados, whether curating a dream cellar or selecting the best Burgundy wines to experience with friends and family, The 100 Burgundy: offers a fresh perspective by a dedicated professional who visits the region regularly and recognizes the best it has to offer.

For wine enthusiasts discovering Burgundy—and those already smitten with the region’s seductive wines—The 100 Burgundy: is the first guide of its kind to the region’s best wines and makers, detailing the domaines and highlighting each chosen wine with tasting notes. Considering factors such as a wine’s quality, its ability to evolve and improve over time, and its ability to evoke emotion, Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee invites readers to explore 100 memorable Burgundy wines of the Côte d’Or, from benchmark domaines to rising stars.

With a foreword by Lalou Bize-Leroy, owner of Domaine Leroy and co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, this enlightening volume is a journey through the countryside of Burgundy, capturing the context, people, and history that inspire the creation of these masterful wines.

Jeannie Cho Lee is the first Asian Master of Wine (MW), an award-winning author, wine critic, judge, and educator. Currently a professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where she helped launch the Master of Science program in International Wine Management, she is also a consultant for Singapore Airlines since 2009.

Food & Wine: “Nessun Dorma Cinque Terre” Offers Vineyard Tour & Tasting In Manarola, Italy

January 22, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment



: An immersive journey through Cinque Terre wines: from the visit of a local wine producer’s vineyard in Manarola to the wine tasting in our cozy winery.

DETAILS OF THE EXPERIENCE:

Check in at 5.00pm at Cantina Nessun Dorma (in the church square of Manarola)
Short walking tour in the vineyards above Manarola village
Wine tasting in our cozy winery
3 glasses of local wine: Cinque Terre DOC white wine, red wine and Sciacchetrà (passito wine)
Discovering together the flavor of each wine and its characteristics
Eating local and selected food

Website

Books, Culinary Arts, Food, Reviews, Travel

New Books: “A Journey Through Wine And Food”

January 5, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

A Journey Through Wine and Food is a total sensory experience with its lifelike photography, stunning presentation of each dish, glimpses into the wineries and their winemakers, histories of the Central Valley wine region, and most of all amazing recipes that will transform everyday meals into priceless celebrations for any occasion! Inspirational quotes can also be found throughout as a reminder that not only do we need food to nourish our bodies, but we need the company of those on our journey to nourish out souls.

From Shrimp Tacos and Rose, to Beef Bourguignon with Burgundy, to Chocolate Cake paired with Port, A Journey Through Wine and Food gives everyone an opportunity to enhance their experience in the kitchen, regardless of skill level, and takes the guess work out of which wines to pair with dinner. It will also take you on a journey through The Central Valley wine regions of California giving you a sneak peek at some of the best wineries in the world, which until now could be considered “hidden gems.”

Jerilyn Zaveral was born and raised in Central California where she continues to live with her husband Joe and their dog, Hogan. Other than a short stay in New York when she wrote her first cookbook and opened her first cafe, her heart and home have always been in the San Joaquin Valley where she enjoys cooking for family and friends and tasting fine wines. She has won several awards in cooking competitions and cook-offs. Most notably her cafe “Z Spice of Life” was recognized as a destination spot in the Hudson Valley Explorer’s Guide. Jerilyn’s love of creating recipes and meals began when she was a very young child in her grandmother’s kitchen. More specifically, it was one afternoon while baking a chocolate cake when her grandmother asked her to get out the mayonnaise…the realization instantly took hold that cooking isn’t always about the end product, but about the journey of discovering unique tastes, textures and combinations of flavors that others might not expect.

To read more or purchase

Culinary Arts, Food, Reviews

Culinary Arts: Online Wine Courses Are Easy Watching, Still Evolving

September 12, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a Wall Street Journal online article by Lettie Teague:

Many self-styled “wine educators” online claim to be certified sommeliers, but that doesn’t mean they have worked in a restaurant. Others are winemakers, adjunct professors or simply oenophiles with a pedagogical bent. Whether via video or podcast, the education they offer tends to fall into two categories: basic (grape names, how to hold a glass) or wonky (the role of tannins, grapevine blights).

LEARNING about wine online seems easy enough—not to mention affordable. Yet after exploring all manner of internet wine education, I’m not ready to declare it the ideal forum—at least not yet.

The educational content actual wine professionals produce mostly falls into the latter camp, and podcasts appear to be the preferred format. The decidedly wonky “Guild of Sommeliers Podcast”(guildpodcast.com) features sommeliers such as Geoff Kruth and Kelli White interviewing top talent. In an episode last fall, Mr. Kruth and Virginia Wilcox, winemaker at Vasse Felix in Western Australia, discussed tannins in a surprisingly lively chat. “I think you can make or break a wine by getting the tannins wrong,” Ms. Wilcox said. She enumerated various categories of tannin, including “astringent,” “squeaky,” “toothy,” “tongue” and “green”—the ones that “push to the back of your throat.” I learned a lot and plan to invoke the term “squeaky tannins” very soon.

To read more click on the following link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-online-wine-courses-worth-your-time-11568321079

Culinary Arts, Travel

Central Coast Wineries: Laetitia Vineyard & Winery Delivers Quality Pinots And “Sparkling” Views

August 25, 2019 She Seeks Serene

Boomers visited Laetitia on August 25, 2019:

Laetitia Vineyard and Winery in Aroyo Grande, Ca is known for its respected Pinot Noir and “seven unique sparkling wines”. Santa Rosa-based Vintage Wine Estates recently (February 2019) bought Laetitia for an undisclosed sum. Here is the wineries mission statement as posted on the website:

A deep and abiding respect for Laetitia’s estate-grown fruit is the mark of Eric Hickey’s winemaking. Beginning his hands-on training in the cellar at the age of 16, Eric has lived and breathed Laetitia all the way to the top, where he is now the Head Winemaker and the winery’s President. “I keep it simple,” he says, “and I stay eye-to-eye with Lino (Bozzano) because the interplay between us is what determines the wines’ quality. Everything done in the cellar starts with what we do out in the vineyard.”

We tasted the 2014 Brut Coquard Sparkling wine (rated 93 points). We appreciated its balance between sweet fruit and dry hazelnut. The view from our picnic table north of the tasting room was spectacular.

The property offers a Bocce Ball area to have fun with as you sample their extensive wine flights. Additionally, there is a hiking trail through the 1986-acre estate. Here is a description of the estate from their website:

The Laetitia Estate Vineyards were first planted to grapes in 1982 when French viticulturists found ideal growing conditions in the Arroyo Grande Valley for producing wines of similar character to those of their homeland in Epernay, France. Nineteen years later, the property would be acquired by Selim Zilkha, founder of a successful wind power development company and champion of environmental sustainability. Between his qualifications in renewable energy solutions and his passion for the pleasures of the harvest, Selim has developed Laetitia into the home of some of California’s highest quality, sustainably-produced wines.