Most Popular

This section provides the most popular news from our blog connected to Los Angeles.

RuPaul, World Of Wonder Get ‘Dry and Dirty’ this January with HOUSEOFLOVE Premium Canned Mocktails and Cocktails

RuPaul, World Of Wonder Get ‘Dry and Dirty’ this January with HOUSEOFLOVE Premium Canned Mocktails and Cocktails

World Of Wonder and RuPaul Unveil New HOUSEOFLOVE Premium Canned Mocktails AND Cocktails for a ‘Dry and Dirty’ January

World of Wonder and RuPaul, the multiple Emmy-award winning team behind the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” global franchise, are serving up three new flavor additions to the HOUSEOFLOVE premium canned cocktail and mocktail line.

Inspired by RuPaul’s culture-shaping “Drag Race” franchise

Inspired by the culture-shaping “Drag Race” franchise, the new HOUSEOFLOVE cocktails and mocktails are launching this month, January 2024, just in time for Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The new flavors include two low ABV, 100 cal selections alongside a 0% ABV mocktail to serve the growing demands driven by Gen Z and millennial consumers. The non-alcoholic sector is expected to grow to $30 billion in 2025, according to Global Market Insights.

In true Drag form, the brand is debuting its beverages with a “dry and dirty campaign,” bringing irreverence into the wellness trend with a line up of mouthwatering new flavors.

Vodka Soda Citrus

Vodka Soda Citrus: This perfect vodka soda, bursting with citrusy goodness, is made with premium vodka, lime juice, and natural flavors. (100 cal, 4% ABV)

Passion Fruit Margarita

Passion Fruit Margarita: Made with Authentic Tequila and natural Passion Fruit flavor, this margarita pairs well with tropical vacations, forgetting your ex-boyfriend, and nights out with your best Judys. (100 cal, 4% ABV)

Totally Tropical Mocktail

Totally Tropical Mocktail: This tropical mocktail, featuring natural guava, passion fruit, and citrus flavors, is the one – totally. Best paired with valley girl energy and long walks on the beach. Ru’s new HOUSEOFLOVE fav!

“We are pleased as punch to provide even more delicious offerings from the HOUSEOFLOVE!…”

“…After selling out the product at DragCon LA, we wanted to meet the demand for both mocktails and lower-calorie options. HOUSEOFLOVE pairs best with season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race – cheers!” said World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.

Built on the cult following of the brand, HOUSEOFLOVE  will be debuting and sampling flavors at RuPaul’s Drag Race viewing parties and bars across NY, NJ, LA, Chicago, Vegas, and available for purchase at local retailers.

HOUSEOFLOVE cocktails and mocktails are available for purchase in fine liquor stores in major markets across the US, and direct to consumer at houseoflovecocktails.com.

About World of Wonder

World of Wonder (WOW) has reshaped international pop culture, earning 30 Emmys, inspiring two Oscars, creating global network WOW Presents Plus across 190 territories, and bringing drag culture to the world stage via RuPaul’s Drag Race and DragCon.

WOW’s pioneering television portfolio includes other smash-hit franchises like Million Dollar Listing. Their film division WOW Docs produces groundbreaking documentaries including Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures, Party Monster, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

WOW also operates YouTube channel WOWPresents, music label World of Wonder Records, the WOW Podcast Network, and year-round international live events. Co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have been profiled in Variety’s Reality TV Impact Report and Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful Producers in Unscripted.

Honors for their trailblazing work include the IDA Pioneer Award, Realscreen’s Global 100 list, Banff’s Impact Award, and the OUT 100. In 2022, World of Wonder was ranked #2 among film and TV powerhouses in Fast Company’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.

Fiery yet Refreshing! Truff Expands their Hot Sauces with Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

Fiery yet Refreshing! Truff Expands their Hot Sauces with Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

Truff expands hot sauce with Truff Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

TRUFF, the truffle brand known for reimagining and elevating pantry staples, releases TRUFF Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce, its newest hot sauce variation.

Fiery yet Refreshing! Truff Expands their Hot Sauces with Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

Truff Expands their Hot Sauces with Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

This vibrant green sauce boasts an entirely new flavor profile – and color – from the brand’s line of luxurious hot sauces.

It offers a harmonious blend of fiery green jalapeño peppers and refreshing lime with TRUFF’s namesake ingredient, the black winter truffle.

“Our goal with TRUFF has always been to create products

so unique that they offer a flavor experience like no other,”

Nick Ajluni

Co-Founder and Co-CEO at TRUFF

“This time, we are taking inspiration from the rich, vibrant, and colorful culture of Latin cuisine to create a flavor profile that has yet to be explored.”

Truff's Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

Truff’s Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

TRUFF has brought truffle-infused products to a broad consumer base through its premium condiments line spanning hot sauce, pasta sauce, mayonnaise, oil and salt. TRUFF’s hero product, its hot sauce, is a leading seller in the natural channel and the fastest-growing hot sauce in conventional grocery.

The new Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce is the brand’s latest addition on its quest to offer unparalleled flavor experiences.

“We dove deep into Latin cuisine, indulging in endless tacos, ceviches, aguachiles and chilaquiles. We noticed that two ingredients – green jalapeño and lime – were commonly used to complement and enhance dishes,” says Nick Guillen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at TRUFF.

Truff's Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

Truff’s Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

“We pursued these bold flavors and the result is a sauce that is both elevated and celebratory in nature. Whether drizzled over dishes from your local taco truck or added to a Michelin-starred culinary creation, the TRUFF Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce is designed to elevate any meal.”

TRUFF’s new Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce will be available in 6-ounce bottles topped with TRUFF’s distinctive truffle-inspired cap in a captivating green. It will launch exclusively at Whole Foods Market this January and will be available online at TRUFF.com starting January 11, 2024.

TRUFF has experienced groundbreaking company growth since its launch in 2017. The brand’s distinctive flavor, high-quality ingredients, new product innovation, and social following have helped it build a significant base of loyal consumers, an impressive list of collaborators, and accolades.

The brand’s latest partnerships include launches with Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and The Super Mario Brothers Movie. In November of 2023, it was announced that SKYY Partners— Jay Sammons and Kim Kardashian’s private equity firm focused on high-growth, market-leading consumer brands — had acquired a significant minority stake in TRUFF.

Truff's Jalapeño Lime Hot Sauce

For more information please visit TRUFF.com or @sauce on Instagram.

TRUFF’s lineup of luxury pantry staples is designed to elevate the dining experience.

TRUFF’s lineup of luxury pantry staples is designed to elevate the dining experience. Originally founded through a popular food and lifestyle Instagram blog called @sauce, TRUFF immediately propelled into social media virality with the release of its hot sauce in 2017.

The brand quickly became the fastest growing company in the hot sauce space due to its distinctive flavor profile, pristine bottle, Truffle Inspired cap, and of course the coveted Instagram account @sauce that makes tagging a no-brainer. Taking inspiration from the flagship black truffle experience, TRUFF has expanded its family of products to include other popular favorites like Pasta Sauce, Mayonnaise, Oil and Salt.

You can find TRUFF’s variety of products in stores nationwide and around the world in the UK, AustraliaKuwait, and South Korea. TRUFF is gluten-free and non-GMO. Visit www.TRUFF.com for more information and recipes.

Celebrate with Style, Health and World-Class Flavor: Jøyus Non-Alcoholic Wines is pouring for you

Celebrate with Style, Health and World-Class Flavor: Jøyus Non-Alcoholic Wines is pouring for you. Not just for #SoberOctober, but its award-winning tastes help you celebrate all year-long.

Jøyus non-alcoholic wines not only taste like wine, but great wine. With the industry awards to prove it. 

Recently I sat down with Jøyus leader Jessica Selander.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  You can find the full, un-edited conversation on our YouTube page.

 

 

Can you give us a personal story, maybe that includes the celebration of wine, if you have one?

Jessica Selander: The story is very personal and the funny thing is I get so nervous before talking about things because when I started Joyus, I did not originally [think about] doing things like this, being so face forward. 

I thought I would create a product that I was really excited about.  Eventually I came to realize, how do I do that without telling the “why did I do it?”

