Wine & Words

La Posta Cocina Blend
The folks at Vine Connections specialize in Argentine wines. They bring us the wines of Susana Balbo, as well as the Luca, Budini and Mapema. Often they would meet grape growers and wine makers at a posta del vinatero or "tavern of the grape grower."  Their La Posta line celebrates these traverns where winemakers "drank wine and spoke passionately for hours about their soils, their vines, and their quest for superior flavors in their grapes."
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Bodega Catena Zapata
Founding grandfather Nicola Catena sailed from Italy in 1898 to avoid the famine there and decided he had found a wine grower's paradise amid the scrubby desert of Mendoza, Argentina. Nicola had a vision of high altitude vineyards watered by snow melt from the peaks of the Andes, and in 1902 he planted his first Malbec grapes. Malbec had been a blending grape in Bordeaux, but it was very subject to damage from the phyloxera mite that was decimating European vineyards. Nicola believed the grape would flourish in Mendoza.
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Long known as "The King of Cheeses", Blue Stilton is one of a handful of British cheeses granted the status of a "protected designation origin" (PDO) by the European Commission. Only cheese produced in the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and made according to a strict code may be called Stilton. There are just six dairies licensed to make Stilton, each being subject to regular audit by an independent inspection agency accredited to European Standard EN 45011.

To be called Stilton, a cheese must:
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Barbecued Shrimp "BLT" Sandwich. Crisp Potato Galette. Homemade Tomato Catsup. These are just a few of the recipes from Wolfgang Puck and such world-renowned restaurants as Spago, Postrio, and Eureka. Here he presents the secrets behind these and other unique dishes, and shows how we can recreate them at home.
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