Editor's note: On Fridays Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 joins us to talk some Serious Grape. Take it away, Deb! As an inveterate grape-hopper, I love finding new grape varieties to tempt my palate and keep me from falling into wine ruts. The stranger and more off-beat the grape, the happier I am. I love discovering grapes like the Eastern European Rkatsiteli or delving deeper into Albariño. There is a price to pay for this eclecticism, however: you can forget to drink the six grapes that provide the backbone for wine production throughout the world. These six "noble grapes"—Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir—have been cultivated all over the world and been made into...
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On Fridays, Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 drops by with Serious Grape. This week, she explores Chardonnays. Chardonnay is one of the world's most popular grapes. If you love Chardonnay, you love it a lot. But many people are tired of drinking white wine that tastes like a) buttered popcorn b) toothpicks c) licking a piece of firewood. They're the ones who have joined the "ABC" Club (Anything But Chardonnay), and refuse to touch the stuff. I think that's a bit extreme. But I understand why the variety of winemaking styles, the overproduction, and the bewildering range of options might make you wary. Because of its popularity there is a lot—and I mean a lot—of Chardonnay in the...
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As a relative newcomer to the Serious Eats family, I've been gobbling up the feeds and learning about the interests of my fellow contributors. Two things I know for sure already: these people love food, and boy, can they cook. Every now and again a Serious Eats recipe flashes across my computer screen and I think to myself, "Oh, [fill in the grape here] would go great with that dish!" So I decided to give you a week's worth of food and wine pairing suggestions, all of which began with an inspiring recipe on this site. I don't adhere to many traditional "wine and food pairing rules," like no red wine with fish, so I'm including a white wine and...
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Every other week, Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 joins us to talk some Serious Grape. Here's the latest. Photograph from Zed.Cat on Flickr Is it just me or is everyone suffering from the early fall crazies? The Labor Day holiday is looming ahead of us. Kids need back-to-school supplies and rides to and from soccer, ballet, and piano lessons (circle as appropriate). Then there's your boss, who returned from vacation full of new plans for office efficiency and greater productivity. It's enough to make the lazy days of summer seem all but a distant memory. Here's my wine survival tip for late summer and early fall: buy a mixed case of wine now, because things will only get...
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