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Showing posts with label Local Food And Wine Tastings andamp; Tours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Food And Wine Tastings andamp; Tours. Show all posts
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Twenty-six Exceptional Cognacs For Auction at La Part des Anges 2012
Monday, October 10, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Bordeaux Nibbles And Fresh Markets
by Paige Donner
Bordeaux is the ideal-sized city to just wander around. In this sense, it is a bite-sized city that still offers enough funky and charming little neighborhoods to give you the feeling that you are exploring.
Chartrons is the traditional wine district of Bordeaux where, during the city's height of its centuries of wine trade with England, the wines were warehoused before being shipped out via La Garonne. Chartrons is now a charming district known for its many antique shops, lovely cafes' and trendy boutiques. Soon, it will sport a pedestrian zone as well.
- Chartrons Market, Bordeaux, France
Central now to the Chartrons District is the Chartrons Market Square and the covered market. About a 5-minute walk from the city's expansive gardens, if you turn off the main street and wind your way along smaller, norrower ones, you will stumble onto this covered Chartrons Market made of stone, iron and glass and restored in 1998 from its 19th c. original building.
Its walls are flanked with outdoor chairs and tables to enjoy afternoon and evening drinks and its perimeter is surrounded by delightful choices of Salon de Thes and lunch restaurants, many of which serve dinner as well.
La Bocca was recommended to me and when I saw the line going out the door for its Takeaway Sandwiches, 5 Euro which included a drink, I thought that was a good sign. I ordered a marinated artichoke and "Copa" sandwich (fine italian sausage), both of which were generously heaped onto a whole half baguette. About 10 diners were enjoying their lunch on premises, which is about all this Epicerie Fine can accommodate. With the business school just around the corner from its rue Notre Dame location, it does a roaring takeaway business for lunch. I took my sandwich and softdrink and walked the block down to the riverfront where there was plenty of open space and seating to enjoy my deliciously seasoned sandwich with other brownbaggers on this particularly sunny Spring afternoon.
On Sundays, if you feel like getting some goodies from the fresh market, the Chartrons Market is closed, but just walk down to the riverfront where the Sunday Organic fresh market begins from Rue Raze and along the river for a good several hundred meters. You will find the delightful French cheeses, pastries, roasted chicken and roasting pork, vegetables and crepes if you want a readymade hot lunch to eat on the spot. The other choice includes fresh oysters served with local Bordeaux white wine and crusty fresh, French bread.
The Chartrons District has lots to offer and some of the fellow American travelers I met had the notion that it was outside the city! Back in the 16th c. it was outside the walled city but it has been a bustling local neighborhood of Bordeaux for several hundred years now.
Other corners of Bordeaux city are equally as delightful and if you wander around the streets just past the Opera House you will find lots of beautiful little squares, most of which are lined with fabulous dining options. Just be sure to adjust your inner clock - after all, you are now in the South of France and you are in wine country.
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Monday, May 30, 2011
Château Smith Haut Lafitte
By Paige Donner
Read Complete Article on Bordeaux Food And Wine
Château Smith Haut Lafitte is one of those wineries in Bordeaux that has its own helipad. Likely, it's one of the only wineries in Bordeaux that has its own helipad, actually. It also has its own weather station and its own cooperage. And, yes, mais oui!, the wine barrels are all made from French Oak.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte's owners, since 20 years, are Mr. and Mrs. Cathiard, a dynamic "Power Couple" who can count Olympic Team competitive skiing, grocery store and sporting goods retail empires and an international advertising executive career as part of their storied pasts. But that was then and wine is now.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte wines are considered one of the top 20 wines of Bordeaux. That is no small feat. Just look at the company they keep. But having reclaimed the historic Graves AOC Bordeaux Château, which, by 1990 had fallen into disrepair, the Cathiards set about doing things their own way. It worked.
To examine just two facets of their innovative approach, let's look at the 2009 vintage, both white and red.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte - 2009 Vintage
Fabien Teitgen, the winemaker, and the Cathiards believe in whole grape fermentation. Grapes are not crushed at this winery. To help achieve this, the 2009 vintage saw two revolutions here: one for de-stemming and the other for grape sorting.
