Not too proud to keg

This is (part of) the set up for the by-the-glass wine program at chef Michael Leviton’s spanking new spot, Area Four, on Main St. between Kendall and Central in Cambridge. Except for the couple of sparklers on offer, all the wines here come out of stainless steel kegs (tops with their fittings are just visible…

Something racy this way comes

In a column to appear in next Wednesday’s Food pages, we’ll be highlighting a category we’re calling extreme chardonnay. The common thread is the crisp, dry fruit, shimmering acidity, and mineral interest higher latitude chardonnay offers.  We’ve been tasting a number of French wines that fill the bill.  Two surprises: the number of wines from the…

More on kegs

A lengthy interview yesterday with Dennis Gilligan who manages the elite estates portfolio at Massachusetts distributor United Liquors. Gilligan was tapped (sorry) by restaurateur Dave Dubois to get a keg program going at The Citizen Public House & Oyster Bar in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood and knows the logistics of kegs as well as anyone I’ve…

Napa Confidential Book review

The California Wine Experience is a trademark of the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation and so presumably not available to an author as a book title. Rather a shame that, because the phrase would have made an excellent alternative title for David Darlington’s new effort just published as “An Ideal Wine: One Generation’s Pursuit of Perfection…