“Sake works best with subtleties,” says Roger Dagorn, Master Sommelier and Sake Samurai, and the only person on Earth to be both. We’re on the sixth course of the seminar—dessert, for which he’s paired Hanahato Junmai Kijoshu with a milk chocolate mousse. So far, despite not knowing much about sake, I’ve kept up, but here […]
The House of Angostura has been making rum for longer than anyone reading this has been alive, and they’ve been crafting aromatic bitters for even longer than that. Unfortunately, due to New York State’s arbitrary, inexplicable liquor laws, I cannot sell those bitters (which is particularly odd, since I can sell other bitters with the […]
Nights like last Tuesday are the reason I’m in this business. There are 211 Master Sommeliers on the planet, and only one I’ve ever heard play “Friend of the Devil” on guitar. A deadhead since the cradle, I found that alone worth the schlep to the Upper East Side, though the six-course meal was a […]
“Owned by the O’Callaghan family since the 10th century except for 200 years when they were driven ‘to Hell or to Connaught’ by Oliver Crowell,” Longueville House Cider was an apt addition to my store. Shawn Fine Wine & Spirits was a gunrunning front for the Irish Republican Army throughout The Troubles, and while attitudes toward […]
It’s time for one more from the Women in Wine series! Farmers Jane is a collaboration between two female winemakers, both of whom are highly accomplished and neither of whom is named Jane. Angela Osborne, of A Tribute to Grace, and Faith Armstrong, of Onward Wines, teamed up to create the first Farmers Jane wine, […]
We interrupt the Women in Wine series to get rummy on a boat at Pier 40. I don’t normally go this wild on Mondays, but I was on a boat. The Hornblower Hybrid was set to depart from Pier 40 last night, but due to a couple electrical outages and a smoking boiler, el cápitan decided to cancel […]
I’m continuing the Women in Wine series with Anne-Victoire Jocteur Monrozier, the Beaujolais-bred wine ambassador better known by her oenophile fans as Miss Vicky. Daughter of Gilles Monrozier, winemaker at Château des Moriers, Miss Vicky has brought a brilliance for branding to her family’s winemaking operation. She’s done some excellent wine writing, launched a powerful social […]
I’m about to be auctioned off — not for a date (these bidders wouldn’t be interested in me), but for a wine class. The auctioneer is the Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA), a Park Slope museum and community organization. The theme of the course is Wines by Women. There are more female vintners in the […]
Jackie Summers was hosting an in-store tasting at the wine shop I help manage in Brooklyn, and I was badgering him with the usual questions: What inspired you to start distilling? What’s your secret recipe? What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Etc. I forget his favorite flavor of ice cream, and he was less forthcoming with his […]
Azienda Agricola Zýmē sits in the heart of Valpolicella. where Amarone, Italy’s grandest red, is produced. Zýmē, the brainchild of Celestino Gaspari, produces an excellent Amarone and a phenomenal Amarone Riserva, but my wallet’s not deep enough to enjoy them. Luckily, due to a genetic mutation, Zýmē also produces a wine that is not only affordable, […]