Grape Sorting: they refer to it as Optical Sorting and use a Vistalys Optical Sorting machine. This sensitive machine photographs the fruit and sorts it based on color and shape characteristics. A jet of air eliminates all the detritus and unwanted bits such as debris or under ripe fruit.
Destemming: The second revolution is also grace á a "revolutionary" machine. The destemmer vibrates the grapes which releases them from their stems. No splintering of stems results and only whole grapes, then, are released into the fermentation vats. The Château Smith Haut Lafitte winemaking team is able to use "precision and reproducibility" with these machines as well as keep nothing but whole, perfect grapes for their wines.
2009 Reds are: 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc , 1% Petit Verdot, 30% Merlot "The wines are taking on a lovely fleshiness. They are full and silky."
2009 Whites are: 90% Sauvignon blanc, 5% Sauvignon gris, 5% Sémillon "Lovely, ripe, concentrated rich wines just like a fine, sunny day. They have nice acidity that reflects the cool summer nights of 2009."
Dynamic Soil
While the term "bio-dynamic," is not used by Fabien Teitgen, Château Smith Haut Lafitte's winemaker, there are practices on the vineyard reminiscent of bio-dynamism. For instance:
On a number of vineyard plots, we have applied the same, gradual, empirical approach, to vine protection and developed a system based solely on copper and sulphur (in homeopathic doses) combined with nettle, chestnut, and horsetail tea and herbal concoctions.
This risky step has paid off: the vines are beautiful and healthy. - Fabien Teitgen
Teitgen also credits the use of organic compost - horse manure, vine prunings, pomace - on the 67 hectares of Gunzian gravel terroir with revitalizing it and helping maintain the necessary equilibrium between soil and vine. They use an innovative (not standard) cover crop between the rows of vines which helps revitalize the soil's structure, drainage and dynamics.
So why the helipad? Well, maybe it's for their Rich & Famous friends who have dropped in at the winery, you know, like Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.
Stay at the neighboring Les Sources de Caudalie
33650 Bordeaux - Martillac www.smith-haut-lafitte.com
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Saturday, May 14, 2011
Pique-nique at French Independent Wineries June 12 & 13
By Paige Donner
For the first time this year Independent Wineries all across France will throw open their doors and uncork their bottles to welcome visitors and oenophiles to their wineries for two days of Picknicking in the vineyards.
June 12 and 13, a holiday weekend in France, has been designated the days of Pique-nique by the French Vignerons Independant association. Already a remarkably successful yearly event in Alsace, where it has been drawing 10,000 picnicking participants during the designated weekend for the past 17 years, this year the Association is taking it nationwide.
Participating regions include Champagne, Provence, Bordeaux and everywhere inbetween - a grand total of 550 wineries, 12000 hectares and 31 counties in France are participating.
Why this is a bonanza for amateurs and oenotourists? For one, the wine will be "offered" for your picnic meal and many of the wineries even greet their guests with a glass of champagne or other aperitif such as Muscat ("offered" in French means free).
The real value, however, is in the fact that the winemakers and winery owners have set these two days aside to welcome people from all walks and levels of knowledge, degrees of enthusiasm into their world of wine. This includes winery tours, vineyard walks, in-depth tastings, explanations of what it is to be a winemaker or run a vineyard and more. The doors of the vineyards will be swung wide open, literally and figuratively, to all who wish to stop by on June 12 and June 13, 2011.
You bring your own picnic lunch, of course!
It's also suggested to bring a dessert that you can share, if you wish, with the other gathered guests and families who have chosen that winery to spend their pique-nique at that day. As you wish...
As Jacques Legros, of French main television channel TF1 explained at the recent press conference, Wine is like a treasure. It is at the heart of French culture. We are very proud for people to discover our wines.
The website devoted particularly to this event is easy to navigate and when you hover over the numbered indications on the map, all the contact info of the wineries pops up. Check it out here: http://pique-nique.vigneron-independant.com.
