Follow your favorite blogs!

Bloglovin' helps you follow the blogs you read by letting you know when they update.

Sign up »
Purple Liquid: a wine and food diary
manageyourcellar.blogspot.com
2
The smell of wine, oh how much more delicate, cheerful, gratifying, celestial and delicious it is than that of oil. François Rabelais (1495-1553)
#586481 in All

Does music influences the way wine tastes?

I recently came across a San Francisco Chronicle article that piqued my interest. The story starts with a warning: “Beware: If you read this article, you may may never taste wine and listen to ...

07 mar 12

A charming Swan from the Russian River Valley

This was a low key, mid-week dinner at home and we were sipping our wine. “Wow, this wine is delicious!” my husband suddenly said. I showed him the bottle. It was a 2008 Joseph Swan Pinot...

01 feb 12

A wine made from the blood of the stones

Thats the 2001 Vacqueyras Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux Cuvée de Lopy. The wine is from Vacqueyras, an appellation in the Southern Rhône next to Gigondas and to the east of Châteauneuf du Pape.It is p...

11 jan 12

A festive dinner at Manresa

Just before the holidays, we went to Manresa in Los Gatos to celebrate my sons birthday. We took the seasonal tasting menu —highly recommended to us— that consists of 7 savory and 2 desse...

28 dec 11

Invite Austria to your Thanksgiving table

Finding the perfect wine that can go with all the rich flavors found on the Thanksgiving menu, the turkey, the stuffing, the gravy, the cranberries, and the various side dishes, can be challenging. N...

22 nov 11

Special aviation wines for the Blue Angels Air Show

Earlier this month, we were invited to a wine tasting party while watching the Blue Angels Air Show, a spectacular aerial show and a tradition in San Francisco since 1981. We were asked to bring a bo...

27 oct 11

Prohibition through Ken Burns lens

Last week I watched Ken Burns five-and-a-half-hour three-part documentary on Prohibition, the so-called “Noble Experiment” and one of the countrys biggest civic failures.I like Ken Burns ...

12 oct 11

Pupusas from El Salvador and a good Pinot from the Santa Cruz Mountains

The other day, we were invited to a Pupusas party, one of the guests mother being from El Salvador and a great cook. The pupusa is El Salvadors national dish, made of thick corn tortillas typically f...

27 sep 11

Something new and creative: a Metro Wine Map of France

Do you know that its only in 1931 that the first schematic subway map was designed by English engineering draftsman Harry Beck? Before that, we had route maps that were solely based on geography. The...

17 sep 11

Hiking Mount Baldy and an ice-cold Coors Light after that

It was hot last weekend in Los Angeles when we dropped our daugther off at college so we decided to find some cool mountain breeze at the top of the 10,068 ft Mount Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains...

06 sep 11

A Jasnières at a one-star restaurant in Blois

When we left the Dordogne, we stopped over in Blois where we ate at a small and charming Michelin one-star restaurant called Au Rendez-Vous des Pêcheurs. The restaurant occupies an old grocery in a 1...

16 aug 11

Domaine de LAncienne Cure in Bergerac

Earlier this month, I was in the Dordogne for our biennial family reunion. This region, located in southwest France and east of Bordeaux, is I think, one of the best spots in France for a family vaca...

02 aug 11

More interesting summer whites from Spain, Portugal, and Hungary

At last months Port4lio Tasting in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to taste some delicious white wines made from uncommon grapes. Here are the three that I found the most distinctive: •&nbs...

24 jun 11

Looking for a fresh summer wine? Try Soave

May was Soave Month in New York so as part of the promotion program, I received a couple of wine samples from Colangelo & Partners.Maybe Italys best wines are red but I really like its white wines, e...

11 jun 11

The wines of Slovenian producer Kabaj: intertwining modernity with tradition

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to Port4lio at the historic Fort Mason firehouse in San Francisco, an annual tasting event featuring wines imported by Blue Danube Wine Company, Return to Terroir...

01 jun 11

Osso Buco and a Super Tuscan for dinner

The other day, I found some veal shanks at the store and decided to make Osso Buco, a dish where the veal is braised in wine, tomatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and herbs for at least 2-3 hour...

20 may 11

Pinot Noir doesnt need to be that expensive to be good

It is true that Pinot Noir is one of the most expensive wine varietals. It is quite famous for being difficult to cultivate. The vines are not very vigorous and the berries have a very thin skin, whi...

14 may 11

A very royal British wedding - in Menlo Park, CA

A week ago, we were invited to the wedding of a British friend in Menlo Park, California. Although Menlo Park is not Buckingham Palace, the reception was a royal treat. The bride and groom were total...

03 may 11

Bordeaux tasting from the Right Bank and a couple of dry whites

The terms Left Bank and Right Bank refer to the banks of the Gironde river that flows through Bordeaux into the Atlantic Ocean. The Left Bank includes the Médoc appellation and its sub-appellations (...

23 apr 11

My husbands Cailles en Sarcophage and a pretty good Burgundy

Since we saw the movie Babettes Feast, my husband has been dreaming of reproducing Babettes masterpiece: the Cailles en Sarcophage Sauce Perigourdine (Quails in a Coffin, Truffle and Foie Gras Sauce)...

06 apr 11

Is organic wine greener?

Is organic wine better for the environment than conventional wine? Slate contributor Brian Palmer wonders in his recent article. Isnt the answer obvious? Conventional viticulture has serious environm...

26 mar 11

How to remove red wine stains

At our last wine tasting event, one of our guests had some red wine spilled on his shirt. This is quite unfortunate but these kinds of incidents do happen so is there a safe way to remove red wine st...

16 mar 11

A hearty Sauerkraut with some wines from Eastern Europe

A little while ago, we had a small gathering at my house to taste some Eastern European wines around a sauerkraut dish cooked with carrots, onions, apples, riesling, and juniper berries, and accompan...

11 mar 11

The oldest winery in the world

The oldest winery ever found is 6,100 years old. It was recently discovered inside a cave in Armenia, near the countrys southern border with Iran. Archeologists were able to date the winemaking insta...

26 feb 11

Pouilly-Fuissé, fresh and mineral

A few weeks ago, Kobrand Corporation sent me a bottle of 2008 Pouilly-Fuissé Domaine J.A. Ferret. The wine is 100% Chardonnay from a white wine appellation located in the Mâconnais in southern Burgun...

12 feb 11

Do wine grapes need more sex?

In a recent study, Sean Myles, a researcher at Cornell University working on the genetics of grapes, reveals that 75 percent of our 583 kinds of cultivated grapes are either parents, children, or sib...

03 feb 11

How Wine Became Modern at SFMOMA

Last week I went to see “How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now” currently at SFMOMA. 1976 is of course the year of the Judgment of Paris, the legendary California vs. France t...

21 jan 11

Napa Cellars wines: tasty and well-priced

Before the holidays I received four new release samples from Napa Cellars, sent to me by Balzac Communications. I thought these wines were pretty tasty, food-friendly, and really well-priced. For ins...

16 jan 11

A 20 Year Old Yquem for the holidays

During the holidays, my husband made his traditional foie gras and our friend Marcus brought a 1991 Château dYquem to accompany it. The foie gras was delicious as usual but I have to say that the 20 ...

10 jan 11

If you like Rioja, you should try Navarra

Not long ago, I received a set of wine samples from Navarra that was sent by Balzac Communications as an introduction to the Navarra Wine Region.Navarra lies north of the Rioja region and south of th...

24 dec 10

You are no longer following . Undo?