http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room Ray Isle's Wine Blog en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:03:14 -0500 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:27:00 -0500 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2009/7/7/Beers-for-Summer-but-not-just-Summer-Beers I wound up on the CBS Early Show on July 4th, talking about beers for Independence Day. That, to my mind, meant craft beers brewed in America, as a kind of celebration of our country's history of small-business entrepreneurship and also as a cele... News Holidays Beer Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:27:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2009/7/7/Beers-for-Summer-but-not-just-Summer-Beers Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2009/5/28/Cocktail-Recipes-from-Early-Show-Appearance After my appearance on the Early Show this past weekend, I got a number of emails asking for the recipes for the cocktails I mixed, all of which came from our new book, Food & Wine Cocktails '09. I should note that I definitely cannot take cr... [More] Holidays Spirits Thu, 28 May 2009 11:33:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2009/5/28/Cocktail-Recipes-from-Early-Show-Appearance Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/24/Last-Minute-SuperDuper-Wine-Gifts I know that I definitely haven't finished my shopping, so I'm figuring I must have company out there in the rest of the world, too. Here are some terrific wines and other items (books, chocolates, etc.) that caught my eye recently:I tasted a ... White Wine Holidays Red Wine Wines Above $40 Wines $20 to $40 Sparkling Wine Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:17:51 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/24/Last-Minute-SuperDuper-Wine-Gifts Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/19/Holiday-Punch-on-the-CBS-Saturday-Early-Show That ol' holiday entertaining season is upon us (perhaps you noticed?) which means that the season of morning shows running segments about holiday entertaining is, too. Which is why I'm hopping in a cab when it's still dark outside tomorr... Holidays Spirits Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:33:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/19/Holiday-Punch-on-the-CBS-Saturday-Early-Show Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/17/Wine-Books-for-Holiday-Presents This year saw a veritable flood of wine-related books. As always, some were good, some were great, and some were dreary. We'll skip the drear—it's already a worrisome enough holiday season without nattering on and on about bad books. An... News Holidays Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:08:06 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/17/Wine-Books-for-Holiday-Presents Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/15/Wine--Jaffa-Cakes I've just learned, thanks to the erstwhile blogging efforts of my friend Dr. Vino, that a large glass of wine is the caloric equivalent of two jaffa cakes and an onion bhaji. I think I'd be more alarmed by this if I'd ever actually eaten ... News Holidays Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:33:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/15/Wine--Jaffa-Cakes Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/1/Champagne-Now-Thats-What-I-Call-Service There's a remarkable article in today's Daily Mail, which I got to by way of my restaurant-critic pal Alison Cook at the Houston Chronicle, that somehow finds a charming note amidst all the horrorshow of the attacks in Mumbai (follow this lin... News Holidays Wines Above $40 Wines $20 to $40 Champagne Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:58:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/12/1/Champagne-Now-Thats-What-I-Call-Service Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/11/24/Turkey-Day-Wines I was on CBS's The Early Show this past Saturday, with some affordable wine recommendations for Thanksgiving (and every other upcoming holiday), and I keep receiving emails from friends wondering about wines that go with turkey, so evidently not ... [More] White Wine Holidays Red Wine Wines Under $20 Wines $20 to $40 Sparkling Wine Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:32:34 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/11/24/Turkey-Day-Wines Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/1/2/Champagne--Barbecue It's unlikely that many people reading this will end up at Kasper's Meat Market in Weimar, Texas anytime soon, which is a shame, because the bbq brisket they serve up each weekend is mighty good stuff (their dry sausages are great, too, and y... Champagne Holidays Wines Above $40 Pairings Sparkling Wine Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:09:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2008/1/2/Champagne--Barbecue Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/27/Champagne-for-New-Years--Beyond Champagne and sparkling wine sales are rising like, well, bubbles in a glass of bubbly this year—U.S. fizz-fans are on line to down about 900 million glasses of the stuff, about four percent over our consumption in 2006 (so says the 2007 Impact... Holidays Wines Above $40 Wines $20 to $40 Champagne Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:53:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/27/Champagne-for-New-Years--Beyond Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/21/Splendid-Table-on-NPR One of those self-promoting head's-ups, but I just can't help myself, partly because I happen to love this program. This Saturday I'll be on NPR's The Splendid Table, talking about my Holiday Wine Survival Guide from our December issu... News Holidays Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:06:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/21/Splendid-Table-on-NPR Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/21/More-LastMinute-Wine-Gifts Yep, still out there shopping, aren't we. Well, here are a few last-minute wine possibilities:1. In the realm of hyper-useful stocking stuffers, there's always WineAway. It's made of some secret combination of citrus extracts, smells like... Holidays Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:59:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/21/More-LastMinute-Wine-Gifts Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/21/Holiday-Blahs-Watch-this If you're feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of more holiday shopping, just click on this link to the Union Square Cafe's Unofficial holiday video. It's brilliant, and on top of that, the wine that makes a guest appearance—an 2005 ... Holidays Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:01:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/21/Holiday-Blahs-Watch-this Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/19/LastMinute-Wine-Gifts Of course, that's last minute for some people. For me, I think skating close to the gift-giving edge of disaster adds spice to life. Especially when it involves fighting through mobs of other time-challenged shoppers. Hey—hands off that bot... [More] Red Wine Holidays Vintners Vineyards Wine Books Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:50:40 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/12/19/LastMinute-Wine-Gifts Ray Isle http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/11/26/The-Turkey-Wine-That-Got-Away I'd meant to post this on Wednesday, but, well, one thing led to another and here it is post-Thanksgiving. What can you do? Other than be a more responsible blogger, that is?In any case, here's another mighty fine red that isn't extraordi... Holidays Red Wine Wines $20 to $40 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:06:00 -0500 http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room/2007/11/26/The-Turkey-Wine-That-Got-Away Ray Isle