Articles for December 31st, 2010

Kiepersol Estates: East Texas Winery Advances With Quality Wine

posted by Andrew Chalk | December 31st, 2010 10:32am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Texas Wine, Wine & Spirits | 15 Comments »

View of the vineyards from the Winery at Kiepersol Estates in East Texas.

Tyler is not, as you may have heard, a world famous wine making center. Nor is it renowned for its vineyards. However, quietly and for over a decade one winery has been working assiduously to change that impression: Kiepersol Estates. The winery makes all of its wine from grapes grown  on the 66 acres surrounding  the wine making facility and tasting room. There are 14 varietals and these are viniferous varieties, the species of vine from which virtually all serious wine is made.

During a recent stay at the winery’s’ B&B, I took a grand tour of the whole operation. Jump for the details.

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Yummly, My New Favorite Recipe Site

posted by George Lewis | December 31st, 2010 10:00am | filed under Cooking, Crazy Technology, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Last September, we asked you to share your favorite web sites for recipes and you came up with some great ones.   A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on Yummly, a recipe-specific search engine with content  from many of your favorites, including Epicurious, Allrecipes, and other obscure sites.  Yummly provides lots of helpful search filters such as dietary or allergies restrictions.  You can set limits on prep time or cost.  Even though Yummly pulls content from other sources, it’s all presented in a common format.

There are supposedly social features, where Yummly will learn your tastes and suggest recipes to you.  I haven’t used the site long enough to see if those features are useful.  I don’t have business association with Yummly, I just find it to be a very cool and useful site.

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This New Year’s Eve: Mumm’s The Word

posted by Andrew Chalk | December 31st, 2010 9:30am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Holidays, New Year's Eve, Wine & Spirits | 2 Comments »

It’s New Year’s Eve! Here are a couple of sparkling wine recommendations. Mumm Napa, the California branch of the G.H. Mumm Champagne house, has three good options. As a general observation, Mumm’s winemaking objective seems to be to exploit the abundant fruit in California grape harvests when they develop their house style. This is in contrast with the cool climate harvests typical of Champagne, France’s northernmost major wine making region which produce a less fruity wine.

Prices below are approximate. The tasting notes are mine and prices below are approximate.

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Food Feedback Friday

posted by Nancy Nichols | December 31st, 2010 9:00am | filed under Celebrity Diners, Food Feedback Friday | 3 Comments »

Hi Dishers! Sorry I forgot to run Food Feedback Friday last week. You were probably busy celebrating with friends and family. Undoubtedly Sharon Hage is your  sister-in-law’s best friend and Hage just happened by to whip up a miracle in your kitchen. Or maybe you were lucky enough to snag a reso at Dennifer 2’s new joint, Lucia. OH NO. You were sick the whole time too? Boo. I lived off matzo ball soup from Gio’s New York Deli. E tu?  No matter. I’d love to hear all about the delectable and not-so-scrumptious food you have digested lately. (More on Gio’s later.)

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