Wine Media For Everybody: Easy Ways to Learn About Wine

My last post was really for the uber wine-geeks out there and I know most of you probably aren’t looking to go down the road of wine certifications. (Happily, I got a few messages from people looking to take the exams with questions—which is exactly who I was trying to reach, so yay!) 

I also know that a bunch of you are interested in expanding your wine knowledge, even if you don’t feel the need to beat your interest into the ground via endless hours spent reviewing index cards memorizing appellations, varietals, and obscure details. Nor should you ever feel that you need know all of that info to appreciate wine.  All you really need to know is whether you like the way a wine tastes.

For those of you that want go a little bit further though, I thought I’d make a short list of some favorite wine media that can serve as easy primers and maybe even help start you on your road to wine geekery.

Windows on the World

Interested in taking a wine class, but don’t feel like leaving your house? The book to Kevin Zraly’s acclaimed wine course is a great place to start.  It has all the basics of what you need to know about all the major wine regions of the world, and even basics on tasting, pairing, and wine buying.

My little bro got me my copy as an x-mas gift when I was just starting to delve more deeply into wine and I still keep it around for a quick reference.

Uncorked! Wine Made Simple with Ted Allen

A few years ago, PBS aired a series on the basics of wine narrated by Ted Allen, from Chopped and Queer Eye For the Straight Guy.  Sadly, the series only lasted one season, but it’s fast-paced, unpretentious, and will get you through the basics of winemaking, tasting, California, and France, with some nice bits of history and travel tips mixed in. 

Since it’s been a few years, this one might harder to find on TV, but it is available on DVD on Amazon.  I’m actually re-watching now, and will probably make Greg watch the France episodes later this week.

Wine For Normal People Podcast

Certified Somm/Certified Specialist of Wine Elizabeth Schneider hosts a podcast with her “Wine-Loving-Normal-Person” husband M.C Ice in which she walks listeners through the basics of all kinds of wine topics.  Each episode is like a quick, bite-sized lesson that you can take anywhere. 

She has some issues with wine magazines like the one I work at which I might gripe at, but there’s lots of good info here for wine lovers at all levels. I actually would listen to these while I was studying for my WSET Advanced Exam as a way to keep reviewing at times when I couldn’t be flipping flash cards or have my face in a book. At some point, I will also get my “Wine-Loving-Normal-Person” husband, Greg to listen to these as well. 

(Elizabeth also has a blog, which admittedly I have not really checked out yet, but I have no doubt that there’s lots of great info there as well.)

What to Drink with What You Eat (Book and App)

Maybe you just want to know what to drink with your dinner. This book works like a quick reference dictionary—you can look up a food or a wine and quickly find matches that are likely to work.  They also have an app, which is really convenient if you’re staring at shelves at the store or trying to figure out a wine list.

Wikipedia  

Don't underestimate this one.  I'm not going to lie, I use Wikipedia to look up wine questions all the time.  Curious about the Bordeaux Classification of 1855 or want to know where in Italy Amarone comes from? Query away—it’s up there.

  

  

Of Take-Out, Tissues and Index Cards: WSET Advanced Level Exam

(And Differences from the CMS Certified) 

A while ago I promised to tell you what I was doing while I was in hibernation at the beginning of the year.  Well, had you peeked in at me during the last weekend of March you would have found me in bed surrounded by index cards, tissues, and empty take-out bags lying around the apartment. Not pretty. The picture would have looked pretty much the same for the month before that . . . save for the tissues.

You might recall that about a year and half ago I took Court of Master Sommeliers’ (CMS) Certified Exam. After that, I decided I wanted to go further with my wine studies. However, even though I felt really lucky to get the opportunity to take the Somm class at the International Culinary Center, going further with the Court’s program didn’t seem right for me.  A huge focus of their exams is service and I don’t work in restaurants. My interests are nerdier than that. So, I decided to switch over to the Wine Spirit Education Trust (WSET) program because their program is geared a little more in that direction—it involves more writing and is a little more academic in structure, rather than being oriented towards restaurant work. (All in all though, to those considering doing both, I think the two programs help each other. I felt like I had a much better foundation for the WSET because I had done the CMS Cert, and I’m sure the reverse would be true. I even had questions on the WSET exam for which some knowledge of service was really useful.)

New York Neighborhoods Project: SoHo's Highs and Lows

It's been a while since I've worked on the NY Neighborhoods Project, and this neighborhood in particular has been a long time coming.  I spent almost a year going back and forth to SoHo (which incidentally comes from "SOuth" of "HOuston") to The French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center) as I tackled first culinary school and then their Sommelier program, and it's been over a year since I graduated from the latter, so I think it's high time we do this.

I actually started out to do this write up way back in the fall. I asked my friend and fashion blogger Miss Sophie from Les Anti-Modernes* to guide me on a shopping outing through SoHo. When we got down there, though, we remembered that both HATE shopping in SoHo. The trip was ill-fated.

In truth, I have a general love-hate relationship with the area. Walking down the stretch of Broadway that runs through SoHo during any normal time of the day qualifies as one the bottom circles of NY Hell in my book– just behind the subway at rush hour at the peak of winter or summer (both equally awful in different ways) and midtown between the 30’s to the upper 40’s. But there is also a creative energy to this neighborhood that is undeniable and you never know what you might see here.

