Latest news with #Fetzer
Forbes
28-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- Forbes
10 American Rieslings To Know From New York To Napa Valley
getty Riesling is both a white grape and wine variety that is often maligned with sweet, inexpensive labels. Riesling, however, is actually one of the most unique wines in the world as it is available in a variety of styles, ranging from bone dry to sweet dessert wines. Native to Germany's Rhine, Riesling thrives across the country, and throughout neighboring regions in Europe, in high altitude appellations with terraced vineyards like Alsace in France and Wachau in Austria. In recent years, New World wine regions like Australia and the U.S. have produced some outstanding expressions of Riesling. In the U.S., the best styles of Riesling have historically come out of the Finger Lakes in New York, and while that's still certainly true, other storied wine regions throughout the U.S. have invested in the grape, showcasing delightful expressions, from Texas to Oregon, even western Colorado and of course, Napa. Read on to discover 10 American Rieslings to stock your wine cellar with. Nosing this Riesling, its origins are not immediately apparent, thanks to intense honey and white blossom aromatics from a small amount of noble rot. The medium palate, plush with ripe pear and vibrant acidity, is a perfect example of a dry Riesling in traditional German Kabinett (read: dry) style. // SRP $45 The grapes used for this crisp, citrus-forward Riesling are grown in California's cool climate of Monterey County, which allows for a naturally bright acidity and freshness in the glass. Fetzer's Riesling finishes off-dry as they stop fermentation before completion to express a hint of peach jam or tangy pineapple. // SRP $10 Dr Konstantin Frank is a leading producer of Riesling in the Finger Lakes Dr. Konstantin Frank was the first to plant Riesling in the Finger Lakes region in New York. As the pioneer of stateside Riesling, the winery features a portfolio of Riesling styles to choose from, but this bottle represents their classic, dry style that made them a household name. Produced with grapes from their original vines dating back to 1958, the wine displays ripe cantaloupe and dried apricot flavors that are balanced by the variety's quintessential petrol note and searing acidity. // SRP $20 Paul Hobbs is a revered winemaker around the globe, and while he got his start in Napa Valley, his most recent work in the Finger Lakes showcases the success of newcomers to the region. The 2019 vintage of this estate dry riesling was the first release from Hillick & Hobbs, located in Seneca Lake, and it's continuously delivered with its masterful tension, freshness and subtle earthy note. // SRP $35 This Dundee, Oregon-based winery might be reputed for its quality sparkling wines, however, their Nusshaus Riesling has a storied background of its own, dating back to 1988. Grown in Eola-Amity Hills, the fruit used for this wine was harvested at the end of October; the higher level of natural sweetness produces this semi-sweet expression evocative of a German Spätlese (Spätlese, meaning late harvest). Don't let the mention of sweetness be off-putting; Nusshaus presents layers of flavor with balanced freshness and acidity that lends itself as a brilliant culinary wine. Try pairing it with rich, spicy dishes like ramen noodles or Thai curries. // SRP $35 Brooks Estate has been dedicated to showcasing its Willamette Valley locale's potential for expressive Rieslings since its founding in 1998. They've made a name for themselves with their terroir-driven Riesling series, like the 100 cases of Monks Gate, a dry Riesling with bright acid and a lengthy mineral-driven finish. It's the perfect starting point to their greater collection of dry, medium-sweet and even sparkling Riesling. The Ordinary Fellow Riesling from Palisade, Colorado. If you truly want to taste the unexpected, turn to this Colorado-produced Riesling from The Ordinary Fellow. The Palisade-based winery crafts all its varieties from fruit grown along the Colorado River at 6,500 feet above sea level. The stony, loam soils and climatic conditions (very hot days and cool nights) mimic the best growing conditions on steep slopes along the Rhine, which results in optimal expressions of Riesling. This Riesling offers aromatics of Meyer lemon and an herbal note of fennel before racing acidity on the palate that finishes with lingering dried apricot. // SRP $32 Branded under the 'lightly sweet' category of their extensive wine portfolio, Garden Creek Winery's off-dry riesling is bursting with the sweetness and lushness of juicy white peach and a crispness from Granny Smith apple undertones. Their winemaker suggests serving it at 45°F with spring rolls and spicy Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc cham). // SRP $30 The Rieslings out of Washington state are renowned for their impressive acidity and Chateau Ste Michelle's old-vine signature is no exception. Cold Creek was planted in the 1970s and exists as one of the state's oldest vineyards; its fruit is characterized by ripe fruit intensity which the winery balances by picking the grapes over a four week period to showcase varying sweetness levels for a complex palate in flavor and structure. // SRP $22 Produced in a style akin to Alsatian Riesling (read: bone dry), Shenandoah Vineyards adds their own twist to this wine with slight oak aging to create a fuller body. Its aromatic notes of white flowers and lemon zest open to a mineral-forward wine that pairs beautifully with light, summer dishes — the winemaker suggests shrimp scampi or nutty cheeses. // SRP $26
