Kitchen Magic

Ahh, bacon! That crispy, chewy, salty and sinful cut of pork we all love.

Bacon has disciples far and wide, some of whom devote entire blogs to it. The Bacon Show, for example, posts a daily recipe featuring bacon; the site “101 Things Every Cook Should Cook” has an entire section devoted to bacon. Heather, of the site “Bacon Unwrapped”, chronicles her adventures with bacon, and “Bacontarian” brings you bacon-y goodness from around the Internet, while “I Heart Bacon” conducts bacon reviews.

For those who’ve spent more time eating it than studying it, bacon is cut from the sides, belly, or back of a pig, near the ribs. It’s the fattiness of the meat that makes it so yummy. After the skin is cut away, the meat is cured, smoked, and sliced. It can be cooked in a pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the microwave, until it’s perfectly crisp.

You probably know bacon as the star of the BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, in case you didn’t know), and the bacon cheeseburger. But there are so many other ways we can incorporate it into our diets and our lives! Here are 50 ways to use bacon:

1. Make a good old BLT sandwich, of course.

2. Bacon cheeseburgers will make anyone’s mouth water. Meat topped with more meat? Perfection!

3. Bacon-wrapped tater tots would go perfectly with that bacon cheeseburger!

4. Roast a bacon-wrapped turkey for Sunday dinner.

5. Make delicious bacon pastry slices.

6. Add a punch of flavor to your creamed spinach recipe.

7. Make your own hot bacon dressing to use on lettuce, cabbage, or even potato salad!

8. Entertaining? Whet your guests’ appetites with the bacon-cheese fundido appetizer.

9. Indulge in a bar of dark chocolate infused with the flavor of applewood smoked bacon as a special treat.

10. Maple bacon cupcakes will make your mouth water.

11. And if you liked those, try a bacon chocolate chip cookie with maple cinnamon glaze.

12. It’s not real, southern cornbread unless there’s bacon grease in it.

13. Visit The Plaid Mushroom’s e-shop to smother your lips with bacon lip balm made with real bacon oil, refined from bacon. (The link is to a listing that was reserved for a certain buyer, but contact theplaidmushroom to ask for your own listing.)

14. Join the bacon of the month club to have artisan bacon delivered to your door 12 times a year.

15. The beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina gives us bacon-flavored cotton candy.

16. Enjoy a bacon martini with any meal.

17. Use bacon to dress up your leftovers for a second visit to the dinner table.

18. Whip up a tasty bacon asparagus quiche with Swiss cheese for dinner.

19. Cook bacon into the shape of cups and fill with lettuce and tomato for a breadless BLT.

20. Stay warm by wrapping a giant fleece bacon scarf around yourself.

21. Even if you’re a vegetarian and/or keep a kosher diet, you can still enjoy the taste of bacon salt, because, as the manufacturers say: “Everything should taste like bacon.”

22. If pork-covered pork appeals to you, you may also enjoy the bacon-wrapped deep-fried hot dog.

23. Trim your holiday tree with joyful ceramic bacon ornaments.

24. Add a new twist to stuffed peppers by wrapping them in bacon.

25. Get the morning off to a good start with beer cheese muffins with bacon cream cheese frosting.

26. Impress your guests with deceptively simple bacon-wrapped “crabette” appetizers.

27. A bacon-y take on an Asian favorite: bacon and bok choy potstickers.

28. Weave and bake bacon into edible placemats.

29. Then, use the woven bacon to augment your grilled cheese experience.

30. The Bacon Explosion is to die for!

31. Bacon and date appetizers will be the hit of your party.

32. Bacon egg salad croissants put a new spin on an old favourite.

33. Then, have a bowl of bacon ice cream for dessert.

34. Then use an actual bacon bandage to cover your own boo-boos.

35. Or wake up to cooking bacon with the bacon alarm clock, which is appropriately shaped like a pig’s face.

36. Add it to your bathroom in the form of bacon-printed toilet tissue.

37. Then, use it to wash up afterward.

38. Bacon popcorn is a deliciously salty, crunchy snack!

39. Try your hand at making your own bacon.

40. Enjoy barbecue-baked beans with bacon alongside your BLT.

41. Cook up a bacon buffet every imaginable party appetizer you ever dreamed about!

42. Corn and bacon chowder sounds like the perfect soup to warm you up on the last chilly evenings before summer!

43. Strawberry bacon spinach salad will make you the star of any potluck.

44. Salty bacon will complement the sweet honey dressing in this imitation crab salad.

45. Try poached pears stuffed with blue cheese and baked with bacon.

46. Or try the same combo of flavors in a pear, blue cheese, bacon pizza.

47. Take a look at this bacon-filled quiche. It’ll really make your mouth water.

48. See who comes out on top with an action-figure wrestling match between Mr. Bacon and Monsieur Tofu.

49. Smooth caramel topped with crunchy bacon: Does that sound delicious or disgusting? Try it and let us know.

50. Try many other bacon dishes suggested by foodnerd, including bacon fluffernutter sandwiches, bacon cups with macaroni and cheese, bacon-pepper-cheese scones, and more!

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Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/395/

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Wine Tasting Dinner: 2008 Washington Syrah

Washington Syrah compares favorably with the best in the world. Washington Syrah generally falls somewhere in between the jammy Shiraz of Australia and the more austere Syrah of the northern Rhone. It generally has good acidity and tannins. The common denominators of our favorite Syrahs from Washington have been deep, dark purple color and luscious [...]

Wine Tasting Dinner: 2008 Washington Syrah was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps – Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinePeeps/~3/Uhrc6GBQjDw/

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Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate

What a treat! Everyone knows it’s a celebration when you are served strawberries dipped in chocolate! Learning how to make them isn’t difficult but may take a bit of practice figuring out how to dip and not drop the strawberries in the melted chocolate!

Buy medium size berries – two bites is the prefect size. As beautiful as those giant ones are, they are too hard to eat!

Gently rinse the berries in cool water…

…and then spread them out on a clean dish towel to dry.

