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Ham’s On! Jamón Bar at Central Bottle

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It’s Thursday night and something neat is going on at Central Bottle, Cambridge’s newest and, arguably, most popular wine boutique. Displayed behind the massive ceiling-to-floor glass windows are groups of contented-looking folks standing around high-top tables, gesticulating and chattering away noiselessly. They look happy, satisfied and warm, despite the harsh winter chill outside, and on a closer look you see why – each one of them is holding, swirling, waving around or sipping from a glass of wine and periodically lifting something from a plate with their fingers and gobbling it down. Staring in from the freezing cold and windy, dark-at-5:00 p.m. Mass. Ave. you want to become one of these people – you go in.
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White-Wine Lull on American Airlines Flight 977

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Tell me you don't get excited when you see that cart coming!

We all know cross-continental flights can be pretty miserable. Deicing trucks breaking down, delays, 7 hour layovers, long, annoying, crackling PA announcements telling you all of this. By the time you get on the plane, you just want to watch the first 10 minutes of that dumb Adam Sandler movie and pass out under your complimentary refugee blanket. But sometimes you might need help in doing this, something to drown out the redundant, useless pilot information blasted over the speakers or the snores of the large man drooling onto your shoulder. Plane-wine to the rescue!

 

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The Wicked Awesome Boston Winery

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Boston Winery Zinfandel

Boston is known for multiple things – chowdah (clam chowder), the Sox, “The Depahhted” (“The Departed”). It is not known for its wine. All those oyster bahhs (bars) and clam shacks fill their wine lists with Sauvignon Blancs from Napa, Rieslings from New Jersey if they’re making a point to stay relatively local. A Boston product seldom pops up on these lists. That’s why when on a recent raw-bar binge I found myself at the famous Union Oyster House, poring over the sparkling white list in search of the perfect bubbly to wash my slippery treats down with, and I stumbled across a wine from the “Boston Winery”, I decided to investigate. And by that I mean visit the winery, not actually order the thing… With such perfect oysters, it would have been too great a risk…Or so I thought.

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Sipan Cevicheria: Peruvian-Japanese Fusion in Palermo Soho

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A few blocks away from the touristy turnabout of Plaza Serrano in Palermo Soho, SIPAN, of the same well known downtown eatery, has added a second location in the Palermitano Hotel.  Peruvian-Japanese mouthgasmic delights, a full sushi bar, a carefully chosen wine list, and top of the line cocktails including an impressive selection of pisco ideal for the perfect drunkeness, all make SIPAN a Buenos Aires classic for a reason. Continue reading →

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Zulu Vibes in the Indaba Shiraz: My First Wine of 2012

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Indaba Shiraz 2010: A Spunky Wine

After the holidays, my kitchen is a burial ground littered with the glassy bodies of fallen soldiers – the graceful green-gold Argentine Torrontés, the sweet topaz Royal Tokaji‘s of 5 and 6 puttony (necessary at any Hungarian family gathering), multiple Carmenères left over from a trip to Chile, a flowery Perrier-Jouët popped open during the New Year’s countdown and finished off in mimosa-form during the Sunday brunch which followed, and some harsh Russian champagne (-insert Cyrillic here-) which was bought out of curiosity and swiftly poured down the drain after the first sip.

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Malbec Re-Education at Lo de Joaquin Alberdi

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“Mate, check, alfajores, check, Malbec…?”

Class is in Session: The Tasting Room at Lo de Joaquin Alberdi

A few weekends ago, I popped into one of my all-time-fave wine boutiques in BsAs, Lo de Joaquin Alberdi, in the beating heart of Palermo Soho, just a few blocks from the always-busy Plaza Serrano. 90% of their customers are tourists who, checking the mate, leather gaucho belt, “artisanal” alfajores and fileteado bathroom sign off the obligatory Argentine souvenir list, flow out of the plaza, straight into Lo de in search of that last item, the famous Malbec, to take home to the fam. Señor Alberdi and his three expert sommeliers work tirelessly in educating (mostly re-educating) these customers, explaining that the Malbec is not ONE specific wine, falsely implied by the what-to-buy section of many travel-to-Argentina magazines, that there is in fact a grand variety among the Malbecs with the unique traits of each depending on the region it hails from. Gathering info about the tastes of their customers through personalized and thorough (sometime a half an hour to an hour long!) wine-tastings, conducted in their colorful tasting room, the team at Lo de makes sure that each customer leaves smiling and satisfied with not just any-old generic “Argentine Malbec”, but one specifically geared to his or her preference.

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So long, my Precious Tokaji! You belong to the TSA now…

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They took his precious too...Not cool.

“My Preciousss!” Remember Gollum, that creepy, desperate little junkie thing from Lord of the Rings? Remember how into that little golden ring he was? And remember what he turned into when it got taken away from him?

Well that’s kind of how I was looking a few weeks ago, as I stood at the security checkpoint of American departure gates in Munich and watched, speechless and dumbfounded, as the TSA pulled my own golden treasure out of my sealed (!) Hungarian Duty Free bag and threw it in a box full of shampoo, Listerine and lube bottles. I’m referring, of course, to the 6 puttonyos Royal Tokaji Szt. Tamás that I convinced myself to splurge on in Budapest’s Airport on my way back to the States, as a gift for work-mates back in Buenos Aires. I had told myself that getting such a perfect Hungarian souvenir, labeled “bottled and sealed in Hungary” is much cooler than buying some bottle at the Russian store on 84th and 2nd in New York, not to mention the fact that 6 puttonyos is pretty darn difficult to find across the pond anyway.

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A Midsummer Wine Night in Punta del Este

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Flyer for the event

Well, actually, there are two nights… in which more than 400 wines are available to be tasted at the “Salón Conrad del Vino”, a wine event that has become a favorite of wine lovers in the summer season. One of the classic images and representations of Punta del Este is the Conrad Hotel, where on the last weekend of January this major event is always held. The focus, as you may imagine, is placed on the wines of the region, with Uruguayan wineries as well as Argentinian and Chilean being the most representative.  But, as Punta del Este is a magnet for international tourism, the most important wine importers of the country also present a selection of wines from other regions around the globe, both New World and Old World wines. Continue reading →

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Wines With a Sense of Humor: Funny Wine Brand Names

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Oops, Bitch you Fat Bastard, big ass Gnarly Head go drink some Cat’s Pee and run around Naked On Roller Skates. No, the Entaste blog has not been diagnosed with a mad case of Tourettes, we are just really into funny-ass, wacky and weird, creative names for wines. We have scoured the globe, far and wide, (and by globe, we mean internet), to bring you our top picks for the best wine names.  Since there are so many bizarre wine names to choose from, we have brought you our first, of many, segments on the best wine brand names. Continue reading →

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Food and Wine Pairing at Hungary’s Cherished Gundel Restaurant

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The Gundel House

Budapest is not the most cheerful place on a December afternoon. Dark after 4:00 p.m., the city is blanketed by a dismal, gloomy gray mist, which seems to echo the collective cranky mindset of its inhabitants at this dejecting time of the year. Amidst the shadows of dead-tree-strewn City Park, one monument towers out, the Gundel Restaurant, the shiny crown jewel of Hungary’s food scene. At its swanky bar I am greeted by Sommelier Mihály Fabok, who walks me through how he pairs wines to dishes, highlighting examples of both harmony (smoked fish paired with smoke-y white wine kept in cured Barrique oak barrels) and contrast (tart, funky blue cheeses matched with delicate, honey-sweet Tokaji).

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