DRIVEN Blog
Talkin’ Turkey, Drinkin' Juice.
Poll 30 people about their Thanksgiving wine preferences, and you might find yourself in a bit of an algorithmic pickle— you’ll likely get 30 distinct responses. I know because I’ve tried it, and I spent…
5 Restaurants, 3 Vermouths, & an Art Exhibit: The Other Side of Bridgehampton
Last month I raved on and on about the Channing Daughters Winery portion of the trip Deb and I took to the South Fork of Long Island. Having waxed so nostalgic about the week-old experience…
Things That Make NY Great: T.Edward Wines
Wine tasting trade shows in NYC are always an adventure, but never so much as when the hosting distributor is one of the “Big Ten”, as I like to refer to them. T.Edward Wines, based in Tribeca, is one of those New York ten, qualified by being progressive in the…
Springtime Sippin’ in Chelsea: Another Cultured Wine Event Rocks the House
Last Wednesday saw WAC’s first wine event of 2014, and a wealth of free-flowing delight amongst its participants. Spring & Summer Sipping, an informal investigation of warm-weather wines and their suitable food accompaniments, was attended by seventeen…
Wine List Navigation Takeaways: Let’s Eat!
What would a lesson in Wine List Navigation be without a sweet surrender to the temptation of sipping on a little vino and snacking on some strategic homemade munchies? That’s just what I encouraged at my March 26th workshop, as the ladies in…
Wine List Navigation Takeaways: Great Questions Answered
At Deb’s March 26th Wine List Navigation: Earn Your Wings workshop for addressing the challenges of ordering wine in the NYC restaurant setting, the ladies in attendance were quite intuitive when it came...
Things That Make NY Great: Channing Daughters Winery
It took a few extra years, but Deb and I finally made our way back to The Hamptons, in pursuit of……what else: food and wine! To avoid the temptation to spend our entire trip sunning on the beach, we…
Wine List Navigation Takeaways: Shrewd as a Sommelier
At last Wednesday’s Wine List Navigation workshop, a dozen ladies “earned their wings” by understanding and troubleshooting the challenges of ordering wine in a restaurant. It comes as no surprise…
The Restaurant Wine Ritual: A Host’s Perspective
As a frequent business dining host, you will be taking part in the age-old honor of ordering a bottle of wine for the table. For some, the very thought of such a responsibility is intimidating, even panic-inducing, and rightly so; without a professional wine background, it is natural to feel at a loss when flipping through a comprehensive restaurant…
Honk if You Drink Franc!
Michael and I have been fixated on New York State wines for quite some time, but never so acutely as we have been since 2008, when, as synchronicity would have it, while we toured the wines regions on Long Island’s east end and the Finger Lakes for the first time…
Auld Lang Syne Language: Let’s Talk Bubbly!
Welcome to your year’s-end mission to celebrate in style. If you’re like me, you look forward to times like these to cast austerity aside for a few days, and treat yourself and others to the finer things. Sometimes though, there is apprehension in deciding just what those finer...
Poppin’ Corks! WAC’s Sparkling Wine Event Bubbles Over with Insight
If you were one of the lucky participants of last Thursday’s Women’s Advancement Compact “All That Sparkles” wine event at Appellation Wine & Spirits in Chelsea, you would have walked away with not just a euphoric wine buzz and the flavor of…
Talkin’ Turkey Too: A Feast of Fizz
If you read our Thanksgiving wine blog post from last week, you hopefully dialed down your holiday stress level a bit, and narrowed the field for yourself on Thanksgiving wine choices. So, I’m back this week to complicate things all over again by letting you in on secret…
Sliding Into Autumn, Fork In Hand
Farmer Market's are decadent with produce right about now! Visiting the Union Square Farmer’s Market always adds to an adventurous Saturday in New York. If you haven’t yet experienced this vast bazaar…
Beverage Break: Take Me To Rioja!
The well-traveled Deborah “Goldie” Goldstein has been through Europe countless times, but has somehow managed to disregard Spain. She, like I, typically think of Europe (or any place in the global viticultural belt, for that matter) in respect to the taste of their regional wines first. Our combined passion for enjoying Spanish juice, multiplied by the fact that I’ve had the fortune of visiting Spain twice…
Wine and Dine with the WAC
An excited group packed the room at Alston and Bird on June 26th to attend the Women’s Advancement Compact’s first educational wine event! 36 women were ready to participate in a unique wine tasting adventure. Most people in attendance were probably unaware that the event had more goals than just DRINK LOTS OF WINE! In…
Wine Tasting - The Perfect Blend of Education and Socializing… with a Touch of WOW.
Oh, I do love planning a party. And this one’s gonna be a SERIOUS affair! -Goldie Wine: Demystified On Wednesday, June 26th Super Star Sommelier Claire Paparazzo will join Deborah Goldstein to take the adventurous amongst you down the path of wine empathy. This educational look at wine practices is ideal for anyone…