Let them dry completely before you start dipping. Not a drop of water should be left on the berries.

In addition to dipping the strawberries in chocolate, you can also dip the edges in coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles or nonpareils. (Those are those colored candy dots in the photo above.)

Eight ounces of chocolate will cover about 12-14 medium-large strawberries. You can use any type of chocolate you prefer – dark, milk, semi-sweet or white chocolate.

(Note: A block of white chocolate is a lot tastier than “white chocolate chips, which are only “chocolate flavored” and not the real thing!)

If you are using a chocolate bar or a block of chocolate, chop it into small pieces…

…and then put the chocolate in a small microwave safe dish. Melt it, in the microwave, for about 1 minute and 30 seconds on medium. (Don’t cover the dish!)

When melting chocolate chips, they will not really change shape that much until you give it a stir.

The goal is to slowly melt the chocolate, not bring it to a boil. If it still isn’t melted, continue melting in 15 second increments in the microwave. Stir the chocolate. It should be smooth and have no lumps.

Some strawberries dipped in chocolate have a very hard, shiny coat. The way you get that hard shiny coat is by tempering the chocolate. This link shows a video on tempering chocolate. The technique is just a bit too advanced for startcooking.com. (I did not temper either the white or the dark chocolate and they still look great.)

Once the chocolate is melted, start dipping.

Try to cover about 2/3 of the strawberry with chocolate. It looks prettier than covering the entire strawberry.

Then gently dip the strawberry into one of your additional toppings.

When you do the dipping, be sure to hold back the green top so that it does not get covered in chocolate.

If you are having difficulty holding the strawberry, skewer it, just under the green bit, with a toothpick.

You are less likely to drop the strawberry if you hold it with a toothpick. (There are all sorts of chocolate dipping tools for sale as well.)

Put the dipped berries on some wax paper to set. They should be stored in the refrigerator, and eaten at room temperature, within 24 hours.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Strawberries dipped in chocolate

serves 4

8 ounces of chocolate
14 medium – large strawberries
1/3 cup of nuts
1/3 cup of coconuts
1/8 cup of nonpariels

Put the chocolate in a small microwave safe dish and melt it in the microwave, for about 1 minute and 30 seconds on medium.

Stir the chocolate. It should be smooth and have no lumps. If it still isn’t melted, continue melting in 15 second increments.

Once the chocolate is melted, start dipping. Try to cover about 2/3 of the strawberry with chocolate.

Then dip into nuts or coconut or nonpariels.

Eight ounces of chocolate will cover about 12-14 medium-large strawberries.

Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/165/

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On Being an Enthusiast and Sharing Useful Information

An excellent blog post popped up in my Flipboard Google Reader feed this morning. It has nothing to do with wine but it was useful, interesting and made me think a lot about the things I write about here on this blog.

The post is about procuring new wheels and tires for a BMW by Chris Parente. The steps Chris went though researching, ordering, tracking, negotiating, receiving and assembling the order were very familiar to me. They’re eerily similar to what we go through as wine deal hounds.

With the exception of installation, I do all of these things when I’m buying wine. Sure, there’s the occasional impulse buy at a local wine shop or grocery store, but the bulk of my buying these days is online, in response to email offers, or winery direct. Like Chris with his interest in specific wheels and tires, once you’ve gone Wine Berserkers you want very specific wines.

What I liked about the post is that he gave specific examples of resources he used and how he went about the process. I can see my way to leveraging his techniques and having a more enjoyable experience by getting better products and service at the best possible prices. Coincidentally, if I had once sentence to describe the mission of this blog that would be it.

What got me thinking the most about his post, though, is the question of whether it’s worth it. Or rather, whether I’m interested in getting into another high involvement hobby. You can tell how much time and research went into tires and wheels for one of his cars – imagine extending that across the entire enthusiast experience. You’ve got to want it and it’s got to be a priority to do it well.

I spend hours each week thinking about wine. Reading articles, blogs, consulting and contributing to CellarTracker, looking for deals on wine-searcher.com. Buying it, drinking it, visiting wineries, attending events – writing about it.

When I need new tires or wheels I just got down to DirectTire and they take care of it. Similarly when I needed a new bike for our 7 year old recently. We just went to a couple shops nearby and bought what seemed to be a good fit for our needs. And maybe that’s fine for the occasional purchase. Spend the time saved burning up the web for the best deal on healthier pursuits. Life in balance, right?

But I wouldn’t mind being more savvy in more domains. And that’s why I enjoy acquiring and sharing knowledge via blogs and social networks. Mainstream publications just don’t cover this stuff in a way that’s as focused on the consumer experience.

You can’t go too deep into too many hobbies. But you can learn a little from someone who’s deep in a topic and can share useful information. Chris does that and reading his post reminded me to try to do a little more of that here on this blog.

Check it his blog here: Work, Wine and Wheels
You can follow Chris on Twitter: @cparente

I’d love it if you SUBSCRIBED to The Wellesley Wine Press

PS This post was written on an iPad with Blogsy.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/LXDniNUTpz4/on-being-enthusiast-and-sharing-useful.html

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Winners, Losers, Surprises and Upsets: Tasting 2009 Pinot Noir Blind

I had mixed emotions as I was driving to a blind tasting of 2009 Pinot Noir this past weekend. When Wine Zag blogger Adam Japko announced the tasting I was thrilled because I’ve been enjoying so many 2009 California Pinot Noirs lately. But as the night was upon us I looked at it differently than other tastings I’d been to.

Would I be able to pick my favorites out of the line-up? Would I be able to differentiate California from Oregon and elsewhere? Would my favorite be a cheap wine – and make me feel like a fool for spending so much energy chasing after and exploring increasingly obscure producers the past few years?

The line-up included producers I’m familiar with and enjoy like Sojourn, Belle Glos, and Loring. Familiar names like Patricia Green, Melville, and Calera. Some I was looking forward to trying for the first time – especially Kutch. Some old world Pinot Noirs, including a few Burgundies, were thrown into the mix as well. And a low-priced ringer: Castle Rock.

