Red Rhone wines are great with pizza.
Photo by Kelly Cline | IST.

We typically enjoy a beer with pizza. But we recently attended a “pizza challenge” that pitted top Manhattan pizza makers against those from Brooklyn.

First, our top pick pizzas (use these ingredients at home):

Kudos to Chef Mathieu Palombino from Motorino Pizzeria Napoletana in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for his outstanding Brussels Sprout Pizza. On a very crisp crust, the chef layered fior di latte (cow’s milk mozzarella), pancetta affumicatta (Italian smoked bacon), fresh garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano. Crisped brussels sprout leaves were sprinkled on the pie after it came out of the oven. It may sound unusual, but the taste is divine.

A plain Margarita pizza from Chef Mark Iacono of Lucali Pizzeria in in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, followed. While we were ecstatically eating the Brussels Sprout Pizza, we commented that it was unfortunate that something so plain was following such a dynamite recipe. Not to worry: Chef Iacono’s combination of mozzarella perked up with some Asiago cheese and fresh basil atop excellent tomato sauce was a revelation.

Stuffed though we were, we ate two pieces of this creamy, flavorful combination. We highly recommend adding some Italian grating cheese atop the mozzarella.

Made in a wood-burning oven that heats to 925°F, all of the pizzas we tried were molto excellente, with that slightly-charred crust one can only get from cooking over wood. But the award goes to Team Brooklyn.

Rhone Wines
The Rhone wines are so much more elegant than Chianti as a pairing with fine pizza.

Northern Rhone wines are syrah-based. The Syrah grape offers blackberry and currant fruit flavors plus firm tannins. The more complex wines have wonderful aroma and flavor nuances of black pepper, smoke and tar. Look for Crozes-Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie appellations.

Southern Rhone wines are Grenache-based (the same grape used to make Beaujolais). Grenache producers fruitier wines—cherry, currant and/or raisin flavors, with softer tannins than Northern wines. The better-made wines have aromas of black pepper, licorice and menthol. Look for wines from the appellations of Côtes du Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC
Vacqueyras and Gigondas AOC.

There’ll be no more ruined clothes and
linens with these products. Photo by
Igor Dutina | IST.

Many of us regularly enjoy red wine and coffee. Some of us spill them more frequently than others.

At the end of a dinner party, our tablecloth and napkins generally have multiple stains of coffee and red wine.

We recently tested CoffeeOFF and WineOFF with great results. Huge stains disappeared two weeks after the spill.

At just $9.90 for a four-ounce bottle of each product, we’re giving them as a house gift to everyone.

The wrong way to pour Champagne or
sparkling wine. Photo by Diana Myrndorff
| SXC.

There’s science in everything, including pouring a glass of Champagne.

According to a new study published in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Champagne is a drink best poured tilted—the opposite of how most people pour it, straight into a vertical glass.

Pour Champagne as you would beer: gently down the side of a tilted glass. It preserves the concentration of bubbles, the reason we choose Champagne in the first place.

According to the study, when Champagne (or by association, any sparkling wine) is poured into a vertically-held glass, it loses twice the amount of bubbles. (For those who think that pouring beer down the side of the glass is only to reduce the size of the head: It preserves the effervescence, too.)

The head scientist on the project, Gérard Liger-Belair, is the author of the consumer book Uncorked, The Science Of Champagne.

Professor Liger-Belair is on the faculty of the University of Reims, located in the Champagne region of France. Reims (pronounced RANCE) is the largest city in the Champagne region of France, an area where pouring a glass of Champagne is a common activity among residents. Now, they (and we) can do it scientifically.

Love of beer has caused the drinking rate
to edge up slightly. Photo by Odelia | CSP.

The annual Gallup poll of American drinking habits, conducted last month, reveals that drinking rates have edged up slightly to a 25-year high. Beer is the beverage of choice among the largest group of drinkers, followed by wine and then liquor.

Sixty-seven percent of U.S. adults drink alcohol, a slight increase over last year and the highest reading recorded since 1985 (by one percentage point). Thirty-three percent of the responders said they were total abstainers.

The survey asked the question, “Do you have occasion to use alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine, or beer, or are you a total abstainer?”