The whole reason that Joyus exists and it influences everything I do is because I’m sober.  I quit drinking alcohol 17 years ago now, which just feels like a fantastical amount of time.

For me, it’s been very rewarding. I’m very glad about it. But it was definitely something that was really hard and very personal. It wasn’t something I shared about publicly. So that’s also why this is a journey of getting comfortable talking about my sobriety, my recovery.

I like the taste of wine. I like beautiful glasses. I like the smell of wine.  I love the community and people; and hanging out and celebrating.  It literally says ’let’s celebrate’ on our bottles.  How great sparkling is for summer, but sparkling is such a happy thing.

You know what I mean? Something good happens in your life and people are like, let’s celebrate. Let’s pop some bottles. New Year’s Eve is such a beautiful idea of let’s start over. Whatever happened last year, whatever terrible things went down, there’s a brand new year.

It’s a new idea that we can celebrate either that past year that was good or celebrate the potential of a new year. That’s going to be better and that’s sparkling. 

And for me, I didn’t have any options. 

I started Joyus nine years ago. People ask me how long the company’s been around and we launched about two years ago. So it took me a very long time to figure it out, to save up the money to do it because as you can imagine, nine years ago, people thought it was crazy.

They’re like, ‘That’s a terrible idea. Nobody wants that’. And I’m like ’I want it’.

Having quit drinking, I had a lot of friends that also didn’t drink. I had a lot of people in my life too, who were just light drinkers – could give or take alcohol.  Then I have two kids and there’s a huge percent of the population that quits drinking for nine months [because they’re pregnant], sometimes even longer.

You can get into medications, you’re not supposed to drink on it. Anxiety medication, not supposed to drink on it. Heart medication, cancer treatments. There’s a lot of medical stuff too, that you could go down the list.

So I get a lot of people now who are like, ‘Oh, it’s not alcoholic. It’s trending.’ And that’s a thing now. 

Early on in my sobriety, I actually used to drink a lot of soda pop out of glass bottles, and then eventually discovered non alcoholic beer.

Non alcoholic beer is definitely having a really cool movement right now. There’s so many different options for non alcoholic beer, but the beer has always been around. 

I was like, this exists and it tastes like beer. What’s up with non-alcoholic wine?

There was one sparkling [non-alcoholic wine] in the entire country and that’s all you could find. There was one white and there was one red and that was it.

For me these options were really sweet. They were very affordable, which is nice, but they didn’t have the complete experience that I was going for. I wanted non alcoholic wine that tastes like wine. 

I wanted something that I could bring to a gathering and bring to a get together and have it feel appropriate and look appropriate and just look like everybody else’s [alcoholic] bottles.  Smell like everyone else’s bottles that you just wouldn’t even know that it was non alcoholic until you saw it on the label. And that’s what I did.

So after trying to find it for forever, eventually I was like, I’m going to do it myself. And I had no idea that this whole sober curious, non alcoholic world would take off like it has at exactly the right time.

So part of me is very frustrated that it took so long. But part of that too, it was like saving up the money to start the company.

This is a bootstrap company.  I like making my own decisions. A side effect after getting to this point is I’m 100% in control of all the decisions, which also means that I can control the quality because [it] is incredibly expensive to make.

 

Let’s talk about your sober story.  What it means to you, how you got there, what your mission is, how that helps others.

 

Jessica Selander: So for me, I can’t drink alcohol. What happens when I put alcohol in my body is that I make decisions I don’t want to be making.  

I tried a lot of things. I tried cutting back and it didn’t work. I tried replacing [the drinks and that didn’t work].

My life became pretty chaotic. 

I stopped drinking and once I get my life in order, then everything will be fine. I can drink again. 

Then after not drinking for a period of time, I was like, Oh, you know what?  There’s actually something to this and it’s something deeper and it’s probably the best thing I ever did, honestly, in my life. 

I would not be the person I am today on the inside if I had kept drinking.

I have a wonderful spouse and I’ve got amazing kids and I’m able to be a parent and be a person and do that clear eyed and there’s a lot of my upbringing was not the most positive. 

Sober curious, it’s a hashtag now. 

I’m not saying alcohol shouldn’t exist. I’m not that kind of person whatsoever. 

On a personal level it is so exciting to see other brands pop up. The first time I tried non-alcoholic tequila, it blew my mind. It was amazing. The spirits are interesting because some people build it up from science and some people are de-alkalizing; taking the alcohol out.

So that’s the really interesting thing about this. Normally spirits are completely separate from wine, which are very separate from beer, but in non-alcoholic, we’re all in the same swimming pool and everybody’s doing it differently and everybody’s got their own take and you can try one non-alcoholic whiskey and it’s incredibly different from another one.

Community not competition is one of our core values.  Normalizing non drinking is a big one. It’s not necessarily replacing alcohol either. I’ve talked to people in the wine industry who are very offended by the idea of non alcoholic wine.  I’m like no, it’s backwards. You’ve got it backwards. Non-alcoholic wine is a love letter to wine. You love wine so much that you still want to have it. You just can’t have this one piece that’s in it [the alcohol], but I want everything else. 

I want to cheers that glass with other people. I want to drink that red with a really strong stinky cheese. I want to pop that celebratory cork. I want to Rose all day. I just can’t.

I think that wine is very important culturally. It’s so interesting historically. The process is this fascinating mix of art and science.  I love everything about it. Getting deeper and deeper into it too, because I want Joyus to be around for forever and I want to make the best possible non-alcoholic wine.

There’s so much stuff to perfect that I could spend the next 50 years just working on non-alcoholic red – period.

 

You mentioned you’re seeing other competitors in the marketplace. How many different ways are there to make non-alcoholic wine?  Are some ways higher quality than others?

 

Jessica Selander: I can give tips. Our wine is a dealcoholized or alcohol removed wine, which means it’s gone through the whole winemaking process.

It’s aged, it’s fermented, and then we have removed the alcohol from it. Our bottles also say it’s non alcoholic. Sometimes you’ll see a bottle in the store and it just says non alcoholic on it. It doesn’t say dealcoholized or alcohol removed. They’re interchangeable. That means it wasn’t fermented.

So if you’re looking for a wine that is really going to taste like wine or have that fermented taste, look for dealcoholized or alcohol removed.

[Look at the label on the bottle] look for dealcoholized or alcohol removed, because it could say that it’s a non alcoholic red or a non-alcoholic grape [varietal] and it might just be a juice, that hasn’t been fermented or ages but comes in a wine bottle.

 

What are your goals in the present moment and in the near future to help your company continue to be a leader in the industry?

 

Jessica Selander: I think goals are accessibility. Normalizing sober drinking.  Making [non-alcoholic bottles] easy to find.  We do ship off our website, which is great. We’re shipping from Seattle. We ship everything ourselves.  If you’re out East, it’s going to take four or five days to get to you. 

Also starting to talk to restaurants, getting into more restaurants is a big one.  I’ve had anniversary dinners with my spouse and I’m drinking an Arnold Palmer.

I’m calling restaurants and I’m calling grocery stores and they’re still really skeptical that it can be good and that people want it.

 

Do you think it’s just audience reaching out? Is there a tipping point?

 

Jessica Selander: Yes, that really helps having people being in a restaurant and saying, “Hey, what do you have that’s an alcoholic?” Because restaurants are saying nobody’s asking for it. 

Here I am double digit sober and I had never gone into a restaurant and asked for it.

I would look at the [menu’s] non alcoholic section, which is always juice, soda pop, iced tea and stuff. If it’s not on the menu, I would never ask them for anything. Here I am for over a decade, not telling them that I want this thing. So we started doing more education on social media and online.

If you walk into a restaurant, ask them “What do you have that’s not alcoholic?”

Just pregnant people alone. There’s a large percentage of the population.

Is there science that says a pregnant woman can drink this and have zero concerns?

 

Jessica Selander: Yes. So this is super interesting. In the United States we’re the most strict in terms of alcohol. If you go to the UK, they have different, actually higher limits for how much alcohol can be in something. The US’s rules come from prohibition when you can’t sell, make, transport alcohol.

