By Jessica Yadegaran.- Last year, native New Yorker Amanda Schuster traded in a career as a high-profile wine and spirits buyer to become the editor-in-chief at The Alcohol Professor, a one-stop hot spot for wine, beer and spirits lovers. The website — equal parts field trips, essays and recipes (Amaro-braised figs, anyone?) — is the latest boozy brainchild of Adam Levy, founder of the New York International Beverage Competitions, which includes the New York International Wine Competition.
Schuster and Levy met in 2009 at Tales of the Cocktail and launched the site last March. Already, they’ve amassed a roster of well-respected contributors (including last week’s Alameda blogger, Thomas Riley, of The Grape Belt), and plans for a highbrow PDF-printable online magazine are in the works. When she’s not writing or taking roll, Schuster, 42, also handles social media for a collection of spirits brands. Read her latest classroom contributions at www.alcoholprofessor.com, where she confesses bi-spiritual love for wine and cocktails.
First encounter: “I grew up in a family with a well-stocked cellar, so I was around wine and spirits from an early age. It was just something that always fascinated me; how people make a career out of learning and educating people about this. So instead of becoming an academic in medieval history, my degree from NYU, I tell stories in restaurants and wine shops and bars.”
Latest discovery: “First, the spirits of Mexico. The ones that everyone knows are mezcal and tequila. But, I think we’ll be seeing more in the future, like sotol, which comes from northern Mexico, and raicilla (pronounced rye-see-ya) from southwestern Jalisco. For wine, red blends. Producers are going way beyond Bordeaux and Rhone blends, and the results are great. A good example is Feudo Arancio Cantadoro, a blend of Nero d’avola and cabernet sauvignon from Sicily. That’s a fantastic combination. The earthiness from the cab balances the plummy lush fruit from the Nero d’avola. And it’s only $14.”
Tuesday night pairing: “I’d do Middle Eastern takeout with the Cantadoro. Some kebab scenario with mezze, bread and rice. The spice and gaminess of the meat is such a good pairing for earthy reds like this one.”
By Jessica Yadegaran
jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com