New York City Staycation

I’ve been MIA for a while, and I’ll explain about where I’ve been soon.  In the meantime,  I think it’s time to bring things back to NYC.

It’s easy to love NY right now. The flowers are blooming, the air is crisp, the skies are blue.  It wasn’t so easy to love NY just a few weeks ago, in the middle of winter, when the air was freezing, my skin was itchy with eczema, and I was going stir crazy with cabin fever. It just happens that our anniversary falls in the middle of February, right around Valentine’s, when the seemingly endless winter makes NY anything but romantic.  This was our 5^th Anniversary and honestly, I was hoping to get the hell out of town . . . but that just wasn’t in the cards at that moment.  So we decided to have a little stay-cation and pack it with a bunch of our NYC favorite things—along with a special splurge—and remind ourselves of what makes NYC great, even in the bleakest part of winter. 

We started our tour of treats on Valentine’s with a low-key lobster roll date.  If you follow my instagram feed at all (http://instagram.com/nibblinggypsy, @nibblinggypsy), you probably know that I LOVE Luke’s Lobster rolls. Ever since I first tried them in the East Village, I’ve required a regular fix of these guys. Luckily, they soon opened a location near me on the Upper West Side. Nothing says love like lobster.

One of the best parts of living here is that you can find just about any cuisine anytime. (Well, the options in Mexican food are a little lacking, but otherwise take your pick.) In the middle of winter, ramen is a go-to to keep warm. There are several noodle shops that get buzz downtown, but accessibility is key when you need to thaw out, and we live uptown. Our favorite hole in the wall is Menkui Tei.

 

I’m sure it’s unorthodox, and possibly even blasphemous, but Greg and I like to mix the Extra Spicy with the rich pork broth of the Tonkatsu Ramen. Their Shumai are also pretty rocking. 

We made a romantic evening at home one night with a selection of meats from Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto.  The restaurant serves a delicious selection of Italian food typical of Parma; however, the attached salumi shop is becoming kind of indispensible to Greg and I.

 

Anytime we want a no-fuss treat at home—whether to entertain or just to splurge on ourselves—we pick up few meats from the Salumeria, a couple of cheeses, and bread and pair it with some good wine.   (The Porchetta, Sopressata Picante, and Prosciutto di San Daniele are some of our favorites, but its always fun to try new things.) This spread makes for a cozy evening that feels extravagantly decadent, but with a reasonable price tag.

Ok, so we did more than just eat on our little staycation.  Central Park has a soft spot in our hearts. It’s the place I go to take mini-escapes from this city’s almost constant crazy times.  For his part, Greg has photographed it up and down.  We might go there all the time, we definitely had to make it part of in-city break as well.

Just a few blocks south of the park is MoMA. This is one of my favorite of NYC’s countless museums.  It’s a manageable size to tackle in the afternoon, they have great collections, and they tend to have great exhibitions as well.

 

 And then there are the cocktails.  Yeah. The cocktails. Nothing caps off an afternoon of gazing at fine works of art like a finely crafted cocktail in a stylish and chic setting, and luckily there’s the Bar Room at the Modern to help you out.

Ok, these were some of the already favorite NYC things we packed into the weekend. Nothing particularly extravagant, just favorites . . . but there was also a splurge . . . Le Bernardin!  That NY classic and restaurant home of the ever- elegant Eric Ripert was on my NYC fine-dining bucket list.  Le Bernardin offers three tasting menus for lunch and dinner: a basic 3-course prix fixe for lunch or 4-course for dinner; the Le Bernardin Tasting menu; and the Chef’s Tasting.  The offerings on all of the menus are rotated regularly. We got in for a late lunch and took advantage of the Le Bernardin Tasting menu. Friends who’d ventured here before (and even after) me, had given me somewhat mixed reviews—from just pretty good to amazing. I suppose this makes sense given the constantly changing menu and variability of tastes. Admittedly, I found the service style to be a wee bit on the stuffy side, but the food was fantastic. 

Each dish was a beautiful seafood creation.  Rather than a rock concert of bold flavors, each course was more like a ballet or a symphony; subtle and ethereal.  Thinly sliced scallops floated through my mouth on a wave of lime-shiso broth.  The lobster lasagna was decadently creamy, but melted on my tongue. And the Roasted Monkfish showed just the right amount of sass with a smoky, cumin-wine sauce.

What more can I say? The staycation was a needed bright spot that helped me pull through what seemed like an endless winter. (Thanks, Honey!) Now I'm just trying to enjoy Spring while it lasts.

L.A. Niblets

To finish up with Cali travels from last year, I thought I'd share some quick scenes from my trips to LA. I made two visits to my old home to see friends get married–both of which were beautiful. Just to give you quick highlights, a flash mob dance and a Ren Fair party complete with fire eaters were involved. In between weddings, I managed to see other friends and get a few good meals in. I covered L.A. in great depth in my last blog, Oh, Nothing Much, while I lived there, so for now I'll show off some niblet shots to share some new finds and old favorites.