To learn more about Provence rosé and Château d’Esclans, please read my earlier post, “Château d’Esclans’ Garrus Rosé Bedazzles.” I am grateful to Win Rhoades, proprietor of South Street and Vine in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for his quick lesson in viticulture. Any errors here are not those of Paul Chevalier or Win Rhoades; they are mine (although they may be related to drinking wine while taking notes!)    What could be more fun than sitting in front of six glasses of pale rosé from Provence’s Château d’Esclans? Well, tasting each one with guidance from wine educator Paul Chevalier. That is what my daughter and…

By:
On:
In: Events, Wine

We began at Cave Aureto where we met our friend Pierre Schott, the retail cavistes of the winery’s cellar.   After a very interesting tour of their uncommonly modern winery and a tasting flight of their award-winning wines, we made our way to the terrace overlooking the vineyards from which the grapes were harvest.   Just before we eked out the last light of the setting sun, we moved to Le Jardin dans les Vignes, the wonderful restaurant that lies under the vine-covered arbor and stands above the long rows of lavender—it is the casual companion to the property’s gourmet restaurant with the newly acquired…

By:
On:
In: Food, Restaurants, Wine

We opened ten bottles of rosé within 24 hours last week. Good friends David and Mark were visiting their old stomping grounds here in Portsmouth. Since we had enjoyed so many rosés while we were together in Provence in 2008, we made those pink wines, now very trendy, our theme for a tasting. I’ve always been drawn to a good theme, a propensity that no doubt stems from growing up with my mother who had one for every rendezvous, be it birthdays—Huckleberry Hound, Raggedy Ann, The Munsters, Pink Elephants from Loch’s Bakery—or dinner parties—Mexican, seafood, San Diego Chargers. If my mother couldn’t get every aspect…

By:
On:
In: Events, People, Wine

Superfluous piece of information for the benefit of readers who stumbled upon this blog in a completely unrelated search: Bastille Day, also known as La Fête Nationale or Le Quatorze Juillet, is a French national holiday that marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille (prison) in 1789 and the symbolic birth of modern France. It is celebrated on July 14th with fantastic pomp and circumstance in France, in many cities around the U.S., and in our home.  Yesterday was Bastille Day. I know I should have been thinking red, white and blue—thick swaths of each color—as I arranged our small French Tricolors around…

By:
On:
In: Culture, Food, Restaurants, Wine