The government said once it gets under 0.5%, it’s not alcohol anymore. So that’s where that number comes from and sometimes people see it and say, “Oh, there’s a little bit of alcohol in this.” 

There was a study done in Germany where they tested a lot of grocery store items.  What they found was there’s a lot of stuff in our grocery stores that had a little bit of alcohol in it. Very ripe bananas, which we feed to toddlers have some alcohol in them. Orange juice is another one.

American hamburger buns. But it also makes sense, bread, yeast and we have more sugar in our products, right? Bread actually has more alcohol than people realize. 

Let’s talk about your wine’s flavors and aromas and the winemaking process to get there.

Jessica Selander: I knew what I wanted and I was incredibly picky about it. 

We launched with the sparkling white and the sparkling Rose’ and people were asking for a Rose’ with no bubbles.

I thought it would be easy.  It was not easy. 

Stills are very different from sparkling. I’m a balance of “I know what I want. I’m going for this thing and very focused”, but then I’m also balanced with listening. So we do a lot of focus groups. I do want feedback.  I do want opinions. 

We were working on it.  Everyone’s saying it’s good, it’s great.  But I didn’t think it was good enough. We were supposed to launch it in summer and I pushed everything back.  Back to the drawing board. 

What if we did this? What if that?  Talking to people, reading science and chemistry books

Was it like working for the right blend?

Jessica Selander: It’s tweaking so many different things and pieces in the blend. But it doesn’t always work out.  If you tweak a blend, sometimes other notes will come forward that you’re not expecting, or sometimes you’ve diminished things that you didn’t intend to diminish.

The still Rose is a great example, it didn’t have that click and so I just kept working on it. And that’s the one that won Double Gold and Best in Class in the San Francisco International Wine Competition, which is one of the biggest and oldest blind tastings in the world and the biggest and oldest blind tasting in the U.S.

 

Can you share any details and lessons you learned taking on the world of winemaking?

 

Jessica Selander: There’s so many things.  We’re not just making wine.  We’re wholesale, we’re distributing, we’re direct to consumer. We have so many different facets. 

I could talk for hours about how our wines are very low in sugar and they don’t have the alcohol in them. So our [bottles] probably freeze easier than anything else on the market. So shipping during the winter.

I’ve had conversations with other non alcoholic people too.  Everybody’s doing it differently and that’s the hard part too, where I feel like there’s a solution for every problem.

We’ve gotten better and better at winter shipping, but it’s not quite there yet.  Figuring out what can we ship in that’s going to have thermal protection, but isn’t going to contribute a ton of garbage. We’ve got the most eco-friendly, innovative winter shippers.  They’re made of corn. 

They’re expensive as hell, but it’s better than styrofoam. We have to keep everything under 50 pounds for UPS and 12 bottles of sparkling is 51 pounds in these corn shippers.

That thermal protection is still not enough, so we added heat packs. 

Let’s talk about your wines.

 

Jessica Selander: We have four varietals.  We’ve got our sparkling white, a sparkling Rosé. Still Rosé, a Cabernet Sauvignon. I love our red a lot. The reds are hard. They’re the most complicated; red wine has the highest alcohol content to begin with.

What flavor notes should we be looking for?

 

Jessica Selander: It’s definitely an American Cab. More fruit forward. It’s not grape juice. It’s fermented, it’s aged in American oak so you’ll get some green-ness to, like forest floor.  The longer it’s been open the more tasting notes you’ll get. I like it more and more throughout the week because the fruit notes settle down. Black currant, cherry, some leather 

The still rosé, watermelon, a nice floral to it. 

Sparkling rosé. Slightly floral.  Some orange blossom to it.  Blackberry, but some people say raspberry. Some people say strawberry.  They’re very summery

I think sometimes tasting notes feel in excess because we all taste things very differently. 

Our audience is foodies. Let’s talk a little bit about some of your favorite meals that you think would pair that your favorite pairings with your wines

 

Jessica Selander: I bake. I come from a big family, so I can pretty much cook anything. 

I heard someone say one time that baking was more science. And cooking was more art and I do agree with that. 

Let’s talk about the wine competitions. How you see them, what the experience has been like, and of course, what their results have been.

Jessica Selander: I did not know that competition was as big of a deal as it is [which was a blessing].  So what happened was I was beating my head against the wall being like, “They taste like wine!”  And my brother said, nobody believes you. You have to enter them into wine competitions. You need to prove to them in their own landscape that you belong there. 

So, here’s this competition. The first one, the sparkling rosé won gold and sparkling white won bronze.

Then I looked deeper into what the competition was [and realized it was the acclaimed San Francisco International Wine Competition & World Spirits Competition ]. It was a blessing because I think I would have been scared to do it. Then [next year] I do it with the Still Rose and the Cab.  Then hearing back, you’ve got the highest a non-alcoholic has ever gotten and you’re Still Rose is the best non-alcoholic wine of any varietal entered from all over the world. 

I was only wondering if it was even going to place, and here it ends up winning the best.

I was at a grocery store [today] I’ve been trying to get into for two years where the head buyer won’t even try it. So it’s [frustrating] but the more of these awards that we stack up, at some point in time they have to not ignore it. They’ll be like, Oh, this is a real thing.

We haven’t [hit that goal], it’s not normalized yet. We’re in over 300 stores and in almost in every state.

 

If you want more non-alcoholic near you at a restaurant and grocery store, what are the step-by-step, simple direction

Jessica Selander: This is super easy for people.

So if there’s a grocery store or a local market that you shop at already, you just go into the wine department and say, “Hey, what non-alcoholic wine do you have?”  And let them know you want it.  Verbally say it

It’s the same thing in restaurants. I do it myself now too, where I get the menu and I’m not seeing what the stuff on it. And I just ask and say, Hey, what non alcoholic stuff do you have?” 

 

Tell us how we can learn more about Joyus.  Shopping and following on social media.

 

Jessica Selander: So all of our social media stuff, our website is DrinkJoyus.com. Our Facebook, our Instagram, our TikTok are all DrinkJoyus

And on the website, there is this Find Joyus store finder map. So you can look on there and find us closest to you and working hard to add new stores pretty much weekly and email, email us. There’s a contact form on the website. Email. If you’re like, Hey, there’s a store by me. I want them to carry you. Email us. And we will call them and we will try, we’ll do our best and we’ll call them again three months later and we’ll call them again.

 

Sofitel Saigon Plaza Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary, commemorating a quarter century of Joie de Vivre in Vietnam.

Sofitel Saigon Plaza Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary, commemorating a quarter century of Joie de Vivre in Vietnam.

Sofitel Saigon Plaza is delighted to commemorate a significant milestone this October with the celebration of its 25th anniversary.

Drawing inspiration from local Vietnamese culture and traditions while embracing life with a French zest is what the hotel successfully stands for a quarter century.

Daniël Stork- Consul General of The Netherlands_Mario Mendis-Sofitel Saigon Plaza GM and guests

Daniël Stork, Consul General of The Netherlands, Mario Mendis, Sofitel Saigon Plaza GM and guests

Since its establishment in 1998, Sofitel Saigon Plaza has consistently delivered a 5-star luxury experience marked by heartfelt service and hospitality excellence in the heart of Ho Chi Minh.

Globally acclaimed through the decades, Sofitel Saigon Plaza has welcomed dignitaries and political figures, from the former French President Francois Hollande to the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Ambassador Lesly Benoit of Haiti performing with Jazztown

Ambassador Lesly Benoit of Haiti performing with Jazztown

On October 5th 2023, Sofitel Saigon Plaza hosted an enchanting Anniversary Dinner at its opulent Diamond Hall in presence of Mrs Maud Bailly, CEO of Sofitel.

Maud Bailly, CEO of the Sofitel, M Gallery & Emblems Worldwide

Maud Bailly, CEO of the Sofitel, M Gallery & Emblems Worldwide

At this extraordinary soirée, the hotel had the privilege of hosting esteemed guests, ranging from international diplomats and government officials to renowned celebrities, CEOs of prominent corporations, and dedicated Heartists (Accor team members) who have passionately served Sofitel Saigon Plaza for over two decades.

