Wine of the Week: 2011 Louis Jadot Steel Chardonnay
Region: Burgundy, France
Price: $18 

Top white Burgundy from the Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyard sites is highly prized, sought after and scarce, hence outside the reach of most wine drinkers. 

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I recently reviewed a store-bought sparkling herbal water, which I loved, but it also got me thinking: why not make herb-infused fizzy water at home? 

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En Primeur is an April wine word that essentially refers to how the new vintage of Bordeaux is traded. Do you know what it means?

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Spring is here and with it comes my favorite warmer weather ritual: sipping a small aperitif outdoors before dinner. Of the many things that are nice to sip, I especially love Lillet for its light, citrusy bittersweetness. I like it simple, just served over ice with a slice of orange and a spring of mint or basil, if I happen to have it. As the evenings warm up, look for me sitting among the blossoms and bumblebees, a glass of Lillet in hand. Ah, yes!

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One of the sadder parts of working with a team distributed all over the country is the fact that we can't close up shop early on Friday and have a drink together. But we can still raise a glass to the fun of working together, and to Cocktail Week, with a virtual happy hour! A few of us editors threw our own happy hour, wherever we were, and shook up a gin drink to celebrate the end of a long week. Want to see our drink picks, and to join us? Can we entice you to jump in to our virtual happy hour? 

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Cocktails can be expensive. This isn't news to any of us. For some of us, meeting for a drink is a way we socialize and see friends. For others, it's how we close a business deal or explore a new city while traveling. And while different bars and restaurants in various geographic locations around the country vary greatly in terms of price, all of us have our mental set-point of what we're willing to spend and what we're not. So how much is too much to spend on just one cocktail? 

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I am an immediate fan of any book that can simultaneously make me laugh and make me thirsty. Illustrated with pictures of seals sunning themselves with mint juleps in hand (in flipper?) and cats making snide remarks about your state of tipsiness, this book is bound to travel from my home bar to my coffee table and back again many times over.

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Bitters are an essential bar ingredient, but did you know they were originally a staple of the medicine cabinet? Even today bitters may be just the thing if you need to settle your stomach after indulging in a big meal. 

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Punch is a fun-to-serve, often less expensive way to offer an adult beverage to your guests. And have you noticed? In the last few years, the cocktail bowl has made a comeback in bars, a festive way to share a drink with a table of friends. At the very least, punch will make your party memorable, even more so if you make a complementary ice ring. My favorite punch recipe has a secret ingredient, a really cheap one, that no one suspects.

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With more sunshine, my end-of-day goal is to spend a few moments putzing in my garden. This means that dinner ends up being simple recipes and easy but delicious drinks, like smashes. These smashes make up a whole new world of cocktails with endless options for muddling, mixing, and of course sipping. This one is just perfect for today's 10-Minute Happy Hour.

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