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Paris's Best Cooking Schools For The Hungry Tourist
By Paige Donner
Read Complete Article on Black Book Magazine
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Ecole Ritz Escoffier - 15 Place Vendôme, 75001
If you have a lunch hour to spend at a cooking school in Paris, Ecole Ritz Escoffier is your gig. First of all, it’s effortlessly easy to find, at 15 Place Vendôme. It’s posh, it’s excellent and the classes are given in both English and French.
Ecole Ritz Escoffier kitchens are located in the basement of Ritz Paris Vendôme Hotel, right next to the hotel’s working kitchens where they create all of the meals for the entire hotel. It is also, as legend goes, the inspiration for the kitchens seen in the celebrated Pixar film, Ratatouille.
But in spite of all the international outreach and friendliness (the school is also partnered with the Tokyo School, Vantana) it remains very much an iconic bastion of French Culinary Tradition. Executive Head Chef is the larger-than-life Michel Roth, the ninth Executive Chef the hotel has known in its 110 years of existence. His teaching team at the Escoffier Ecole is both accomplished and easygoing.
My class was scheduled for a Thursday afternoon from 1:00 – 2:00 pm. On the menu was:... Read Complete Article on Black Book Magazine.
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Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sharing Dreams to Build Connections Between People
Mission Hill Family Estate Winery Commissions First
Canadian Sculptural Exhibition by French Artist Nathalie Decoster
West Kelowna, British Columbia (April 13, 2011) - Mission Hill Family Estate Proprietor Anthony von Mandl announces a collaboration with renowned French artist Nathalie Decoster.
Her first Canadian solo exhibition, to be held at the Okanagan winery June - October, follows recent installations in Paris, France at Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Luxembourg Gardens, and the Bagatelle Gardens. Internationally, Decoster installations are located in a range of settings from London and Vienna to Brazil and Venice. Over Fifty Decoster installations will be featured on award-winning Okanagan winery grounds 
Von Mandl first encountered these magnificent works of art more than eight years ago when he visited an exhibition at Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte winery in Bordeaux's Graves appellation. Since that time, he has held a strong belief that an exhibition at Mission Hill would be a memorable event for winery guests, the Okanagan Valley and the Canadian arts community.
"What immediately struck me about Mrs. Decoster's art were the curved hoops that cradle her human forms to create a strong visual connection between the art and the outside world," says von Mandl. "These curved hoops are akin to the metal hoops that hold together the precious barrels that age our wines and are essential to crafting exceptional wines."
Over the years, von Mandl and Decoster have been in regular contact planning the timing of her Canadian debut and the winery's first exhibition of this magnitude. This year, Over 50 sculptures installed throughout the winery grounds will be enjoyed by guests who stroll the property, visit the wine cellars and taste the various vintages. The Decoster Sculpture Exhibition will be open to the public at no additional charge. The permanent installation of one significant sculpture ensures a lasting legacy for all who visit the winery.
"We hope Mrs. Decoster's work resonates with visitors as she plays with the notion of sharing dreams to build connections between people," says von Mandl. "We believe this same connection speaks to what we are trying to accomplish as winemakers. The parallels are undeniable and we invite art lovers, or the merely curious, to visit Mission Hill to discover the magnificent work of sculptress Nathalie Decoster."
Von Mandl's passion for the arts traces back to his European roots and earliest, fondest memories of his parents who fostered in him a love of arts, music, cuisine and learning. Mission Hill is a family-owned winery with a dedicated staff who shares its founder's passion for wine, food and the arts. Their dedication to wine excellence is coupled with a long-term commitment to support the visual and performing arts, essential components of the Mission Hill guest experience.
About Nathalie Decoster
Decoster lives and works in her converted factory studio in Paris. Her early work with decorative art studios led her to perfect her sculpting technique with an old-school master and the development of personal creations with new skills and materials. The essential mediums of her work include steel, bronze, aluminum, stainless steel and concrete. She employs vocabulary recognizably her own. An "art brut" figure is her messenger represented in minimalist geometric structures which convey philosophical messages about the human condition. With a dash of humour, she makes us conscious of the absurdities in our modern human lives. Helping us identify with these themes presents a password to serenity. Visit nathaliedecoster.com for more information.
