Albariño. Are you familiar with it? The white winegrape is grown extensively in the Rías Baixas region in northwest Spain; in fact the variety represents nearly all of the plantings in this cool, coastal region. Albariño produces a crisp, dry white wine with a range of flavors that include citrus, melon and stone fruit to delicately floral with an interesting […]
As much as I enjoy oven-roasted beef, pork or chicken, there is no substitute for outdoor grilling in terms of flavor. With the weather improving quickly it’s time to fire up the grill and begin to think about the wines to pair with your outdoor meals. This trio of Malbec (received as tasting samples) produced by Trivento in Argentina cry […]
As our small aircraft approached the airstrip near Damaraland Camp I was struck by the similarity of the landscape to the American desert Southwest. The wide, flat table-top mountains have those familiar, exposed, horizontal layers of colored rock. But, unlike the American southwest, the rusty red earth is dotted with green euphorbia, white ash bushes and the occasional, lone shepherd’s […]
Springtime brings a welcome renewal in our garden after the dormancy of a cold, wet winter. The lawn and shrubbery are an intense green this time of year with azaleas adding pink, red and coral accents. At about this same time of year our supply of rosé dwindles to one or two bottles. We begin searching the shelves of local […]
As much as I enjoy reaching for a familiar wine, and all of the memories associated with it, I can’t resist the excitement of trying a new wine. Hand me a glass of wine from a region that is new to me and you’ve likely just made my day. It is an irresistible opportunity to not only experience new flavors, […]
This was our third official celebration of Open That Bottle Night (OTBN) in conjunction with Wine Pairing Weekend (#winePW), a group of food and wine bloggers. We were a bit late to the party, given that Open That Bottle Night has been celebrated since 1999. That’s when then-Wall Street Journal wine columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher first established […]
The Namib Desert stretches for 1,200 miles along the coast of Africa beginning in southern Angola, continuing along the length of Namibia and into South Africa. Confined by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and by the central plateau in Namibia to the east, it is not much more than 100 miles wide. The Namib Desert is the oldest in the […]
Quite by accident I stumbled upon the announcement of an upcoming natural wine tasting in Oakland, California on March 12, 2017. The event, called The Second Brumaire, will be held at the Starline Social Club from 12 – 5 pm, is open to the public and costs $20 to attend. Below is a list of wineries from Europe and the […]
Yes, savory. If you’re looking to pair wine with something sweet (other than your Valentine) then you’ve landed on the wrong blog post. Another search will yield lots of articles giving you wine pairings with chocolates or desserts. In fact, you will probably find lots more pairings with something sweet than savory. That’s the very reason I’m suggesting a savory […]
Cindy Rynning who blogs at Grape Experiences, threw down the challenge for this month’s Wine Pairing Weekend group of bloggers: Comfort food and wine. This should have been really easy, who doesn’t love comfort food? I certainly do. The problem for me was choosing just one dish. So many came to mind, I couldn’t focus on just one. I delayed, […]
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.