Delicious California Wine

I know it's next to sacrilegious to suggest a California wine in a blog that is essentially about Spanish food and wine, but given that I have been living in California for the last year or so, I have been making a concerted effort to get to know some local wines.

Last night at Canele (http://www.canele-la.com/) a wonderful neighbourhood restaurant in Atwater, I tried the Orin Swift Cellars 2007 The Prisoner Red Wine. It is a blend of all sorts of grapes (the Orin Swift website will satisfy those curious about more specifics). I found it to be bold without being overpowering. Orin Swift describes it as having "great color, deep, dark garnet with a clean and bright red band in the rim".

Soon I will post about some lovely Spanish wines that you are now able to get in the States.

Lucky New Yorkers

Restaurateur, winemaker, guitarist — Joe Bastianich will start construction on a 40,000-plus-square-foot Italian marketplace, Eataly, at 200 Fifth Avenue in the new year. He expects Eataly to open by July, with seven restaurants including a Neapolitan-pizzeria import called Pomodoro Rosso, a fish spot by David Pasternick, and a hand-pulled mozzarella bar from L.A. star Nancy Silverton. There will also be a rooftop microbrewery — in partnership with Dogfish Ale — that will hawk Alpine sausages and seat 300. Oh, and he just ran the New York City marathon. But he makes up for all those burned calories in this week's New York Diet.