All of the wines in the tasting were 2009s, and the focus was primarily on California. Wine Spectator has called 2009 California Pinot Noir the best vintage ever. 2009 red Burgundy is said to be an amazingly fruit forward vintage. A perfect time for folks like me to explore the region. 2009 Oregon Pinot Noir hasn’t received the accolades 2008 did, but 2009 is a warmer vintage and the wines are more generous on release as a result. More like 2006 Oregon Pinot Noir – which I liked.

The wines were tasted blind in 3 flights with the wines assorted randomly. We knew the wines being tasted and their price points but we didn’t know which of the 17 wines was which.

Flight 1

Patricia Green Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon)	$35
Kutch Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, CA)	$68
Montinore Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon)	$28
Friedrich Becker Estate Spatburgunder (Pfalz, Germany)	$25
Sojourn Sangiacomo Vineyard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, CA)	$50
Brewer-Clifton Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, CA)	$60

Thoughts on the flight: Tons of stylistic diversity here. Guessing a lot of these aren’t from California. Probably a couple are from Burgundy or Oregon.

Flight 2

Calera Pinot Noir (Central Coast, CA)	$26
Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Vineyard (Santa Maria Valley, CA)	$43
A Tribute to Grace Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyards Grenache (CA)	$42
Domaine Eden Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, CA)	$32
Loring Graham Family Vineyard Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, CA)	$48

Not as much diversity here. Thinking all of these are from California. Good wines but no huge standouts.

Flight 3

Lignier-Michelot Cuvee Bertin Gevrey-Chambertin (Burgundy)	$70
Castle Rock California Cuvee Pinot Noir (CA)	$11
Sojourn Wohler Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, CA)	$50
2010 Calatroni Pinot Nero (Italy)	$18
Melville Terraces Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, CA)	$56
Bouvier Bourgogne Le Chapitre Gevrey-Chambertin (Burgundy)	$23

Best flight of the night. Diverse and a couple of standout what I’m guessing are California Pinot Noirs.

Winners

The wines from Sojourn, Brewer-Clifton, and Melville showed well for me personally. And Sojourn and Brewer-Clifton showed well according to the group at large.

Losers

Belle Glos caught my eye on the list going in. I though it would be a benchmark wine of sorts that I might even be able to pick out having tried several bottles of their single vineyard wines and detecting a consistent stylistic pattern. But, speaking in March Madness terms, it was upset in the first round. The wines from Oregon (Patricia Green and Montinore Estate) didn’t do particularly well either.

Surprises

A late entry – an $18 Italian Pinot Nero – tied the Brewer-Clifton for wine of the night. Quite an accomplishment for such an affordable wine. And who says bigger wines always show better in this kind of tasting?

Upsets

I’d never tried Kutch but finishing near the back of the pack – and weighing in at $68 – has me spooked. Also, the most expensive wine in the tasting – a $70 Burgundy – didn’t do much to impress either.

Tasting Notes (sorted from my favorite to least favorite)

2009 Sojourn Wohler Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, CA) $50 94 WWP: Oustanding

Tasting Note:

Powerful with ripe strawberry and fresh produce aromas. Caramel notes remain in the glass after a couple sips, but it’s balanced with fresh fruit and layers of more serious structure. Complex. Love it.

Observations:

Tied for 2nd amongst the group, this was my favorite wine of the night, and just a bit better than the Melville Terraces in the same flight. The Sojourn showed a purity of fruit and balance that others were lacking. Pleased to see this producer come out on top.

2009 Melville Terraces Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, CA) $56 93 WWP: Outstanding

Tasting Note:

Ooo – pretty. Pure California. Round. A little heat. Is this Melville or Belle Glos perhaps?

Observations:

I’ve enjoyed Melville’s entry level bottling (~$30) even though they occasionally have some rough edges and a little heat. This one was very nice. Edged out by the Sojourn because I thought the Melville’s fruit was obscured just a touch behind what seemed like a fairly substantial oak regiment.

2009 Brewer-Clifton Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, CA) $60 92 WWP: Outstanding

Tasting Note:

Powerful flavors but balanced nicely with a good amount of acidity. Really nice. With a touch of heat it clings to the glass. But it’s vibrant. This could be Sojourn. Or Belle Glos?

Observations:

I had no experience with Brewer-Clifton prior to this tasting. I hear the winemaker is the same as Melville so maybe it’s not surprising to see them near each other in my rank order. A little on the spendy side but I’d buy more of this if I could find it in the $40s retail.

2009 Domaine Eden Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, CA) $32 91 WWP: Outstanding

Tasting Note:

Limited aromatically but radiant and flavorful. Elegant. Pretty. If this is California, it’s doing it in a restrained style. Kutch?

Observations:

A nice surprise here from an affordable producer I’d never heard of. And from the Santa Cruz Mountains too. If this is what I think Kutch would taste like after reading about Kutch, and this wine is quite a bit more affordable, I’ll definitely be seeking this one out.

2009 Sojourn Sangiacomo Vineyard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, CA) $50 90 WWP: Outstanding

Tasting Note:

Happy magenta color but the flavors are melancholy. Beautiful nose of black cherry, raspberries, and mushrooms. Secondary flavors of cola and coconut. Long finish. Like it.

Observations:

Another winner for Sojourn and looking back on the notes it sounds like one of the most compelling wines of the night. Would definitely buy again and recommend others check out Sojourn. They’ve got one of the most consumer-friendly mailing lists I’ve come across.

2009 Loring Graham Family Vineyard Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, CA) $48 90 WWP: Outstanding

Tasting Note:

Dark in color. Caramel, then strawberries and cranberries. Some rough edges. Is this Sojourn? Might be a little much, but it tastes really good. Could this be Belle Glos?

Observations:

A solid showing here for Loring and the tasting notes are not too surprising having tried a number of their wines from this and recent vintages. Along with Siduri I consider Loring to be a bell weather value-priced high quality California Pinot Noir producer. The single vineyard bottlings climb up a bit in price. As with many single vineyard wines I’m not sure they’re always worth it. Another consumer-friendly mailing list to check out.

