In its beginnings–in Cuba, in the 1910s–the cocktail combined only local Bacardi rum, grenadine, and French vermouth. A mixture so humdrum that many a drink historian has posited, convincingly, that the only possible explanation for its long-ago popularity with visiting yanquis was…
SHAKESPEARE’S OBSESSION WITH ITALY IS WELL DOCUMENTED. A third of his plays were set in il bel paese and two were set in the obsession-worthy city of Verona. I too am obsessed with Verona...nay, addicted. Over the past 25 years, I’ve…
TOASTY OAK, SCORCHED EARTH, ROASTED COFFEE BEAN AND SMOKE...Once used to describe some barrel-aged wines, the descriptive term “smoke” has come to mean something far more literal since the turn of the century — the smell and taste of actual…
WITH A GLASS OF A LIGHT, BERRYFORWARD and thoroughly delicious red wine in my hand, I gaze out over the town of Deutsch Schützen in the Eisenberg sub-region of Burgenland while the winemaker describes where we are...and why. Burgenland is…
Among them the pastoral beauty of the country house and 400-acre farm, its excellent cookery school, a long-standing fervent commitment to serving the best local products — and an iconic dessert trolley, named best in the world at the 2019…
IT’S NO SECRET THAT PEOPLE IN THE WINE TRADE HAVE A DISPROPORTIONATE LOVE FOR RIESLING AND GERMAN RIESLING IN PARTICULAR. It’s the grape that sommeliers venerate, bathe in, bring to parties. At a master sommelier conference some years ago, the…
If you like art with your liquid, Cocktails, A Still Life is the book for you. The writing, by esteemed cocktail professor Christine Sismondo and prolific cocktail writer James Waller, is succinct, evocative, and witty. The art, by Todd M.…
First, there was la grandmère Bras (Angèle), who bought the place in 1956 to serve her refined country cooking. In 1968 her son Michel Bras moved in behind the stoves and swiftly rode a whirlwind of creativity and finesse to two…
