Vermentino

September 7, 2024 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Feeling Guilty

Today’s wine is outstanding. It is nothing that I expected and yet everything I wanted. And I feel a little bit guilty because it’s a truly fine wine and I served it with a cod cake. Yes, a cod cake. But do trust me that it’s not a “lowly” cod cake; it’s a really wonderful cod cake. In fact, I called them Oh My Cod [Cakes]. You can get the recipe on... [...]

October 2, 2021 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
A Grape by Any Other Name

Actually, a grape by many other names!

Vermentino is a light-colored grape that has been determined to have its literal roots in Liguria, on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the northwest of Italy. Wines produced from Vermentino are most often found in this same region of Italy (also in... [...]

October 7, 2017 10

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
You Say Rolle, and I Say Vermentino…

There is no need to call the whole thing off, because we are both right; Rolle and Vermentino grapes are one and the same. The Italians make Vermentino, while those of you in Provence sip Rolle. I truly wish I had a bottle of each side-by-side to test, because I feel they are quite different. Basically, all that folderol about terroir really isn't folderol at all. (Now THAT should be a Cole Porter lyric, even though my nod to “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” is an Ira and George [...]

December 10, 2014 12

RAW AND ROLLE

Oysters are everywhere in Provence this time of year. Often likened to the American turkey at Thanksgiving, oysters—along with foie gras and caviar—are an integral part of the holidays in France. Half of the country’s annual production of oysters is consumed between [...]

January 26, 2014 18

CORSICAN WINE: INFLUENCED BY PROVENCE AND ITALY, BUT DISTINCTLY ITS OWN

Corsica is a gorgeous French island just 100 miles (170 km) off the southeast coast of Provence and a short flight (45 minutes) from Marseille. Its main draw has long been its striking beaches--some 200 of them totaling over 600 miles of the island's coastline--but did [...]