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From time to time, I’ll be posting video featuring Vines & Vittles topics. Check out the link below for information on Beaujolais Nouveau and for some wine suggestions for Thanksgiving. Hope you like it!

When most of us think of November in the context of food and drink, Thanksgiving comes immediately to mind. But there is another date – also a Thursday and always one week before Thanksgiving -that should have particular significance for wine lovers. On November 17, the 2016 Beaujolais Nouveau will be released in France and available…

Hey, friends of wine, I’m back! After that last column where I focused too much attention on that other beverage, I was whisked away in the middle of the night and brought to a wine reeducation center for an intervention by a group of masked wino’s called “Warriors For The Vine. As a result, I…

I was sorry to hear that my good friend and fellow Gazette-Mail colleague, Rich Ireland, will no longer be educating us on the pleasures of sipping that hop-infused beverage he has so lovingly championed over the past decade. Rich’s “Beers to You” column and blog has been on my required reading list since its inception,…

I like to think that, like a fine wine, my own personal vinous tastes have matured, morphing from “in your face” big, tannic purple monsters to balanced, flavorful and nuanced wines of all colors. This transition did not occur overnight and, in fact, it took about two decades for my mind to accept what my…

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know I will never just give you my impression of a wine without mentioning a food that is enhanced by it. Finding a compatible food and wine combination makes the whole dining experience so much more pleasurable. That’s especially important for restaurants. We all have our…

There is no question about it: I love to use my trusty Weber grill to barbecue all type of meat products, including pork spare ribs, beef steaks, whole chickens, rack of lamb and seafood, especially salmon. The wine choices for these edible treats are usually medium to full-bodied reds like zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon or syrah. But…

My mother was a very good cook, but the canned salmon patties she attempted to transform into something palatable were only marginally more appetizing than sautéed calf’s liver. I’m sure there aren’t many of you who have been forced to experience the unique flavors of canned salmon. But if you grew up a few decades…

Memorial Day is coming! Are you ready to get your picnic on? I am and today we’ll examine some vinous liquids that will enhance and elevate simple, but all-American, picnic and leisure time foods. So put out the porch furniture and crank up the grill because it’s (almost) summertime- and the livin’ is easy. First…

I know that I am among many wine lovers on this planet who was initially outraged to hear the lead character in the movie, “Sideways, ” brutally disparage merlot. And I think it is more than just a coincidence that merlot sales have hit the skids in the decade since the movie first appeared in…