Travel,Wine and Cuisine by Christopher J Davies

Smoked Duck Confit, Raspberry Habanero Glaze in Puff Pastry Source: Christopher J Davies Prep Time: 2 hours Serves: 6-10 If you are looking for a different, but relatively easy appetizer to serve at your next gathering, try your skills and patience creating this savory appetizer. Duck legs are now being sold at Costco. All other ingredients are available in your grocery store. Ingredients Maple Leaf Farms Premium Duck Leg Quarters (12 oz) 4 T Olive Oil 4 Cloves Garlic 1 T Paprika 1 T Salt 1/2 T White Pepper 1 Jar of Primo Foods Raspberry Habanero Preserve 1 Package of Pepperidge Farms Frozen Puff Pastry Dough 1-Egg for Egg Wash DIRECTIONS 1) Marinate duck legs in olive oil with crushed garlic cloves, paprika, salt & white pepper for 1 hour in refrigerator. 2) Prepare 1 cup of smoking wood chips( Hickory or Mesquite) in water 3) Start your barbeque and heat to 400 degrees 4) Place wet wood chips in barbeque onto hot coals 5) Place rack with drip pan into grill. To minimize cleanu...

Wineport Lodge GLASSON CO. WESTMEATH Athlone, Ireland NA The Irish Tourism Bureau has courted Darcy and me for several years. They have been telling us that we would be impressed with Ireland’s cuisine, wines, whiskeys and luxury accommodations. While they do not make any significant amount of wine in Ireland, the culinary scene has experienced a revolutionary transformation that sets Ireland light years apart from England’s meat and potatoes offerings. We visited Ireland in September 2007 on a self-guided press trip. The Irish Tourism Board carefully planned our entire itinerary. But when we arrived at Shannon Airport we were basically on our own self-guided, seven-day journey of the emerald Isle. We have so many stories and experiences to share from this visit. But I thought that it would be best to tell you about Ireland’s premier wine themed hotel and gourmet restaurant. Wineport Lodge Located almost dead in the center of Ireland, The Wineport Lodge is located on a peaceful inland ...

THE WORLD OF WINE PRICING AND HOW TO FIND GREAT VALUES! My wife and I recently visited the sleepy Languedoc region of Southern France with our two Son's. This region is on the Mediterranean Sea between Marseille and the Spanish boarder. Vin de Pays is the major appellation, but our favorite region visited was Côtes de Thongue, which produces wines from grapes grown to the west of Pézenas. The winemakers and proprietors were genuinely friendly and quite happy to offer tastes of their wines without charge! Most people don't know that the Languedoc-Roussillon region is dominated by 740,300 acres of vineyards, which is three times the combined area of the vineyards in Bordeaux! As one might imagine, the wines are designed to match the region's seafood. Dry Rosé that is fruity but bone dry, is gaining popularity. Cabernet, Merlot, Carignan Noir, Syrah (red and rosé), Pinot noir, Grenache, and Sauvignon are also produced. We were quite surprised to find that the average pri...

OK. If you passed Wine 101 and know the basics of wine tasting, holding your glass by the stem, swishing, swirling and spitting occasionally...it's now time to get the best taste out of every glass of wine. You simply need to serve your wine at the proper temperature. If you serve Chardonnay straight out of the frig, it is way to cold. If you live in Phoenix and serve your Cabernet Sauvignon at room temperature your wine is too warm. If you have a basement, that may be the coolest place to store your wines. If your budget permits, you should look into purchasing a wine refrigerator. We purchased a Haier 42 Bottle unit at Lowes for $249. It has really done wonders for our wines. The unit has two basic temperature settings Red or White. I suggest that you set yours to Red. You can still obtain great control for your white wines if you store them on the bottom shelves.(Remember heat rises!) If a wine refrigerator is not in your current budget, you may consider purchasing a wine therm...

Bertrand Bouquin , Executive Chef of the Broadmoor Colorado Springs and Chef Paul Schutt of The University of Denver’s HRTM School Photo © 2008 by Christopher J Davies Once a year, we produce the Grand Vintners Fundraiser Dinner, which is undoubtedly the highest profile event at the annual Denver International Wine Festival. 1 00% of the net proceeds all revenue generated from this evening will benefit the John S Davies Scholarship Endowment Fund. The scholarship is dedicated to the memory of my Father who was a talented Chef and Hospitality Manager. Dad died tragically at the age of 26 as the result of a car accident. In it's second year, the John S Davies Scholarship Endowment will directly benefit students of the University of Denver's HRTM School. In 2007, Cristina N.Mariani-May, family prop...

I was so pleased to host a tour of 37 wine lovers on Saturday. We departed from The Soho Grand Hotel at 8:30AM and picked up guests at Grand Central Station and Long Island. The morning was misty, but as we approached the North Fork things dried out. Our first stop was Macari Vineyards in Mattituck. This is one of my favorite wineries on Long Island. The Macari's are a great family that produce wonderful wines. Their wines have a great quality to price value. So unlike other LI wineries, I feel these wines compete competently amongst similar priced wines from domestic and international wineries. According to Joseph Macari SR, the proprietor, the 2008 Harvest was OK and not as fruitful as last year. We tasted Macari's new Early Chardonnay($16.99), which was made from grapes just picked this September 14th! The wine was crisp and had a powerful scent of ripe apples. Our second taste was a Cabernet Franc, which is in my opinion one of Long Island's best growing varietals. It h...