Blanc de Franc (100% Cabernet Franc), Couly-Dutheil, NV (but really 2008), Loire Valley The magicians at Couly-Dutheil have performed a trick that baffles the eye. They pulled back their cloak, placed a bunch of red Cabernet Franc grapes behind it, said an incantation to the spirits of the Loire, and, walla kazaam, a le vini, [...]

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Like any good Irishman, I gave homage to the beer on St Patrick’s Day (and, like any good Irishman, it didn’t involve green food coloring).  But unlike a good Irishman, it didn’t involve Stout or the hailing of the all-powerful Guinness.  It involved Bavaria.  And for posterity sake, i decided to film the event.  Little [...]

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Ah Mezcal, poor Mezcal, so misunderstood. For decades, you sit there, collecting dust, a bottle, a worm, no one will drink. Then the rare occasion, someone is dared, the bottle is opened, passed around, every drop is gone, even the worm, it doesn’t end well. Ah, but then I saw it, the bottle behind, hidden [...]

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Quadrupel, Malheur 12°, Brouwerij De Landtsheer NV, Buggenhout, Belgium (12.0% alc) The Belgians don’t pussyfoot around with their beer.  Not only is their country regarded as the Holy Grail for beer lovers, but they have a penchant for naming their beers with an ironic sense of danger that will draw a gasp from the most [...]

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Dunkelweizen, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, München, Germany (5.0% alc) You gotta love it when your friends prepare to move and unload their stuff on you.  Especially when its their booze. A good friend of mine, Tamara, has just moved to London to begin a new adventure overseas.  The fortunate thing for me is that she had amassed quite a wine [...]

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Principio (100% Ciliegiolo), Antonio Camillo, 2008, Tuscany (13.5% Alc) “Hey, after you go in search of God, can you bring me back some vines?” And so it was that an obscure grape varietal named Ciliegiolo left its home in Spain and came to rest in Tuscany.  Or so its rumored…and only God knows the truth. [...]

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Baltic Porter, Oy Sinebrychoff Ab, Kerava, Finland (7.2% alc) I hereby declare that all of our soldiers be supplied with the latest in body armor technology, lightweight night-vision goggles and Camelbak drinking systems filled with Imperial Porter. In an attempt to fill out my beer list at Hearth and Terroir with some eclectic, international styles [...]

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What’s life without the barrel? It seems that everywhere I look these days, my favorite breweries are releasing tricked-out, new barrel-aged beers. Port barrels, whisky barrels, sherry casks, madeira casks, wine barrels.  Its kind of dizzying. What’s next?  Monkey barrels?  Fish barrels?  Oil drums?  (Who knows, perhaps an Exxon Light Crude Porter would pair beautifully with my [...]

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Autumn is the bite of a harvest apple. – Christina Petrowsky All hail the glorious apple.  Man’s relationship with this versatile and forbidden fruit goes back thousands of years.  Today, there are over 55 million tons of apples produced worldwide each year…now that’s some serious fanaticism. I was tasked to bring in 6-8 new ciders [...]

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English Pale Ale, Blandford Fly, Badger Brewery, Hall and Woodhouse, Dorset, England (5.2% Alc) In the small, sleepy town of Blandford Forum in southern England, a tiny predator lurks at the banks of the River Stour. Rumors abound as to its actual size; some claim it is mere millimeters, while others claim it is the [...]

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Cabernet Sauvignon, Cape Winemakers Guild, Kanonkop, 1997, Stellenbosch (14% Alc) What if Yoda made wine?  And what if instead of focusing on intergalactic peace, the Jedis gathered to taste through barrels of Pinotage and hammer out the intricacies of pruning and soil characteristics? And what if after hours of intense debate, they chose their favorite [...]

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Pineau d’Aunis, Adonis, La Grapperie, 2005, Loire Valley (13% Alc) I’ve always liked the freaks, the misfits, those that are labeled “quirky”.  They’re not easily categorized and usually take some time to understand. As wine consumers, we swim in a sea of decently made, yet entirely forgettable wine.  But sometimes a wine grabs you by [...]

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Bourgueil (100% Cabernet Franc), Les Galichets, C&P Breton, 2007, Loire Valley (12% alc) I found myself sipping on this wine last week and was reminded how hypnotic Cabernet Franc can be.  Fragrant and juicy with crisp acidity, it is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in other wine regions, but in Bourgueil (pronounced “boor-geye”) it is [...]

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Seattle rules.  For an NYC boy like me to get to see more than a sliver of the sky at a time, it’s a pleasure, but to see the entire sky at once was beyond therapeutic.  And the sheer amount of art?  Whoa.  I thought the East Village was artsy, but its got nothing on [...]

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Ploussard, La Chamade, A&P Bornard, Arbois, France, 2006 (13.5% Alc) Barton Fink is one of my favorite movies.  I first saw it when I was fifteen, and remember it vividly.  It was like no other movie I’d ever seen: complex, dark, and quirky with strange characters (a neurotic NY playwright who moves to LA to [...]

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