Timothy Penick

There is and old saying that we should not eat oysters unless the month contains the letter R. So, historically speaking, it is January...

The following is a recipe for George Washington’s Eggnog. It is not super-sweet as we know commercial eggnog today, but an authentic recipe as...

The following are two classic dishes that pair well with pinot noir and the specific style I prefer with them. (Side note–I'll be drinking...

The following is how I taught myself to understand noble grapes and where they come from. In the 1970s, the marketing efforts of Robert Mondavi...

Autumn is almost here. I have been eating homegrown tomatoes for nearly two months and am now ready for my two favorite pome fruits,...

Umami, first discovered by a group of scientists at the University of Tokyo in the last 1960’s, is considered to be the fifth taste....

For some reason this time of year, I always get asked how I make sangria. Essentially it's wine marinated with fruits and vegetables. There are...

The first cookbook in American was published in 1798, perhaps an earlier pamphlet may have been circulating in New England as early as 1793,...

As a sommelier, I am constantly asked what I like to drink. —beer. Grapes are my passion, beer is my bibulous hobby.  I relentlessly ponder wine...

As a sommelier I naturally think grapes fermented before grains. What fermented first often strikes arguments amongst beverage geeks. It is similar to the chicken and egg argument—I think the chicken came first—single celled organisms had to split and split enough times to become chickens—then they could lay eggs. The origins of human fermentation may be traced to the Neolithic period in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.