Meeta K. Wolff is a freelance food photographer, stylist and writer, currently living in the culturally rich city of Weimar in Germany with her German husband and their 8-year-old son, where she enjoys preparing multicultural, home-cooked meals using fresh organic ingredients. When she is not styling, photographing or writing about food, Meeta loves to travel the world, exploring new cultures and capturing it all on camera. The unique mood that Meeta creates in her food photography is also found in her travel, still life and landscape photography.
Born in India, Meeta was brought up in and went on to train in some of the world’s finest hotels, where food was always an important part of her life. Her love for food photography stems from her passion for food itself, and she combines her two greatest enthusiasms on her multifaceted, award-winning blog, What’s For Lunch, Honey? The recipes she develops and creates are documented by her powerful, yet refreshing, food photography and styling.
One of the common themes running through my wine education courses and writings is that you, the taster, are the final authority on whether you like a wine or not. While I can tell you whether a wine is well made, and give my perception of the aromas, flavours and structure of a wine, I can’t get inside your head to assess your perception of a wine or whether you like it or not.
There are, however, some objective guidelines on assessing a wine for its quality. These are espoused by the WSET and various other wine educators and can be remembered easily by the acronym ‘BLIC‘.
B is for balance. A well-balanced wine will have a consistency between the aromas you smell and flavours you taste. The acidity will match the body of the wine and any sweetness. It won’t be sharp and unpleasant; nor will it be flabby and soft. The alcohol will suit the body of the wine and not be too harsh nor weak. If a wine has been aged in oak, then the level of oak will support the natural fruit flavours rather than overwhelm them. One factor that should be taken into consideration is the age of a wine and when it is expected to be drunk. A barrel sample of a very fine wine will not necessarily be in balance, yet it should be by the time the wine is ready to be drunk a decade later. One of the hardest jobs I’ve seen in the wine business is that of winemakers assess their newly-fermented wine and to make decisions on how to mature it based on their projections of how the wine will develop.
The length of the wine is straightforward. Simply: the longer the better. After swallowing, the finest wines will linger over your senses for many tens of seconds, even minutes in some cases! The one caveat is that the remaining flavours should be enjoyable. I’ve had at least one occasion of a wine with a very bitter flavour and an unpleasantly long finish.
Intensity is the next criterion. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword in that an overly intense wine can be overwhelming in some cases. If a particular aroma or flavour dominates at the expense of the balance or complexity of the wine, then too much intensity is a bad thing. However, with this in mind, the best wines will have an intensity and concentration of flavour that is precise yet generous.
Finally, we have complexity. This is perhaps the most difficult criterion for a wine to achieve. Complexity in a wine begins with high quality grapes. The vineyard must be well tended and the grapes healthy before a winemaker can make great wine. The winemaker’s skill is in preserving the complex biochemicals that occur naturally in the grape, enhancing and concentrating them, while still maintaining balance. Further complexity in a wine is achieved through judicious use of oak for maturation. Finally, the time spent in bottle results in further subtle and complex chemical reactions that develop ever new flavours in a wine. The end result of a fine wine that is opened at its optimal age for drinking is a plethora of aromas and flavours that change and evolve in the glass. The exact aromas and sensations can be hard to describe, yet the finish always leaves you wanting more!
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James Flewellen is The Rambling Epicure wine columnist. James is a biophysicist at the University of Oxford. Originally from New Zealand, the huge range of wine James discovered in Europe spurred his interest in all things vinous. He became involved in the University’s Blind Wine Tasting Society and has recently completed a two-year term as its President. During this time he represented the University in a number of domestic and international wine tasting competitions, winning several awards. He is currently completing the WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits. James has a passion for wine communication and education and runs the Oxford Wine Blog and the Oxford Wine Academy.
American Jack-o’-lanterns. Photo courtesy of Nosajanimus.
Have you ever thought of making homemade Halloween treats, and getting your kids into the kitchen to help out?
Sharon Bowers’ book Ghoulish Goodies: Creature Feature Cupcakes, Monster Eyeballs, Bat Wings, Funny Bones, Witches’ Knuckles, and Much More! (Frightful Cookbook) arose out of her lifelong love affair with Halloween. Epicurious has featured some of her recipes and ideas in its weekly newsletter.
Don’t miss Gourmet Live’s history of how candy corn was invented in a time when corn was seen as low-brow, and how it later came to be associated with autumn.
Click here to read more.
For lots of fun and novel uses for candy corn (and for a few good laughs), you might want to read this article on Jezebel.
Laughing Squid has produced an series of sculptures made from candy corn.
Craftberry Bush shows a step-by-step photographic explanation of how to make candy corn party favors. These are some of the most original Halloween treats I’ve seen.
The Day of the Dead and Halloween are nearly upon us and I am frantically digging for recipes that can protect the living against the Un-dead. Books and papers fly as I paw through shelves and piles, seeking something to ward off the Zombies, Vampires and Werewolves that may be lurking outside the door, or that may invade my kitchen at any moment. They all have highly specialized dentition designed to make swift work of the main course – me!
I’m calling on restaurateurs — please, this time of the year, an amuse-bouche for the living might be just the thing to calm the customer’s nerves. Could chefs please get a little creative, and instead of offering me a puddle of olive oil, or herbed olive oil, or olives in a lake of olive oil with obligatory bread (that I don’t eat anyway), could they provide something that will protect our table from monsters? Let’s get our priorities straight please; safety comes first!
The 2012 Salone Internazionale de Gusto food fair started in Torino, Italy, today October 25, 2012, and will continue until Monday, October 29, 2012. Hope to see you there!
The harvest moon hangs round and high
It dodges clouds high in the sky,
The stars wink down their love and mirth
The Autumn season is giving birth.
Oh, it must be October
The leaves of red bright gold and brown,
To Mother Earth come tumbling down,
The breezy nights the ghostly sights,
The eerie spooky far off sounds
Are signs that it’s October.
The pumpkins yellow, big and round
Are carried by costumed clumsy clowns
It’s Halloween – let’s celebrate.
– Pearl N. Sorrels, It Must be October
Color and rusticity are the characters of autumn
Warm tones and rustic gifts from nature fill our hearts with a sense of wholeness. It’s a feeling that reminds us of our connection with the earth and our humble existence.
Orange, yellow, red, and amber are the colors of fall, visible in landscapes and farms alike. Pumpkins, gourds, and squashes add soul to this season. Greeting us on the front porch or displayed inside the house, they adorn our spaces with fall bounty; they are festive and inviting. They bring with them a certain positive energy.
And what’s fall without pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin soup? It’s the pumpkin heaven that embraces us, at home or anywhere else. We all want to savor the season’s bounty to its fullest.
I am intrigued as much by the great pumpkin’s beauty as by its imperfections. Some of the very deformed ones are the most intriguing of all. But who said nature is perfect? Nature is beautiful, yet free-spirited when we see it in its natural and organic form. And we see its beauty in these colorful gourds that exude their individual characteristics in their own special ways.
They have different colors, shapes, sizes, and personalities. Yet they are beautiful and unique, despite their imperfections. They all bring something special to our tables in terms of taste, texture, and quality.
The Rambling Epicure site has been experiencing serious technical problems over the last ten days. We’re working hard to put everything back into order, so please excuse us if we are not posting as regularly as usual. And above all, please don’t forget us because we’ll be back with a bang!
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Jonell Galloway, Editor of The Rambling Epicure and Freelance Food and Travel Writer
Twitter @RamblingEpicure Facebook page: The Rambling Epicure Google+: Jonell Galloway
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