About Mission Hill Family Estate
Mission Hill Family Estate is world renowned for its award-winning wines, stunning setting, architecture, and Cuisine du Terroir-influenced Terrace Restaurant. The winery's vineyards are located in five distinct growing regions of British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. Reflective of the origin and unique character of the Valley and meticulous 'Vine to Bottle' program, Oculus, its signature Bordeaux-inspired wine, represents the pinnacle in premium winemaking. Proprietor Anthony von Mandl and winemaker John Simes produce elegant internationally acclaimed wines with New World flavours and Old World refinement from this incomparable wine valley. Visit missionhillwinery.com for more information and follow Mission Hill Family Estate on Twitter @missionhillwine.
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Sunday, March 13, 2011
Paris Chefs Embrace Local Food
- Chef Yannick Alleno, Le Meurice, Triple Michelin Starred
By Paige Donner
Several of Paris's Starwood Group Hotels, in addition to independently-owned restaurants and cafes have dedicated their Spring menus to using exceptional, locally Ile-de-France sourced ingredients. Local here is defined as originating no farther than 200 km. outside of Paris. This both supports Ile-de-France regional growers and eliminates much of the negative environmental impact that long-distance transportation of food products requires.
At the Paris restaurants: L'Orénoc duMéridien Étoile, the First at the Westin Paris-Vendôme and the Étoiles at the Sheraton Paris-Charles de Gaulle, you will find these specially crafted "Local" gastronomic menus that are being served in their main dining rooms, for room service and even for conferences and meetings.
In addition, at Le Meurice, the triple-Michelin-starred Chef Yannick Alléno has created a "mythical and savory" menu which he has dubbed « Terroir Parisien® » that he is serving for his lunch time guests. A range of products he has sourced from nearby Ile-de-France villages including mint from la Forêt (52 km).
Similarly the new trendy Lafayette Organic on Grands Boulevards is featuring all organic produce and products from Ile de France. And if you choose to dine at the restaurant, Chez Bruno, you will have the chance to enjoy artisan coldcuts from Michel Ballereau, of Sceaux (14 km), farm-raised chicken from Pouligny à Jouy in Morin (76 km), and fresh cheeses from the 30 Arpents Farm in Favières (41 km). And that's not all, you will also get to try local honey from beekeeper Rémy Vanbremeersch and Carl Marletti's artisanale pâtisseries. And when you find yourself in the Denfert Rochereau quarter with an appetite for some local flavor, stop in at Ghislaine Arabian's restaurant, Les Petites Sorcières, where she is spotlighting the local produce of Claude and Catherine Gallienne from Neuville (67 km), and the fresh-baked breads of Parisien Jean-Luc Poujauran.
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Saturday, January 8, 2011
La Garde Robe
Translated, "La Garde Robe," is a closet. Which is about the size of this snuggly little wine bar just off the rue de Rivoli, a hop and a skip from the Louvre.
- Paris 75001, La Garde Robe offers Organic Wines
Wandering in late one night after a meal with friends, there were just enough stools at the bar to accommodate the few of us. The high tables and the low tables towards the back, were all full of revelers who had the appearance of having spent the entire night at the comfy little "closet" swilling vins naturel and chomping on made-to-order plates of cheeses and thinly sliced meats.
La Garde Robe has a loyal following and locals will name it as one of Paris's top wine bars. You can get a good glass of red for anywhere between Euro 3,50 and 7,00. Come with a sense of adventure, ready to try something you haven't before. It might be within a recognizable apellation, but likely you'll find producers you haven't yet tried.
Or just come for the ambiance. It's one of those exquisite central Paris hole-in-the-wall wine bars that you'd never know was there until you purposefully set out to look for it. And on these cold winter evenings when a lighted window friendly beckons you to come in from the cold, well, if there's still room for you to squeeze inside, you'll be glad you did especially once you've tried a few things you may not have before. This is Paris, after all! You can also buy your bottles to go.
La Garde Robe, 41, rue de l'Arbre-Sec (rue de Rivoli) 75001
Transit: Pont Neuf, Louvre-Rivoli www.legarde-robe.com
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