I was tasked by this year’s New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (N.O.W.F.E.) to spearhead one of their many annual entertaining and educational seminars. Last year we had the executive chef from the famous Hershey Company pair chocolate with wine. We had so much success with this seminar that we decided to carry through with the “sweet” theme and create a seminar around pastries. 

It was suggested that we serve them with Port wines and call the seminar “Port and Pastries Paired to Perfection.” Great idea, but we needed a little more diversity, so we added Sherry wines to the mix. We then rounded up some of the best New Orleans pastry chefs and asked them to taste through samples of Ports and Sherries and select ones to use in the creation of their signature dishes. As expected, the Ports we chose for the chefs were absolutely beautiful, but the Sherries totally blew my mind. To be quite honest, it had never occurred to me before to drink these luscious Spanish beauties. What have I been missing? That’s...

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Southern France has long been a draw for artists and the jet set.   Vincent Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” there, Cezanne was stirred to paint the awe-inspiring “Mont Sainte-Victoire” and Brigitte Bardot hung out in Saint-Tropez, popularizing the French Riviera for males who maybe didn’t know anything about art, but did know what they liked.  With its beautiful terrain coupled with the sunny weather – who wouldn’t want to be there?  Today it is attracting wine lovers as well.  Producers have moved beyond making over-produced, cheap Rosés to making serious wines with lots of character.

I recently had the privilege of being invited to a wine-tasting trip to Provence, focusing on Rose wines.  My first thought was, “How can you put together a week-long trip focusing on only one type of wine?”   I knew that Rosé wines were rapidly growing in popularity in the United States, but shouldn’t we be looking at some reds and whites on the trip too?  Boy was I wrong.  There was so much to see and learn … so much passion...

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There are many reasons for people to celebrate New Orleans as their home.  Our unique culture includes a passion for food and an insatiable need to find occasions to celebrate.  We have festivals for each of our major local food groups: alligator, strawberries, catfish, and gumbo - you name it.  We consume and name festivals after anything that isn’t poisonous or endangered, and even these we’re probably working on recipes for.  We find joy in food and celebrations!  That’s why it should not surprise anyone to learn that we are home to one of the nation’s most prestigious culinary festivals, The New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (NOWFE).