Author – The Durango Herald

Pompeii: Dead city lives in ruins, imaginations

POMPEII, Italy – Pompeii is the city of the long goodbye. In A.D. 62, a major earthquake toppled buildings, causing severe damage, harbinger of what was to come. Seventeen years ...

DATE: Aug 16, 2014 | CATEGORY: Travel

Gin shakes things up with new products

For a French cognac expert, Alexandre Gabriel has some interesting things to say about gin. Cognac, explains Gabriel, proprietor of Cognac Ferrand in Ars, France, is like classica...

DATE: Aug 12, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

This July Fourth, raise a toast in true colonial fashion

You know George Washington and John Hancock as founding fathers. But what about George Washington, successful whiskey distiller? Or John Hancock, fortified wine importer? Turns ou...

DATE: Jun 24, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

Chef Paula Wolfert fighting Alzheimer’s disease with food

A diagnosis of an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease hasn’t stopped cookbook author Paula Wolfert’s decades-long career with food. But it has changed the direction. The 76-year-ol...

DATE: Jun 10, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

Cult brands showing proof of bourbon renaissance

Hoping to get your hands on a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old bourbon? Hope on. The wildly popular ultra-premium bourbon is legendarily difficult to find and when it is spotted – ther...

DATE: May 6, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

These sweet pairings make Easter treats for grown-ups

Easter candy is dandy. But Easter candy paired with booze? Now that’s something to put a spring in your step. So we asked wine and spirits connoisseurs to come up with something t...

DATE: Apr 15, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

With just a dash, cocktail bitters are booming

Essential ingredient turns a typical drink into something special

DATE: Apr 8, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

TV gets into wine business

Mr. Carson, bring me my wine! And you, too, Mr. Spock. In what is perhaps the strongest evidence yet of wine’s power to unite, fans of upper-crusty period drama “Downton Abbey,” s...

DATE: Mar 25, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

In Calif. wine country, follow an olive oil trail

NAPA, Calif. – Come to California wine country taste the – olive oil? Yes, there’s liquid gold hidden among the vines, part of an olive oil boom in recent years. You can tour an ...

DATE: Mar 15, 2014 | CATEGORY: Travel

Female vineyard workers win big in Napa contest

YOUNTVILLE, Calif. – Every year for the last 12 years, the vineyard workers of the Napa Valley have gathered in the soft light of a mid-winter morning, shears at the ready, game faces on, ea...

DATE: Mar 4, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

Valentine wines: From sweet to sassy

Romantic labels all about puns, innuendo and irony

DATE: Feb 4, 2014 | CATEGORY: Food

Liquor producers experiment with exclusive booze

SAN FRANCISCO – There’s something different about the gin and tonics they mix at Rickhouse bar on San Francisco’s Kearny St. And it tastes a lot like ... exclusivity. Its real nam...

DATE: Dec 17, 2013 | CATEGORY: Food