Bill St. John – Page 6

Shredded braised lamb with carrots and red pearl onions forms a ragout to be served with farro.

Wines with bracing acidity pair with lamb ragout

June 18, 2018 at 2:31 a.m.

If I were a wine and I had to marry this recipe, I'd ask it, "OK, where am I pairing up with you? With the meaty richness of the lamb?...

The best way to learn about wine is to taste it. You will find what you like by looking at its color; getting a good smell of its aroma; letting a taste of it linger on your palate.

Resolved: This is the year you learn more about wine — here’s how

June 18, 2018 at 2:26 a.m.

New year, new beginnings. New to wine? I gather that weekly readers of this column are not new to wine. But a question that I receive with some frequency —...

Crispy fish cakes get a little heat from mustard and red pepper flakes, while onions and peppers provide texture. Serve them on a bed of sauteed spinach.

Wash down spicy fish cakes with these sparkling wines

August 18, 2019 at 12:55 p.m.

Many Mediterranean cultures eat fish for New Year's Eve; fish cakes are rarely absent from a menu that might include multiple preparations of seafood. These cakes, slightly spicy and with...

Weaker vintages tend to turn out extraordinarily aromatic wines; such is the case with the 2002 Rioja, 2011 Oregon pinot and 2006 Bordeaux.

In the shadow of stellar vintages are great wines often overlooked

August 23, 2019 at 8:03 a.m.

After our son Colin was born, in January 1983, I began a search for a red wine that I could buy from that year, then cellar for a while and...

Crab legs are sauteed in butter, then tossed with pasta and more butter for a rich, celebratory dinner.

Crab pasta dish shines with humble wine companions

August 23, 2019 at 8:02 a.m.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve dinners tend to be deluxe, even sumptuous affairs. This crab-and-pasta preparation fits the bill. It would seem fitting to pair such fare with wines...

A quick fried rice dish studded with ham, peas and egg makes an excellent dinner. Wash it down with a zesty wine.

Wines with zesty acidity match a fried rice recipe

June 18, 2018 at 3:56 a.m.

The convention when pairing wine with either eggs or ham is "don't." Ham is too salty; eggs, too gooey. (They gum up the palate and block any wine's flavors.) But...

Chile's diverse wines range from an earthy syrah by Koyle to a snappy sauvignon blanc from Matetic to a pinot from Garces Silva that is a cross between California and Burgundy styles.

Young Chilean wine country boasts potential for much more

June 18, 2018 at 3:48 a.m.

Many people divide the world of wine into old and new, a distinction based on time: the Old World has been making fine wine a lot longer than the New....

Priorat is a small wine-growing region in Spain known for its old vines, some 100 to 120 years old.

Weight and power of Priorat wines balanced by elegance

June 18, 2018 at 3:46 a.m.

Never has the hole of a doughnut tasted so delicious. Priorat, a wee winemaking area of only 4,500 acres, some 70 miles southwest of Barcelona, Spain, is completely encircled by...

An almost all vegetable pasta dish allows the diner to choose about any wine.

3 wines to pair with penne and peppers

June 18, 2018 at 4:53 a.m.

This nearly all-vegetable dish is super flexible for wine, which is another way of saying that most any wine fits, red or white, sparkling or still. (Not very sweet wines,...

Champagne creates a festive holiday mood like no other wine. The story behind its complex flavor might surprise you.

Deconstructing Champagne: Many wines come together in one bottle

June 18, 2018 at 5:02 a.m.

We know Champagne as a singular wine, in at least two meanings of that word. It's exceptional, isn't it? Nothing quite like it, this wine that smiles. But it also...

All Stories