Chef Kieko Nagae

Chef Kieko Nagae

The honoured guests were thus invited to enjoy a sumptuous six-course dinner crafted by Michelin-star and celebrity chefs from Asia and France. This exquisite evening was topped off with spectacular performances blending these two cultures. To mark the occasion, Heartists whom are within the property since the opening have been highlighted and recognized for their exceptional commitment and remarkable work.

“Founded almost 60 years ago, Sofitel was the first French luxury hotel brand to develop an international network of hotels and resorts…

Maud Bailly

CEO of Sofitel

“…Each of the establishments now artfully blends the French art-de-vivre with the essence of the local destination, offering chic design, the best of culinary arts, and exceptional personalized service. The 25th anniversary was truly an illustration of the cultural link between France and Vietnam, exemplifying the symbolism of the Sofitel logo, which signifies the seamless blending of French and local cultures. Over these two and a half decades, we have not only celebrated the excellence of Sofitel but also the enchanting partnership of Saigon’s vibrant spirit with the elegance of French heritage. At Sofitel, we want to inspire people to celebrate life and its beauties with joy, impertinence, and, most of all, pleasure! This celebration embodies the essence of our vision, where the rich traditions of Saigon meet the sophistication of French savoir-faire, creating a world of endless delight and unforgettable moments”, commented Maud Bailly, CEO of Sofitel.

 “It is a privilege to be part of an establishment that has redefined luxury, elegance, and service in Ho Chi Minh City. Our gratitude goes to our valued guests, passionate team, and partners who have been unwavering supports in this journey. This anniversary not only pay tribute to our past but also reaffirms our dedication to offer unforgettable experiences to our guests in the future”, said Mr. Mario Mendis, General Manager of Sofitel Saigon Plaza.

The festivities will continue during the 5th Saigon Gourmet Week, taking place from October 6th to 8th at Sofitel Saigon Plaza.

Event Curator and Producer Tracie May-Wagner

Event Curator and Producer Tracie May-Wagner

This event promises a delightful array of culinary experiences, including immersive cooking classes, exclusive lunches and dinners, and an unforgettable brunch featuring renowned chefs.

Phoung Nam Art Theater

Phoung Nam Art Theater

The lineup includes Sébastien Voelker (French Pastry Chef), Truc Dinh (Vietnamese Chef), Shozo Tsuruhara (Japanese Chef), Victor Savall (Spanish Pastry Chef), Sakal Phoeung (French-Cambodian Chef), Keiko Nagae (French-Japanese Pastry Chef), Vuong Vo (Vietnamese Chef), Adrien Guenzi (French Chef), and French Michelin-Star Chef Thierry Renou.

Sofitel Saigon Plaza

Sofitel Saigon Plaza harmonizes the sophistication of French art de vivre with the vibrancy of local Vietnamese culture, delivering a luxury hospitality experience enriched by genuine heartfelt service. Conveniently located in a tranquil enclave on Le Duan Boulevard, Sofitel Saigon Plaza places you in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City’s business, cultural, and shopping district.

The hotel boasts 286 rooms and suites adorned with refined décor and deluxe amenities, a fitness center feauring advanced exercise equipment, and an outdoor swimming pool with breathtaking city views.

Sofitel Saigon Plaza also features five dining establishments serving local and French cuisine, seven polished meeting rooms, and an opulent ballroom equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, making it the ideal destination for business, leisure, meetings, and gatherings.

Sofitel Hotels & Resorts

Sofitel Hotels & Resorts is an ambassador of modern French style, culture and art-de-vivre around the world.

Established in 1964, Sofitel is the first international luxury hotel brand to originate from France, with more than 120 chic and remarkable hotels in many of the world’s most sought-after destinations. Sofitel exudes a refined and understated sense of modern luxury, always blending a touch of French elegance with the very best of the locale.

Sofitel also includes a selection of heritage luxury hotels under the Sofitel Legend banner, renowned for their timeless elegance and storied past.

Some notable hotels in the Sofitel portfolio include Sofitel Paris Le Scribe Opera, Sofitel London St James, Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk, Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan, Sofitel Mexico City Reforma, Sofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi and Sofitel Ambassador Seoul.

Sofitel is part of Accor, a world leading hospitality group counting over 5,400 properties throughout more than 110 countries, and a participating brand in ALL – Accor Live Limitless – a lifestyle loyalty program providing access to a wide variety of rewards, services and experiences.

sofitel.accor.com | all.accor.com | group.accor.com

Yum! Celebrate Pasadena Flavors on Friday Oct 6 – Pasadena Magazine Presents the Inaugural Taste of Pasadena 2023: A Culinary Extravaganza!

Pasadena Magazine Presents the Inaugural Taste of Pasadena 2023: A Culinary Extravaganza!

Pasadena magazine is thrilled to announce the debut of its highly anticipated culinary event, the Taste of Pasadena 2023!

Taste of Pasadena 2023

Taste of Pasadena 2023

This spectacular inaugural celebration will take place on Friday, October 6th, 2023, at the Pasadena Convention Center Historic Exhibit Hall C, running from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm.

“The Taste of Pasadena is…

an immersive celebration of culinary excellence, culture, and community”

“The Taste of Pasadena is not merely another event; it is an immersive celebration of culinary excellence, culture, and community,” says Malina Saval, Editor-In-Chief for Pasadena magazine.

“This event promises an unforgettable evening of delectable experiences,

featuring unlimited tastings

from top chefs and

renowned restaurants spanning the San Gabriel Valley and beyond.”

Guests can look forward to a wide array of culinary offerings, handcrafted cocktails, live music, and captivating experiences that will engage and delight every guest.

Taste of Pasadena 2023

Taste of Pasadena 2023

Participating Restaurants

Some of this year’s Taste of Pasadena 2023 participating Restaurants include Arth Bar + Kitchen, Cabrera’s Mexican Cuisine, Celestino Ristorante, Champion’s Curry, Engine Co. No. 28, Farina Pizza, Granville, Great Maple, Lunasia Modern Dim Sum & Cuisine, KAVIAR, Pez Cantina, The Luggage Room Pizzeria & La Grande Orange, The Raymond 1886, Santa Anita Park, Twohey’s, and more to be announced.

Desserts

2023 Desserts include Beard Papa’s Pasadena, Bertha Mae’s Brownie Co., Esther & Olivia BouqCakes, I Like Pike Bakeshop, Marsatta Chocolate, Ms. Rhonda’s Crack-N-Pop, and Nothing Bundt Cakes just to name a few.

Wines being Poured

Wines will be poured by Adobe Road Winery (Sonoma County), Bernardus Winery (Carmel Valley), Bouchaine Vineyards (Carneros Napa Valley), Defiance Vineyard (Paso Robles), The Mill Keeper by Gamble Family Vineyards (Napa Valley), Tercero Wines (Santa Barbara), Vino Los Angeles (Mexico), Wilson Creek Winery & Vineyards (Temecula Valley), and more.

Spirits, Cocktails, Beer, Music, and Special Experiences

 

Spirits, Cocktails, Beer, Music, and Special Experiences courtesy of Acqua Panna, Cerveceria Del Pueblo,Balcones, Corbin Cash Distillery, Casa Azul Tequila, Dough Ball Whiskey, Frey Ranch Farmers + Distillers, Knox & Dobson, Mezcal 33, Old Hillside Bourbon, Rancho La Gloria Tequila, Shelter Distilling, and many more.

Special Partners and Sponsors: AbilityFirst, Pasadena Convention Center, Visit Pasadena, Sodexo Live!,Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, Yelp, and Viva LA.

Pasadena Magazine Presents the Inaugural Taste of Pasadena 2023

Ticket Information:

The inaugural Taste of Pasadena will take place on Friday, October 6th, 2023, at the Pasadena Convention Center Historic Exhibit Hall C from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm and this is a 21+ event.

General ticket prices are $85 ($100 at the door the day of the event). Early Bird Pricing is available for $60 until Friday, September 22nd, 2023.

For more information and to get your tickets today, please visit Pasadenamag.com/taste.

