June 10, 2016

CHARLES KRUG Sauvignon Blanc 2015

(Napa Valley) $18

It’s a sign of summer: salad for dinner. A big salad with all kinds of delicious floppy lettuces, plus maybe tangy cheeses and bits of grilled meat or shrimp. And what to drink? Here’s a good idea—Charles Krug’s lively, minerally sauvignon blanc with a snappy blast of freshness. It’s not very “green” itself (so it won’t try to box with the salad). It’s just good old-fashioned crisp. And comfortably priced.

89 points

Available at Charles Krug

In 1930s New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia took on the mafia by banning what food product?

A. Tomatoes

B. Pasta

C. Grapes

D. Artichokes

The U.S. Artichoke industry emerged around 1900 in California, and much of the crop was shipped east, where Italian Americans paid handsomely for the edible thistles. At first, mafia families used their control of rail-line entry points into New York to impose an informal import tax on artichoke shipments. But later, they began intimidating growers into limiting crop sizes and selling at deflated prices. By 1935, the Sicilian American mafia had controlled the American artichoke market (worth about $12.5 million in 2020 dollars) for at least two decades. Mayor LaGuardia had campaigned for office on a promise to take on the mob, and had a penchant for drama. On December 21, 1935, surrounded by horn-blowing policemen, he hopped onto the back of a vegetable truck at the Bronx Terminal Market to denounce the mafia’s tactics and embargo the artichokes.

The Bubbly Blaster

It might feel like summer is still a long way off, but we found the perfect pool party accessory for any wine-lover—the Bubbly Blaster. A water-gun-like contraption, the Bubbly Blaster fits into the cork of… Continue reading

CHARLES KRUG Sauvignon Blanc 2015

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