Photography by Bob Krist

A delight to the senses in every way, the lavishly illustrated ‘In Tuscany’ is a celebration of life in this enchanting region of Italy. Here are photos to please the eye, recipes to tempt the tastebuds, but above all the prose of Frances Mayes and her poet husband, Ed; full of a vital and refreshing immediacy which never fails to capture the quintessence of this historic country. Whether it is a meal with friends, gathering olives or simply regarding the landscape, Mayes’ deft touch communicates effortlessly what she describes as ‘the turn of slow days in an ancient place’.
Read the rest of this entry »

This attractively illustrated volume, which includes regional maps, is far more than a coffee table book. It is a comprehensive guide to Italy and its winemaking today. The authors are two experienced Italian wine journalists who clearly have encyclopedic knowledge.

It begins with an untitled and beautifully balanced still life of various wine bottles and jugs to introduce ‘The Story of Italian Wine’, followed by explanatory chapters on Italian wine production, label regulations and grape varieties. The co-authors then proceed to divide Italian wine production into 6 main areas: The Northwest, The Northeast, Adriatic Apennines, The Central Tyrrhenian, The Southern Peninsula and The Islands. Each of these is sub-divided into individual regions and then into chapters about specific denominations.
Read the rest of this entry »

Husband and wife wine journalist team, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, may not be household names to the majority of American wine enthusiasts, but to hundreds of thousands of Wall Street Journal readers their Friday ‘Tastings’ column is a must. The depleted shelves of so many wine retailers across the nation are testimony to their column’s influence. Now the couple bring much of their enthusiasm to their new hardback ‘The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine’ published by Broadway Books at $25.
Read the rest of this entry »

They say that wine is a good collection – a gift from himself as a young, but older. The only question is whether I want to have such a gift? For example, the bottle Chateau Leoville Las Casas must lie for 30-40 years before her decent gin will be released. This means I will … ah … for 70! Dovlatov it was not yet forty when he had written:
Read the rest of this entry »

Call me old fashioned.

There is something about the tradition and ritual of wine that I find oddly comforting.

I almost never come across a robust dry sherry by the glass in a restaurant ­ unless, of course, it’s a Spanish restaurant ­ but when I do I can hardly resist. This is a superb aperitif, but one that is hardly appreciated any more in this chardonnay-laden world.

The Domecq dry Manzanilla sherry recently crossed my desk, which reminded me of my passion for the dry sherries. Both the Domecq Manzanilla and “La Ina” (a dry fino) retail for about $15 a bottle. Try them with roasted almonds or Sevilla olives.
Read the rest of this entry »

Fantastic architecture Bodega Ysios enters the constellation of the most attractive sites of wine tourism to Spain. Winery Marques-de-Riscal Frank Gehry designed by the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Bodega López de Heredia worked Zaha Hadid, the grand lady of the world of architectural deconstruction, and Bodega Ysios made the most futuristic and surreal architect in the world, Spaniard Santiago Calatrava.
Read the rest of this entry »

There are books that have a special significance. By the author-signed first editions of great classics, for example, as bibliophile equipped, of course. Among the books with the prominent role also includes books that have become established over many years on the textbook market. Lawyers are Brox, Medicus, call earlier semesters Flume, from the medical area, it resounds loudly Harms, Silbernagl and Pschyrembel, physicists insist on Demtroder, Bergmann / Schaefer and Tipler. Among the religious works of the leading best-selling classics include the Talmud, the Koran and the Bible. And so we are dealing here with a book of particular value, do it a kind of Bible: it is the German Bible, the foam winemaking.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wines of Spain by Jan Read

Wineries, regions and vintages are reviewed in this rather useful pocket guide written by veteran wine journalist Jan Read. He is probably the most experienced contemporary writer on Spanish wines and lives, breathes, tastes – and naturally – consumes them. The guide has been published at an ideal time, as Spain is leaving behind its past image as a country with a reputation for inexpensive and moderately priced wines, which left much to be desired, into a modern European winemaking country.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recipes from a Winery Chef

By Mary Evely

Published by Simi Winery
P. O. Box 698, Healdsburg CA 95448
Tel: 707 433 6981 Fax: 707 433 6253

Edited, designed and manufactured in the USA by Favorite Recipes Press
2451 Atrium Way, Nashville TN 37214

In her foreword to ‘The Vintner’s Table Cookbook’, Zelma Lang, Winemaker and President of Simi, pays tribute to the years of dedicated work which Simi Chef Mary Evely has put to good use in this out-of-the-ordinary cookbook. The observation that ‘The serious study of how wines pair best with different foods has, for the most part, been undertaken either haphazardly or intuitively.’ will find a sympathetic chord in the hearts of many wine lovers.
Read the rest of this entry »

INTRODUCES CALIFORNIA SELECT
Caviar specially selected from premium farm raised white sturgeon, produced in Sacramento California exclusively for La Fayette Trading.

California Select caviar from farm raised white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) holds its own when compared to Osetra and Beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea.
Read the rest of this entry »