Upgrading Your Hollywood Hills House? Start by Choosing Your Best Mattress in 2023

Upgrading Your Home? – Your Best Mattress in 2023

Reviewed and revealed.  Time for you to find your mattress in 2023.  Most of us spend a third of our lives asleep. Science says it’s how we repair, recharge and dream. With hybrid work or work from home, we sometimes rest more.  Some of us work from our bed.

You’re moving?  You upgraded your house?  Either way, it’s time for a new mattress.  And a lot of changed since the old days of mattress shopping.  Even if “the old days” was just 5 years ago.

Big changes.  Real science upgrades depending on sleep position, body type, health conditions,  body temperature, temperature of the room and flexibility, adaptability of all of these variables.

It’s a lot of decisions that you probably don’t want to research.  You just want an awesome night’s sleep.

So we did the mattress research for you

Brooklyn Bedding's Signature

Brooklyn Bedding’s Signature

What’s the best mattress overall?

Brooklyn Bedding’s Signature is pretty amazing.  The Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid is the brand’s flagship bed. 

The mattress offers three firmness options, a strong steel coil foundation layer, a comfy “give” that rests your aching bones, strong and durable hybrid construction.  

Their hybrid mattress (a bed made with coils and foam) offers a neutral-foam feel that’s more light and airy than traditional memory foam. It also offers improved edge support, thanks to a thick layer of pocketed coils with reinforced coils around the edges of its support bed.

Accommodating for all body types and even suits any sleeping position. 

If you time it right (they have sales), it’s surprisingly affordable. 

Price is usually closer to $1200, but with the right timing (discounts), you can sleep well for under $1000.

Layla Hybrid mattress

Layla Hybrid mattress

Best Mattress for Side Sleepers

Layla Hybrid mattress is special!  Generations ago, flippable mattresses were popular and the Layla brand is bringing back the trend.  So yes,  it’s flippable and both sides offer different firmness levels – so yes, you have two choices to pick from to match your personal preference.  One side is soft and pressure relieving while the other is firmer and more supportive. 

Also, Layla’s primary comfort layers are made with copper-gel memory foam which helps regulate temperature, while the material feels ultra light and airy. This is more responsive than the foam’s traditional slow-bouncing nature.

The Layla Hybrid is ultra plush and soft.  Indulgently comfortable. A. great choice for side sleepers of all body shapes and sizes.

The Layla Hybrid comes in a range of sizes: twin to California king sizes and prices range from $1,299 to $1,899.

Saatva Classic

Saatva Classic

Best Firm Mattress

The Saatva Classic offers both plush comfort with premium support. Its thick and supportive construction provides contouring that fits each of your body’s curves.  Unique from most hybrid beds, it offers two coil layers (one innerspring layer and one pocketed coil layer), memory foam, Lumbar Zone Active Spinal Wire and a quilted, zoned pillow-top add to a luxury experience. Designed to promote comfort and spinal alignment.

The innerspring mattress hybrid construction is the magic behind why this bed is so supportive and firm. 

The Saatva Classic’s special lumbar technology is designed to keep your spine aligned while comforting your shoulders and hips.Also allows you to choose how firm you want your firm bed to be. 

The Saatva Classic comes in sizes twin XL to split California king and prices range from $887 up to $2,296.

Seafood, BBQ, Even Dessert: Chile’s Santa Ema Winery brings Flavor to your next meal

Chile’s Santa Ema Winery brings Premium Flavor to your next meal.

Chile’s Santa Ema Winery brings culture, family and premium wines to focus over their multi-generational history.  Have you tasted one of their bottles? It brings dimension to light dishes, like seafood, heavier like BBQ, even dessert.

Today I have the opportunity to speak with Santa Ema’s Jaime Merino about life, history, flavor pairings and what’s next for Santa Ema.

I don’t know if people truly understand how busy wine professionals are. Would you mind just giving us an idea of how much you’re traveling and how you spend your time?

Jaime Merino: Yeah, absolutely. You know that in the wine industry, it is extremely important to be in front of the distributors that are our commercial arm into the different states.

We need to have an importer because we are an imported brand. So our wine’s coming from Chile. In order to get into the U.S., we need to have an importer. So we spend a lot of time in front of the importer and virtually every week we’re in touch either via video calls or phone calls or face to face, taking the wines into each one of the states, we need a distributor in those states.

 

That is the representative of the wine. So we assigned the brand to a set distributor in New York, for instance, and then that distributor with their sales force is going to take the wines to the trade, to the street. So it’s going to take it to the wine stores, going to take it to the restaurants, going to take it to the clubs, depending on the legalities of each one of the states.

Therefore, we need to spend a lot of time with the distributors and the sales forces of those distributors to make sure that they have the information for each one of the wines that they’re gonna be pushing. And then not only with the Salesforce of the distributors, but also with the trade and their sales forces.

Because any one of us as a consumer walking into a wine store that has already made the decision that we want to buy a wine, we probably have a budget. And also we probably have an idea that we want either a white or a red, but then we need to start diving into the details. Do I want domestic? Do I want imported?

And then if it is imported, do I want old world, new world? Then you start narrowing to the point that you’re going to say, I want to buy a wine from Chile. 

Then that opens a new box of alternatives. So you can imagine the process of getting to one particular bottle of one particular supplier needs a lot of skimming into this very interesting and complex wine industry.

 

So let’s talk about the historic brand. Can you share a little bit about the history?

 

Jaime Merino: Yeah, absolutely. Santa Ema with one M, because we come from Chile.

But Santa Ema is a family owned company. It is owned by a family, last name Pavone, that their roots go back to Piedmont, Italy. So today, the company is run by members of the third and fourth generation of the family, and the founder of Santa Ema is the grandfather of the third generation, a gentleman named Pedro Pavone, that migrated from Italy, a little region in the Piedmont, Italy, called Rivalta.

And he migrated into South America, went across the Andes in a sidecar motorcycle and established himself in the heart of the Mao Valley, southwest of Santiago, the capital city in Chile. So he established himself in that area in 1917. And established his family, grew his family, and with his son, Felix Pavone, they bought some land and one of the properties that they bought in Isla del Maipo was actually devoted to agriculture, and that particular property, the name was Chakra Santa Ema, that is like an orchard Santa Ema or Farm Santa Ema. 

So that is the origin of the name / brand that we use. Because Santa Ema was a staple landmark in that particular region. 

They planted vineyards, they started producing wines that initially they were selling bulk.

But then in 1956, they founded Ema Winery, and they started producing their own wines to be bottled and started selling in the domestic market. Throughout the years and throughout the development of this company, pretty much done by Felix Pavone, we’re talking second generation.

The first exports of Santa Ema happened in 1986 into Brazil. When Brazil was just starting into becoming a wine consuming country. Today Brazil is one of the engines in South America in terms of top markets for wine consumption.

So ultimately it started as a father son business that grew and evolved into a multi generational still family business.

 

Yes.  And probably different to many families involved in the wine industry and in the wine business for the Pavone family, this is it. So this is what they do. This is their life. This is their reputation.

Basically, they are not in the wine business because it’s trendy, because it’s fashionable. No, this is a business for them with family members hands-on.  Today we have members of the third generation and fourth generation so we are undergoing a very interesting times to the winery because you can imagine that the members of the third generation are people mid 50s to early 60s and then the members of the fourth generation are their early tp mid 30s.  Professionals coming from college with sometimes different visions from traditionally what the family has done.

A second ago, you mentioned regions. Let’s talk about the vineyard and the regions and the soil types Santa Emma uses and works with.

Jaime Merino: The winery and most of our properties are established in the Maipo Valley in Chile. Maipo is probably one of the most traditional valleys and wine regions in the country. Chile, for those people that have a rough idea of what Chile is, first of all, we need to look at South America.

If you look at South America, and – I will challenge people reading this to grab a map and look at South America – you’re going to notice that South America is shaped as a cluster of grapes. Therefore, no secret why South America is a very good vineyard paradise, as it is referred to sometimes, and that’s why we have very strong countries in South America producing wines.

Of course, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil producing these days. Peru becoming a very interesting offering of wines. There is wine produced in Bolivia, Chile. We’re going to start seeing a lot of wines coming from South America. But then if we go back to Chile, Chile sits on the western side of South America.

