AltWeeklies Wire
Blended Dispassion at Bharmacynew
So, fine, I didn't try the beer milkshake with Guinness — but think you should.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
12-08-2011 |
Food+Drink
Baby-Bucks Bordeauxnew
If fine wine prices are an indicator of economic health, then here’s the correlation: after reaching a peak of $3,500 per bottle in mid 2008, the price of a bottle of Bordeaux’s 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild dipped to a mere $3,300 or so in June of 2009.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
11-30-2011 |
Food+Drink
Tags: wine, value wine
Les Garrigues: French Underdog Comes of Agenew
The universe in a grain of sand? I’ll let philosophers of a William Blake bent wrestle with that one. But the world of wine in a single bottle? Why not?
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
11-17-2011 |
Food+Drink
Make Scotch Your Holiday Adventure (No Cinammon Required)new
This is the time of the year that spirits writers go all silly about cider this, mulled that, and cinnamon sticks (not to mention nutmeg, allspice, cloves) in everything.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
11-16-2011 |
Food+Drink
Dirty Dixie Martinis Infused With True ‘Kuntry’ Attitudenew
My boycott of Wal-Mart and other, rapacious big-box stores never extended to Borders, and I’m sorry to see it go; it was often the book-end to a Whole Foods visit.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
09-22-2011 |
Food+Drink
South Africa, Chile Deliver More Southern Sweetheart Winesnew
As was predicted — or perhaps threatened — the south is rising again. In the case of wine, it’s both again and for the first time.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
09-21-2011 |
Food+Drink
Tags: Chilean Wine, South African Wine
Indulge in the Culinary Triple-Threat at Restaurant Insiginianew
Salt, sugar, and fat: They’re the one-two-three punch of 21st-century food. In coming up with a menu for Insignia in the Fairmount, his new globally influenced American restaurant, Jason Dady unabashedly makes use of all three. Chicken and waffles are a case in point.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
01-13-2010 |
Food+Drink
Tags: Insignia, Jason Dady
Cabernet Francnew
Without cabernet franc, Bordeaux blends on both banks would lose much of their complexity.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
02-04-2009 |
Food+Drink
Tags: wine
2008 Riesling Reduxnew
My editor hates lists -- or so she says. So this will be a list disguised as a resolution: I hereby resolve to learn more about German and Alsatian wines in 2009. Yes, I'm as daunted as you are.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
12-18-2008 |
Food+Drink
The Omniboire: Washington Merlotsnew
A long growing season with warm daytime and cool nighttime temperatures gives Washington merlots from both banks of the Columbia River a certain advantage over Bordeaux, with its notoriously fickle weather -- though the two regions are located at the same latitude.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
10-29-2008 |
Food+Drink
Value Vino: Fine Wines for Hard Timesnew
It's ironic, given the recent massive bailout of Wall Street in the guise of making nice to Main Street, that some of the best advice on inexpensive wines should come from The Wall Street Journal.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
10-22-2008 |
Food+Drink
Tags: wine, economic issues
Wines of the Southern Cotes du Rhonenew
Red wines of the Cotes du Rhone, especially those from the southern end of the valley, have long been personal favorites, but I didn't know why until I read the following recently: Wines of the Rhone "offer an animalistic sort of pleasure" and "put us in touch with our primitive selves."
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
09-24-2008 |
Food+Drink
Normally Restrained Critics Orgasm Over 2005 Bordeauxnew
The pundits have also posited that even the area's lesser lights benefited from both the vintage's extremely favorable growing conditions and constant improvements in viticulture and winemaking technique.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
07-30-2008 |
Food+Drink
Outlaw Wine Series Shows Off Growing Regionsnew
The Ole Imports G series from Vinos Sin Ley (loosely translated as "outlaw wines") is meant to showcase the effect that different growing regions have on a single grape varietal, the garnacha, a grape native to Spain that is called grenache in France and elsewhere.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
07-09-2008 |
Food+Drink
Pair that Burger with Winenew
The notion of promoting wines as burger partners had its almost-perverse appeal.
San Antonio Current |
Ron Bechtol |
06-25-2008 |
Food+Drink