One of the most significant predictors of alcohol consumption is church attendance. Those who seldom or never attend church are substantially more likely to say they drink than frequent church-goers. Those who have no religious affiliation, Catholics and non-Christians are more likely to drink than Protestants. Those with the lowest education levels and lowest incomes are less likely to drink than others.

Abstinence is not necessarily a good thing. Medical research shows that moderate drinking is associated with a lower probability of heart trouble, and Gallup has recently confirmed that the incidence of heart attacks increases substantially with age.

Still, the data indicate that many older Americans are not taking advantage of the prophylactic benefit of drinking; 59% of older Americans drink alcohol, substantially lower than the percentages among those who are younger.

The percentage of Americans who say they drink alcohol has been remarkably stable over the 71 years of the Gallup tracking study. The lowest level, 55%, was recorded in 1958. The high point for drinking came in 1976-1978, when 71% said they drank alcohol.

While the study did not address it, the composition of what is drunk may well have changed over the years. Comparatively few Americans drank wine before the California wine explosion of the 1970s, for example.

When in Texas, drink Texas wine. Photo
courtesy Texas Department Of Agriculture.

You may be a locavore, but are you a locapour?

According to the Washington Post, the “drink local” movement is on its way to joining the locavore “eat local foods” movement.

Californians have it easy with many thousands of local wines, that also have fans nationwide (and worldwide).

But if you’re in Texas, try some Texas wines—perhaps some Barking Rocks, Chisolm Trail or Lone Star.

In Virginia? Look for Virginia wines—there are 156 vineyards, including the compellingly named Blacksnake Meadery, First Colony Winery and the Democracy Vineyard.

In Maine? Cellardoor Winery bottlings make loving gifts, with names like Amorosa, Perfect Stranger, Prince Valiant, Sweetheart and Treasure, among others. (Take note for Valentine’s Day!)

But the important take-away is to support your local vintner. We’re taught that a country’s wines go with a country’s cuisine. Shouldn’t that apply to our regional wines as well? If restaurants talk the talk with “local ingredients,” shouldn’t they walk the walk with local wines?

If you notice a paucity of local and regional wines in your local wine shops and on restaurant menus, let the proprietors know that you’d like to support local vintners. Even if the wines don’t represent the best values—or if you’re hesitant to plunk down money on something that isn’t tried-and-true—you may be pleasantly surprised.

How To Become A Locapour

Take-out food with a good, affordable wine
makes for a pleasant evening. Photo
by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

We live in New York City, perhaps the take-out food capital of the world. Most times, you can’t a single city block without finding something to take out.

But every town has its favorite take-out spots. In a survey conducted by Turning Leaf wine, 38% of respondents nationwide said that Friday night—after a long week—was their favorite night for take-out food.

Most Americans enjoy their take-out on the sofa or the dining table. We recommend adding a nice glass of wine to the experience. Here are Turning Leaf’s take-out-and-wine pairing suggestions:

But you can freestyle: We enjoyed Turning Leaf’s Merlot with Szechuan noodles and a chicken breast on microgreens with a classic vinaigrette. The Turning Leaf Pinot Grigio went well with most Asian foods that would invite a white wine. The Turning Leaf Chardonnay, which has a lot of minerality in addition to ripe California fruit, stands up to bold flavors.

Find our favorite special-occasion wines in our Wine Section.

What did Blake Leonard serve on July 4th?

Most likely, her delicious new red wine, an Italian and French varietal blend known as a Super Tuscan.

Blake Leonard and Beatrice Landini (who lives in Tuscany and doesn’t celebrate American independence) introduced their first bottling, BLBL, a few weeks ago. The two partners, who first met at the age of 14, are now 24 and old enough to be in the wine business.

Both BLs come from a noteworthy food heritage. Blake, the marketer, is the granddaughter of the founder of Stew Leonard’s, a fine food empire in metropolitan New York. Beatrice, the winemaker, is the daughter of Alessandro and Nicoletta Landini, proprietors of Fattoria Viticcio, one of the finest winemakers in the Chianti region of Tuscany.

Chianti and the other notable Tuscan reds—Brunello and Vino Nobile di Monepulciano—are made with at least 85% of Sangiovese grape, which is usually blended with other local grapes.

Photo by Joshua Wong Photography.

