Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He was nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones (2009). Tucci's other recent celebrated roles have been in The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia. He has been nominated three times for Golden Globes, and won twice — for his title role in Winchell, and for his supporting role as Adolph Eichmann in Conspiracy, both from HBO films. He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Winchell. He was nominated for Broadway’s Tony Award as Best Actor in a Play for his role as Johnny in the 2002 revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
Ray Isle
Ray Isle is Executive Wine Editor of FOOD & WINE, the modern, stylish, trend-spotting, talent-seeking epicurean brand. In addition to overseeing F&W’s wine department, Isle writes the monthly column, Tasting Room, for the magazine, directs the title’s spirits coverage, and is the author of foodandwine.com’s wine blog, Tasting Room. Isle was promoted from wine editor in 2010, and has also served as deputy wine editor and senior editor. Prior to joining FOOD & WINE in 2005, Isle was managing editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine. He regularly conducts wine tasting seminars at epicurean events and appears as a wine and spirits expert on national television, including NBC’s Today and CBS’s The Early Show.
Emilie Perrier
Emile, Originally from Roanne, France in the Rhone Alpes, Emilie was raised in Burgundy. After becoming a cheese specialist at Mons Cheese Affineur in Roanne, she moved to New York City where she became a Certified Sommelier. Emilie has served as sommelier or Wine Director at a number of top New York restaurants, including The Modern Restaurant and Robuchon’s French Cuisine. When she was Wine Director of Sho Shaun hergatt in 2008, her 550 selection wine list received a macaron Michelin, in addition to many other awards from the New York Times, Zagat, Guyot, Glamour Magazine, and Esquire Magazine. In 2010, Emilie was honored by Food & Wine Magazine, receiving one of seven awards as “Sommelier of the Year.” She is currently Chief Sommelier at Ai Fiori.
Marcus Samuelsson
Marcus Samuelsson is the co-founder of the Marcus Samuelsson Group, FoodRepublic.com and Executive Chef of Red Rooster Harlem. He has been honored with the James Beard Foundation Award for “Rising Star Chef” (1999) and “Best Chef, New York” (2003). He was also chosen as one of “The Great Chefs of America” by the Culinary Institute of America. In 2009, he was the guest chef at the White House for President Obama’s first State Dinner. His latest cookbook, New American Table, was named “Cookbook of the Year” by Epicurious. In 2010, he was crowned the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters and joined Food Network’s Chopped and Chopped All-Stars as a judge.
Michael Shannon
American actor Michael Shannon is a series regular on HBO's critically acclaimed Boardwalk Empire, in which he plays the role of federal Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden. A veteran of theater, Michael also has appeared in more than 30 films. He is probably best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as John Givings in Revolutionary Road. He stars in the psychological thriller Take Shelter, a movie that won rave reviews at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and will be released this fall.
Patricia Clarkson
An Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, Patricia Clarkson takes on roles as varied as the platform in which she plays them, making her one of today's most respected actresses. She recently completed One Day, with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, and Main Street with Colin Firth, Orlando Bloom and Ellen Burstyn. She has also appeared in Cairo Time (which won Best Canadian Feature at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival), Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, Woody Allen's Whatever Works, Stanley Tucci's Blind Date (opposite Tucci), Pieces of April, and The Station Agent.
Warren Leight
Warren Leight was most recently the show runner and Executive Producer of the FX drama Lights Out. He has also been the EP on HBO's Emmy-nominated In Treatment, for which he won the Peabody Award, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. His play Side Man won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play and was a 1999 Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Other plays include No Foreigners Beyond This Point; Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine and the book to the musical Mayor. He is the former President of The Writer’s Guild of America, East. A graduate of Stanford, he lives with his wife and daughters in NYC.
Chateau Belle-Vue
Chateau Giscours
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Chateau Le Crock
Chateau L’Aura de Cambon
Chateau Montrose
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a low-lying region in southwest France which is naturally divided by the Gironde River. Major areas in Bordeaux are the Left Bank, the Right Bank, Graves, and Entre-Deux-Mers. Without question Bordeaux is the most famous wine region in the world, producing some 850 million bottles each year. Many of France's most exquisite wines are produced in Bordeaux. The region is comprised of about 290,000 acres of vineyards, with more than 7,000 chateaux, including the five best-known and generally most expensive red wine producers: Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Latour, Château Haut-Brion, and Château Mouton Rothschild. Almost 90% of Bordeaux wine is red. As a rule, the Left Bank produces Cabernet Sauvignon-based red wines, while the Right Bank produces Merlot-based red wines. South of these areas, Graves produces both reds and whites from Sauvignon blanc and Sémillon grapes.
Médoc is the biggest wine-producing district in Bordeaux. It is a long, narrow peninsula (approximately 50 miles by 3 miles) situated north of the city of Bordeaux, between the west bank of the Gironde estuary and the Atlantic Ocean. The Médoc AOC was established in 1936 and is part of the Left Bank region of Bordeaux. Médoc's subregions are: Haut-Médoc, Margaux, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis-en-Médoc, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, and St-Estèphe. Chateaux blends of these areas typically utilize 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 15% Merlot, a formula often called the "Bordeaux Blend." Additional grape varieties permitted in Médoc wines include Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carménère .
Wines of particularly high quality are produced in Haut-Médoc in the south, where the terroir is perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon -- slow-to-ripen grapes which need warm soil. Gravelly outcrops are characteristic of the entire region and chunks of gravel in the soil retain heat and allow for good natural drainage. Heavier limestone soil, rich in clay and therefore more capable of retaining moisture is also found throughout the peninsula. This type of terroir is excellent for cultivation of Merlot grapes.
For more on Bordeauxs from the Left Bank, click here.
Photo courtesy of the Bordeaux Wine Council.
•Wine-making in Bordeaux is believed to have begun about 44 A.D. Pliny the Elder wrote about vineyards in Bordeaux in 71 A.D. Visit www.enjoybordeaux.com to learn more about the legendary wines from this region.
•During the Roman occupation of Gaul. Bordeaux vineyards planted by the Romans supplied wine for the empire’s soldiers. Early trade routes were easily established to the British Isles, via the Gironde estuary.
•The name “Bordeaux” comes from the French phrase au bord de l’eau, which means “along the water,” referring mainly to the Gironde estuary, but also to its tributaries, as well as the Garonne and Dordogne rivers in the area. Throughout history, many great families of Bordeaux were shipping magnates as well as wine-producers.
•Between 1875 and 1892, almost all Bordeaux vineyards were decimated by phylloxera mite infestation. The wine industry was able to continue only after Bordeaux grapevines were grafted onto pest-resistant American rootstock. Although all vines existing today in Bordeaux are products of this procedure, grafting did not affect the character of the native grapes at all.
•In Britain, the wine of Bordeaux is still called “claret,” though the word in French means “pale” and refers to a virtually extinct Bordeaux wine exported to England in the 18th century. The original clarets were light-colored rosés. The name “claret,” in use for more than 300 years now, is protected within the European Union and describes all red Bordeaux wine.
•According to The Guinness Book of World Records, the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold was a Bordeaux–a 1787 Château Lafite sold in 1985 by Christie’s in London for £105,000, or $160,000 US. The bottle has the initials “Th.J” etched into it, said to have been originally acquired by oenophile Thomas Jefferson while he was ambassador to France.