Pirate Wine and Benne Seed Bacon: a Terra Mae Tasting
I drove over Market Street Bridge in golden late summer light, the river winding in a lazy blue curve below. The evening’s breezy beauty was nearly lost on me as I sped down Market Street, keeping a...
View ArticleTennessee: a Gradual Love Story, and Mindblowing Côtes du Rhône
I was at a house party in Beijing. The guy in front of me was speaking rapidly, white dust on his nose. I had just told him I was from Tennessee. “I drove through part of Tennessee once. It was...
View ArticleMuscadet In the Moment
I spent last Sunday evening at the French mansion eating roasted vegetables and fish and drinking Muscadet. It was a quiet evening, as evenings there are wont to be when it’s just the three of us....
View ArticleReason Enough: Saffron Clams and Sauvignon Blanc
We pulled up to the little orange house as it started to rain. Meghan was clipping magnolia from the tree in her yard, shears in one hand, creamy gilded blossoms in the other. We came inside and met...
View ArticleFalling for Riesling
I just drank the last of three of the most delicious Rieslings I’ve ever drunk. I knew I liked Rieslings, especially stony, delicate, shimmering ones from the Mosel. That’s why I bought these when I...
View ArticleThe Other Rieslings, With Curry and 宫保雞丁
I’m writing of the other two Ayler Kupp Rieslings in one post, a Riesling two-for-one, when really each was so beautiful they deserve their own. The dishes accompanying them were vivid and complex and...
View ArticleWines for Thanksgiving
This time of year Americans get all in a tizzy over what to drink with turkey and trimmings. I work in a wine shop. I know. The next couple of days are going to see many a customer coming in,...
View ArticlePear Soup, Gin Pork, and Barbera de Monferrato + Cherry Cake and Sherry
On a gloomy Sunday in early January, just after the New Year’s fun and subsequent melancholy had subsided, I gathered with a few friends new and old in a house the color of roasted pumpkin. We laid...
View ArticleChateau Puy Servain blanc sec, Chicken Puttanesca, and Sam as Wine Model
Thursdays are mine. Or they were, until I started giving them to Crabtree Farms in the mornings. It’s like exercise: I never feel like going, but when I do I’m always glad, refreshed, energized....
View ArticleA Fall of Shaps Burgundy
Summer has slipped away since I was in this space last. We’re suspended in days that feel like August when the sun beats down, but the nights are cooler and the rain when it comes is chilly, and the...
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