Vines & Vittles

with John Brown

Category: Uncategorized

  • Pushing the envelope: white wine and barbecue

    Do you find yourself burdened with a plethora of outdoor chores this weekend? With the heat index reaching Death Valley levels, those grass cutting, weed eating honey-do’s will sap the last lick of energy from your seriously dehydrated body. Thirst is a terrible thing and so in weather like this, one needs – above all…

  • A dream come true: chocolate and wine are good for you!

    I fell in love with chocolate decades ago and throughout the intervening years I have tried desperately to avoid becoming a full-fledged chocoholic.  My battle with this sweet addiction has caused me much angst, but over the past few years researchers have touted the healthful attributes of chocolate – or at least dark chocolate. This…

  • Stuffed poblanos with quinoa and chorizo: A Zinful meal

          I’ll admit it, I am consumed each day by lengthy ruminations over what I’m going to eat and drink.  Conversations with my long-suffering spouse almost always involve planning the evening meal and sometimes precipitate disputes that are usually amicably, but sometimes loudly, settled. Then one or both of us will venture out to search…

  • WV restaurants wine Wine Spectator awards

    We all have our favorite restaurants around the state and even beyond the borders of this land of “purple mountain majesty.”  Good food should be accompanied by good wine and those eateries that understand this rudimentary principle should be recognized.  It’s one thing for this back-water wino to say nice things about a grubbery, but…

  • Sipping for a cause: Fourth annual Wine and Roses Event

    I am a board member of the Roark-Sullivan Lifeways Center (RSLC).   This is a very special organization with a great group of dedicated employees and volunteers. The center assists individuals experiencing homelessness with services that help them become self-reliant. For the past several years, RSLC has been hosting a fund raising event at Capitol Market…

  • Pairing wine and food

    Boy have I been sipping some excellent wines this summer.  I’ve also been pairing them up with some yummy culinary treats – which is the equivalent of a gustatory double whammy!  I’ve also found that cooking the family meal is a great way to get out of yard work, and that’s reason enough for me…

  • Slow down and relax with some bargain wines

    I hope that I’m preaching to the choir, but there are few things more pleasurable than sipping a glass of wine with dinner, particularly after a long day of toiling in the vineyard – so to speak. Wine not only enhances the dining experience, it also relaxes the mind and spirit and fosters friendly conversation among…

  • Collecting wine: patience and will power rewarded

    You’ve probably read from time to time about the superb quality of this or that particular vintage in some part of the wine world.  In California, wine makers have had almost a decade of pretty good to excellent vintages, particularly for cabernet sauvignon. In Bordeaux, wine made in 2000 and 2005 have been hailed as…

  • Barbecue 101: grill meets (wine)boy

    With summer gaining on us pretty quickly, you’ll be spending more time in the great outdoors grilling all manner of animals, vegetables and fish.  This American tradition, often referred to as barbecuing, really originated in prehistoric times and even before cavemen knew how to start a fire.   So, how could they enjoy barbecue delicacies if…

  • Some really good wines with WineBoy menu suggestions

    So friends, how about some new WineBoy recommendations that will titillate your palate, soothe your weary psyche and free your spirit?  Okay, I know, that’s a little over the top.  So how about this:  the following wines are real good (especially with food), reasonably priced and will likely knock your socks off! Now that’s more…