Subject: Wine

• World Wine Tasting

  March 26, 2009

• Don't Drink the iPhone Wine Application!

  July 15, 2008

• Guilty Pleasure: Doug Frost

  August 25, 2008

• The Wine Pharmacy

  September 26, 2008

• Cellar Rat wants you to taste for a cure

  October 23, 2008

• The Drop hosting ODV Party tonight

  ODV is a local group of wine lovers dedicated to "demystifying the art of wine appreciation and discrediting its pretentious stereotype." The group's name is a play on the obscure brandy Eau de Vie (New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov has compared eau die vie's popularity in America to that of bouzouki music) and members gather once a month to taste different wines in an unpretentious setting without all the normal hoopla that accompanies wine tastings.ODV's monthly party is from 6-8 tonight

  December 17, 2008

• A refresher on sparkling wine

  For the New Year all you need to remember is this:Elvis Belts Exciting Songs.That four-word mnemonic device I just created will help you remember the first and most important step of picking out a sparkling wine, how sweet it is. There's seven classifications on sparkling wine but the four common ones from dry to sweet are:Extra-Brut (Elvis): Very little sugar, not enough to make it taste sweet in the slightest.Brut (Belts): Technically supposed to taste sugarless but usually the sugar is slight

  December 26, 2008

• Coming soon: vintage wine over night

  This next invention will change our culinary lives. Not in a two-bit way like the Magic Chopper has, but in the way microwaves or refrigerators did.Scientists have stumbled across a way to make the cheapest of cheap wine taste like a vintage pinot grown in the heart of Burgundy.It's an outlandish claim and people have been hawking various gizmos that promise to do the same thing for years, but this time it's respected scientists who have figured out a method that works -- and to prove it, they f

  December 29, 2008

• Best Lunch Spot for Illicit Lovers

  October 17, 2002

• Best Place to Splurge on a Glass of Wine

  October 17, 2002

• VDay minus four days

  The stereotypical Valentine's Day gifts are flowers and chocolates. Scarily, those are also the stereotypical gifts of Mother's Day. (Try not to think about that too much.)Chocolates, especially ones made locally like Andre's, Annedore's, Elbow Chocolates or Panache, are great and flowers are good too I guess. But if you're only buying chocolates and flowers you're missing out on the great opportunity that is champagne.Yes, it is customary to get a glass of bubbly at dinner -- but that isn't whe

  February 10, 2009

• Godfather of Zin at 801 Chophouse tonight

  Flickr: VelotechJerry Seps was a tenured professor of history at Stanford University when he decided to quit and buy an 80-acre parcel of neglected vineyard in Napa Valley. That was in 1976, right before the Judgment of Paris, when the rest of the world regarded Napa Valley wines as somewhere between jug wine and white lightning. Because the price per acre hadn't skyrocketed, new growers could afford to take risks, and Seps did, by planting a grape called zinfandel and calling his winery Storybo

  February 24, 2009

• Best Shot of Tequila

  October 7, 2004

• Vinino wine dinner tonight

  Flickr: Vincent.MIf you weren't able to make it to see Dr. Seps at 801 Chophouse last night but had your heart set on attending a wine dinner in the Power & Light District this week, Vinino's Wine Bar has a four-course, four-wine monthly dinner tonight at 7.The $45-per-person meal doesn't have a cutesy theme, nor is it tied to any event, but sometimes that's for the better. A special dish or the right wine could turn another boring Wednesday night into one you'll never forget. The meal

  February 25, 2009

• Pauwels brings the beer and a few surprises

  Last night I was fortunate enough to attend Flying Saucer's tasting of Boulevard's Smokestack Series beer. It was presented by Boulevard's brewmaster Steven Pauwels, who not only talked for 90 minutes straight but also kept the crowd of 40-plus enthralled. Tough to do when they're slowly getting drunk.Pauwels, who came to Kansas City from Belgium for the Boulevard job, began by remembering that when he first arrived for the job interview nine years ago, he didn't know anything about the city: "I

  March 10, 2009

• Recession Relief: Harry's Bar and Tables

  Flickr: Mick See GhostsSpring is officially here, with its lovely 50 degree weather. Anyway, buds blooming in Westport makes us think of one of the most famous patios in town, which belongs to one of the best bars in town. I talked with Harry's Bar and Tables bartender Sonya Lamberg, who confirms that with more people on the patio during the spring, "that means more at happy hour."Harry's (no relation to the equally good Harry's Country Club) offers a happy hour seven days a week.

