The Spirit World

Did you know?
It was a tradition in German medicine that, should a doctor be dying, beyond all hope of recovery, it was the duty of their attending medical colleagues to offer them a glass of champagne. The Russian playwright and author, Anton Chekhov, was a qualified doctor. Dying of tuberculosis in Germany in 1904, this […]

Someone recently told me that there is a new lollipop company out there making absinthe-flavored lollipops, so I figured I better investigate. Turns out, its true.
Lolliphile is a new candy company in San Francisco making unusual flavors of lollipops. So far, they’re making absinthe-flavored ones, as well as maple-bacon. They’re working on more flavors too, […]

The warm days of summer are almost upon us — time to break out the white wine. Versatile as an aperitif and food-friendly, Sauvignon Blanc is as varied in style and complexity as are completely different varietals.
At a recent gathering of starving artists, the 2006 Baron D’Aliénor Bordeaux Sauvignon was a real crowd pleaser. Made […]

If you’re not a captain of industry or you don’t have celebrity status, then you might want to check out my Artists Picks, great moderately priced wines under $10. I’ll be reviewing a different wine in each post, describing the terroir, region and providing tasting notes.
The Douro Valley in Portugal is a spectacular landscape of […]

An interesting snippet from a BBC email highlighting the background to toasting ones health -
According to them ‘toast water’ was a restorative drink during the 18th and 19th centuries and a highly popular one to boot. It was made by pouring boiling water over toasted bread and left to infuse until cool. It was then strained and […]

I sent a bottle of wine back the other day as I thought it was faulty. It had a very slight musty smell to it in the glass and I wasn’t happy it was right. Now I’ve never sent wine back before in a restaurant so I was interested to see what reaction I got […]

A Japanese whisky has been voted the best in the world.
Yoichi 20-year-old is the first variety outside Scotland to win the coveted single malt award from industry bible Whisky Magazine, scotching the hopes of dozens of other varieties, including last year’s winner, Talisker 18-year-old, from the Isle of Sky.
Yoichi, which is distilled near Sapporo City […]

We can rationalize anything.  Or it certainly seems that way sometimes, doesn’t it?  Dark chocolate is good for us for its antioxidant properties, and there are proven health benefits to drinking wine.  All things in moderation, of course.  The American Heart Association’s research says that there are health benefits from “moderate wine consumption,” which is […]