2010 Calatroni Pinot Nero (Italy) $18 89 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Oregon? Bubble gum. Don’t think it’s got that California Pinot Noir flavor profile. Nice, but not my favorite.

Observations:

Tied for 1st among the group. That’s saying something for an Italian wine in a line-up of stacked California wines costing many times more. At $18 I’d try this one again if I could find it. Very interesting. Try to find it on Wine-Searcher

2009 Calera Pinot Noir (Central Coast, CA) $26 88 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Lively fresh fruit. Highish viscosity. Probably California. Straightforward. Tasty.

Observations:

Tied for 3rd in the group. Pretty much in line with what I wrote when I tasted this non-blind for the first time a couple weeks ago. I like this around $20 and my enthusiasm would increase more closer to $15. Can’t see my way to the 92 point rating and accolades Robert Parker bestowed on this one but it is very good in my opinion.

2009 Friedrich Becker Estate Spatburgunder (Pfalz, Germany) $25 88 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Think this one is from Oregon. A little green and twangy. Low viscosity. Pretty, but not my favorite.

Observations:

Affordable and interesting to try a Pinot Noir from Germany.

2009 Castle Rock California Cuvee Pinot Noir (CA) $11 88 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Very enjoyable and surely from California. Liked it a lot but it lacks some markings I look for in California Pinot Noir flavor-wise. A little dusty and quirky.

Observations:

Pretty strong showing here for a widely available wine that can be found significantly south of $10 if you look around.

Bouvier Bourgogne Le Chapitre Gevrey-Chambertin (Burgundy) $23 88 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Leuden’s cherry cough drops which I tend to like, along with some vegetal components that knocked it down a bit. Is this Grenache?

Observations:

Tied for 2nd in the group. An affordable Burgundy with some things I liked and others I didn’t.

A Tribute to Grace Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyards Grenache (CA) $42 87 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Tied for 3rd in the group. Light in color. Muted nose. Some quirky notes. Germany? Not California.

Observations:

Well this one confused me. I was surprised to see a California Grenache so light in color compared to Pinot Noirs. Interesting.

Lignier-Michelot Cuvee Bertin Gevrey-Chambertin (Burgundy) $70 86 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

Flinty with quirky bubble gum notes. Not bad but quite a few off notes.

Observations:

I think I said at the time, “typical Burgundy: An expensive wine nobody really cares much for”. Nobody at the tasting had anything nice to say about this one and it was the most expensive wine tasted. I know it’s a far reaching generalization to bag on Burgundy and some day I’ll come back and laugh at myself for being resistant to Burgundy’s charms, but this one did little to compel me to go deeper into Burgundy. The Wine Advocate rated this wine 90-92 points.

Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Vineyard (Santa Maria Valley, CA) $43 85 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Notes:

Smoky. Some slight nail polish notes distract. A really nice wine but too many off notes. Definitely California.

Observations:

Wow. What a huge surprise to see a single vineyard Belle Glos show so poorly blind when I’ve found their wines to be so utterly (and reliably) delicious. I will say that the Clark & Telephone is my least favorite of the 3 single vineyard Pinot Noirs they produce (Las Alturas being the favorite, and Taylor Lane being the second favorite).

I was disturbed by this result so I opened another bottle of it the next night at home. While I can see why I wrote the things I did, when tasting on its own there’s no way I would have rated it this low. This wine has a unique style. It’s bold and yes some of the notes are a little less than pure fruit. I’d probably rate the bottle I tasted from at home 90 points. Blind tasting is humbling once again.

Kutch Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, CA) $68 85 WWP: Very Good

Tasting Note:

For a moment I thought this wine might be corked but it wasn’t. Pungent with fruit that’s muted and dominated by menthol (spearmint?) aromas. Low viscosity. Don’t think this is from California. Quirky.

Observations:

Perhaps more of a disappointment than the Belle Glos. I’d never tried Kutch before and I just finished a month-long search to acquire some. Now I’m wishing I’d shown more restraint. I’ve read that their wines used to be bigger but were showing more restraint in a Rhys-like manner lately. Come to think of it I wasn’t too thrilled with a bottle of Rhys I opened recently either. Definitely interested in trying more but will try my best not to fall under the spell of the pretty label.

Patricia Green Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon) $35 84 WWP: Good

Tasting Note:

Perfume nose. Falls a little flat on the palate. Kind of fake-tasting. Tastes like California but not high quality?

Observations:

Totally missed the mark here. I had a bottle of this (’08 vintage) and thought it was good but typical Oregon Pinot Noir. My tasting note makes it sound like I thought maybe this was the Castle Rock.

Montinore Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon) $28 78 WWP: Average

Tasting Note:

Not from California and possibly flawed. Smells of damp cellar floor or Home Depot near the fertilizer.

Observations:

Well, it wasn’t from California. I didn’t hear anyone else say TCA so I don’t think it was flawed. But it was funky.

Conclusions and Recommendations

What a tasting – full of winners and losers, surprises and shockers. Once again blind tasting proves to be a valuable tool for removing bias and analyzing wines without preconceived notions.

It was reassuring to see the Sojourn wines show well in this blind format. But not just for their brawn (some call them a Cab-drinker’s Pinot Noir) but for the diversity they showed. They’re definitely allowing the personality of each site to be reflected in their wines, but showing them in their best possible light. Like a portrait photographer.

The wines from Brewer-Clifton and Melville, along with some other recent favorable experiences from the region renew my enthusiasm for exploring Pinot Noir from Southern California. They’re often plush and forward but when done well like these they can be quite enjoyable.

Both the Sojourn Wohler and the Brewer-Clifton Clos Pepe showed well with the group.

The $18 Italian Pinot Noir tying for 1st in the group was quite an accomplishment. I liked it (but didn’t love it) and would be open to trying more Italian wine made from this grape.

The Domaine Eden (91 Wine Advocate, 91 WWP) is an intriguing play. I’d like to learn more about them.

