Monthly Archives: August 2010

Going greener in Champagne

In today’s NYT’s Business Day section, Liz Alderman wrote a piece describing how some Champagne producers have changed their bottles in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint. I was pleasantly surprised by this news.  We think of Champagne as … Continue reading

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Grape sampling in Napa Valley

I spent the majority of this week in the Napa Valley thanks to the Napa Valley Vintners and my sponsor, Herta Peju of Peju Vineyards. I have a few stories to post, but one of the best parts was dubbed, … Continue reading

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Sommelier smackdown

I just learned I’ll be competing at the 1st annual Sommelier Smackdown at the 5th annual International Chefs Congress, sponsored by StarChefs.  A multi-day, “on-the-fly” food and wine pairing contest with the chance to win a trip to Italy.  Oh.  … Continue reading

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“Are they giving you wine back there or are you just listening to my bullshit speech?”

At last week’s conference, I attended a 3+ hour seminar on dry Riesling given by Terry Theise.   Terry’s often off-color comments and his selection of incredible wines made the time fly by. We sampled 20 German and Austrian Rieslings that … Continue reading

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Styles of NV Champagne

Mary Ewing-Mulligan and Ed McCarthy were back at the SWE Conference this year and unfortunately their seminar occurred over lunch.  Last year, with about 50 attendees at their seminar, they covered Prestige Cuvées, but with several hundred of us at … Continue reading

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