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May 2009
Valle del Santuario
A sweet, syrupy mouthfeel complements this coffee’s rich notes of vanilla, fig, chocolate, and spice. Direct from our farmer partners in San Ignacio, this is one of the finest coffees ever cultivated in Peru.
Counter Culture Founder and Director of Coffee Peter Giuliano writes:
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Kuta
With its profound, beautifully rich body and sweet notes of dark chocolate, cherry, and vanilla, this impressive lot from Counter Culture's partners in Papua New Guinea is one of the most exciting coffee discoveries of the year.
Cupping Comments from Coffee Review
Overall Rating: 93 points
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Gruyere
This extra special delicacy from the Gruyere district of Switzerland is well known as the basic ingredient in fondue. But with its delightfully nutty, spicy, full flavor, it is delicious as a table cheese as well. Upon eating Gruyere, one immediately recognizes the taste of whole milk that is used exclusively in making this grand cheese. We say it is grand because a whole wheel of Gruyere weighs about 80 pounds. In fact, it takes over 100 gallons of milk to make a single wheel of Gruyere!
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Tuxford & Tebbutt English Mature Cheddar
Historically, in the world of cheese, the use of black wax was reserved for premium products. For example, in the 1970s, black waxed Gouda was the top of the line. Nowadays, a rainbow of wax colors is used across the quality spectrum. Some of the more traditional producers have maintained the tradition of coding quality by wax color, one of which is England's Tuxford & Tebbutt.
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Something Fishy
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 4:32pm — The Wine Guy
It's common to read, in wine books and magazines, that there are certain types of wine that are meant to pair with "seafood." Huh? I think there's something fishy about that kind of generalization. Sort of like the old canard about "red wine with red meat, white wine with fish." Phooey! My wine and food pairing philosophy, which you may know from one of my little table-side lessons, is: "Choose a wine you like, then pair it with food you like. You'll like it!"
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Another Great White Burgundy
Thu, 05/14/2009 - 1:45pm — The Wine Guy
We had a lot of people interested in our "Chards & Cabs" Featured wines last week, so we're extending it for another week. But we also had a lot of enthusiasts for our Talmard Macon-Montbellet 2005, and they took to heart our admonition that there won't be any more of this vintage. We've got three bottle left (as of this writing). So we're replacing the Talmard '05 with a lovely Domaine Alain Normand Macon La Roche Vineuse 2007.
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Mom Ago and Far Away
Thu, 05/07/2009 - 2:08pm — The Wine Guy
Mom, Dad, Jimmie & Karen - 1950I've been working on a family project that took me into the boxes of old pictures. This one stopped me in my tracks for a long, reflective view. It was taken in the summer of 1950 on the swing behind my grandparents' house in Niles, Ohio.
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Chards & Cabs II - Flagging Down a Cab
Thu, 05/07/2009 - 12:25pm — The Wine Guy
Now for the most commonly requested red wine...Cabernet Sauvignon. Actually this grape, which developed its reputation as the backbone of the great red wines of Bordeaux, was the most widely planted grape in the world until the 1990's when it was surpassed by the other big red of Bordeaux...Merlot. Just as with Chardonnay, the Cabernet Sauvignon grape is hardy and adaptable, growing well in a wide range of conditions and producing different styles of wine depending on how it is grown and vinified.
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Chards & Cabs I - Chardonnays You Can Love
Thu, 05/07/2009 - 10:16am — The Wine Guy
It happens fairly often. A couple sits down to eat at Back Bay Cafe and Sharion asks if they'd like "the Wine Guy" to help them with their wine selection. The woman says, "I'll just have a glass of Chardonnay" and the man says "I'll have the house Cab."
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Fontana Candida Frascati Superiore
Created almost 2,000 years ago, Frascati is one of the world’s oldest wines, and Fontana Candida Frascati is the most popular Frascati in the world.
The grapes for this dry, clean wine are grown in the porous, volcanic soils located in the Frascati commune near Rome. Rich in potassium, this soil produces plump, flavorful grapes. Fontana Candida is the only Frascati producer that uses cold filtration and cold bottling to preserve the wine’s flavor and clarity.