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Obituary: Northern Chocolate Co. owner Jim Fetzer dies at 73. Known for his candies--and personality
Milwaukee chocolatier Jim Fetzer, known for his hand-crafted candies and irascible personality, has died at age 73. Fetzer died at home earlier this week, said his friends Patrick Small and Peter Fritsch. He operated Northern Chocolate Co., which Fetzer opened in 1991 at 2034 N. King Drive. For more than 30 years, Fetzer made such treats as chocolates shaped as rabbits and other animals from his collection of antique molds. He also would frequently snap at customers who annoyed him − a threshold easily achieved. Fetzer was "a unique individual," Small said. After graduating from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Fetzer started working in 1974 at Ambrosia Chocolate Co. − which operated in downtown Milwaukee before moving to the city's far northwest side. He spent more than 18 years there, as a quality control technician and a research and development employee, before opening Northern Chocolate. Fetzer's first recipe was for his mint meltaways, which he developed "after tasting some really awful mints he bought at a movie theater," according to a 1995 Journal Sentinel article. "He went home that night and began cooking and by 2 a.m. had developed the recipe," wrote journalist Maureen Dietzel Mertens. "Biting into one is a chocolate sensation not to be missed. You push through a slightly harder coating of rich dark chocolate and slide into a softer light chocolate," Mertens wrote. "The taste, a blend of all that sweet and bittersweet chocolate and rich mint, melts in your mouth." Less sweet: Fetzer's attitude. He had a history of "ripping into people who ask what he regards as stupid questions, for example, or booting out customers when someone waiting in a car honks for them," according to 2019 Journal Sentinel article. It earned him the sobriquet of "Chocolate Nazi" − a reference to the infamous "Soup Nazi" character from the '90s "Seinfeld" TV series. "He had strict rules," Fritsch said. Northern Chocolate customers sometimes "found themselves scolded for wearing fur, flashing cellphones or otherwise aggravating its idiosyncratic owner," journalist Rick Romell wrote in the 2019 article. "He was so opinionated," Fritsch said. Fetzer also was a pioneer of sorts by buying his King Drive building in 1985, and then spending several years slowly remodeling it. "He was a masterful decorator and restoration specialist," Small said. Fetzer bought his building several years before other business operators and real estate developers began investing in King Drive. "He has no patience for those who won't come to his store," Mertens wrote in 1995. "I don't want them," Fetzer told Mertens. "Tell them not to come here. They don't understand this neighborhood." Fetzer's historic building, which he bought for $15,000 in 1985, today has an assessed value of $205,800, according to city records. Fetzer in 2019 said he planned to shut down Northern Chocolate, citing health issues and saying he no longer wanted to deal with the public. But Fetzer kept the shop going − albeit with irregular hours. "I think he just wanted to keep working because that made him feel alive," Fritsch said. This story will be updated when details about services become available. Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@ and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Obituary: Northern Chocolate Co. owner Jim Fetzer dies at 73
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Obituary: Northern Chocolate Co. owner Jim Fetzer dies at 73. Known for his candies--and personality
Milwaukee chocolatier Jim Fetzer, known for his hand-crafted candies and irascible personality, has died at age 73. Fetzer died at home earlier this week, said his friends Patrick Small and Peter Fritsch. He operated Northern Chocolate Co., which Fetzer opened in 1991 at 2034 N. King Drive. For more than 30 years, Fetzer made such treats as chocolates shaped as rabbits and other animals from his collection of antique molds. He also would frequently snap at customers who annoyed him − a threshold easily achieved. Fetzer was "a unique individual," Small said. After graduating from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Fetzer started working in 1974 at Ambrosia Chocolate Co. − which operated in downtown Milwaukee before moving to the city's far northwest side. He spent more than 18 years there, as a quality control technician and a research and development employee, before opening Northern Chocolate. Fetzer's first recipe was for his mint meltaways, which he developed "after tasting some really awful mints he bought at a movie theater," according to a 1995 Journal Sentinel article. "He went home that night and began cooking and by 2 a.m. had developed the recipe," wrote journalist Maureen Dietzel Mertens. "Biting into one is a chocolate sensation not to be missed. You push through a slightly harder coating of rich dark chocolate and slide into a softer light chocolate," Mertens wrote. "The taste, a blend of all that sweet and bittersweet chocolate and rich mint, melts in your mouth." Less sweet: Fetzer's attitude. He had a history of "ripping into people who ask what he regards as stupid questions, for example, or booting out customers when someone waiting in a car honks for them," according to 2019 Journal Sentinel article. It earned him the sobriquet of "Chocolate Nazi" − a