Today’s wine and food pairing for Provence WineZine is one I approached with some trepidation. I was confident that the Château Margüi rosé wine would be good (okay, excellent), and I knew the recipe well enough to be happy with it. But together? I just wasn’t sure. I certainly didn’t …

Le Clos de Caveau is one of the first wineries I visited after starting Provence WineZine. The story of this Vacqueyras vineyard — a stone’s throw from Gigondas — is best told over a glass of this excellent red blend of Grenache and Syrah called Fruit Sauvage. Henri Bungener, psychologist-turned-winemaker, …

Gathering in the Acquiesce Winery tasting room with owner Susan Tipton and Susan and Towny Manfull and the wine lovers behind Provence WineZine was a joyful occasion after so much time apart. However, we were not in Lodi, California for simply a social occasion, we had some wine tasting and …

After a long year and a half, our good friends and neighbours Ursula and Bob returned to the neighbourhood from their other home is in upstate New York, in the Catskill Mountains. It’s nice to have them back. We had them over to dinner to celebrate their return and wanted …

There is no need to explain that the 4th of July is a big holiday in the United States. Even for non-US residents, social media is awash in red-white-and-blue recipes well in advance of the celebration. This holiday is often a day when friends and family gather for lovely meals …

There were just a few paintings still to hang when I left Lourmarin in late September. Before departing—and two days before the opening–I popped by to see Jacqueline Bricard, proprietor of the naïf art gallery bearing her name and curator of the “Regard Naïf Européen” exhibition. She was in the …

Last year, about this time, my daughter and I were on our way from Lourmarin to Château d’Esclans in La Motte, about 150 kilometres away in the département of the Var. There, we were to meet with Tom Schreckinger, Communications Director for the Château, and Patrick Léon, chief oenologist for …

It’s Academy Award season, and as it was with me a year ago when I wrote of Marcel Pagnol, I am drawn back to Provence, in fact to his hometown of Aubagne. On this occasion it began last fall when I was discussing with my wife Benedicte, who is French, …

If you follow what’s happening in Lourmarin, the charming village at the southern base of the Luberon where the Manfull family has been hanging their hats for many years, you’ve no doubt seen something about “Lourmarin, Lourmarin.” Have you wondered what “Lourmarin, Lourmarin” is? Earlier this year, it started popping …

When the weather gets hot, our mortar and pestle become a fixture on the kitchen table. The familiar rhythmic sound of pestle-striking-mortar fills the air and the pungent aroma of garlic wafts through the house. Aïoli. It’s aïoli time. The word, aïoli, comes from the French word for garlic–ail–and the …