The Sunday Seven 07.16.18

Hello, friends…I hope you have all had a great week! Here’s this Sunday’s seven in wine, food, style, design and travel:

California’s vineyard workers already faced long, nighttime hours, hard conditions, and low pay, and read focuses on the now shortage of vineyard workers after Trump’s immigration crackdown. One grape-picking crew supervisor for Robert Sinskey Vineyards mentions that ten years ago, he reviewed about 700 job applications for each season. Last year, he says he saw maybe 15! President Trump has called for a crackdown on immigrants because he says they “compete directly against vulnerable American workers.” But to California’s grape growers, this claim is laughable. Because of the low wages and grueling conditions, vineyard jobs don’t attract people born in the US, and there is doubt farmers will ever pay enough to lure US-born workers into the fields.

Being someone who travels to eat, I always like keeping up with the latest food destinations. Departures has created a roundup of America’s best food cities—and their best dishes to try right here in the US. Making the list: New Orleans, LA, Nashville, Miami, Chicago, New York, Napa, Portland, and somewhat surprisingly—Savannah. IMO, Savannah’s neighbor Charleston should have gotten it.

Dwell Magazine is recommending the top 8 Products to invest in for a healthy home. These are appliances and smart gadgets that create a healthier, more pleasant home environment. Among the recos, humidifying (and dehumidifying, if needed), an air purifier, a green mattress, a healthy home coach, and a water filter on your kitchen faucet. We put in an under-cabinet water filter (love it because it stays concealed) and have been very happy with it—I’m linking to a few here if anyone is interested.

I’m mesmerized by these fruit prep hacks. Hit the link to watch.

Unless competitive sports are your thing, escape the summer tourists in France all vying for the same destinations and enjoy a peaceful getaway at one of these charming, lesser-known spots instead. Grab these suggestions for having tranquil glass of wine in a picturesque town square, a quiet stretch of beach, or an Impressionist masterpiece, far from the madding crowds by heading to Côte Bleue (Provence), Compiègne, Mirepoix, Besançon, Annecy and Arles.

Along those lines, a few weeks ago I wrote about The Lourve shutting down to film Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s newest music video. Now they are offering an official tour of the artworks featured in their video Seriously? This will not help summer crowds, if you needed another reason to avoid Paris!

Giada de Laurentiis shared with Food & Wine her top 10 Pinterest picks for summer party essentials. Recos include her most-pinned recipe, Lemon Ricotta cookies (which I may have to try), a cool hack for chilling wine, a delicious-looking crab salad recipe (which I also may have to try), and her recommendation for the perfect $12 bottle of white! Incidentally, while searching for a picture of Giada, I read that apparently she spits out almost everything she cooks to stay skinny. Go figure.

A reader shared this link with me and it’s such a classic and interesting story I wanted to include it. Many of you will know about the tasting that revolutionized the wine world. On May 24, 1976, the Judgment of Paris pitted some of the finest wines in France against unknown California bottles in a blind taste test. Nine of the most respected names in French gastronomy sat in judgment. Only one journalist bothered to show up—the outcome was considered a foregone conclusion.

Taber, the journalist who did attend, ended up getting the biggest story of his career: To everyone’s amazement, the California wines—red and white—beat out their French competitors. All of us wine lovers were the real winners that day because this changed wine everywhere—it obviously immediately gave credibility to Napa, but in the aftermath of the tasting, new vineyards bloomed around the US (Oregon, Washington and Virginia) and and the world, from Argentina to Australia. Get Taber’s book recounting the day here (I just added it to my cart!)

Hope you all have an awesome and relaxing rest of your weekend!
xx—BB