Hurray! My book The Wine Table is finally here!
The Wine Table is the tale of my travels to visit and cook with 18 winemakers in France and Italy. It explores their food and wine cultures with the aim of answering “What does the winemaker’s family eat?’
I’ve always felt that winemakers know best what food goes with their wines and I base a good amount of my personal pairing advice on the idea of matching food with wines of the same region. I like to tell people they should “Eat What the Winemaker Eats.”
Three chapters in the book are about my time cooking for the harvest and winery workers at three French domaines during the grape harvest: Domaine Weinbach in Alsace, Champagne Legras & Haas in Chouilly and Domaine de Sulauze in Côteaux d’Aix-en-Provence. Other chapters detail parties at wineries in Chianti and Muscadet, visits to small family properties in Saint-Pourçain and Marcillac, a hike in the Pyrénées with Jean-Marc Grussaute of Camin Larredya in Jurançon to visit a Shepherd/Cheese Maker of High Pasture Cheeses, a lively luncheon at Domaine Joseph Voillot following a carriage tour through the vineyards of Volnay in Burgundy, and a stop in Sicily to taste and cook with Arianna Occhipinti. A visit to Franciacorta, Italy included a lunch and winery tour with Mrs. Monique Beretta at Lo Sparviere her family winery. The final chapter of the book is about several trips I made to the Aube to visit Cédric Bouchard of Champagne Roses de Jeanne and to cook with him and his wife Emilie.
In addition to recounting my visits to wineries, the book dispenses tips on shopping for both food (be prepared for a gentle rant on meeting your local farmer and a lengthy discussion about salt—including which type to use and quantity advice) and wine with the instruction to make friends with your local wine merchant!
The last chapter of the book covers Wine Table Favorites—a list of my favorite Restaurants, Wine Bars, Shops, Market Streets and Covered Markets. While this list is by no means exhaustive, I highly recommend all of the locations. I know I enjoyed them and I hope you will as well!
The Wine Table is 500 pages long and includes 70 recipes from winemakers, information on the wines of their respective regions, their own wines, the food culture of the region and original hand-illustrated maps, personal photographs and details of my visits with the winemakers.
Ask for The Wine Table at your local bookstore. Additional purchasing information can be found at https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510730830/the-wine-table/