  March 25, 2009

• World Wine Tour tonight

  California, Australia, Chile, France, South Africa. Five places on five different continents putting out amazing wine. Each with its own idiosyncrasies. That's the point behind the third World Wine Tour in Kansas City, which features nearly every wine-producing area on the globe. The event allows non-wine-experts one night of access to a library of wines -- chardonnay from all of the above-mentioned regions and others, for example. Or sangiovese -- it's known as the grape of Italian wine, but Ar

  March 30, 2009

• World Wine Tour indeed a world of wine

  Nicolas Boissonneau with a customerI stopped by 801 Chophouse early yesterday to see if the World Wine Tour was really serving more than 300 wines. It was. The tour opened to the public at 5:30 p.m. but from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. was an industry-only event that resembled a street market, not a hoity-toity wine tasting. In each and every corner of the massive steakhouse was the cacophony of deals being done and great wine being poured.I talked with wine producers from Argentina to New Zealand -- as we

  March 31, 2009

• Taste for the Cure

  October 23, 2008

• Wine in the City

  December 13, 2007

• Made in Missouri

  August 10, 2006

• More to do tonight: wine dinner at 1924 Main

  There's already a beer movie and a bourbon tasting tonight so why not a wine dinner to complete the booze trifecta? Readers of our Pitch Forks newsletter already know that starting at 6:30 tonight, 1924 Main hosts a wine dinner with Oscar Renteria of Renteria Winery.Renteria is a second-generation wine maker. His father, Salvador Renteria, was a Mexican immigrant who worked as a barber and pool-hall hustler before moving to California and becoming a vineyard farm hand. After years in the busines

  April 16, 2009

• A Good Bottle of Dick

  January 26, 2006

• Uncorked

  The Crossroads District gets a Cellar Rat next year.

  December 22, 2005

• Wine Whine

  Hey, cheapskate, tip on the wine, too.

  December 15, 2005

• Songs of Sommer

  Dwight Frizzell builds a Bridge.

  July 7, 2005

• The Grapes of Mirth

  Jonathan Nossiter's wine documentary is subversive, funny and humane.

  June 30, 2005

• Wine Makes Us Wet

  For a state that still clings to its dry past, Kansas makes surprisingly good wine. But don’t try to ship it.

  September 30, 2004

• A Shiraz Thing

  At Shiraz, a plate tells a thousand words.

  April 17, 2003

• Swish and Spit

  A local master of wine drinks to the publication of his book.

  October 18, 2001

• Missouri wines bring home the gold

  Look who's racking up the wins in national and even international competitions. None other than several regional wineries.St. James Winery, about an hour south of Columbia, Missouri, returned from the 16th annual Monterey Wine Competition with three double-gold medals and one gold, for chardonel, concord dessert wine, strawberry wine and country red wine respectively. Flickr: Capn Madd MattThree Missouri wineries and a Kansas winery also took home hardware from California's 2009 Jerry Mead

  April 20, 2009

• Kansas says bring on the booze

  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has been busy lately. She signed 12 new bills into law yesterday. Hidden in the middle of the press release her office sent out was Senate Bill 212, "an act concerning alcoholic beverages" and more specifically, "concerning shipment of wines."Let's take a closer look at the eight-page bill (PDF), which significantly changes the wine-law landscape in Kansas.

  April 21, 2009

• JJ's Restaurant wine dinner tonight

  JJ's Restaurant on the west edge of the Plaza (910 West 48th Street) hosts a wine dinner tonight with Adam Sbragia, whose family owns vineyards all over California. His family's wine is called appropriately Sbragia Family Vineyards. The dinner will take place in JJ's Saber Room starting at 7 p.m.The five-course menu is heavy on game and seafood. The first course is grilled scallops with salsa martini served with a sauvignon blanc, and the second course is lobster panna cotta with a chardonnay. S

  April 21, 2009

• George Riedel tonight at the American Restaurant

  Among wine connoisseurs -- the kind of people who drop more than $50 on a bottle of wine not because it costs a lot but because it's good -- drinking out of normal wineglasses just won't do. As most casual drinkers are aware, white wine is usually poured into a cylindrical glass, whereas red wine needs a rounder vessel. (Quick wineglass breakdown: The larger the mouth, the more air in the glass and the more the wine oxidizes. For reds, oxidizing is good; whites, not so much. Champagne goes flat

  April 28, 2009

• Two wine events tonight

  If you're looking for some fun tonight, you're in luck. The wine gods have produced two events. Soho 119 in Leawood hosts a dinner focused on Asian wine. The five-course menu features items you might not expect to be paired with wine -- pho noodles, sushi roll of unagi, pad thai -- from relatively ordinary grapes like pinot grigio and zinfandel. The dinner starts at 7 and costs $45 per person; make reservations by calling 913-338-5800.If you need a crash course on wine before attending a pairing

  May 20, 2009

• Friday is National Coq au Vin Day

  Tomorrow -- Friday, May 29 -- is National Coq au Vin Day! The Food Lover's Companion describes this classic French dish as "pieces of chicken, mushroom, onions, bacon or salt pork, and various herbs cooked together with red wine." One of the finest versions of Coq au Vin (pronounced coke-oh-vahn) that I've tasted in Kansas City is served at Cafe Provence in Prairie Village. But when the menu was last tweaked, by chef-owner Patrick Quillec and his brother Daniel, the noted chicken dish

  May 28, 2009

• Natural wine and a hangover, or genetically modified wine and feeling great?

