Reviews of wines and spirits for the curious drinker.
As you enter Sonoma county from the south on California 121, one of the first wineries you encounter is Cline Cellars, and there could hardly be a better introduction to the Carneros AVA.
This Pierre Moncuit Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut is from a relatively small, family-run grower in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, one of the great Chardonnay villages of Champagne’s Côte des Blancs.
Austin Hope Graciano is an unusual Paso Robles red made from a Spanish grape variety rarely encountered in California. Part of Hope Family Wines’ limited-production Cellar Select collection, it offers concentrated dark fruit, vibrant acidity, and substantial tannins. Its origins involve a vineyard planting mistake that turned into a fortunate discovery.
Eric and Amy Gale are the owners and sole full-time employees of Anchored Roots in Door County, Wisconsin, founded in 2020.
The couple make an ideal front-of-house/back-of-house duo. Amy grew up in Milwaukee, with hospitality at the forefront of her career path. Her initial focus was event planning, from non-profit fundraisers and catering, to corporate events and weddings. This was followed by experience in tasting room management at Airfield Estates in Prosser, Washington.
Eric and Amy Gale are the owners and sole full-time employees of Anchored Roots, in Door County, founded in 2020.
The couple make an ideal front-of-house/back-of-house duo. Amy grew up in Milwaukee, with hospitality at the forefront of her career path. Her initial focus was event planning, from non-profit fundraisers and catering, to corporate events and weddings. This was followed by experience in tasting room management at Airfield Estates in Prosser, Washington.
Meukow is an interesting Cognac house because it combines a very old name with relatively modern family ownership, and its style tends toward the richer, rounder, fruitier side of Cognac.
Gran Gala Orange Liqueur belongs to the same general family as Grand Marnier: rather than putting orange flavor into a neutral alcohol base, such as Cointreau, it combines orange with aged brandy. Sazerac describes it as VSOP Italian brandy infused with fresh-orange flavors, producing a full-bodied, sweet, velvety orange liqueur. It’s a substantial 40% ABV, unusually high for an inexpensive liqueur.
Few dishes are as elegant, or as surprisingly easy, as a soufflé. This ham and cheese soufflé recipe combines fluffy eggs, savory ham, and melted Cheddar or Swiss cheese in a beautifully risen dish that’s equally at home at breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. I adapted it from a recipe in Craig Claiborne’s The New York Times Cookbook, the first cookbook I ever owned and still one of the best.
Continue reading “Ham and Cheese Soufflé Recipe – Easy & Elegant”
Lautenbach’s Market, Winery & Cider Co. is one of the older surviving wineries in Door County, Wisconsin, but it really makes more sense when you think of it as a working Door County fruit farm that evolved into a winery, rather than a conventional winery that later planted an orchard.
Eric and Amy Gale are the owners and sole full-time employees of Anchored Roots, in Door County, founded in 2020.
The couple make an ideal front-of-house/back-of-house duo. Amy grew up in Milwaukee, with hospitality at the forefront of her career path. Her initial focus was event planning, from non-profit fundraisers and catering, to corporate events and weddings. This was followed by experience in tasting room management at Airfield Estates in Prosser, Washington.
Helioterra Wines Door County is the project of Anne Ebenreiter Hubatch, a Wisconsin native who grew up in Sheboygan, studied geology and environmental studies at UW–Madison, and then moved west. She spent roughly a decade learning winemaking with some significant Oregon names, including Eric Hamacher, David Adelsheim, Dave Paige, Joe Dobbes and Alfredo Apolloni, before releasing the first Helioterra vintage in 2009.
Torres 15 Brandy is made by the spirits arm of Familia Torres, the large, still-family-controlled Catalan wine company founded in 1870. Brandy production dates to 1928. The spirits division is formally known as Juan Torres Master Distillers.
Doyle Hinman and David Smith opened Hinman Vineyards in 1979. By 1988, the winery had become Oregon’s top selling winery. In 1993, Hinman started releasing their premium line of reserve wines under the Silvan Ridge label, relegating Hinman to second-tier status.
River’s Edge Winery is located in the northern-most part of the Umpqua Valley. River’s Edge, founded in 1998, specializes in the production of cool weather varieties such as Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer. The ocean is only 36 miles away from the winery, and morning fog frequently shrouds the vineyards even in the summer, reflecting the strong marine influence on the climate. Continue reading “River’s Edge Pinot Gris”
Mixed Meadia’s whole premise is Door County and Wisconsin-grown ingredients, cold-climate grapes, native fermentation, and minimal-intervention winemaking. It produces wine, mead, and cider inside the Hatch Distilling Co. facility.