'Grower' champagnes impress crowd at tasting

Master sommelier Roberto Viernes recently conducted a champagne tasting for Oahu's wine professionals at Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas. Champagnes in August? The answer is a definite yes -- many people would love to sip on this French bubbly all year long.

10 major areas produce wines in New Zealand

A recent guest at Chef Mavro visiting from New Zealand suggested I write about the wine there, and since I love New Zealand wines, I decided to take the suggestion.

No shame in enjoying Beaujolais' fruity flavor

The other day, someone asked what type of wine I feel deserves more attention than it gets. There are many, but for this unusually warm summer, I think it's Beaujolais.

Soccer brings S. Africa's wine history to top of glass

This year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa really caught my attention. I am by no means a soccer fan, but I watched more soccer in the past three weeks than I have my entire life. It also reminded me that it's been a long time since I've had a wine from South Africa, so maybe now is the time for a revisit.

With food-wine pairings, what you like is correct

Most of the questions we receive about wine concern pairing it with food.

Hungarian region offers rich, full-bodied wines

We recently did our staff food and wine pairings for the summer menu at Chef Mavro. One wine, the Grof Degenfeld Muscat Lunel from Tokaj, Hungary, was a runaway favorite with a new Kona Kea Shrimp recipe, garam masala and hearts of palm-green apple remoulade. The just-off-dry Muscat Lunel is a light straw color, with lemon and orange flavors and floral notes. It has crisp acidity and is very refreshing.

Summer's heat calls for wines that refresh

It is summertime. Although the seasonal change is not as climactically different here in the islands as on the mainland, one has to agree the sun is more glaring and the weather noticeably hotter from June through August.