You may have been hearing more and more about organic and biodynamic wines. And you might be wondering, like many, what is the difference? Is it worth the premium? How many chemicals are really in regular wine anyway? Is this just a marketing gimmick?
You have probably read about China’s obsession with wine. If you are interested in the intersection of wine and China, you should definitely watch the documentary Red Obsession – narrated by Russell Crowe, this documentary details the relationship between China and Bordeaux and how Chinese demand artificially inflated Bordeaux market values which later crashed. And so it is, quite rightly true, that the Chinese are becoming big wine drinkers.
Ms Galatée Faivre comes from a family of winemakers and merchants, and grew up among the vineyards in Southern France. She has been a chief wine maker, consultant and wine critics for the past 15 years in France on the most famous French wine regions, and her family has been making or selling wine since the 1830s.
If you love artisanal coffee and are in the Bukit Timah area, do visit Assembly Coffee. Nestled in the leafy grounds of Evans Lodge, the entrance to this delightful brew meister is marked by an artfully designed three-dimensional logo.
Truth be told, when entertaining in our home, I usually start with bubbly or wine for our guests. And if the hubby was left to the task, he’d simply crack open some bottles of ice cold beer. The idea of having to shake up an interesting beverage on top of planning, cooking and serving a meal, is a step that I’d gladly skip. However, with the stifling Singapore humidity, red wine is often too heavy. And beer tends to leave me feeling bloated (of course, I’m speaking purely from a lady’s perspective – this doesn’t seem to apply to blokes).
New vintage wines make their way into our market every year. But in the era of the modern wine industry, seeing a first vintage today has become something of a rarity. In 2011, Shaw + Smith acquired Tolpuddle vineyard in Tasmania. Having planted Pinot noir and Chardonnay since 1988, Michael Hill Smith MW was in town to present the 2012 vintage of these remarkable wines. Their first vintage.
Singapore is currently enjoying quite the culinary renaissance. It feels like there are new restaurants and cafes opening weekly. And to be honest, I can’t even keep up with all these new places. Unfortunately, judging from my dining-out experiences over the past year, far too many newbies prize style over substance, i.e. while many of these new eateries look great and attract a growing pride of local hipsters, the reality is that their food is often both mediocre and very expensive. One restaurant that opened this past year, however, whose culinary program has continued to impress me is Bacchanalia, located (oddly enough) in the city’s Masonic Hall.
Over the years, I have often heard and read about the benefits of a juice cleanse. All this time, I’ve dismissed it as simply too mar fan (troublesome) – after all, I could just eat healthier or just have fruit and veggies directly for most of the day.
Please indulge me for the next few paragraphs as I show off my latest toy. The Porthole, the sexiest infusion vessel known to man, is one of those products that you absolutely have to get for no other reason than its general gorgeousness. I’m an absolute sucker for great design, and this piece of kitchen porn I got off Kickstarter was well worth the one year wait.
Last year, to celebrate my first full year in the working world, I got myself a Hario Cold Water Dripper. It reminded me that it’s okay to take it slow once in a while and make time for inconsequential delight, such as cold drip coffee. This year, to mark my second year of employment, I typed emails past midnight, was behind schedule on all my posts for this website, and had to give up Pilates for three whole weeks. It was around then – approximately the first week of July – that I decided I needed an Aeropress, because while the Hario is a most excellent office companion, sometimes, ain’t nobody got time for that.