It runs north to south, and it roughly expands for 4,000 miles, but with an average width that is no more than 180 to 200 miles. So the best way to picture Chile, as I normally explain to consumers and trade, take the northern tip. take the southern tip, flip it upside down, and bring it to the west coast in the U.S. 

So now, the northern part of Chile is going to be from Los Angeles all the way down to Baja California. 

Baja California, that is super dry and desert, that is going to be your Atacama Desert in Chile. The central part of the country, It’s going to run from San Diego all the way up to San Francisco, so it’s going to be pretty much the agriculture area of the country.

That’s why, when we move, into October, November, we start seeing a lot of peaches and plums and fruits coming from Chile because we are in the opposite season. Then if you go from San Francisco up to Seattle; and all the way up to Alaska, that is going to be the southern part of the country. So you’re going to go into the lake districts, ultimately you’re going to go into Antarctica.

So that is a good way to picture how Chile looks from north to south, that will be like moving from south to north on the western side of the U. S. 

Now, if you grab Chile and you put it across the U. S., it will span more or less from New York all the way up to Seattle. So that is going to be the length of the country if we put it across the U.S.

I love those comparisons.

Jaime Merino: Appreciate that. Yeah, just to give a sense of location and a sense of what people should find there because sometimes at least here in the U. S. Chile is known for some ideas of certain regions, like for instance, the northern part of the country because of the Atacama Desert and the geysers in the in the northern part of Chile, or if you go to the southern part of Chile and you go to Torres del Paine, that is a very touristic area. Or ultimately, if someone is a little bit more exploring with an exploring soul, they can jump into Easter Island, that is also Chilean territory, and that will be more of the Polynesian side of Chile.

In terms of the Maipo Valley, it sits pretty much in the central part of Chile in the belly bottom of the country, Santiago being the capital city, and Maipo surrounds the Santiago to the south and runs from the foothills of the Andes, starting at 1,000 to 3, 000 feet above sea level, all the way to the coast, so we’re moving east to west, bordering the Pacific Ocean.

That is going to be pretty much what you’re going to see in Maipo. And that applies pretty much to most of the wine regions in Chile, running east to west. With very few exceptions, most of the valleys in Chile, Maipo for instance, they take the name out of the river that runs through the valley that waters the vineyards and all the agriculture activity that happens in the valley. 

So Maipo Valley is because there is a Maipo River that runs from east to west. And then, since you’re coming from the Andes, starting at 3,000 feet and then going through the central part of Maipo and into the ocean you have very different growing conditions in Maipo Valley.

So most of the time I tell consumers when you are exposed to a bottle of wine coming from Chile that on the front label reads Maipo Valley, try to ask where in Maipo, because the conditions are going to be totally different. 

Just to give you an example, here is a Sauvignon Blanc Select that reads Maipo Valley, but this is a central part of the valley that is only 25 miles inland from the ocean. So we have good, cool conditions to be able to produce a very expressive, fresh, crisp Sauvignon Blanc. 

But then, on the other side, I have a Cabernet Sauvignon, also from Maipo Valley, but here we have a combination of fruit coming from a vineyard that we have at 1, 000 feet above sea level, with fruit coming from a vineyard sitting roughly at 500 feet above sea level.

Okay, so it is extremely important to understand this. Probably people are wondering why the altitude is so important or how the altitude could impact in terms of the style of wine that we’re going to produce. In simple words, if any of you come to visit us in Maipo, say January, February, March, that is our summertime, the first thing that I’m going to do is to make sure that you’re wearing a hat, that you have enough water, and most importantly, that you have sunscreen on you. 

Okay, so let’s take this example now to the vines. Can we control the amount of water that the vines have? Yes, because our vineyards are planted with drip irrigation systems, so we can control the amount of water that each vine is getting.

Can we give hats to the vines? No, they need to find their own ways to protect themselves by growing extra leaves, trying to generate a very populated canopy of leaves to protect the clusters. What do the clusters do? Because we cannot put sunscreen on the clusters, so they need to naturally grow thicker skin to protect the fruit. 

And just because of that thicker skin, you’re gonna have more structure, more tannin, more varietal expression. So that’s why it makes a very important difference where you’re planting your fruit or your vines in order to determine the style of wine you’re gonna get. 

The higher you go, the more robust wines you’re going to be able to produce just because of this natural protection the vines develop.

 

We’re going to talk about your bottles.

Because we have a lot of foodies reading. What kind of foods would be great to pair with each one?

Jaime Merino: Before I go into the specifics of the wine, and particularly to all the foodies, I am one of those. Let me tell you that anytime that a winemaker that is going to be,”the winery chef”, is thinking on the wine that he’s going to be producing, he should be thinking immediately with what type of food he’s going to be pairing that wine.

That is probably one of the key aspects to understanding wines, and this is going to be at the same time an invitation to all our viewers, foodies or not foodies, to break taboos. 

And what I mean by this is that probably our grandparents and eventually our parents were of the idea that whites are for seafood and shellfish and reds are for meats and game and why?

Why? Break taboos, play with this. This is a life element that we need to challenge to see how it performs with different types of foods and different types of elements. Also one of the other big differences that I find in Chile, comparing the U. S., in Chile, wine is part of the diet.

 

So for us, any meal lunch or dinner could not exist without a glass of wine to go with whatever type of food we’re going to be having. That is also a huge difference being part of the diet and not just looking at wine and approaching wine as a special occasion product that we’re going to be consuming.

Having said that, I have in front of me three of the most popular wines in our portfolio:

Santa Ema Select Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is our Santa Ema Select Terroir. So Chile, in terms of whites, produces Sauvignon different types of white varieties. Chenin Blanc, Pinot Grigio, that is extremely popular, but Sauvignon Blanc is the queen of the whites, and Chile has a very strong reputation for Sauvignon Blanc.

One of the things that you need to be aware of is that stylistically, what we try to accomplish here is not the super grassy, grapefruity, very exuberant nose that you will find in Sauvignon Blancs coming from New Zealand. Sometimes you’re going to find that in Chile.  But the style of wines in Chile in general is more geared towards France, the old world.

So this is going to be like a crossover between New Zealand and Sancerre. You’re going to have more minerality, you’re going to have a little bit more complexity, and not that you’re going to open this bottle and you’re going to have that very exuberant nose that is going to be extremely, Intriguing. No, it’s a little bit more tame.

It has a very nice refreshing acidity. It has a very crispy style with very interesting citrusy notes to it, making it a very good wine to enjoy at the end of the day, just because  you want to hit a glass of wine at the end of the day or to be paired with food. 

What type of food? 

In my world, I will do ceviche all day long.  If not, I will go with some oysters. Maybe with a delicate white fish – flounder or cod, for instance. Not too elaborate, not too much abusing on dairy products, cream or butter. The more simple, the better. 

 

Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo Valley and I have Merlot from Maipo Valley. I’m going to leave Merlot to the end. Although in tasting order, most probably. We’re going to do first Merlot and then Cabernet Sauvignon, but I’m going to explain the reasons why I’m leaving this Merlot to be the last one.

Santa Ema Select Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo Valley.  In terms of the fruit, a combination of fruit coming from the central part of the valley and fruit coming from our vineyards in the foothills of the Andes. Just to give a little bit of the extra kick, extra structure, a little bit more of a backbone.

A Cabernet Sauvignon by the book, meaning a very honest, true expression of the variety. We use a combination of French and American oak barrels. We want a little bit of the expression of both types of wood. American most of the time is going to be more chocolate, more vanilla, more of the “sweet tastes” that you will find in wine.

French is going to give you more of the leather, the tobacco, a little bit more of the complexity. And that is the reason why we use a combination of both types: American oak barrels and French oak barrels. But not to abuse the oak, so we keep a percentage of the wine in American, and percentage of the wine in French, normally six to eight months, sometimes up to 10 months.

Then we blend it all together and we put it back in the bottle just to keep a good expression of fruit. 

