Slashfood

• Champagne as Folk Medicine
  

  Filed under: Books, Champagne, Southern States

  The word "septicemia" probably won't figure into the next Moët & Chandon ad campaign, but for my money, the passage that follows would be a sure-fire sell (as if I need any more reason to buy champagne). Forget Granny Clampett's medicinal moonshine, i.e., the Hollywood version of alcohol as folk curative, and raise a glass to this well-told true story from One Writer's Beginnings, the elegant memoir of a true grande dame of Southern lettres, Eurora Welty:
  
  "What had struck her was septicemia, in those days nearly always fatal. What my father did...
  



• January Resolution - Ban the House Wine
  

  Filed under: Wine, Beer, Champagne, Comfort Food, Spirits, New Year's

  Confession time: what's the wine you buy on autopilot, the wine you know inside and out like a wife of many years, the one that's reliable, trustworthy, and has stood by you through thick and thin?
  
  A recent Nielsen survey commissioned by Constellation Brands divides wine consumers into six broad categories. Fourteen percent are Satisfied Sippers, who tend to always buy the same brand, and twenty-three percent (the largest category) are Overwhelmed, staring down the endless wine aisles and not knowing what to get. It's easy to draw the...
  



• New Wine Resolutions - Wine of the Week
  

  Filed under: Tastings, Wine, Champagne, Lists, Celebrations, Holidays, New Year's, Winter, Wine of the Week

  
  
  Do me a favor and skip the annual "I will work out more this year" resolution that's practically designed to make you feel like a failure, and make a resolution that you can really get into this year. Of course I'm speaking of wine resolutions, the kind that are easy to make and hard to break. Here are mine:
  
  1. Travel the world through wine. I actually get to travel quite a bit, considering that I have two young...
  



• A Celebratory Alternative
  

  Filed under: Parties, Wine, Beer, Champagne, Celebrations, Holidays, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, Winter

  Champagne or another bubbly might possibly be my stuck-on-a-desert-island drink of choice, but not everyone feels the love. Monday I posted my top eight bubblies for the holidays, but if you just don't dig sparkling wine, what can you toast with instead? Here are a few ideas.
  
  Syrah/Shiraz from Washington state or Australia, which is big and voluptuous, smooth and silky all at once. Skip old world Syrah from the Northern Rhone, which, though it hails from the grape's...
  



• Inexpensive Holiday Sparklers - Wine of the Week
  

  Filed under: Parties, Wine, Champagne, Celebrations, Holidays, Christmas, New Year's, Winter, Wine of the Week

  
  According to a recent Decanter story, worldwide Champagne shipments have plummeted more than 20 percent worldwide. Apparently people are realizing that $180 for a bottle of wine just might be a bit...much...in these economic times.
  
  Still, we have to buy our bubbly for the holidays. I'll probably drink some over Christmas, too, but New Year's is kind of a no-brainer for sparkling wine. Here's my advice: skip the Champagne, but skip the Cook's on the bottom shelf, too....
  



• Fastidious Boozing - Slashfood's Glassware Guide
  

  Filed under: Wine, Beer, Whisky, Vodka, Champagne, Cocktails, Gin, Rum, Stores & Shopping, Spirits, Liqueurs, Tequila, Brandy

  There's a stigma attached to those who extol the virtues of proper glassware. But the fact is -- they're right. The vessel used for your drink will affect not only the liquid that's poured inside, but also the way it hits your tongue, and the flavor your taste buds register.
  
  I used to blow this off as overly fastidious, fancy schmancy posturing. I hated getting pints of beer or glasses of...
  



• 2009 Wine Predictions
  

  Filed under: Wine, Champagne, Trends, New Year's, Food News

  
  
  Looking into my crystal ball for 2009, I forecast a year that centers around value wine. Not necessarily value as related to price, because there will always be people who can afford $200 bottles, but value as related to what's in that bottle that makes it worth $200? See below for my actual and wishful predictions for the coming year.
  
  Actual predictions
  
  • Value, value, value. This is no shocker to most people, but in light of the economy it will finally hit certain wine drinkers that a status wine priced three times higher than...
    
  
  
  
  • Accessories for the Wine Nerd on Your List
    

    Filed under: Wine, Books, Champagne, How To, Holidays, Hanukkah, Christmas, Winter

    There are times when it's not appropriate to actually buy someone a bottle of wine--say, if that person lives out of state and the crazy shipping laws don't allow you to. But that's not to say you can't still feed their wine habit with an accessory gift. Funny that the wine industry has an entire related industry of accessories--most of which, like kitchen gadgets, are novel, but utterly useless--but some of them are actually fun and handy. Here are strategies for getting just the right gift for the...
  
  
  
  • Holiday Wine for Everyone on Your List
    

    Filed under: Wine, Champagne, Celebrations, Holidays, Hanukkah, Christmas, Winter, Edible Gifts

    
    It's that time of year again when you're making your lists and checking them twice. I'm not talking about the list you're making for Santa (we're all grownups now, right?) but the list you're making for all those other people in your life. Your friends, family, boss, coworkers, book club, husband's office assistant...all those people whom you're not sure what to get for or whether they'll even like it.
    
    Here are a couple of ground rules I use to make the gift-buying process very easy when...
    
  
  
  
  • Book Review - A Year of Wine
    

    Filed under: Wine, Books, Champagne, Raves & Reviews, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

    Foodies know the importance of eating with the seasons--after all, who craves a beef roast and root vegetables on a hot summer day, or a fresh tomato gazpacho in January?
    
    In his new book A Year of Wine, Tyler Colman, aka Dr. Vino, makes the case for drinking with the seasons as well. "At root, this annual rhythm [of seasonality] is about weight, with fuller, richer wines in the winter and lighter wines in the summer," Colman writes, whether you prefer...