Posts Written OnJanuary 2005

As reported today in Reuters: BEIJING (Reuters) - The French used grapes, Russians fermented potatoes, Koreans put ginseng in their drink and Mexicans distilled cactus plants to make fiery tequila. Now China is introducing fish wine. Sun Keman, an entrepreneur in the northeastern port city of Dalian, has formed the Dalian Fisherman’s Song Maritime Biological Brewery, with a plan to use his background in the fishing industry to make fish into wine. "Different from China’s thousands of years of brewing, the brewery will clean, boil, and ferment fish for making wine," the official Xinhua news agency reported. The company already…

Normally, an apple wine wouldn’t be able to work it’s way into my tasting queue. As much as I like to battle wine-snobbery…I’ll admit to being a bit guilty of it myself when it comes to wines made from fruits other than grapes. The last apple wine I’d tasted was what…Thunderbird? (it was college, cut me a little slack). Not exactly a great experience as I recall. But, when my friends at Wolffer Estate sent me a bottle of their 2004 Big Apple Wine, I figured I had to give it a shot. I mean, I’ve written about several of…

(This column appeared in the 1/28/05 issue of Dan’s Papers) Over the Barrel…With Lenn Thompson Inspired Winemaking at Waters Crest Winery Jim Waters of Waters Crest Winery in Cutchogue has a great story to tell, one that will touch your heart as well as your palate. Home winemakers turning pro aren’t particularly rare in the wine world, but the inspiration for Waters’ conversion sets him apart. For years, he worked for trucking and freight carrier companies. Wine was his passion, but not his profession. That all changed after the September 11 tragedy three years ago. A volunteer fireman and fire…

It seems like new wine blogs are popping up every day on Wine Blog Watch. Some are actually new while some have been around a while but are just now being listed, inlcuding a couple from down under. I’ve started reading the following and think you might enjoy them too: Appellation Australia explores, you guessed it, Aussie wines. It’s a very new site having just launched on January 21st. Pinot Island is another wine blog from down under…Tasmania to be more specific. Lots of great information for those interested in wines in that region Grape Radio is one part blog,…

Get out there and get your Wacky Name Wines. I have to admit, I’ve not bought mine yet…but I’ll be doing so on my way home tonight. I only hope the wine shop still has the one I want! I don’t have high hopes for the wine itself…but the name is great! Join us…and contact Pim over at Chez Pim and let her know the URL for your post!  

Beans. Nena and I eat them pretty regularly because they’re good for ya (and great on the pre-wedding budget). But how to pick one recipe out of probably the dozen or so we use? Should I go with Nena’s Italian-inspired white bean burgers? How about our smokey black bean soup? Maybe the new fallafel recipe Nena tried out just last night? Nope. Our new favorite homemade bean burgers get the honor. And, because I’m using them for IMBB #11 (hosted by My Little Kitchen), I renamed them Southwest Blog Burning Bean Burgers. They’re pretty easy, very flexible and absolutely deliciously…