La Paulée: A Wonderful Way to Celebrate Wine Harvest

Sometimes seemingly fancy words can hide serious fun. That's often an issue with wine and French -- if you don't speak the language, it can quickly feel like they're not snobbing with you, but snobbing at you. So let's demystify this word as it's the time of year you hear it the most -- la paulée. Heck, it's even got an accent. In its simplest form, it's a harvest dinner where winemakers and guests all bring a special bottle of wine as a way to delight in the season's bounty.

"It is a wonderful opportunity to share wine that you love with others and to meet new people in a more casual environment than at a traditional wine dinner," said Morgen McLaughlin, Executive Director of Santa Barbara Vintners. "The dinner is served family-style and guests are encouraged to try other guests' wines."

That's definitely what will happen at la paulée on Friday, October 9 as part of a Celebration of Harvest Weekend in Santa Barbara.

Want to read the rest then do so at KCET's Food Blog.

Should the Local Food Movement Include Wine?

Finding the word "local" on a menu is practically cliché; there may be a day when vegetables grown in a restaurant's own garden won't be enough anymore. We might wind up at "micro-local" soon: "We grew the greens for your salad in a pot at your table."

Given that focus on food, it seems strange that restaurants might not feel the need to serve local wines, too. Matt Kramer of the Wine Spectator wrote a recent column asking, "Do wine directors and sommeliers have any obligation to champion nearby wineries?" Since he focused on Northern California and Oregon, I thought it might be illuminating to examine the issue in Southern California.

Want to read the rest then do so at KCET's Food Blog.