Prior to the innovations at Hanzell Winery in Sonoma, no one in California or the rest of the New World had the audacity to think that wines from California might one day beat French wines in a blind tasting competition. In 1976, California wines did just that. This underdog win, immortalized in the book The [...]
TWS Blogs
By now, most people have heard of “Tapas”. It’s the Spanish version of pupus with an interesting history. A long time ago, the Spanish king Alfonso the 10th, also known as “The Learned” fell ill. In order to recover, he had to take some small bites of food with some wine between meals. [...]
In Medieval England dinner was a prime time event. In those days, just like today, dinner was the main meal with some kind of hot cooked food. (Prime time in those days was prime daylight. In fact, during Shakespeare’s time most theatrical productions were performed in daylight.) Having daylight made doing all the things required [...]
Adam Smith is considered by many to be the “father of modern economics”. In 1776, he published The Wealth of Nations which argued that in a free market, the individual acting in his own self interest was actually promoting the good of his community through a principle he called, “the invisible hand”. If everyone focused [...]
In 1908, New Year’s Eve’s electric ball dropped for the first time in New York City. The original ball was made of iron and wood and was covered with 100 25-watt light bulbs. It first descended from the top of the flagpole on top of the New York Times building and the bells of St. [...]
More than a few historians believe that Saint Valentine’s Day has pagan origins, namely the Lupercalia, an ancient Roman celebration of fertility and purification. In the ancient world, Immaculate Conception was a foreign concept (a concept any of your catholic friends would be happy to explain.) When the Romans celebrated fertility, they did “it” with [...]
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Champagne! In victory one deserves it. In defeat one needs it.” It was his habit to haul wagon loads of Champagne with him to all his battles. So, win or lose a glass of champagne would be available to top off a long hard day of trying to conquer the world. [...]
Thanksgiving is unique among American holidays. Unlike any other holiday, it weaves together our whole nation on that special day with a tradition of giving thanks for blessings we might otherwise overlook. We all come together to be a part of a group on that day. Somehow we all know that, on that day, no [...]
Back in the 60s, on Halloween, our neighborhood was filled with kids of all ages traveling from house to house dressed in all kinds of costumes, some scary, some cute, some clever. The pack of kids I roved with would chant, “Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.” I recall [...]
It has been said that rum is the drink of revolution. It’s a spirit made from molasses (a by product of making sugar from sugar cane). Molasses, at the time of the invention of rum, was essentially industrial waste. Its chief selling points were that it was both very strong and very cheap. Prior to [...]