  Love it or hate it, genetically-modified crops are here to stay. You probably eat them all the time but since companies aren't required to state which foods are made with GM seeds instead of natural seeds, it's impossible to know .Now comes ML01, a GM yeast that its creator, a professor at the University of British Columbia named Hennie van Vuuren, claims can cure the headache aspect of the red wine hangover -- and for many white wines too.The science behind the GM yeast is well-known. As Th

  June 11, 2009

• The Sonoma Valleys of the Midwest

  The muddy water of the mighty Mississippi River doesn't immediately conjure up images of wine. But vineyards in four Midwestern states are trying to get their land designated as an official appellation area called the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Appellation law works so that wineries from a certain geographic region can distinguish themselves from wines of another region. Napa, for example, has more than 300 wineries. Those wineries are technically the only ones allowed to use the words "Nap

  June 15, 2009

• Trezo Vino Wine Bar

  May 7, 2009

• Wine Tastings

  February 14, 2008

• Italian wine class tonight

  The problem with learning about wine is that there is so much to learn. People will make the mistake of trying to learn everything from one book or over the course of a special dinner, and come away with their slightly tipsy head overloaded with information. Which brings up another reason why it's hard to learn -- it's only fun to talk about wine when you're drinking it, but that doesn't make for the best scenario to remember information. As with other complicated subjects such as classical

  July 1, 2009

• A few words about Bordeaux

  Notice the appellation sticker below the main label. The best place to start learning wine is with Bordeaux and Burgundy. While both terms are used a lot, many people remain unclear about what they mean. First, both refer to regions or appellations in France, not a specific type of grape. So right away, you know anybody who says "I'd like a glass of Californian Bordeaux" has no idea what they're talking about. Even fewer people know the specific grapes that make the two regions famous. Burgundy

  July 15, 2009

• Love and assault with a frying pan

  You might not think that novels involving food could get better than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, but a lot has been written since you were six. Each month, the Kansas City Library assembles a list of recommendations tied to holidays or the birthdays of famous authors. To celebrate Culinary Arts Month, Kansas City librarian Angela Kille has put together a "Fiction for Foodies" summer reading list.

  July 20, 2009

• The chance to play winemaker

  ​The sun sets over the vineyard where your grapes are growing. They're harvested and pressed before being carefully aged in oak casks. These are the dreams of those who have begun to consider retirement. Well, them, and Korean pop music producers. A recent Bloomberg article visits the Bordeaux vineyard of California-based Crushpad, a custom-wine company that has been helping clients create their own vintages since 2004. The French arm of their do-it-yourself wine operation opened in May of thi

  August 4, 2009

• Should American wines have lot numbers on the bottle?

  ​Buying wine you've never tasted always requires a small leap of faith. You can take the words of a trusted reviewer, consider the points awarded or ask the advice of the wine shop staff. Dr. Vino suggests that the United States might be able to improve consistency and help give wine drinkers more confidence in their purchases if the U.S. followed the lead of the European Union and mandated a lot number be placed on wine labels in an effort to track recalls and consumer complaints. Currently,

  August 5, 2009

• Murphy-Goode dream job winner at The American tomorrow

  ​Everyone has a dream job. Hardy Wallace just happens to have a lot of people's dream job. The social media expert (and blogger at Atlanta's Dirty South Wine) was recently named the new lifestyle correspondent for Murphy-Goode Winery. As one of his first stops on a barn-storming tour, Wallace hosts a cocktail hour at The American tomorrow night. Attendees will be able to taste Murphy-Goode wines (sauvignon blanc, sonoma chardonnay, sonoma merlot, sonoma cabernet and liars dice zinfandel) and

  August 10, 2009

• Pairing wine and cereal

  ​The finest meals can be happy accidents -- items that were next to each other on a grocery list or the last cans on the pantry shelf. The next time you run out of milk you might find an unlikely substitute in your wine rack! This isn't quite beer in your Cheerios, and you'll definitely want to keep your Merlot separate, but the art of pairing cereal and wine is the last topic on the Wine Library's podcast by Gary Vaynerchuck.He pairs a chardonnay with Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a riesling with C

  September 14, 2009

• The three wines you need in your wine rack right now

  ​You've probably had to cut corners in your home bar and there is nothing sadder than an empty wine rack. So in the interest of letting you shop smarter while still having the kind of bar that is ready should you suddenly discover your house has become a party, here's a quick guide to three wines that will help you through the rough times while making it look like you're living easy.Your dinner wine should come from Burgundy. As the weather gets cooler and you move towards heartier meals, ther

  October 5, 2009

• Wine in Brookside celebrates first anniversary

  ​Wine in Brookside, our winner this year for Best Wine Tastings, celebrates its first anniversary next week. The folks there hope lots of customers will join in the celebration at 112 W. 63rd Street.  The week's events kick off with a wine sale on Monday, October 12 -- five percent off everything in the store. Tuesday is a special wine and food pairing for $100 per person. At Friday's wine tasting, customers can enjoy a birthday cake from Andre's and Foo's custard. And a big birthday sal

  October 8, 2009

• Keeping it local: A holiday wine guide

  ​The Missouri Wine and Grape Board has a few suggestions for in-state wines you can select when looking for the right complement to your holiday meal. I've added a specific bottle to each recommendation  -- all of which are solid, if not world-beating wines. With the first course or even by itself, the MWGB recommends a sparkling wine such as the semi-sweet white Vignole from Stone Hill Winery. 

  November 17, 2009