reference to the infamous "Soup Nazi" character from the '90s "Seinfeld" TV series. "He had strict rules," Fritsch said. Northern Chocolate customers sometimes "found themselves scolded for wearing fur, flashing cellphones or otherwise aggravating its idiosyncratic owner," journalist Rick Romell wrote in the 2019 article. "He was so opinionated," Fritsch said. Fetzer also was a pioneer of sorts by buying his King Drive building in 1985, and then spending several years slowly remodeling it. "He was a masterful decorator and restoration specialist," Small said. Fetzer bought his building several years before other business operators and real estate developers began investing in King Drive. "He has no patience for those who won't come to his store," Mertens wrote in 1995. "I don't want them," Fetzer told Mertens. "Tell them not to come here. They don't understand this neighborhood." Fetzer's historic building, which he bought for $15,000 in 1985, today has an assessed value of $205,800, according to city records. Fetzer in 2019 said he planned to shut down Northern Chocolate, citing health issues and saying he no longer wanted to deal with the public. But Fetzer kept the shop going − albeit with irregular hours. "I think he just wanted to keep working because that made him feel alive," Fritsch said. This story will be updated when details about services become available. Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@ and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Obituary: Northern Chocolate Co. owner Jim Fetzer dies at 73
Boston Globe
05-02-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
‘I'm hanging on for dear life.' Gentle parenting isn't always gentle on parents.
Advertisement 'That's when gentle parenting became very overwhelming,' says Fetzer, 38, who now has three children, ages 6, 5, and 1. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Gentle parenting hasn't been around long enough to judge the long-term effects on children, though research suggests that many of its tenets — skipping spankings, displaying warmth, validating emotions — benefit them. This is good for parents eager to believe their choices can help shape a successful future for their children — but it also may come at a cost. Last year, a surgeon general's advisory said that 41 percent of American parents say most days they are 'so stressed they cannot function.' The report isn't broken down by parenting style — but it's safe to bet the gentle parents are not OK. The idea that certain approaches to parenting will yield the happiest, most successful, healthiest children— the best children—is not a new one. Dr. Benjamin Spock published his now-classic book, in 1946, and it has remained popular since, with more than 50 million copies sold. Twenty years later, More recent decades have brought attachment parenting, tiger parenting, helicopter parenting, free-range parenting, elephant parenting, lighthouse parenting, and any number of other such philosophies. What distinguishes gentle parenting, however, is that it has come of age in an era of social media saturation. Advertisement The term was coined by The Gentle Parenting Book, but it has since taken on a life of its own in the hands of online influencers. In most descriptions, gentle parenting asks parents to address the feelings motivating bad — scratch that, unwanted — behaviors rather than punishing kids for them. When a child pushes his brother, gentle parenting suggests we rein in our frustration, then get down to his eye level, express empathy for his anger, ask him how he thinks his brother feels, and talk about better ways to express 'big feelings.' The philosophy says we shouldn't tell our daughter 'You're fine' or 'Don't cry,' when she falls and bumps her knee — instead we should ask her how she feels and reassure her it is OK to cry. Ockwell-Smith has said gentle parenting isn't about a rigid set of rules. But that hasn't stopped content creators from populating their feeds with all manner of specifics, including checklists, scripts, and dos and don'ts. A search for the hashtag on Instagram yields thousands of posts telling parents what to say ('I hear you'), what not to say ('Don't lie to me'), and what questions to ask ('What was the trickiest thing that happened today?'). Tiny details come in for critique, from how loudly you can say 'Ouch' if your child pulls your hair to whether it is acceptable to use the phrase 'Good job' as praise (lest your child becomes a 'praise junkie'). It can, say parents, create an unrelenting pressure to get every word choice precisely right. Advertisement On TikTok, gentle parents post videos of themselves negotiating public tantrums with grace and toddlers cheerfully cleaning up spilled snacks as instructed by tender-toned mothers. Many of these content creators have hundreds of thousands — even millions — of followers. . Image from Adobe Stock; Globe staff illustration 'You can scroll on your phone at any hour of night and see what you're supposed to be doing,' says parenting researcher Watching this trend, Davidson and her colleague 'There's tons of research about parents as vehicles for their children's well-being, but we were interested in parents in their own right,' Davidson says. As they compiled their data from interviews with 100 parents, But an unexpected theme also emerged: More than a third of the parents who described themselves as gentle also made unsolicited comments about their burnout and exhaustion. 'I'm hanging on for dear life,' wrote one. 