Red meats, strong cheeses, it works extremely well. So if you guys like grilling, barbecuing, big time, a perfect match to go with anything that you’re going to be grilling, barbecuing, but please leave the barbecue sauce in the pantry or the refrigerator because the sweetness of the barbecue sauce is going to kill most of the wines that are going to be pairing with it. 

If you want ribs with barbecue sauce, fantastic!  Drinking wines that are going to be suited for that is going to be challenging. I’m telling you try to keep your meats as clean as possible in terms of any super hot, spicy additions or the sweetness of barbecue sauce.

Santa Ema Reserve Merlot

Santa Ema has been working with Merlot for many years to the point that our reserve on Merlot is one of our flagships in the portfolio. Iit is a very particular wine because we use American oak barrels that are produced by a cooper in Missouri specifically for this wine with specs that are determined just for this wine.

What is the secret is that these barrels are toasted inside at a certain level of temperature that is going to allow a caramelization of the wood. That is going to be transferred ultimately into the wine via very distinctive notes of vanilla, roasted coconut, and sometimes nuances of chocolate, to the point that in certain markets, this wine is referred to as the cookies and cream wine or the chocolate kiss wine.

It’s a very interesting bottle to explore and to renew your vows with Merlot. 

We have a very strong influence of Italian dishes here, so say a lasagna, chicken parmigiana will go extremely well with this,  a Mexican dish with mole sauce, not too spicy mole, not too much in the heat side of mole, but more in the profile taste of mole. And if you really want to throw a curveball to this Merlot, try to venture and pair it with tiramisu and see what happens.

Phenomenal ideas. 

Just to give you a little thing in relation to food and wine pairings. Many years ago, in a wine event here in Atlanta with Alton Brown, that is one of the Food Network celebrities, we put together a seminar “How to destroy a wine” and the whole concept of it was, me choosing wines, Alton Brown cooking and in the last minute doing something to what he was cooking for me to be able to say, ‘Alton, you destroyed my wine.’

So it was a very interesting experience and particularly for the consumers attending a very eye opening experience that very simple things like [preparing] a green salad that you drizzle some olive oil and you put a little bit of salt and pepper and in the last minute you say, ‘Okay, I’m going to pour this with the Sauvignon Blanc.’

Then Alton asking me, ‘Do you want me to squeeze some lemon on your salad?’ Sure, absolutely. But you destroy my wine.  The show [had ]little tips and things like that. 

 

Is there anything that we haven’t talked about that you really feel the audience wants to hear about or you want to share?

 

Jaime Merino: Today, one of the biggest challenges that we have as a country, Chile has a very good established reputation as a wine producing country, but most of the time perceived as a good value producing country, inexpensive wines coming from Chile. So you’re going to find brands out there, sometimes retailing for $5, 6, 7 a bottle.

And that’s fine. But that is one aspect of Chile. There’s another aspect of Chile of more premium, super premium, ultra premium wines. 

I feel very often that consumers are afraid to venture into those more expensive wines. And sometimes when I’m talking more expensive, normally they retail between $15 and $18 a bottle.

That is a new Chile that needs to be discovered because that is where most of the interesting revolution in terms of the wine industry is happening right now.

My invitation is to go to your preferred store, go to the South American section or Chilean section, if there is one, and see what they have from Chile. Okay. That really

Where can we find these wines? What’s the website? And how can we follow you on social media?

Jaime Merino: Okay if you want to know a little bit more, go to www.SantaEma.CL the CL is for Chile. 

If you want to follow us on social media, Instagram and Facebook

The easiest way to buy Santa Ema is go to wine.com and see what is available in your region, 

 

How to Design a Zero-Waste Kitchen

How to Design a Zero-Waste Kitchen

By Caleb Leonard

As we witness the impacts of plastics and other waste on our planet, more and more people are looking to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Creating a zero-waste kitchen involves adopting a mindful and sustainable approach to reduce waste at every stage of your buying, cooking, and eating routines, and it is an impactful way to minimize your carbon footprint.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Plan Ahead to Leave Less Behind

Look through your pantry and kitchen to see what you have on hand. Assess areas where waste is generated and rethink your shopping list.

Food waste can be prevented by effectively using your ingredients. Make creative use of leftovers. Freeze excess food for future meals. Don’t over-purchase perishable items. Make a shopping list and stick to it to avoid impulse purchases.

Buy in Bulk and Refill

Stock up on staples like grains, pasta, nuts, and spices in bulk. If you are heading to a store with bulk bins, bring your containers to avoid excess packaging.

Another way to reduce plastic packaging waste is by shopping at stores where you can refill cleaning and personal care products.

Choose products with minimal or sustainable packaging. Opt for glass, metal, or cardboard packaging over plastic whenever possible. These items can be repurposed or recycled.

Avoid individually packaged items and single-use packaging.

Shop Your Local Farmers Market

Shop Your Local Farmers Market

Shop Your Local Farmers Market

Farmers markets facilitate zero-waste kitchens.

Here’s how:

Reduced food packaging: Farmers markets offer fewer packaged and processed foods than grocery stores. Buying fewer single-use plastics keeps packaging waste out of landfills.

Local and seasonal produce: Farmers markets prioritize regionally grown and seasonal produce. By buying from local farmers, you support sustainable agriculture practices while minimizing the environmental impact of long-distance food transportation.

Bulk purchases: Many farmers markets offer the option to buy produce in bulk, allowing you to choose the quantity you need without redundant packaging.

BYOB (bring your own bag)

BYOB (bring your own bag)

BYOB (bring your own bag)

Those flimsy plastic bags from the grocery store are no match for a reusable tote. Reusable bags made from canvas or recycled plastics are larger and more durable than single-use bags. Plus, more states are implementing fees to curb the use of plastic bags.

Go Green with Reusable Kitchenware

Most people know about reusable water bottles, but there are tons more reusable items on the market (many are dishwasher-safe too). From reusable K-cups for your morning cup of joe to stainless steel straws, there are lots of eco-friendly ways to eliminate kitchen waste.

Here are a few examples:

  • Reusable food wraps (plastic wrap alternative)
  • Washable cloths (paper towel/napkin substitute)
  • Fiberglass chopsticks
  • Compostable sponges
  • Silicone storage/freezer bags (Ziplock alternative)
  • Silicone muffin liners

Reusable products not only cut down on the production and consumption of new products, but they also save you money.

Consider Eco-Friendly Upgrades

With all the money you’ll save by going green, consider upgrading your appliances. New technologies use less water and electricity. The money you spend on energy-efficient appliances will be recuperated over time.    

Freeze as You Please

A high-performance freezer is a powerful tool for keeping your food fresh. Food waste often comes from leftovers. Rather than throwing away leftovers, you can freeze them. These frozen meals can be quick and convenient options on busy days, especially when stored as pre-packaged meals.

Freezing foods can significantly extend their shelf life; this way, you can buy in bulk and take advantage of sales without worrying about ingredients spoiling.

If you have produce nearing its expiration date, freeze it before it turns. Freeze fruits, vegetables, and other perishables. Sauces can be frozen too.

Your freezer can also store dry goods. Freeze bulk items like nuts, grains, and flour for later use.

Reimagine Your Food Scraps

Reimagine Your Food Scraps

Reimagine Your Food Scraps

Almost all organic material has multiple uses. For example, banana peels make great hair and skin masks, banana tea is a powerful sleep aid, and plants love the potassium-enriched water of peels soaked overnight.

Orange peels can be boiled as a room deodorizer or baked and ground into a vitamin-packed powder.

Bones can be made into bone broth, and new plants can be grown from viable produce seeds, while herbs can be propagated for an endless supply of seasonings.

Before you toss it in the compost bin, perform a quick search and scope out any additional uses.

Compost is King

Composting is the backbone of the zero-waste kitchen. Once you have re-used your food in every imaginable way, it’s time to give it back to the earth. Create a compost pile in your yard; use a tumbling bin or a countertop composter.

Benefits of composting:

Reduced landfill waste: Food scraps account for a large chunk of landfill waste. When these materials decompose in landfills; they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Composting diverts these materials away from landfills, reducing their environmental impact.

