Tag Archives: Wine

Top California Hotels: The Farmhouse Inn Is A Culinary Destination In Sonoma Wine Country

September 7, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a Jetsetter.com online review:

Despite the overwhelming presence of boutique inns along the Atlantic, they’re not a strictly East Coast commodity. Case in point: Sonoma’s Farmhouse Inn.

The 25-room property, located just 30 minutes from Calistoga and Napa Valley, attracts visitors from near and far with guest rooms done up in homey, (you guessed it) farmstead-style decor (think: plaid throws and rustic tree limb end tables, all adhering to a neutral palette of white, beige, and brown), brightened up by bouquets of fresh seasonal flowers. Beyond its aesthetically-pleasing interiors, the inn also knows a thing or two about food—starting with a nightly turndown service that includes homemade cookies and milk, and ending with the Farmhouse Restaurant, an onsite Michelin-starred, farm-to-table dining experience with killer dishes like peach salad, chanterelle tortellini, and wild Alaskan halibut.

Culinary Arts, Food, Reviews, Uncategorized

Top Wine Bars: Absinthe Brasserie & Bar In San Francisco Is “Glamorous, Buzzy And Special”

August 30, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From an SFBayTimes.com online article:

What makes this brasserie so popular? “A culture of hospitality comes from the top down,” explains Absinthe General Manager Brian Gavin. “Bill (our owner) is very gracious and the tone he sets makes everyone feel welcome.”

An homage to all things French, Absinthe is still one of my favorite places to eat in the city. Why? It’s a buzzy destination that feels glamorous and special, evoking a one-of-a-kind feeling of Belle Epoque-era Paris. It’s not just where I dine before the opera, symphony, ballet or SFJAZZ, but it is also where I always take out-of-towners, business associates, clients and staffers.

http://absinthe.com/

Culinary Arts, Food, Reviews

French Wine Values: Red Burgundies Are Top Long-Term Values (Exceeding S&P 500 Over Last 15 Years)

August 28, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From an Economist.com online article:

Collectors who have drunk most of their Pinot already may need another glass after seeing the results. By the end of 2018, red Burgundy had returned 497%, versus 279% for the s&p 500. (Our index does not extend to 2019, since many of the wines it contains have not been traded this year.)

The index has also been less volatile than stocks are, though this may be an artefact of how it is calculated: no one knows what each wine would have sold for in the crash of 2008-09. Bordeaux and Champagne rose by 214% in 2003-18; everywhere else did worse.

Wine collectors like to proclaim that “all roads lead to Burgundy.” They often wince at the plonk they drank when starting their hobby. In America and Australia, a common entry point is local “fruit bombs”: heavy, alcoholic wines that taste of plum or blackberry; bear the vanilla or mocha imprint of oak barrels; and should be drunk within a few years of bottling.

Culinary Arts, Reviews

White Wine Reviews: Mr. Sommelier, What Exactly Makes This A Dry Wine?

August 22, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a Wall Street Journal online article by Lettie Teague

There is no official definition of what constitutes a dry wine in the U.S. The amount of sugar left in the wine after fermentation or added afterward is, however, sometimes noted on a wine’s label, in grams per liter. According to Mr. Ramey, a wine generally considered dry would have less than 1 gram per liter RS (residual sugar), or 0.1%. Beyond that, a wine with 1% RS (10 grams per liter) is off-dry, and a wine at 3% RS (30 grams per liter) or above is sweet.

WHAT’S A DRY WINE? If this seems like a question with a straightforward answer, then you probably don’t work in a wine store or restaurant. Retailers and sommeliers tell me they are regularly asked to recommend dry wines by customers who don’t seem to know what they really want. These customers offer examples of the “dry” wines they favor—which often turn out to be technically sweet.

To read more click on the following link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-sure-that-wine-you-ordered-is-actually-dry-11566492508

Arts & Literature, Travel

Road Trips: Mendocino Coast Offers Wind-Washed Cottages, Wine, Redwoods And Artware

July 8, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From Wall Street Journal article by Ryan Haase:

“With its wind-washed cottages and water towers, the town of Mendocino looks like it was built by a seafaring crowd rather than a tree-felling one, even though forestry was once big business here. After it faded by the 1950s, artists came in and now Mendocino pumps out pottery, paintings, glassware, jewelry and woodwork.”

NORTHERN California’s coastal stretches have long lured roadtrippers, even before John Steinbeck, his wife, Elaine, and their peripatetic poodle rumbled down the Paciﬁc Coast in 1960. In “Travels With Charley,” Steinbeck famously enthused about ogling the “ambassadors from another time,” referring to the region’s ancient redwoods. Last summer, as wildﬁres raged uncomfortably close to those redwood forests, four-wheeled vacationers steered clear. By the year’s end, ﬁres burned more than half a million acres in Northern California alone, but largely spared the coastal woods and villages. Now that the smoke is clear and driving-vacation season is shifting into high gear, we’ve designed a detailed three-night itinerary. You set out from San Francisco, snake through Mendocino County and then on to Humboldt County, with the landscape growing wilder with each mile.