Of Cheese, Bubbles and Foothills

I’ll be offering several veins of travel and information (think about it for a moment) relating some good insight into cheese and wine pairing, bubbles with brunch and Zinfandel from the Sierra Foothills. There’s a great new chicken recipe for you from Ian Garten matched with a Scotto Lodi Chardonnay, one of the best matches I’ve ever made – love it when a plan comes together, enjoy.

A Light Whine of Pulled Pork, Total Wine and Costco Brie

Folks are you aware that most of you are buying your wine at grocery stores – really grocery stores where there is no chance of you getting any kind of qualified advice, much less a real discount, really a shame. But first let’s start with a great recipe and trends in wine sales from one of the big boys then some cheese news.

Wine, Woman but No Song (you could hum if you want)

It was my good fortune to have recently discussed the world of food and wine with two women totally involved in the process and I was also impressed by the words of third woman whom you may refer to as “prominent” in the industry.

The folks in Bordeaux are giddy with the 2015 vintage, best since 2010 and they aren’t afraid to say so, it was a tasty afternoon.

“Stuck in Lodi again…” Yes!!!

The stark and gnarly vines you see may be as old as I, in fact they may be even older and that’s good, as Lodi is the “Old Vine Zinfandel Capital of the World” producing  over 32% of California’s premium Zinfandel. Yet by total volume the area produces more Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay but that production goes into somebody else’s wine…and that he said is the subject of the my Whine, please click for more.

Fruity and French for Thanksgiving

The 2015 vintage from Beaujolais is terrific all around and these lighter, fruity wines that can take a bit of a chill love turkey and most all of the side dishes we will challenge it with.

Honey, Dinner’s Cold!

Wanting to do a complete dinner in advance I happened on the bright idea to serve everything cold or let’s say room temperature, appetizer, vegetable, seafood and meat course. It worked so well I served it twice, little did they know. You’ll also find a few more thoughts on the wine and weed situation, smoke’m if you got’m.

Woody in Sonoma

We literally live about seven minutes from grape vines at the edge of the Russian River yet Santa Rosa is not really a wine town, you’d hardly notice the industry if you didn’t know it was all around you. Actually beer making and drinking is the big deal in SR. The Sonoma sign and I are at the edge of the Kenwood wine area moments to the east of SR on your way to the city of Sonoma.

Woody at Ch. 2 New Years

Some years ago a friend of mine was the news director at the CBS station in Chicago and she asked me to do some holiday wine pieces for the morning news. I did Thanksgiving in a chef’s coat but owned a tux and used it for the New Year’s Eve Champagne and sparkling wine segment. When the spot was over I changed and went to my day job, oh the memories.

One for Uncle Joe

My column is usually calendar challenged – as I am trying to present food and wine thoughts far in advance of when you will actually see them, making the relevance often more than a bit difficult, but the moon and stars have aligned.

The Best Gets Beery

Loyal readers will remember a recent Woody’s Whine that rated Italian beef sandwiches in our northwest part of the city and if you were paying attention you’ll remember that Buona Beef was the tasty winner. Well recently they went one better and did a beer matching with their beef and some other full service menu items.

The Grate Cheese Tasting

You may recall that I sort of “cheesed” you with a Face Book page about cheese blending for pizza not too long ago. Well here I am with not only the cheese story but I’ve thrown in mushrooms and sausage too. Hope you’re hungry.

DMK Burger

Upscale (read $$) burger restaurants are almost out of control in Chicagoland these days and you must have a burger of some kind no matter what your menu is.

Burger Up with Woody’s Whine “Three To Fall For”

As the weather cools it’s time to get back out to the grill and make burgers to drink with red wine. And these aren’t just your regular burgers, each is a made from a different meat with added flavors and will take a bit more time to make but the results are really tasty and I know you’ll enjoy.