California Wine and Food - Articles -

Taking a Chance: The Right Choice in Travel Part III

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 08:56:38 EDT

Monsieur Weber outdoes himself the following day. After breakfast on our balcony, we jump on the bikes and head off. It’s worth noting that on this somewhat overcast, sultry day, I have chosen European Female biking attire: skirt, camisole, strappy sandals, and chignon. As we pedal off, I envision myself as “Burgundy Biker Babe.” Only an American on holiday can ...

Taking a Chance: The Right Choice in Travel Part II

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:55:06 EDT

And then … as we arrived at our destination in Burgundy, it was apparent that serendipity wasn’t quite finished with us. Our surroundings at the Chateau de Challanges were almost too perfect to process: Butterflies from hydrangea, to lily, to primrose. A chorus of birds with seemingly inexhaustible lung-capacity chirped and trilled, and the perfume of 100-foot trees laden with snowy blossoms hung heavy in the air. Somewhere behind the scenes...

Taking a Chance: The Right Choice in Travel

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:18:33 EDT

In travel, there are moments of divine serendipity. Or rather, there can be if we allow them to happen. True, that does require a willingness to venture beyond our normal comfort-zone. But if we do, the rewards can be profound.

My mate and I discovered this in a huge way during our recent European excursion. His business took us to several of the EU’s most famous locales – London, Paris, Amsterdam, and ...

Taking a Chance: The Right Choice in Travel

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:53:29 EDT

My mate and I discovered this in a huge way during our recent European excursion. His business took us to several of the EU’s most famous locales – London, Paris, Amsterdam, and ...

Ritz-Carlton Caps “Kitchen” Event With Chef’s Challenge and Grand Tasting

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:32:14 EST

It started with a goat in a ballroom.

Mind you, the goat was very much alive. And the ballroom was located in Half Moon Bay’s Ritz-Carlton, one of the Bay Area’s most elegant hotels.

But the sudden appearance of the creature was purely by design. And during the next hour, the standing-room-only crowd witnessed a culinary “Battle of the Sexes” – and, the use of a special ingredient that undoubtedly made everyone’s new four-legged friend proud.

All in the Family for California Winemakers at Fall Tasting

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Mon, 01 Jan 2001 17:33:12 EST

California wine country. For most, the phrase conjures up images of miles of pastoral vineyards in Napa and Sonoma. But how about Grass Valley? Oakland? Santa Monica? Hopland?

Yes, Virginia, California’s “other” wine country has many offerings worth a second (and a third, and fourth) look. As wine-trade insiders are reminded each year at the Family Winemakers of California (FWC) tasting, there are few areas in the state that do not produce some terrific wines.

No “Chance Remark”: Monterey County’s Winemaking Winners

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Mon, 01 Jan 2001 17:02:11 EST

It’s every minor-leaguer’s dream: get called up to “the show,” lace up your spikes, and hit it out of the park your first time at bat. For Joel Burnstein and Marilyn Remark of Marilyn Remark Wines, the ballpark was actually the L. A. County Fair. More specifically, the 2003 Wines of the World competition.

“We actually shipped our wine in a bottle with a handwritten mailing label kind of stuck on the front,” recalls Burnstein, still shaking his head at the memory. “We didn’t think much more about it, assuming we wouldn’t exactly be taken seriously with that packaging.”

Médoc Marathon, Part II

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Mon, 01 Jan 2001 12:06:15 EST

Last week we began the saga of two Californians who participated in this year’s Medoc Marathon. Click here for part 1.
Start Slowly . . . Then Taper Right Off

A typical marathon strategy is as follows: go out slowly, get warmed up, steadily increase your pace, maintain a speed that enables comfortable conversation during the long miles, and save enough energy for one last burst across the finish-line so you don’t look completely horrible.

Médoc Marathon Celebrates Birthday Number 20 In Style

no@spam.com (Marianne Lucchesi Hamilton) — Mon, 01 Jan 2001 11:57:02 EST

You have to admire the French. For the past 20 years, they’ve seen fit to stage what may be the most spectacularly surreal combination of athletic achievement and functioning alcoholism known to humankind. The irony of this appealed greatly to my husband and me.

Doug (my husband) and I like wine. A lot. A collection of all manner of “hard” liquors sits, dust-covered and moldering, in our kitchen cabinet. But full wine bottles seem to disappear from our rack with remarkable frequency.