Enriched soil: Compost improves soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability. By composting, you’ll foster healthy plant growth, reducing the need for excessive watering and fertilizers.

Minimized odor and pests: Properly composting food scraps and yard waste reduces the likelihood of attracting pests and generating foul odors in trash bins.

A zero-waste kitchen is one way to live a greener, more eco-friendly lifestyle. Once you hit your stride in the kitchen, you’ll likely find other areas to cut waste. Small changes add up, and you’ll make a big difference.

Caleb Leonard is a freelance writer and marketing professional. A graduate of the University of North Texas, his interests include gardening, podcasts, and studying Spanish.

Willamette Valley’s Eila Wines Reveals Intense, Complex Taste – Wine Review

Eila Wines Shows off the best of Oregon’s Vintage with Intense, Complex Taste

Oregon’s Willamette Valley continues to impress with their small allotment, high quality wines.  Is Eila Wines a daily drink?  Having tasted through their current portfolio, they’re more for a special night.

These wines are for memories and savoring.  You don’t want to rush the experience.

Eila Wines Process

According to their website, their winemaking uses varying amounts of whole cluster during fermentation with ambient yeast, minimizing extraction. 

Harvesting dates are chosen to retain acidity/freshness balanced with phenolic ripeness and maintaining moderate alcohol levels. 

Then the wine is fermented in small batches and aged in a low impact mixture of new and neutral French oak barrels.

2021 Chardonnay Eila Wines

2021 Chardonnay Eila Wines

2021 Chardonnay Eila Wines

An excellent example of why Willamette Chardonnay’s are gaining national popularity.  

Grapes are sourced from Von Oehsen Vineyard in the Eola-Amity AVA at an elevation of 400-500’. Harvested in early September 2021. Crushed then pressed, fermented in barrels. Stored on lees with minimal battonage. 42% new oak from a Damy puncheon.

Medium gold in the glass.  Light and delicate on the nose.  Lemon, peach, orange blossoms. Crisp citrus, orange blossom, dried fruit flavors.

With only 109 cases produced, this is a special bottle.  If it’s still available, buy it immediately and hold onto it for a special night.

2021 Indigo Pinot Noir Eila Wines

2021 Indigo Pinot Noir Eila Wines

2021 Indigo Pinot Noir Eila Wines

Complex is too simple of a word for this bottle. It delights in throwing you twists and turns; and taking your mouth for a ride.

Grapes sourced from Witness Tree Vineyard in the Eola-Amity AVA at 500’ elevation. Harvested early September 2021. Fermented using 38% whole cluster. Aged in 40% new oak oak.

Deep ruby in the glass. Medium body with blackberry, black currant on the nose. White pepper, licorice, dried herbs,  A multi-dimensional flavors,  while still being light on the tannins.

121 cases produced. Buy it here.

 

2021 Scarlett Pinot Noir Eila Wines

2021 Scarlett Pinot Noir Eila Wines

2021 Scarlet Pinot Noir Eila Wines

 

This bottle deserves to breathe. Seriously.  Open it, decant it, savor it.  But whatever you do, don’t rush it.  Let it be a marathon and your mouth will thank you.

The winery itself describes it as “a richer, darker wine” and they’re not wrong.

Sourced from Prophet Vineyard in Eola-Amity AVA at a 440-600’ elevation. Harvested mid- September 2021. Fermented using 25% whole cluster. Aged with 20% new oak.

It transformed from a kitten to a tiger after giving it substantial breathing time.  Deep ruby in the glass.  Medium body.  Blackberry, blueberry, raspberry on the nose.  Velvety pleasures in the mouth.  Bell pepper, dried spice.  A sultry finish.  Highly enjoyable. 

With only 120 cases produced, I would stand in a long line just to taste this wine again.  

 

2021 Violet Pinot Noir Eila Wines

2021 Violet Pinot Noir Eila Wines

2021 Violet Pinot Noir Eila Wines

 

A unique wine, unique flavor, for a unique palette.

Grapes sourced from Le Cadeau vineyard at 600-700’ elevation in the Chehalem Mountains AVA.  Harvested mid-September 2021. Fermented using 27% whole cluster. Aged with 25% new oak.

Medium ruby in the glass.  Red currant and cranberry on the nose.  Heavy cranberry on the palette.  An elegant wine with tart acidity.  The tart acidity wasn’t my favorite choice.  I admire how it kept opening.  I struggled to find a food pairing and found it bold on its own.  I always enjoy tasting unique wines.  Perhaps I’d like it more next time.  

189 cases produced.  If you’re looking for bold flavor, this is an adventure to try.

 

Your Family needs: Health, Honesty and Flavor in your food. I tried Safe Catch – Food Review

Looking for Health, Honesty and Flavor in your Tuna? I tried Safe Catch and caught some Vibes.

I used to love tuna.  I like the briney taste and who doesn’t love the health experts.  Call it a fantasy, but I thought my skin looked better as a result too.

But then I felt lied to by the whole industry.  Dyed?  Faked?  Poisonous?  Really horrible conditions? I avoided tuna for years. 

Is Tuna healthy? What’s the worst kind?  Farm-raised?  How do you *really* know if it’s farm-raised or not?  

Needless to say, there’s a lot of mis-information out there.  Which is why transparency is good.  Knowledge is good.  And then, once you get the full story, does it actually taste good.  Do I want to eat it?  Does my family want to eat it?  What’s the best way to cook it or prepare it?

It’s a lot of questions for what should be a simple product.  

Safe Catch is trying to solve a lot of these problems.

So I was excited to receive a Safe Catch package.  I feel like they read my mind, because they share (over-share) a ton of info.  And I loved browsing through all of it.

So let’s talk about Safe Catch, how healthy they are, how tasty it is and what I really think.

How is Safe Catch’s Tuna is Caught

Their tuna is traceable from catch to can and they reveal they only buy from captains whose fish come from managed and sustainable tuna stocks as part of their Sustainability Policy and Socially Responsible Sourcing Policy.

How They Test Their Tuna 

They use proprietary technology to test every single fish for its mercury content. If it doesn’t meet their purity standards we don’t buy.  

(They stress it still might be a good tuna, it’s just not ‘good enough’ for Safe Catch.)

How it’s Packaged

Safe Catch explains other canned tunas lose flavor and Omega 3 healthy fats from machine processing. Instead, Safe Catch hand packs pure, raw tuna steaks to retain maximum nutrients and then slow cook them to perfection.

Other canned tuna companies precook their tuna and use additives and fillers to artificially enhance their fish. Safe Catch doesn’t add anything, except salt where it’s been noted.

I found Safe Catch’s Recipes section pretty cool.

I’m a foodie.  My family are different levels of foodies.  But if I make it a game (we call cooking ‘games’) then everyone will at least have a bite.  After one bite, you get a very, very honest response immediately. But it’s also been a great way to add (or disguise) flavors for anyone how may night life “fishiness” as much

What are Safe Catch’s current Tuna products

Elite Wild Tuna

Wild Pacific Pink Salmon

Wild Pacific Pink Salmon, No Salt Added

Elite Wild Tuna, Chili Lime

Elite Wild Tuna, Citrus Pepper 

Elite Wild Tuna, Garlic Herb

Wild Ahi, Yellowfin Tuna

Wild Ahi, Yellowfin Tuna in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Wild Ahi, Yellowfin Tuna in Avocado Oil

Wild Albacore Tuna

Wild Albacore Tuna, no salt added

Wild Pacific Pink Salmon, Citrus Dill

Wild Pacific Pink Salmon, Italian Herb

Wild Pacific Pink Salmon, Rosemary Dijon

Sardines in Water, Skinless and Boneless

Sardines in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Skinless and Boneless

Wild Mackerel in Olive Oil, Skinless and Boneless

Do I recommend Safe Catch?

Yes.  You have to admit, they’re going above and beyond with transparency, safety and health.  That’s what we need more of.

How does Safe Catch Tuna taste?

I loved it.  Their taste is even a little subtle if you appreciate fresh seafood brine.  Try their recipes and you might even convert the pickiest eaters in your family.

 

Visit Safe Catch’s website here.

Find Safe Catch on Instagram

Scroll to top