If you like California Pinot Noir I’ll be writing up a trip report from a recent trip to Sonoma. I’d love it if you subscribed to the Wellesley Wine Press to hear about those visits.

Question of the Day: What do you think about these results? Or blind tasting in general?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/6V998H28m1c/winners-losers-surprises-and-upsets.html

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A welcome dose of late spring rain

Source: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2012/04/a-welcome-dose-of-late-spring-rain.html

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Dried Fruit Platter

Source: http://cookingforassholes.blogspot.com/2012/02/dried-fruit-platter.html

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How To Make Chicken Noodle Soup

There are lots of different things you can make for dinner with leftover (cooked) chicken. My favorite, particularly on a cold night, is a hot bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup. This is one of those soups for which you can find really complicated, time-consuming recipes or – just use this quick version for beginners!

All of the ingredients you will need for this recipe are pretty standard food items:

2 teaspoons of butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot
1 stalk of celery
4-6 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of noodles
1 1/2 cups of chicken, cooked and shredded
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Broth is the strained liquid left from cooking vegetables, meat, or fish in water. It is often used as a synonym for bullion.

Stock is basically the same thing but cooked more slowly and has a more intense flavor than broth.

Bullion cubes or granules are compressed stock that needs to be dissolved before using.

For the broth, I’m using a product called “Better than Bullion.” It needs to get dissolved in hot water before adding it to the soup. A can or box of chicken broth or bullion cubes or granules could be used here as well.

My grocery store sometimes has what they call a “Soup Green Mix”. They bundle together everything you might need to make soup.

This mix included a turnip, an onion, a potato, 3 stalks of celery, 1 GIANT carrot, 1 leek, 1 parsnip, some dill and some parsley.

If you like all the vegetables in one of these “starter packs”, great! But I prefer to pick out my own vegetables.

To make startcooking.com’s Chicken Noodle Soup, start by chopping the onion, and slicing the carrot and celery.

Melt the butter in a big pot, on medium-high heat, and add the onions, carrots and celery.

Cook these three vegetables until lightly browned – about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and bring the pot to a boil.

Turn the soup down to simmer.

Cover the pot and let the soup cook for about 10-15 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, chop the parsley and shred the chicken by just pulling it apart with your fingers. You could cut it into chunks but shredding it gives the soup a nice homemade texture.

(You can buy a roasted chicken at the grocery store or roast one yourself. Click here to review how to carve a chicken.)

Add the noodles to the pot and simmer the soup, uncovered, until the noodles are tender. The amount of time will depend on what size noodle you added to the soup. Check the label on the noodle package for cooking times.

Taste the soup to see if it needs any salt and pepper. (Different chicken broth brands have different levels of salt in them, so a taste test is essential to determine how much salt your soup needs.)

Add the shredded chicken and simmer until chicken is warm.

Mix the parsley in the soup or use it to garnish the top.

Dinner’s ready!

P.S.: If you’re a soup lover, you’ll probably enjoy our French onion soup recipe too!

Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup

serves 2

2 teaspoons of butter
1/2 onion – chopped
1 carrot – sliced
1 stalk of celery – sliced
5 cups of chicken stock (approximately 4-6 cups)
1 cup of noodles
1 1/2 cups of chicken – cooked and shredded
1 dash of salt
1 dash of pepper

Melt the butter over med high heat.

Cook the onions, celery, and carrots, until lightly browned about 5 minutes.

Stir in stock (approximately 4-6 cups of chicken stock) and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender – 10-15 minutes.

Add noodles and simmer uncovered until they are tender.

Add the shredded chicken and simmer until chicken is warm.

Add the parsley.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/343/

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Pasta Sauce – Italian Turkey Sausage

Italian turkey sausage is great in this tasty sauce! It has a lower fat content then regular sausage; consequently it’s a bit healthier.

If you like a bit of sausage in your lasagna, this sauce recipe is perfect!

To make this sauce you will need:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of chopped yellow onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds of sweet or hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 (28-ounce) can of crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
1 (6-ounce) can of tomato paste
1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
½ teaspoon of sugar
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper

It’s a really good habit to get all your ingredients prepared before you turn on the stove. It makes the cooking process go much more smoothly.

That means you need to:

Chop the onion
Mince the garlic
Chop the parsley
Remove the casings (that’s the really thin skin) from the sausage
Open the cans of tomatoes and tomato paste
Measure the spices

Now we are ready to start cooking!

Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large (10 to 12-inch) skillet or frying pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent.

“Until translucent” is a typical term used to describe cooking onions. Raw onions are fairly opaque. As you start to cook them, they slowly reach a point where they become almost see-through. They have not turned brown, and are not supposed to for this recipe.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, or until you can smell the garlic cooking.

Add the sausage to the onions and garlic. I like to use a combination of both hot and sweet sausage. We need to cook it over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. This is just like browning ground beef.

Because this Italian turkey sausage has a lower fat content then regular Italian sausage, there will be very little fat to drain off. (If I were using regular sausage, I would definitely drain off the fat before adding the remaining ingredients.)

Now add the remaining ingredients:

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until it has thickened.

This turns into a really thick sauce which is great over any pasta. Enjoy!

Recipe: Pasta sauce: Italian turkey sausage

serves 6

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of yellow onions – chopped
2 teaspoons of garlic – minced
1 1/2 pounds of Italian turkey sausage – casings removed
1/3 cup of fresh parsley – chopped
6 ounces of tomato paste
28 ounces of crushed tomatoes (in tomato puree)
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 dash of salt
1 dash of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of dried oregano

Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large (10 to 12-inch) skillet or frying pan.

Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, or until you can smell the garlic cooking.

Add the sausage to the onions and garlic. Cook it over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Then add the remaining ingredients.

Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until it has thickened.

Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/172/

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Fiddleheads

You may have seen these in the produce section of the grocery store and thought “NO WAY”! Well guess what? They’re delicious! These fiddlehead ferns are also very nutritious.

