Food & Wine — Patty Lyn Tweten

  Continued from Part I Jeanne Krug: Mme Krug married into the 3rd generation of House Krug. She distinguished herself not as a widow, but as a formidable leader and an heroic individual during her husband’s imprisonment in Germany between 1915 and 1917. A young woman and mother of a toddler, she guided the winery through the First World War. During the thousand-day bombardment of Reims that destroyed 80% of the village, Mme Krug opened up the House Krug cellars to shelter Reims citizens and troops during the bombardment, providing a school, chapel and infirmary in the cellars. She also led...

Historically, men have dominated the field of winemaking. When it comes to champagne, it is surprising that women have been pivotal in transforming the beverage from an overly sweet, cloudy carbonated dessert wine to the glamorous, sparklingly-clear champagne celebrated today. Some aspects of champagne’s Methode Traditionnelle can be traced directly to the Grandes Dames de Champagne—the women who seized the reigns of champagne houses through inheritance and bravado.  Les Grandes Dames In 19th-century France, women could not own a business without the permission of their husband or father unless they were widowed. The widows who controlled champagne houses in that...

  The package arrived unceremoniously at my front door—6 bottles of wine from Plume Ridge Bottle Shop with a note from Wine Buyer, Monica Yu, “This is for your article about the right way to pair wine with cheese and a lovely Holiday Cheese spread as prepared by Patty Lyn.” Challenge accepted.  I’d be crazy not to take advantage of this situation. There was one, inconsequential hiccup ... I am not a cheese expert, so I immediately did 2 things: Jumped on the internet Called my French friends Google is a large, lonely intimidating place for a culinary excursion. However,...

  Thanksgiving is just around the corner, followed by the trifecta of winter holidays: Hanukkah (12/18-12/26), Christmas and New Year’s Eve. With the addition of Kwanzaa (12/26 - 1/1/23), the season of gratitude, gift-giving and feasting is upon us. Many holiday hosts are scouring the internet for new takes on traditional recipes — and the best wines to highlight those dishes.How did the United States — a country founded by Pilgrims and molded by Puritans—beget a series of harvest and yuletide celebrations so closely associated with the enjoyment of wine?It turns out that early Americans were, in fact, not teetotallers...

 Photo Credit: Clos de la Tech The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA is perched atop the Peninsula Ridge overlooking the land of Google, Facebook, Apple and venture capitalists known as Silicon Valley. To the west, its steep slopes fall away to some of the most rugged portions of the San Mateo county coastline. The region stretches to the south above coastal surf towns on the coast and peeks over at inland ag towns in the Santa Clara Valley. In short, it’s enormous. With a total size of 322,000 acres, it is the largest California AVA.  The AVA was established at the...