Culinary Adventures with Camilla

For our second event of the year, I invited the French Winophiles crew to track down some 'godforsaken grapes' and create a pairing. You can read my invitation:  You're Invited: Indigenous and Godforsaken French Grapes . Last month, the #WinePW discussed godforsaken grapes from anywhere in the world. We had wines from Macedonia, Georgia (the country, not the state), California, Austria, Turkey, Italy, and Southwest France. You can see that line-up in my post for that event,  An Unlikely Match: A Thai Favorite + A Qvevri-Aged Wine from the Republic of Georgia . This month, the #Winophiles are looking specifically as grapes in that category from France only! Here's how the crew will be answering the  French Indigenous Grapes and #GodforsakenGrapes challenge... A Special Wine for A Special Night by  A Day in the Life on the Farm Aligoté Emerging from the Shadows by Food Wine Click! Asian BBQ Sauce-Glazed Pork Chops + Domaine Trosset's Mondeuse ...

Inspired by Jason Wilson's book  Godforsaken Grapes: A Slightly Tipsy Journey Through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine, * for the second French Winophiles' event of 2020, I am inviting the #Winophiles crew to explore indigenous or 'godforsaken grapes' from France with me. Last year this book came across my desk and I was instantly intrigued because I love learning new things and I, especially, love tracking down oddball wines. You might be asking yourself: didn't I just see this event for #WinePW?? Well, yes. Just at we shined the spotlight on biodynamic wines across all three of our wine groups last year with Gwen of Wine Predator at the helm, I decided to ask the groups to look at godforsaken grapes through multiple lenses. Last month, the #WinePW discussed godforsaken grapes from anywhere in the world. We had wines from Macedonia, Georgia (the country, not the state), California, Austria, Turkey, Italy, and Southwest France. You ca...

This month, I am leading the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers on an exploration of so-called 'godforsaken grapes.' Inspired by reading the book of the same name by Jason Wilson, I invited the group to dive into these lesser known varietals. You may read my invitation:  Let's Go (Wine) Geeky & Explore #GodforsakenGrapes for 2020's First #WinePW . All of the #WinePWposts will go live between Friday, 1/10 and Saturday, 1/11. If you are reading this early enough and would like to join our conversation, we'll be using the hashtag #WinePW at 8 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday. Participating bloggers and others interested in the subject can connect via a live Twitter chat. It's a nice bring way to bring in others interested in the subject. Hope to see you there. Just be sure to use the hashtag so we can see your tweet. Here's what the #WinePW will be posting for my #GodforsakenGrapes challenge... A North Macedonian Blend: Vranec and Plavec by My Full W...

To kick off the year, I invited the Wine Pairing Weekend crew to track down some 'godforsaken grapes' and create a pairing. You can read my invitation: Let's Go (Wine) Geeky & Explore #GodforsakenGrapes for 2020's First #WinePW . In his Gazetteer of Godforsaken Grapes, in the book's appendix, Wilson lists 101 varieties to seek out. I created a checklist of all the varietals; out of 101, I've only tried seventeen. Wow. Looks as if I have a lot of tasting to do! Maybe I can track them all down before I'm fifty. That gives me about three and a half more years! Here's how the crew will be answering the #GodforsakenGrapes challenge... A North Macedonian Blend: Vranec and Plavec by My Full Wine Glass An Ode to Godforsaken Grapes on Somm's Table An Unlikely Match: A Thai Favorite + A Qvevri-Aged Wine from the Republic of Georgia by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Cesanese, Schioppettino and More Interesting Wine to Try by Cooking Cha...

Inspired by Jason Wilson's book Godforsaken Grapes: A Slightly Tipsy Journey Through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine, * to kick off 2020, I am inviting the Wine Pairing Weekend crew to explore 'godforsaken grapes' with me. Last year this book came across my desk and I was instantly intrigued because I love learning new things and I, especially, love tracking down oddball wines. Here's an excerpt: "In recent years, you may have noticed some unfamiliar names on wine lists alongside your usual chardonnays and pinot noirs — strange, hard-to-pronounce grapes from places where, until recently, many people didn’t even realize wine was made. "The trend has been around long enough that some of the names, like albariño from Spain or grüner veltliner from Austria, are considered old hat by serious wine enthusiasts. Nowadays, the trendy names include juhfark, from Hungary; obaideh, from Lebanon; chasselas, from Switzerland; and saperavi...

Whenever one of my best friends has a birthday, I host a dinner party! And I usually align the wine pairings with something that I'm studying or exploring. This time, I was intrigued by a book I've been reading. During one of my wine groups' online chats recently, David of  Cooking Chat  and I connected on Good Reads and I found this title on his virtual bookshelf -  Godforsaken Grapes: A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine  by Jason Wilson.* I was immediately intrigued and ordered up a copy for myself. I'm not very far into the book. But, in less than 40 pages, my wine shopping list had over half a dozen varietals to check out. That decided it: Jenn's birthday dinner was going to focus on Godforsaken Grapes. I decided to pair and pour a Petit Verdot and a Touriga Nacional. Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is one of the original Bordeaux varieties. While it isn’t planted in Bordeaux in vast quant...