What ever you do, don’t just pop one in your mouth raw. They need to get cooked first! Once cooked, you can then eat them hot or cold, alone, or in soups, salads, or stews. Fiddleheads are only available in the springtime and have a very short season. So grab them when you see them and startcooking!

Step 1. Cleaning the Fiddleheads

Fill a bowl with cold water and submerge the fiddleheads.

(I stuck them in a colander first and then put the whole colander in the bowl of water.) With your hand, swish the fiddleheads to remove any bits of dirt.

Lift the fiddleheads out of the sink and let them drain.

With a paring knife trim off the end.

Step 2. Boiling the Fiddleheads

DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Even though I am going to sauté (fry) the fiddleheads in garlic and olive oil they still need to get boiled first. This not only cooks them but it also removes any bitterness.

Put the fiddleheads in a pot and cover them completely with cold water.

As they come to a boil they will float to the surface.

Boil them for 6-8 minutes. The water ends up looking quite dirty!

Step 3. Sautéing the Fiddleheads

Drain the fiddleheads in a colander.

Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium- high and add one clove of crushed garlic…

…. and the fiddleheads.

Sauté for approximately 1 minute.

Add some fresh cracked black pepper…

…a sprinkle of salt…

…and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Stir is all together..

…and the fiddleheads are ready!

Enjoy!

Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/426/

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Episode 3: Hipster Pancakes

Source: http://cookingforassholes.blogspot.com/2012/03/episode-3-hipster-pancakes.html

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How to pair food and beer – part four

Well, here we are at the final blog post in this short series, and where better to end up than at the end of the meal. Yes, it’s time to look at puddings and cheeses. Many of you will no doubt think, “Beer with puddings? Ridiculous!” But once again the versatility of beer shines through. With cheese in particular it certainly proves to be a more amiable companion than the traditional red wine accompaniment. Fruit beers, honey beers, heather beers and even stouts will all pair a wide range of desserts exceptionally well.

Let’s take a look at cheese first of all – a traditional farmhouse product with a whole range of flavours and textures. Creamy, salty, nutty and earthy are just some of the characteristics of cheese but there are some easy guidelines to follow:

Pair delicate beers such as a heather ale with young, fresh cheeses.
Pair malty beers with nutty, aged cheeses.
Pair highly hopped, bitter beers such as IPAs with tart, sharp cheeses, especially mature cheddars.
Pair strong, sweet beers, a barley wine for instance, with blue cheeses.

Now let’s move on to consider some classic desserts. In general anything rich and creamy, like trifle, tiramisu, or even apple pie and cream, will go with a rich Baltic or milk stout, the rich sweetness and smooth texture of the beer complementing the dishes well. There are also strong chocolate notes in these beers and both stouts and porters work well with any chocolate flavoured pudding. Look out for chocolate porter, which has gained popularity in recent months.

Sharp or tart desserts, like tarte au citron, will be contrasted by a light, delicately flavoured ale. More and more honey beers are appearing on the shelves in bottled form so well worth looking for. The heather ale mentioned above is also worth seeking out. These styles can get away with a quick chill in the fridge so great for the summer months ahead.

Finally we move on to the fruit beers, originally more of a continental style they are now gaining in popularity here. The traditional cherry, apricot and raspberry krieks work well with most fruit flavoured desserts such as summer pudding or strawberry flan. An orange wheat beer (yes, they exist!) is a great accompaniment to more traditional things such as spotted dick or syrup sponge. The carbonation helping to refresh the palate, and working as a complement to the syrup or sauce which usually comes with them.

Well, that about wraps it up. One final thought – don’t forget that beer is also a great ingredient and can enhance a whole range dishes from casseroles and stews to desserts. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of blogs posts, and that they’ve helped you look at beer in a different light. It is a wonderful drink, and as I’ve pointed out before, the right beer with the right food can be unbeatable.

If you’ve discovered any magic pairings of food and beer leave a comment and let us know.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2012/04/how-to-pair-food-and-beer—pa-3.shtml

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After dinner, leave a little something extra for earthquake victims

Source: http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2011/03/after-dinner-leave-a-little-something-extra-for-earthquake-victims.html

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On the move

Dim Begun – eggs and aubergine scrambled together

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/QuickIndianCooking/~3/PntGGT9A5YA/

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Photo Essay: Spring Cleaning in the Vineyard

Source: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2012/05/photo-essay-spring-cleaning-in-the-vineyard.html

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How to Make Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is the name given to chicken cutlets topped with a gravy made from Marsala wine (which comes from Italy.) This recipe is also chock full of mushrooms! I used a combination of Shitake mushrooms….

…and Baby Bella mushrooms.

For the Marsala Sauce you will need:

1 pound of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 Tablespoon of butter
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 Tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup of Marsala
3/4 cup of chicken stock

To make the chicken cutlets you will need the following ingredients

2 eggs
2 tablespoons of water
1 cup of dry seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup of flour (to dredge the chicken)
1 1/2 pounds of thin sliced boneless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Step 1

Wash and slice the mushrooms.
Crush the garlic.
Measure out all remaining ingredients needed for both the chicken cutlets and the Marsala sauce.

Step 2

Cook the chicken cutlets according to my video on how to make Chicken Cutlets.

As you’ll see on the video, boneless chicken breasts need to be first coated (dredged) in flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs.

Once you have finished coating the chicken, be sure to THROW AWAY any leftover flour, egg, and bread crumbs. Raw chicken is filled with bacteria which makes the leftovers unusable.

Step 3

When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and put it on a dish. Cover the dish with tin foil to keep the chicken warm.

Step 4

Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter in the same pan you cooked the chicken in.

Add 1 clove of crushed garlic….

…and the cleaned and sliced mushrooms, and cook for 1 minute over medium heat.

Stir in 2 Tablespoons of flour and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add 3/4 cup of chicken stock…

…and 1/2 cup of Marsala.

Stir until thickened and…

…continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.

