Food & Wine July 2025

2023 NAUTILUS ESTATE MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON BLANC ($24) I chose this white for a blind-tasting seminar at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Its passion fruit and green pepper notes scream “New Zealand Sauvignon!” Will the panelists nail it? This issue comes out the day the event starts, so I guess I’ll find out then who reads their Food & Wine closely … NV NINO FRANCO RUSTICO PROSECCO SUPERIORE DOCG ($24) Research for an upcoming story took me to the hills of Prosecco Superiore recently, where I finally got to meet with the brilliant Primo Franco at his winery. His dedication to quality is evident in all of his wines, from his sublime single-vineyard Grave di Stecca to this deceptively complex flagship Rustico bottling. 2022 EL MOLINO RUTHERFORD CHARDONNAY…

Get on Board I MEASURE MY COOKING LIFE IN TWO ERAS: Before RB and after RB. Red Boat fish sauce transformed the way I cook when it arrived on the market in 2011—the same year my first child was born. It was perfect timing: As a new dad, I was short on time and looking for an ingredient to give my home cooking savory depth without extra steps. The exceptional quality and flavor of Red Boat 40°N Fish Sauce has given it staying power in my pantry and expanded my repertoire. First, it led me to Vietnamese fundamentals like phở and nước chấm. Then I began using dashes and tablespoons of it in marinades to add more punch; in dressings in lieu of jarred anchovies to add a briny backnote…

COULD YOU CUT, CORE, AND PEEL an avocado in under 30 seconds? Even if you could, would you want to? Probably not, especially if you’re one of the thousands of people who’ve sustained an avocado-related knife injury in the past couple of decades. Still, the guac must go on. Last year at Chipotle, employees prepped over 5 million cases—nearly 130 million pounds—of avocados. But in September, at one Southern California Chipotle location, a robot stepped in to help. The Autocado has one job, and it does it well. It can process up to 25 pounds of avocados at a time, cutting, coring, and peeling a single avocado in approximately 26 seconds. Once the bot finishes its work, human employees can make the guacamole in half the time it used to…

THE FLIP OF THE CENTURY THE TOASTER The toaster, which uses radiant heat to warm bread until crispy, was created in Scotland in 1893, then fully commercialized by General Electric in 1909. Within the next decade, toasters evolved—introducing models that could toast both sides of bread at once and pop the bread up when it was done. F&W FAVE: Breville’s Die-Cast 2-Slice Smart Toaster is ultra-efficient, with a modern design that our testers loved. ($150, breville.com) THE INDUSTRY DARLING THE STAND MIXER Ideated in 1908, the electric stand mixer simplifies the laborious tasks of mixing and kneading with powerful, consistent motion. F&W FAVE: KitchenAid, one of the earliest stand-mixer manufacturers, continues to be a leader in the industry. They’re consistently sturdy and multifunctional, and we love the flashy features on…

ROB RUBBA 2022 F&W Best New Chef Restaurant at the Time of Award Oyster Oyster, Washington, D.C. Legacy Through preservation, fermentation, and creativity, 2022 F&W Best New Chef Rob Rubba is a leader in the zero-waste-restaurant movement. OYSTER OYSTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C., has always been sustainable, but since the restaurant opened five years ago, 2022 F&W Best New Chef Rob Rubba has backed away from using that description. “Sustainability is a word that’s used so much, but I don’t even know what it means anymore,” says Rubba. So, rather than constantly branding his restaurant as environmentally friendly, he subtly weaves their zero-waste efforts into every step of the service process. As a sommelier pours a glass of kombucha for a guest, they might mention that the nonalcoholic beverages are made…

AT ROGUE CREAMERY in Oregon’s Rogue Valley, when it’s time for the cows to be milked, there’s no need for a farmhand. Instead, the cows milk themselves—with the assistance of two robots named Charlie and Matilda. Here’s how it works: When a cow feels ready to be milked, she walks toward one of the robots. It identifies the cow by her ear tag, adjusts its sizing accordingly, and estimates how much milk she should have in her udder before spray-cleaning each teat and gently milking the cow. (While all of this is happening, the robot also feeds the cow a snack.) The robots are also programmed to sort out the cows that need additional attention—like if they are in heat or need a vaccine—before allowing them to exit. “That reduces…