Plus de Champagne

France is taking steps to expand the Champagne region to include up to 40 additional villages.  Any wine labelled and sold as Champagne must be produced in the Champagne region.  This expansion would be the first since 1927.

France Champagne region set to expand - Avenue Vine

France to expand Champagne region - BBC

Champagne region set to expand - Wine Spectator

 

A Man of Taste

Grant Achatz, chef of Chicago’s Alinea restaurant, is currently profiled in The New Yorker.

Achatz, 34, underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment for tongue cancer.  His sense of taste, destroyed by the treatment, is slowly coming back. He relies on his sense of smell and the taste buds of his sous chefs to continue his work in the kitchen.

Chicago in the Top 10

Food & Wine magazine has named Chicago the #8 best restaurant city of the world for 2008. 

1. Tokyo
2. Paris
3. New York
4. London
5. Barcelona
6. Sydney
7. Madrid
8. Chicago
9. Stockholm
10. Vancouver