Wine

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  Sangria for Sipping

  BY:Ross

  After a long hiatus, during which certain of life’s other concerns made it difficult to find the time and quiet to write, I’m back… at least for now. And with summer officially starting in two weeks, Brent asked me to write about warm weather drinks “like Sangria etc.”   That’s a good point of departure, considering [...]

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  Aphrodisiacs

  BY:Ross

  Dr. Brent asked me to write something about Aphrodisiacs for February. I assume this was to be for Valentines Day.  He’s very brave. My post on hot beverages for the holidays was so curmudgeonly that, while I’m sure he found it amusing, he had to edit it considerably before it would fit into such a [...]

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  Tea Party

  BY:Ross

  Hong Kong is a great place to start an exploration of tea and there is no better place to start than at the Peninsula Hotel. I wish I had started there, but I didn’t. I started at one of the oldest Dim Sum restaurants in Kowloon (the mainland side of Hong Kong harbor). I had [...]

  Read More Posted In: Food & Wine / Non-Alcoholic Bev / Wine
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  Sympathy for Tea

  BY:Ross

  Greetings from the North Pole. I’m not joking. That’s where I am as I write this. Well, thirty-five thousand feet above the Pole, actually, on my way from New York to Hong Kong. I’m taking a long-postponed vacation and going to China for a couple of weeks (Dr. Brent makes me work on vacation, too). [...]

  Read More Posted In: Breakfast / Food & Wine / General / Non-Alcoholic Bev / Wine
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  Drinks to Warm the Bones

  BY:Ross

  I am not one of those people who find the holidays stressful and depressing, I don’t object to the commercialization of a religious holiday and I even like good fruitcake, but I do not understand why people of normally good sense and good taste have to spend two months wallowing in kitsch and sentimentality starting [...]

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  Gold in a Bottle

  BY:Ross

  A reader of the Nepenthe column asked: I have an unopened magnum bottle of Champagne Pommery & Greco, Reims, France. Does it have any value? I suppose it depends on what one means by value. If we are speaking in terms of hard cash, the answer is no. Non-vintage Champagne is not made for aging. [...]

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  Gift from the Vine

  BY:Ross

  The first time Josh and Dr Brent came to my house for dinner, they brought a very nice magnum of wine from Ridge Vineyards, a prestigious winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and some fresh eggs from their own chickens. I thought about this when Dr. Brent suggested several themes for my next posts. One [...]

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  Homemade Wine

  BY:Ross

  Brent and Josh make many, many things at Beekman Farm, but as far as I know, wine is not something they’ve yet tackled.  I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s on their mind because Brent just asked me if he could make wine himself and if it can be made from anything other than grapes. [...]

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  Put A Cork In It?

  BY:Ross

  Quick! Without thinking, answer the following questions: 1.    Coke or Pepsi? 2.    Briefs or Boxers? 3.    Paper or plastic? 4.    Cork or screwcap? To be perfectly honest, I don’t really care how you answered the first three. The fourth one, though, is a subject of ongoing discussion in the wine world at all levels.  So [...]

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  Organic Wines

  BY:Ross

  Beekman 1802 is devoted to all things local, seasonal and natural.  That poses certain challenges when if comes to wine. The closest thing we have to local wine is in the Finger Lakes but there’s not very much of it and, while some is excellent, the best wines can be hard to find.  As for [...]

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