Vacqueyras

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

When the Understudy Shines

I bought a Vacqueyras several years ago to write about for this column; it was a young vintage that I put aside allowing it to mature. Then, one evening, friends came to dinner (and wouldn’t leave), and more wine needed to be poured. As said guests are discerning red wine drinkers (no white or rosé at all), I looked in my wine rack for something they might like. I pulled a Vacqueyras … the Vacqueyras … forgetting its PWZ purpose. Oops.

But, when I poured it that evening after the meal was said and done, I realized it was a food wine, not a sipping wine. That provided me some good intel for going forward. It made me ponder  the characteristics of... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Sharing is Caring

After a long year and a half, our good friends and neighbors Ursula and Bob returned to the neighborhood from their other home is in upstate New York, in the Catskill Mountains. It’s really nice to have them back.

To celebrate their return, we had them over to dinner and wanted to share a... [...]

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Spice is Nice

When faced with a recipe that is very spice-forward, I am sometimes at a loss for the wine selection. Spice, in this case, is all spice and no heat. The hottest spice within the recipe is the dried mustard powder. Ancho chile (sweet, not hot), cumin, coriander, and mustard are the other ingredients in... [...]

Grape news from Le Clos de Caveau

Up in Vaqueyras, Henri Bungener, proprietor of Le Clos de Caveau, reported that the vineyard is back on track for the usual mid-September harvest. The warm spring, a harbinger of a slightly earlier harvest, was offset by a cool July. [...]
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