Bob Blumer who hosts the shows The Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment on the Food Network is the author of this fun, attractive, and informative cookbook, Glutton for Pleasure: Signature Recipes, Epic Stories, and Surreal Etiquette. In many ways, both the book and the author are over the top but in very interesting and […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2009 Clean Slate Riesling from the Mosel region of Germany. Our […]

As I’ve said many times before, I absolutely love sparkling wine but do not drink it often enough. However this time of year, I make sure to celebrate with friends and family and enjoy some sparkling wine. We’ve made it a tradition to feature sparkling wine in our December wine tasting dinner. Each December, we […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is élevage. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Élevage is a French word that describes an important aspect of winemaking but has no direct equivalent in English. Élevage means literally ‘rearing’, ‘breeding’, or ‘raising’ and is commonly applied to livestock, or humans as in […]

Last month, I had the pleasure to participate as a non-voting judge during the Wine Press Northwest Platinum Judging. Wine Press Northwest is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the wine, wineries, winemakers, vineyards, and restaurants in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. The Platinum Judging, now in its 11th year, features the best-of-the-best from […]

Last week, the Wine Peeps team hosted our second Digging into the Cellar Party for about a dozen of our closest wine loving friends. Last month, the theme was Rhone-style wines. This month the theme was Red Blends, and we bookended a blind tasting of twelve 2005 and 2006 Red Blends from Washington State with […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2007 Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah from the Columbia Valley of Washington […]

Now that we are into the winter season, what better meal on a cold, rainy or snowy night than chili? Of course, the official name is chili con carne, which comes from the Spanish language and means peppers with meat. Chili is actually just a spicy stew. There are almost as many versions of chili […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Crémant. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Crémant is a term used in France’s shorthand for the country’s finest dry sparkling wines made outside Champagne using the traditional method of sparkling wine-making. The term was adopted in the late 1980s, when the expression […]

When I first heard that a new wine, food, and special events venue was opening in Seattle, I was intrigued especially given the high quality of wineries that were on board to have tasting counters. Last week, we attended the grand opening party for URBAN enoteca, and I am thrilled to report that my expectations […]