Preview to French Winophiles Champagne Celebration #Winophiles

French Winophiles Know Champagne is for CelebrationDecember is the time to celebrate: culmination of a year, year-end holidays and family gatherings. For hundreds of years, Champagne has built its reputation on celebration, it’s served at the coronation of kings, launching of ships, signing of contracts, pledges of love, you name it! This month, our French … Continue reading

Look the Other Way for Affordable Bourgogne #Winophiles

Affordable BourgogneThis month, our French Winophiles writers are exploring affordable Burgundy (Bourgogne is now the preferred term). Admittedly, Affordable Bourgogne is something of an oxymoron. Most Bourgogne wines start at $30 in the US and rapidly go up from there. Why? Simple supply and demand. Bourgogne wines are based primarily on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, … Continue reading

Rufina: One Straw in the Chianti Haystack #ItalianFWT

Italian FWT Chianti CavalcadeThis month, our Italian Food Wine and Travel writers will be celebrating different aspects of Chianti. Chianti is a familiar Italian wine to drinkers around the world, but there is so much to explore! Scroll down in this post for a list of links to all the writers contributions. Chianti Classifications – … Continue reading

Wine Harvester’s Chicken and Côte Roannaise

A Keeper Recipe and a Wine DiscoveryThis dinner wasn’t intended for a blog post, but the dish is so good, it needs to be shared and remembered. Peter brought a wine to enjoy with dinner and that led to discovery of a wine region I was not previously aquainted with, Loire Volcanique. Here you go, … Continue reading

Backroads Bourgogne in Autumn: Bistro des Falaises #Winophiles

French Winophiles Explore France in AutumnThis month, our French Winophiles will be exploring backroads, dishes and wines to celebrate fall in France. There’s plenty to choose from: are you looking forward to those hearty fall and winter dishes begging for a rich red wine or do you want to celebrate one last Indian Summer day … Continue reading

Merlot and 40 Cloves of Garlic #MerlotMe #WinePW

MerlotMe Continues for Collaboration Year 8While the #MerlotMe event has existed a bit longer, our Wine Pairing Weekend group has been pairing dishes with the Merlot wineries since 2015. We hope you enjoy the addition of a dash of sustainability to our pairings. Dealing with climate change is a high visibility concern for winegrowers, so … Continue reading

Fun and Truth at Wine Media Conference 2022

The Wine Media Conference Goes to ItalyThe wine media conference is an annual event for independent wine writers and creators. Held in a different location each year, writers have a chance to visit a new region while reconvening with friends and learning about new developments in the broad category of wine related social media. The … Continue reading

Preview to 8th Annual #WinePW and #MerlotMe Celebration

Wine Pairing Weekend Writers Wax Eloquent on the Joys of MerlotOur Wine Pairing Weekend writers have been singing the praises of Merlot in collaboration with the #MerlotMe producers every October for the last seven years. Our writers look forward to October each year more for Merlot than pumpkin spice, though it might be close for some. What’s … Continue reading

Trying Out the America’s Test Kitchen Modern Bistro Cookbook

America’s Test Kitchen “Modern Bistro” CookbookI recently accepted a sample of the new America’s Test Kitchen “Modern Bistro” Cookbook for review purposes. This was an easy “yes” because: There was just one problem: We were soon leaving for an extended trip to France. The PR person got the book in my hands in a few … Continue reading

Refreshing Variety of Loire Valley White Wines

The Long Journey of the Loire RiverThe Loire river winds all the way from Nevers in North-Central France all the way to Nantes where the river empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The river valley is home to vineyards nearly the entire way. Wines of all sorts are made with an especially wide variety of white … Continue reading