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TASTING TIME! Easkoot and Foggy Bottom Pinot Noir will be flowing at the Marin County Wine Celebration Join us at this special opportunity to taste a rare collection of newly-released Marin-grown wines, and some library selections, poured by the vintner/growers at the historic Escalle Winery in Larkspur. From celebrated Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon and dry Riesling, these critically acclaimed “small lot” wines are truly hand-made and reflect the unique bounty of Marin County agriculture and its vintners' ...

What is the taste of Schubert? And which movement by Brahms pairs with Riesling? We bring this to you from our friends at the Austrian Wine Marketing Board and Austrian Trade Commission - a wine, food & music event hosted by world-renowned chef Lidia Bastianich and Andreas Grossbauer, first violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra, on Monday, March 4th, at 7pm at the Del Posto restaurant in New York City. The Austrian Wine Marketing Board and the Austria Trade Commission are proud to present the Philharmonic Taste – An Austrian Tasting ...

So tomorrow night is opera: Parsifal at the Met, and while preparing myself for five hours of exquisite pleasure and spiritual renewal where normal folks would find only tedium and bellowing, I began to think about the last time I saw the work. Which was not quite a year ago, on Easter Sunday in Vienna. And I think about how many aspects of our lives carry cultural significance, and that they sometimes meet of an evening... and it’s got ...

Drink this With It — Moric Blaufränkisch Burgenland 2011 or rather, cook this to go along with it! In addition to 2011 being a marvelous year for all three native reds of Burgenland (remembering now that Blaufränkisch was sensational in ’09, but some how Sankt Laurent and Zweigelt managed to frequently be more expressive under the leaner conditions of 2010), 2011 also marks the first vintage that Roland Velich has been able to send ...

We pretty much didn't know our Baltic Porter from our Dunkelweizen when we initially wrote the description for the Zalto beer stem, and basically said that the glass was just great for ALL beers. Now, if somebody came up to us and said "Check it out! This wine glass is the very best wine glass for dessert wines, Chardonnays AND Shiraz"-- well, we'd probably politely point out that that just really couldn't be the case. ...

What is now the Mosel used to be the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. These wines used to be in the green bottles, while the Rhine and environs were bottled in brown glass, and the color of the glass gave a hint as to the character of the liquid inside. Somebody recently decided that as of 2006 three names were too many—though certainly the Saar and Ruwer (these rivers being tributaries of the Mosel) offer wines just as distinguished, with characteristics just ...

My mouth is still bitter when I think of the trip to the winery of Giobatta Vio in beautiful Liguria, Italy. The birthplace of pesto-- the land of artichoke. I think of the salted breezes and fresh seafood that comes with that scent, and the incredible bottles of Pigato, Vermentino and Rossese that were tasted. And of course, the meal: a five course feast featuring the wines and local bounty. And yes, ...

And do we sometimes listen to great music with a glass in our mitt? ...‘deed we do: music to the palate and its attendant surfaces — so here let’s look at some exceptional trios: the 2011 Grosse Gewächse from Gut Hermannsberg: Bastei, Hermannsberg and Kupfergrube. Among white varieties, Riesling has no competition in its ability to transmit the message of the soils in which it was grown to the taster. And with these three wines, Gut Hermannsberg ...

Winemongerer James Wright shares his thoughts on what to do with a corked bottle of wine - including his recipe for Corked Wine Braised Lamb Shank with leftover Navarin d'Agneau

15% of the proceeds from the sales of glasses or bottles of this bubbly being served up at the Balboa Cafe will go directly to Save The Children "Adopt a Village" project, being led by a group of young students at the Lycee San Francisco who have, in the past 3 years, raised $14,500 for their village in Dos Palais. Sip and Support!