Add some salt and pepper to taste and pour the sauce over the cooked chicken.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Chicken Marsala

serves 4

2 eggs
2 tablespoons of water
1 cup of dry seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup of flour (to dredge the chicken)
1 1/2 pounds of thin sliced boneless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
16 ounces of mushrooms – cleaned and sliced
1 tablespoon of butter
1 clove of garlic – crushed
2 tablespoons of flour (for the sauce)
1/2 cup of Marsala
3/4 cup of chicken stock
1 pinch of salt and pepper (adjust to taste)

Mix eggs and water together.

Dredge chicken in one cup of flour.

Dip chicken into egg wash.

Coat chicken with bread crumbs.

Fry chicken in oil 1.5 – 2 minutes, on medium high heat, on each side depending on thickness.

Remove chicken from pan and keep warm on a heated dish.

Melt the butter in the same fry pan. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 1 minute over medium heat.

Sprinkle on 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for another 30 seconds. Add Marsala and chicken stock and stir until thickened. Continue cooking until mushrooms are tender, approximately 4-5 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/430/

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How to Make Pizza

For beginner cooks with hectic schedules, Do-It-Yourself pizza is a quick and tasty weeknight dinner solution. In the time that it takes to have pizza delivered, you can actually make your own!

All you have to do is create the basic elements:

a doughy crust
tomato sauce
shredded cheese
and whatever toppings you like.

The nice thing about DIY pizza is that you can have fun personalizing it. You can incorporate your favorite flavors and textures, or whatever happens to be in the fridge. There’s no fixed recipe to follow! Let’s get started.

First, the crust!

Ready-made crust: The bread section of the grocery store typically offers several brands of ready-made crusts that you simply top with whatever you like and bake according to the instructions. Some of these crusts even come with a package of tomato sauce! They’re usually sold in rounds that make enough for several people.

In addition to ready-made crusts, there are several different types of “breads” that will work as a pizza crust. In the photo below there a some great choices for a quick pizza crust including focaccia, crumpets, English muffins, pita bread and tortilla wraps. (Keep reading for the recipes using these various breads as a pizza crust!)

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Tortillas (wraps)

If you like thin-crust pizza, you can’t get thinner than this! It’s a good idea to pre-heat the tortilla in a toaster oven or regular oven at 350F just for a few minutes to make it a bit more solid, then turn the oven up to 450F. Put the wrap(s) on a foil or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Tortillas are the base for Humbecue Pizzas — dressed with hummus, barbecue sauce, spinach, ham and feta cheese. Photo courtesy of Jenn at Eating Bender.

Then add whatever sauce, cheese and toppings you like. Go easy on toppings so that the whole thing doesn’t get soggy. Put the tortilla in the oven for 10 minutes and check to see when it’s done – the edge of the tortilla should become brown and crispy. Here’s a recipe for Humbecue Tortilla Pizzas, which are made with hummus, barbecue sauce, spinach, ham and feta cheese.

Pita bread

Pita bread is another great option for those who like thin, crispy pizzas. There’s no need to toast the pita before putting on the toppings; follow the same baking directions as with the tortilla pizza.

Here, plain old pita gets dressed up with Italian sausage, peppers and carrots.
Photo courtesy of Cookthink.com

This Pita Pizza (shown above) topped with Italian sausage, peppers and carrots looks simple and scrumptious.

Focaccia bread

For a more substantial crust, use focaccia bread, which is often sold in big rectangular pieces. When it comes to baking the pizza, preheat the oven to 450F and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.

English Muffins

Here at startcooking.com we have already posted a video on English Muffin Pizzas, which are topped with tomato sauce, ground beef and cheese.

These mini pizzas are irresistible, and if you don’t have any ground beef on hand, you can make them with tuna.

Crumpets:

If you would prefer to substitute crumpets for English muffins, go right ahead, old chap!

Bagels and baguette

A lot of bagel shops now have bagel pizzas.

Making your own is easy as long as you have the necessary ingredients on hand! Buy your bagels ahead of time and store them (sliced!) in the freezer. Bagels freeze beautifully as long as they are wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then put in a zip lock bag.

The Sauce

Pizza traditionally has a layer of tomato sauce between the crust and the cheese. You can buy ready-made pizza sauce in a can or jar, or use tomato sauce (the kind you would use for pasta). If you don’t have either of these on hand, you could try tomato paste or salsa.

Some pizza lovers prefer their pizzas “white” – with no tomato sauce. White pizzas may be topped with pesto, ricotta or Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Or with alfredo sauce (which you can buy ready-made) and other toppings.

In this recipe for Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Pizza , from Cooking By the Seat of my Pants, the sauce is a combination of sour cream and Greek vinaigrette.

Spinach, mushroom and goat cheese pizza — not something you see on a takeout menu!
Photo courtesy of Jerry D. Russell at Cooking by the Seat of my Pants.

If you love basil, try Pioneer Woman’s version of pizza using pesto rather than tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and parmesan.

The Cheese

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Mild: Most pizza places use mozzarella cheese, which turns nice and gooey when it melts, and has a very mild flavor. Other mild cheeses that can substitute for mozzarella are colby, cheddar, gouda, edam and Monterey jack. You can grate the cheese yourself or buy bags of pre-grated cheese. Ricotta, bocconcini and fresh mozzarella are other mild options that offer a gourmet twist because of their rich, milky textures.

Strong: Try mixing mozzarella with stronger-tasting cheeses, or going for something really distinctive. You’ll find that you can use a smaller amount of cheese if it’s strong-tasting. In our video on English Muffin Pizzas, startcooking.com suggests blue cheese with chopped fresh sage and walnuts. Some other strong cheeses to try are: parmesan, provolone, goat cheese, aged cheddar and gorgonzola.

Toppings

This is where you can really make a pizza your own. Here’s a list of topping ideas to get you started, as well as some great-tasting combinations.

Tip: Any meat toppings should be cooked before being added to the pizza.

