ONE WINE GEEK’S THOUGHTS ON THE WINES FOR TURKEY DAY

Here is a quick four minute take on what I think about Turkey Day Wines! Have fun and share the HEL OUT IT with ya friends!

GRUB CLUB PART II: A SPANISH FEAST IN BUSHWICK

I joined Chuck Webster for another of his Grub Clubs. He had asked me to pair wines with a spanish feast. It is always a blast doing an underground supper club with this artist/chef/all around righteous dude and the night went wonderfully! Chuck’s friend had caught a migrating sea bass that morning and donated it to Grub Club. Chuck proceeded to encrust the fish with salt and what you are about to witness is the result!

This was my firat attempt to shoot video on the ipad so the aspect ratio is a bit weird. But I will get it right next time!

Enjoy!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Chateau De La Negly Part II

As we worked our way towards the Pyrenees and into Roussillon we made a stop in La Clape. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit one of the most renowned wine makers of the appellation as well as the entire region, Chateau De La Negly.

The story of this chateau is a love affair with land and vine. A man, Jean Paul Rosset who inherited this mediterranean wonderland from his parents and turned it into some of the most celebrated wine in the area.

The information in this video is so plentiful that I had to put it into three parts or else it would be the length of a short film. In this video Cyril Chamontin, Jean Pual Rosset’s passionate winemaker takes us into the winery to give a peek at the winemaking process. The diligence and focus of Cyril’s process is infectious!

Enjoy the tour and get ready for the next video when we meet the man who made it all happen!

Enjoy! Share! Comment! Spread wine love! WINE TO THE PEOPLE!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Chateau De La Negly

As we worked our way towards the Pyrenees and into Roussillon we made a stop in La Clape. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit one of the most renowned wine makers of the appellation as well as the entire region, Chateau De La Negly.

The story of this chateau is a love affair with land and vine. A man, Jean Paul Rosset who inherited this mediterranean wonderland from his parents and turned it into some of the most celebrated wine in the area.

The information in this video is so plentiful that I had to put it into two parts or else it would be the length of a short film. In this video Cyril Chamontin, Jean Pual Rosset’s passionate winemaker takes us on a tour of the many vineyards on their property. I have never seen so many different soil types and terroirs in one place and my wine geek brain was on excitement overload.

Enjoy the tour and get ready for the next video when we taste the wine and meet the man who it all happened.

Enjoy! Share! COmment! Spread wine love! WINE TO THE PEOPLE!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Lunch in Narbonne

We took a break from vineyards for lunch in the ancient town of Narbonne, the agreed upon birthplace of French wine culture. Join me as we take a tour of one of the most emmense food markets I have ever seen.

I can’t really explain how wonderful this lunch was. The images must speak for themselves. This wonder of a place is the definition of local food. and the restuarants and bars that populate it are serving up some of the most delicious dishes.

I took the flip cam in with me so as not to freak out the locals a bigger camera (it was their lunchtime) but got some great footage of the scale of Les Halles de Narbonne.

Oh and this one is only about 6mins or so.

Watch. Share. Love. Enjoy!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Chateau Mas Neuf

I’M BACK!

Whoa! What an Easter week I had. Running two businesses while trying to celebrate the wonders of spring holidays took me for a ride!

But I am back in the saddle again and posting my new France video!

Our second visit in Costieres De Nimes was Chateau Mas Neuf to hang out with the incredibly passionate and refreshingly opinionated Luc Beaudet. His approach to wine is simple: let the wine make itself. he practices sustainable agriculture yet is not worried about certification. Here we have yet another winemaker coming from somewhere else and landing in the Languedoc to make the wines of his dreams. Join me as I pick his brain and get a really good look at his terroir.

Enjoy! Share! Love! Drink! Wine To The People!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Marc Kreydenweiss

We now head to the eastern most region of The Languedoc-Roussillon by the name of Costieres De Nimes. This is a great story because we have a family that moved from Alsace to This area to make wine. They still make wine in Alsace have always had a dream of making red wines. When they arrived in Southern France they fell in love with the soils and climate and the one hundred year old Carignan vines.

Join me for fifteen minutes as I talk and geek out about biodynamic agriculture and pudding stone with Emmanuelle Kreydenweiss!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Abbaye De Valmagne

Here is our third stop of our trip.

Our last stop on the first day was Abbaye De Valmagne. This was very exciting because the area in which this Abbaye resides has just been awarded a new appellation, Gres De Montpellier. Once part of the larger Coteaux Du Languedoc now they can say they are part of a newer, more specific appellation and create a legacy around it. They, of course, already have a long legacy wrapped up in some really interesting history but this will bring them into the future.

This one clocks at about twelve minutes. SO sit down grab a sip of wine and enjoy! Oh, and SHARE SHARE SHARE with your friends!

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Chateau Lancyre

Our second stop in LPic St. Loup was Chateau Lancyre. The family bought the property in the seventies and began the challenging process of coverting the vineyards to sustainable agriculture. We had a chance to get down and dirty with the wine geekiness and saw some pretty amazing sights and tasted some great wines!

This one is a bit longer but the info is so fun it seems to take less time what it actually is…well for me at least:

Five Days In Languedoc- Roussillon: Clos Des Augustins

The Sud de France, an organization that promotes the wine, food and culture of southern France, specifically Languedoc-Roussillon, caught wind of my obbession with the area and began watching my video series on the many regions from west to east.

They asked if I would take my video camera to France and capture the magic first hand. I said….YES! YES!YES!

They sent me and my business partner, David, to Montpelier where we were met by the wonderful Sonia Augry and Laurent, our driver. Little did I know what we were in for.

Over the next five days I experienced something truly special. We travelled from the most eastern border of the this immense appellation to Pyrenees bordering on Spain.

I didn’t think my love for wines of this area could get any stronger and I was wrong. After meeting the amazing people behind these wines I fell in love all over again.

Our first stop was in Pic Saint Loup just north of Montpelier where we were honored to catch a glimpse behind the scenes at Clos Des Augustins where Frederic Mezy carries on the wine making tradition of his Father and grandfather.

They practice sustainable agriculture, specifically biodynamic, and it shines through in the wines.

I’l be posting one video a week for the next ten weeks from this trip ending right in time for the New York City Sud De France Fastival in June.

So get ready for some fun wine geeky stuff!

Please enjoy this seven minute tribute to Clos Des Augustins