'I confess I feel I have no idea what I'm doing much of the time,' reported another. And among those parents sharing such self-critiques, satisfaction and the sense of self-efficacy were markedly lower. Advertisement 'We weren't explicitly asking for stories of trial and tribulation and parenting woes,' Pezalla says. 'We did not anticipate this would touch a nerve for so many people.' Rachael Farber of Newton, mother to a 3-year-old boy and an infant girl, always intended to be a gentle parent. And she and her husband have incorporated many of the principles into their daily lives. They do their best to remain calm in the face of typical toddler provocations and, when their son is having big feelings, they try to talk him through the moment, rather than snapping or shushing. Along the way, though, she discovered that maintaining a constant veneer of peacefulness can be enormously draining. 'Emotionally, the more that you have to stay calm and be gentle,' Farber says, 'the less you have energy to do other things.' . Image from Adobe Stock; Globe staff illustration Sometimes sacrifices are made. Cara Leonardo of Needham, mother of two boys, had always planned to go back to work in finance after she had kids. Then she started developing a parenting style influenced by the principles of gentle parenting and other child-centric approaches. She soon realized that raising her kids according to these precepts is a job in itself, and decided to become a stay-at-home parent. 'It was too hard to be the mom I wanted to be and the employee I wanted to be,' she says. 'There's just not enough hours in the day.' The pressure and challenges are not the whole story: Gentle parenting can be a lot of work, but it can also be satisfying and even empowering, say some parents. The key is to let go of the 'gentle parenting' label — and all the rules social media places on it — and focus on the underlying principles, says Weston-based parenting coach Emily Barker. Advertisement 'Some people can get so caught up on the term, but it's just about teaching kids these valuable lifelong skills and how you should treat other people,' says Barker, who does not label her style 'gentle parenting' but does emphasize empathy and communication in her teachings. She suggests parents shift their perspective on moments that an online checklist might define as failure — a raised voice, a poorly chosen word — seeing them instead as opportunities for both parent and child to grow. Letting kids see you making — and owning up to — mistakes can model for them that no one is, or should be, perfect, she notes. 'Yelling is going to happen,' she says. 'It's about progress, not perfection.' .= Adobe Stock/Globe Staff Illustration Marta Melo, a Somerville mom of a 2-year-old, finds gratification in gentle parenting's recommendation to apologize to children when appropriate, a stark contrast to the 'because I said so' mind-set of previous parenting generations. Recently, working from home, dealing with a family COVID outbreak, and aggravated by her daughter's requests for attention, Melo pushed her chair back in frustration, frightening the toddler. After spending a few moments in the bathroom to regroup, Melo returned and told her daughter she was sorry for her reaction. 'I could see that I scared her,' she says. 'The biggest part for me is the idea of repairing what you've done.' Dr. Eliza Humphreys, a pediatrician and parenting coach based in Wenham, also doesn't use the term 'gentle parenting' for her work because it is often misunderstood, she says, but does embrace many of its core values. Much of her work is about giving clients a chance to understand the intergenerational patterns in their parenting. Working to change these patterns is a process that can make parents better at connecting with their children and, in the best cases, can also improve their own mental well-being. Natalie Bowers, 50, a client of Humphreys who also lives in Wenham, says the process of rooting out embedded parenting instincts and replacing them with kinder and more connected approaches has been transformative. As her twins, now 13, went through their tween years, Bowers found herself balancing between a desire to micromanage their lives and feeling rejected when they pushed back. So she has been learning to look beyond her children's behavior and determine the emotional needs driving it, rather than reacting instinctively to her own sense of hurt — a key component of gentle parenting philosophy. 'Honestly, it is an exercise in humility and loss of ego,' she says. 'It is quite possibly one of the hardest, most rewarding objectives I have undertaken in my life. Out of the love we have for our children, we are given the opportunity to be our best selves.' As for Fetzer, she's still not immune to waves of guilt when she struggles to get her kids to bed, only to see an influencer gentle parent their way to a peacefully sleeping child. 'In the script, your child is like, 'That makes a lot of sense.' But my kids, they just never really went along with the script.' And sometimes she just needs to get out the door without interrogating the emotional ramifications of wearing mittens. But she has found herself a middle ground approach to child-rearing that is informed by the gentle parenting principles she first learned about years ago, yet accommodates her real life as a mother of three. 'Social media makes it really hard sometimes,' Fetzer says, 'but I definitely feel at peace with what we have picked for our family that works.' Sarah Shemkus is a frequent contributor to the Globe Magazine. Send comments to magazine@
