My Wine Business class has ended, but it has sparked an ongoing curiosity about business decisions that are made regarding wine. Whereas before I could spend a good hour trolling the aisles of the local liquor store, looking at bottles and thinking about what I might like to serve with dinner that specific night, I can now spend an entire ... Read More »
… the number of cases of wine you usually get from a ton of grapes. My Wine Business class has ended, but I will remember 62, as well as numerous other interesting facts related to the business of putting that lovely liquid on the table to be shared with one or many. So many interesting things are percolating in the ... Read More »
While I would prefer to return to my ethnic roots and talk about Italian foods, instead it is time to return to the roots of this blog: wine. Vino. Nectar of the gods. SAUCED IN NEW YORK source code. I am taking an online course in Wine Business this month. I am a proud student of Sonoma State University! I can ... Read More »
The love affair continues. No, dear, I am not asking for a divorce. I am admitting, however, my ongoing and apparently lifelong love for Madrid. I was able to sneak in a one week visit to Madrid in May, accompanied by my undergraduate partners-in-crime, Nina and Charlie. I would venture a guess that they, too, continue to be enraptured by ... Read More »
Change. Exciting. Terrifying. Distressing. Unavoidable. If you haven’t met Sierra, then let me tell you that we have perhaps the sweetest yellow lab on the planet. She came to us through a rescue organization, and has seemed grateful to us ever since. With this little girl, we never needed the electric fence; she wasn’t leaving our sides. She never barks ... Read More »
More and more of the wines that I serve at my restaurant barVino are arriving in twist cap format. Pascal Jolivet’s Attitude Sauvignon Blanc seems to switch each vintage, arriving one year in the more traditional cork format and the next showing up in my wine cooler with a twist cap. Recently, the Milbrandt Merlot switched it up. As did the Ca’Donini ... Read More »
My mantra of the summer: let’s look at that through a “growth mindset”. I have to thank my sister for recommending Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck. As a parent and a teacher, I wish I had come across this book 25 years ago! Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. This is definitely my WOW book ... Read More »
Get your pen ready! Here come spectacular recommendations for small-vineyard Italian wines. You won’t hear about the big joints at all, but instead, the small players, the individuals who have passed down their love of grapes through generations. These are vintners interested in exploring and exploiting the possibilities in their vines, not glutting the market with “good enough”. I was ... Read More »
Who wouldn’t love this? Run away to New York City for the day: early train down, arriving just in time for a boutique Italian wine tasting, followed by the requisite walk through Times Square, a visit to the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, and the evening train home. Time as a couple? Check! Seriously amazing wines? Check! Top it ... Read More »
Neither overly technical nor horticulturally-centric, Jay McInerney’s The Juice: Venous Veritas is a collection of essays centered around the joys of drinking wine that even someone who is more likely to order a Guinness than an old-vine Grenache will enjoy. McInerney came to fame in the 80s with Bright Lights Big City, a novel that made him the un-official spokesperson of his generation, ... Read More »
Sauced In New York Sometimes the food is in the sauce, sometimes we are