But step outside the region and blend in some of the great grapes of France, and you produce a style of wine known as a Super Tuscan, a name bestowed by wine writer Robert Parker in the 1970s at the dawn of this stylistic movement. Super Tuscans are “supercharged” with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and/or Merlot—Bordeaux varietals that are not indigenous to Italy, but are popular with wine connoisseurs worldwide. Sometimes Syrah, from the Rhone Valley, is used.

BLBL is a blend of 40% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 20% Syrah grapes. The wine is full-bodied with beautiful ripe fruit, and at $13.99 for a 750 ml bottle, it is the best bang for the buck we’ve had in a long time.

The wine is currently sold exclusively at Stew Leonard’s eight Connecticut, New Jersey and New York stores (and shippable to addresses in these states). Stew Leonard’s customers know a good deal when they see one: We expect the wine to fly off the shelves.

In this economy, when we can’t afford a $200.00 bottle of Sassicaia, our favorite Super Tuscan, we’re grateful that we live in one of the BLBL states.

Have you come across ice coolers for wine bottles?

Instead of using a conventional ice bucket or Rapid Ice to keep bottles chilled at the table, you can earn oohs and aahs with a cooler made of molded ice.

Ice coolers can be used plain (just pour water in the mold and freeze). But part of the fun is creating your own custom design. Add fruits, flowers, leaves, holiday ornaments or other thematic decor.

The ice cooler can be used to keep vodka, mineral water and other beverages cold.

Create elegant ice coolers for special
events. Photo courtesy Exaco.

Flying with wine? Consider a Wine
Diaper. Photo courtesy WineDiaper.com.

Are you a wine lover who needs to fly with a bottle of wine (or whiskey or other bottle larger than three ounces)?

Some people remember a gentler time when you’d just hand-carry precious bottles into the cabin and tuck them into the overhead bin.

Today, when any liquid is classified as a potential bomb ingredient, wine needs to be checked with the luggage, subjected to freezing temperatures and yes, breakage.

To all of those who’ve said, “We just wrap the wine bottles in our tee-shirts and have never have a problem”: We wish them continued good fortune.

For the rest of us, the Wine Diaper is an alternative to bulkier, padded leak-proof wine totes.

What exactly is a Wine Diaper?

The Wine Diaper is an almost flat, heavy plastic wine bag with a built-in handle. The plastic is lined with a hyperabsorbent diaper-like material that cradles your precious bottle and catches any leaks (in the non-pressurized baggage compartment, air pressure can force some wine through the cork). Even if the bottle breaks in shipment, the Wine Diaper’s manufacturer claims it will contain everything within its freezer bag-type seal.

The price is three bags for $15, 10 bags for $40. Unless there’s an accident, the bags can be reused in perpetuity (or at least, for many trips). Find out more at WineDiaper.com.

While the design is a bit cutesy, it can serve as a wine gift bag (be sure to include a bottle of wine).

Learn more about wine in our Wine Section, including wine and cheese pairings and identifying the aromas and flavors of wine.

Think pink and give Mom rosé Champagne
or other rosé wine.

Roses have become a bit clichéd as a floral gift. With no disrespect, there are other lovely flowers out there. And for Mother’s Day, the prices for roses are sky-high.

Here’s a better idea: give Mom rosé instead of roses.

“Rosé,” or blush wine, is made by leaving the skin of red grapes in contact with the juice for a short period of time, before the grapes are pressed. The grape skins are then discarded, rather than left in contact with the juice throughout fermentation (which would create red wine).

The red grape skin imparts some flavor and a lovely color (the longer the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the wine). Different red grapes are used to make rosé, depending on country and region.

Styles of rosé vary widely by country, (Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, U.S. etc.) region and winemaker. There are crisp rosés, medium-sweet roses (think Mateus) and sparkling rosés, the most luxurious of which is rosé Champagne. Without doubt, the latter two are the most festive for Mother’s Day and other celebrations.

Countries that make sparkling wine—such as Cava from Spain—also make rosé versions. Check out the options at your wine store and ask for recommendations.

For a memorable Mother’s Day, have a tasting of different kinds of rosé wines. Unlike the wilted roses, the wine tasting will remain a happy memory.

Another happy memory: The wonderful wine-based sorbets from Wine Cellar Sorbets (including Rosé), which you can also send to Mom.