Wine & Words

In my quest for really good wine that doesn't require a second mortgage, I move to France's other iconic wine region, Bordeaux.

Valentine's Day can be stressful for the faint of heart. Richard Fadeley offers some no-fail rules for a Valentine wine dinner at home.

Frank Cornelissen followed his dream to Sicily's Mt. Etna, where he established a vineyard and winery. A true believer in the purity of natural winemaking, he avoids all external chemical or other outside treatment in his organic vineyards.

The January issue of WineBlueBook rates the 2009 Château Léoville Las Cases, Bordeaux St.-Julien a "great value" wine.

When John Juergens visited California's Anderson Valley, he was overwhelmed by the natural beauty - and found some excellent wineries.

If there's one indispensible reference for the wine lover, it's Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book. Updated annually, the 2011 edition is now available. This handy guide packs an incredible amount of information into a pocket-size volume.

Here's a direct link to Steve De Long's delightfully geeky new wine-grape chart, a must-have gift for the serious wine hobbyist on your list.

At Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack, which just opened in Brooklyn, service is the star. The food, not so much.

This cross-cultural dish borrows from Japanese tradition for the tofu marinade.

The first American outpost of a South Korean franchise is appealing, and bewildering.

National Chili Day is celebrated at Virgil’s Real Barbecue, a seven-course dinner by a new supper club in Brooklyn, and more dining events this week.

Nate Smith, the former chef de cuisine of the Spotted Pig, cooks with close-up care at his own place in Williamsburg.

With his new Mexican restaurant, Empellón Cocina, the onetime pastry chef Alex Stupak defies conventional wisdom.

Though most Tibetans are Buddhists, who would avoid taking a life, they are also great lovers of meat, and sha momos — juicy beef dumplings — are the unofficial national dish.

Bad weather last year leads to a grape harvest that’s down 60 percent, a painful tradeoff for making a top pinot noir.

A choucroute made with sauerkraut, pork belly, kielbasa and hot dogs is now available at Dickson’s Farmstand Meats at Chelsea Market.

The Sumo orange, 30 years in the making in Japan, is sweet, with good texture and no seeds.

With only a few ingredients you most likely have on hand, you can produce a rich deep-flavored curry at home.