Posts Tagged ‘Travel’

The Sardinian Festival of “Mamuthones e Issohadores”

by Tom Wolf Every winter, in the remote Sardinian mountain village of Mamoiada, twenty men transform into the mysterious, masked, and pagan Mamuthones and Issohadores. It’s the day of Saint Anthony the Abbot—patron saint of animals and swineherds, among others—and the Mamuthones are wearing black handmade masks, brown fur, and 50 pounds of cowbells on their […]

Exploring Sardinia

by Kermit Lynch Last November with Gail and Anthony, I visited Sardinia for the first time. We landed in Cagliari in the south. So should you. If you are anything like me, you’ll enjoy the pace, the ambience, the quality of life. There are no tourist attractions like the Louvre or the Tour Eiffel, so, […]

Eloro?

THE SICILIAN WINES OF RIOFAVARA by Anthony Lynch You are likely unfamiliar with this wine zone of southeast Sicily, just outside the hilltop town of Ispica and its stunning Baroque architecture. More likely you know its star grape variety, Nero d’Avola. While it can be found all over Sicily, Nero d’Avola takes on another dimension […]

From the Archives… Provence

by Kermit Lynch Sometimes I feel under appreciated because some people think my life is one big vacation. They don’t realize the effort it can take to obtain a decent bottle of wine. Yesterday, for example, I had to spend practically the entire day at Cassis. It is not like I can just taste the […]

A Night on the Town with Marco Tintero

by Anthony Lynch Meeting Marco Tintero for the first time, several years ago at his winery in the Piedmont town of Mango, proved an exciting event for me. A longtime drinker—guzzler, if we’re being honest—of his humbly priced frizzanti, I had long looked forward to getting to know the man behind them. And Marco did […]

Burgundy

by Dixon Brooke Simply mentioning the word Burgundy is enough to raise the blood pressure of most serious wine lovers. In eastern central France, two hours west of Switzerland, Burgundy is nestled between the wine regions of Champagne to the north, the Jura to the east, the Loire to the west, and the Rhône to […]

From the archives… The Apéro File

by Kermit Lynch [a follow-up to Jim Harrison’s My Problems with White Wine] By actions, not words, Richard Olney taught me the virtues of the daily apéro, which is French slang for an apéritif. My Webster’s defines apéritif as “an alcoholic beverage, especially wine, taken before meals to stimulate the appetite.” Taken? Well, that’s not […]

From the archives… 1986 Cassis Blanc • Clos Sainte Magdeleine

by Kermit Lynch Back in 1969 before Bacchus waved his magic wand and made me into a wine importer, I was banging about Europe on a penny-pinching holiday. Needing a rest en route from Barcelona to Salzburg, I pulled off the highway to find a hotel. The nearest village was Cassis, proving that accidents are […]

Farmers’ Markets

Room to Improve? by Kermit Lynch   I brag to French friends about Berkeley’s farmers’ market: how great the quality is, what a large selection of organic produce it features, and that vendors here really are farmers—dear Annabelle Lenderink, for example. The growth of farmers’ markets in this country is amazing. For that luxury I […]

Visit Venice

by Kermit Lynch An importer of Italian wines, I have now and again found myself on the Italian wine route in need of some shut-eye. I try to pick nice places to relax instead of the more convenient autostrada hotels. Quality of life, that’s my motto. Occasionally I’ll wind up in Venice, a rather picturesque […]