"sommelier" news and stories

• This Nordic chef is a passionate locavore -- and in northern Scandinavia, that says a lot. (Think weeds. A lot of them.)
• Do want your sommelier to taste your wine for you? Not everyone does.
• Tavern on the Green closed last New Year's Eve. But maybe it was only taking a break?
• Is Kenmare a restaurant or a nightclub? Discuss.
• Here's a happy problem: leftover grilled meat. Let the fun begin.

Vegetarian vineyards? Photo: Tambako the Jaguar.

Gretchen Roberts writes the wine blog Vinobite, has passed the introductory course at the Court of Master Sommeliers and is studying for her sommelier certification this fall.

A couple of weeks ago, I gushed about the Domaine Carneros Brut Rosé Cuvée de la Pompadour, a sparkling rosé made with organic grapes and animal-free products. Other well-known examples of vegan wineries include Frey Vineyards and Girasole Vineyards.

What makes a wine vegan? After all, wine is made from grapes, not beef. Where animal products do come into play is during the fining process. After fermentation, most wine is filtered and fined, which is basically removing all the sediment and leftover dead yeast cells and such from the fermentation process. Most winemakers use animal products like egg white or isinglass, but vegan wines are made with non-animal products such as clay.

Want to find out if your favorite brand is vegan? It's not always easy. Winemakers aren't required to disclose ingredients like the information on Oreo cookie labels, so you have to do some nosing around. One great source is the Barnivore Vegan Wine & Beer Guide, a community project listing of vegan and non-vegan wines. Cheers!

Photo: Constellation Brands

Gretchen Roberts writes the wine blog Vinobite, has passed the introductory course at the Court of Master Sommeliers and is studying for her sommelier certification this fall.

Autumn officially arrives next week. Labor Day has come and gone, and we've traded our barbecue tongs for pots of soup and our shorts for sweaters on chilly nights. But before you put away all your summer wines, consider this: Many of them, including Sauvignon Blanc, won't taste oh-so-fresh by the time you're in the mood for them again. Some of the best Sauv Blancs from the Loire Valley and Bordeaux can age for several years, but most inexpensive bottles are meant to be drunk ASAP.

What happens when you brave an old bottle? I tried a 2005 recently and the first word that came to mind was dank. It was like tossing a salad, forgetting about it for a week and then trying to eat around the decaying pieces. Blech. So here's my PSA for this week: drink all your unquestionably delicious Sauvignon Blancs now, before they become questionable -- the 2007s from the northern hemisphere and the 2008s from the southern hemisphere. Soon, the 2009s from New Zealand, Chile and South Africa will be on shelves, and in the spring, the 2009s from California, France and Italy will arrive.

After the jump, Sauvignon Blancs I loved, and a question for you: Which Sauv Blanc region steals your heart?

Southern wine. Photo: Amy C. Evans, flickr

Even in Louisville, Ky., a betting town where success is measured in wins, places and shows, few gamblers would have bet that master sommelier study partners Brett Davis and Scott Harper would pass their diploma exam on the same day.

The local boys defied the odds by becoming the only two test-takers out of 38 to pass the prestigious test last month, making them the first master sommeliers in the state of Kentucky. Harper's workplace, the Bristol Bar and Grille, will fete their achievement at a wine dinner next week.

With fewer than 200 wine professionals worldwide having earned the master sommelier title since it was established 30 years ago, two friends holding matching diplomas counts as a curiosity. Earning those diplomas at the same time is considered extraordinary.

"It's very unusual, very rare," confirms Davis, who's in the wine import business.

Gazpacho. Photo: Emily Farris, Fifty Bucks a Week.

Each week, we round up the top food articles we've spied Web-wide. This week, a special edition of our own bloggers' primo pieces from elsewhere on the Web.

Pervaiz Shallwani boards a bus with a stripper pole alongside a bunch of bartenders to harvest rye in upstate New York ... for Gourmet ... really.

"Mad Men" fiend Eric Diesel reveals his recipe for perfectly "clean" martinis -- a 2-to-1 gin-to-vermouth concoction at his Urban Home blog.

Mike Pomranz on the phenomenon of a cat opening a jar of food at Comedy Central.

Bruce Watson reports at sister site DailyFinance that the United States may "run out of sugar" in the next year!

Cook and film buff Monika Bartyzel notes that Michael Moore might be done with the documentary style that made him famous, for Cinematical.

Gretchen Roberts, our savvy sommelier-in-training, offers freebie gourmet treats at her wine blog Vinobite.

CoffeeMeister Erin Meister makes peace with the five-second-rule over at her culinary blog, the Nervous Cook.

Joshua M. Bernstein visits Scores, a Manhattan strip club, to eat steak (again, really!) for the New York Press.

Emily Farris tries to toe the budget line with a basic, beautiful gazpacho at Fifty Bucks a Week.