Personally, I like to start with bubbles. And while my cellar is stocked with Cava and Prosecco, I do run out of ideas for things to serve with those thirst-quenching bubbles. Joyce Goldstein, the doyenne of all things Mediterranean, happened to be in New York recently, and when we caught up we began talking about tapas, mezes and crostini. She’s got a new book coming out this fall, on the history of what has become California cuisine, a style of cooking which itself has roots in the Mediterranean. For this issue, Goldstein developed a series of recipes that show o the local taste for salt, crunch and bubbles in places such as Catalonia, Venice and Southern France.
For crisp, thirst-quenching whites, check out the new old-vine wines from California. David Darlington, whose writing on zin has taken him to many of the state’s most deeply rooted vineyards, discovered some throwback whites among the reds, vines a generation of thirty-something winemakers are turning into a trend: Chenin blanc, colombard, trousseau gris and other once widely planted grapes are suddenly cool again.
If you’re pouring something red, Tara Q. Thomas discovered several delicate wines among the more robust takes on Naoussa, Greece’s long-lived answer to Barolo. Her report on the region’s contemporary masters appears on page 26. And if you’re planning your own trip to Greece this summer, sommelier-turned-journalist Maria Dimou provides a guide to the new wine bar scene in Athens, the spots where the city’s wine cognoscenti meet.
Whether you’re traveling to Greece, or bringing the Mediterranean home in a bottle of Santorini, friulano or Proven&cçale rosé—or the Atlantic, in a bottle of alvarinho— we’ve got you covered.
cover photo by Sarah Anne Ward
This story appears in the print issue of August 2013.
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