M. Senegor

I recently had dinner at a swank French restaurant in the SOMA district of San Francisco called Chez Spencer. Among the appetizers bouillabaisse was listed; so I ordered it. To my surprise what they brought was a red broth with some fish flavor. I had never encountered bouillabaisse devoid of "stuff" in it, and I was taken aback. This classic French dish, analogous to the Italian cioppino probably started out as a basic fisherman's dinner, where they threw in whatever seafood was available into a broth, and made a sort of seafood stew. It has now become elevated to high cuisine status.[...]

For us wine enthusiasts there are numerous regular irritations we encounter in our wine-life, from ridiculous prices, to wines that taste nothing like they should, based on their labels, to haughty sommeliers, and more. One which I have wanted to complain about  for the longest time but haven't, is back labels on wine bottles. It is now time to tackle this annoyance.I don't know if you ever read these. I regularly do. Almost all books teaching about wine appreciation recommend - usually somewhere around chapter one - that these labels be perused, for, according to their authors, they are chock full of[...]

Two decades of wine tasting has sharpened what was previously the weakest sense in my body: my smell. I don't know whether this is a blessing or a curse. At any given occasion, as I go through anywhere I sense countless different smells, usually subconsciously. Sometimes they interfere with whatever I am doing if the smells somehow don't fit the occasion or setting. Nowhere is this more annoying than when I am wine tasting. .I discovered this phenomenon years ago as a novice wine taster when we assembled for our Friday night blind tasting. Our hostess, a professional chef, who[...]

My European readers may not know that the movie Sideways (2004) singlehandedly altered the wine market in the United States, a fact most of us domestic wine drinkers now take for granted. Its most dramatic effect was the elevation of pinot noir's popularity. This fickle grape of Burgundy, which had previously been so difficult to cultivate in U.S. soil, and was beginning to make headway among mainly Burgundy affocionados, suddenly catapulted into the "A-list" of varietals to consume along with such better established partners as Cabarnet Sauvignon, and its white Burgundian sister Chardonnay. Along with this largely positive development came a[...]

It's New Year's Eve, time for resolutions. I am not one for such boring resolutions as "excercise more", or "lose weight". Years ago, many of my so called "original" resolutions exasperated my wife. These included such gems as "to throw as many parties as possible in the coming year", or "kick my Elvis show into high gear" (for those who don't know I am an amateur Elvis impersonator). As it turned out, she did all the hard work, as the hostess of the parties thrown, or as my sound/make-up person in my shows. "Never again", was the common refrain at[...]

Among wine connoisseurs the issue of what to drink to celebrate one's birthday is a special problem. I suppose some just open an expensive or celebrated bottle of this or that which suits their fancy. Among my wine drinking friends the most coveted bottle on such occasions is one that belongs to their birth year. As you might imagine, with advancing age finding available bottles of what is becoming as much "vintage" as yourself gets to be progressively problematic. My good friend the late John Morozumi, born in 1924, from time to time was able to procure his birth year wines[...]