Driving to the town of Olevano Romano, Lazio region of Italy in the pouring rain did not dampen our enthusiasm to discover Cesanese Comune, the ancient red wine grape from Italy. Cesanese Comune is an old and elusive vine of the Roman Empire dating back to the first century BC. The Romans were great consumers…
Join me on a wine and cheese journey or should I say a cheese and wine journey? We will be exploring the wine and cheese regions of 7 countries ranging from “New World” destinations like Napa Valley (California, USA), Barossa Valley (South Australia), Cape Winelands (Western Cape, South Africa) to Old World countries like Tuscany…
Malbec is a fantastic red wine with no “mal bouche”. The word “malbec” originates from the French word “mal bouche,” meaning “bad mouth,” because ancient French winemakers referred to the wine’s dark color and bitter tannins as a “bad mouth (feel)”. Warm-climate Malbecs, such as those produced in Argentina, South Africa, or Australia, exhibit dark…
Why is Shiraz sometimes called Syrah? In New World wine countries (Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Peru, Chile and United States of America and New Zealand) the very popular Shiraz red wine is sometimes called Syrah. This confusing state of affairs had its origin in Australia. James Bushby, the father of the Australian wine industry, traveled…
To really enjoy blue strong cheese, we need to differentiate between the facts and the fiction. What all blue cheeses have in common is the presence of a strain of penicillin mold which is introduced directly into the cheese curd before it is shaped. The cheese is then pierced with metallic spikes to allow air…
Sipping wine is a wonderful thing but we’ve all been there before; we’re at the end of a long evening, having consumed a lot of wine, and an intense headache begins to form. “Why me? Why now? Why?!” Why does wine give you a headache? Are sulfites to blame? The short answer is no, sulfites…
Join us for a quick guide on How to Taste Cheese. Tasting cheese and tasting wine share many similar actions. Wine tasters will swirl their wine and observe the color against a white background whilst cheese tasters will note the color of the cheese, although for different reasons. Wine tasters will sniff their sample wine…
The best advice I ever got when I asked the question; “How do I learn how to taste wine” was from a sommelier in France in the early ’90s when he said; “you learn how to taste wine at home!” Step one; Looking at the color of the wine The first step in tasting a…