Meat options:

Ground beef
Bacon
Ham
Pastrami
Chicken
Sausage

Vegetables

Onions
Mushrooms
Peppers
Broccoli
Spinach
Corn kernels
Oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
Artichoke hearts (canned)
Hearts of palm (canned)

Other toppings:

Anchovies
Chopped nuts
Fresh herbs, like basil or sage

Combinations:

Hawaiian: chopped ham and pineapple
Mexican: ground beef, avocadoes, salsa
Greek: feta cheese, olives and oregano

Good luck with your pizza creations!

Source: http://startcooking.com/blog/540/

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Tried and tested

British curry classic Saag Aloo, or Aloo Palak, recreated

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/QuickIndianCooking/~3/TBsSdj4Px20/

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On Self-Actualizing Wine Interest, Purple Pages, the Kindle Fire and Gutenberg

While it has been cited that we’re living in a “Golden Age” of wine writing, what is interesting to me these days is NOT the subject of wine writing.

My interest is in a broader understanding of the consumption of the wine writer’s output – self-identified wine interest by consumers who are seeking out wine information. This is a seismic shift more important than the vagaries of who writes what, where, when and for how much.

Something much bigger and amorphous is at work.

It used to be that people self-identified by their job or some other affiliation that produced recognition from others, a status-marker of sorts—“I work for IBM, I have two kids and we’re Protestant.”

However, nowadays, people, principally online (which is moving center stage in our life), are self-identifying by their personal interests which, often times, diverges greatly from their profession and their family situation.

Look at Twitter profiles or a body of status updates from somebody on Facebook. People are no longer duotone and defined by work and family. They’re multi-layered and complex and defined by their interests. The modern day self-description goes something like this: “Passionate about wine and travel. I build furniture, follow the San Francisco Giants, and work in a non-profit by day. I also volunteer to ensure clean water for sub-Saharan Africans. Dad to two wonderful kids”

In diamond-cutting terms, it’s more Peruzzi than table cut and it seems we’re all on a journey to be the most interesting ~~man~~ person in the world.

This kaleidoscopic advancement in sense-of-self is a very important development because, on an individual level, we tend to project externally how we see ourselves in the mirror. By stating publicly online that we’re a wine enthusiast, a foodie, a jazz lover, who does dog rescue and loves college football with a fascination for all things digital, it’s like writing down a goal. A goal written down means something to most people and people are likely to actuate their activities around it, even if aspirationally.

This is a very subtle point and I hope I’m conveying it faithfully: Societally, we’re changing how we view ourselves, we are stating how we view ourselves and consequently we’re more likely to pursue knowledge around those interests because we’ve put it out there.

In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we’re all self-actualizing.

So, when it comes to wine writing, while I’m very happy for Alder Yarrow’s assignment in writing a monthly column for Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages, I also tend to look at it within a much broader context because there will be more Alder Yarrow Horatio Alger-like stories in the years to come.

More to the point however, and within a bigger picture, what Alder writes now and in the future on his own site or at Jancis’ site is likely going to be viewed by an increasingly larger audience who, based on the aforementioned self-actualization, have become more inclined to seek a wide-range of information that supports a myriad of personal interests, including wine.

This online growth in information-seeking is, indeed, a very good thing particularly for the wine business who is caught up in a focus on Gen. Y, when the more important point is that there is a mass of people of all ages who have increasingly ready access to information online that allows them to easily pierce the veil of wine. And, the implications for that for shouldn’t be understated because the view of the wine world is likely to be altered to be much more inclusive of all types of viewpoints – think the streets of New York instead of Pottery Barn.

The Kindle Fire tablet by Amazon.com may represent the next step in this evolution, driving the potentiality of mass on-the-move content delivery. No, it’s not as important as the printing press or any other God Complex hyperbole that is assigned to Steve Jobs, but it’s an important step forward nonetheless.

Where laptop computers are functional machines designed to execute work, and tablets (like the iPad) are a lightweight, portable device that act as a multi-functional hybrid between a smartphone and a laptop, here comes the Kindle Fire which is a device designed almost exclusively for content consumption, all kinds of content – blogs, digital magazines, digital books, videos, music, etc.

The Kindle Fire, to me, is a device that enhances the trend we’re seeing in the increased complexity of how we define ourselves because here’s a device that lets users pursue content around their interests anytime, anywhere and it’s reasonably affordable at $199, at least half the cost of other tablets on the market.

For example purposes, let’s say I have an interest in German Riesling, but I don’t really want to buy another paper-based book because I already have a stack of 14 books at my bedside that I haven’t read (or, perhaps, I don’t buy that many books, period). Likewise, it isn’t convenient for me to read a book on my laptop because, well, that’s not really a form factor that works for me because I’m already hunched over my laptop for 12 hours a day. In addition, I don’t want to print out a 150 page pdf because that’s paper I have to carry around. Previously, with all of the aforementioned caveats, I would have let a deep dive into knowing more about German Riesling be a fleeting thought—an opportunity that would lay fallow.

Ah, but the Kindle Fire will let me consume this German Riesling content in a nice, portable, convenient, lightweight manner that is designed to do expressly that. I’m now looking forward to pouring through Terry Theise’s 2011 German Riesling catalog and reading part II of Mosel Fine Wines 2010 vintage report.

All of this distills down to an essential takeaway: When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with movable type, the tangible output was the ability to have ready access to print books. However, the bigger impact was the spread of knowledge which led to the Renaissance period which inalterably changed the culture of the world.

That’s where I think we’re at now, particularly with wine and the spread of information. The conversation can be about who is writing and where they come from, but the conversation with far greater impact is what the end game is for this mass adoption of personal nuance lived out loud.

In simpler terms, the wine writer, like Descartes in the Renaissance era, had a great, lasting influence, but the Renaissance period was much bigger than Descartes.

The key for the wine business in this seismic shift in wine affiliation and the pursuit of information thereof is to decide whether they want to support the status quo and perpetuate business as usual or open themselves to all kinds of thought.

Wine writers already are and so are the consumers seeking out this information.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/on_self-actualizing_wine_interest_purple_pages_the_kindle_fire_and_gutenber/

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