High praise for Adelaide in The New York Times and other food and drink news

36 Hours in Adelaide, Australia - No longer simply a stop on the way to its celebrated wine region, the city has seen a revival of cafes and an arts scene, among other draws: Adelaide is Australia’s unsung city, a perfectly pretty destination on the southern coast, whose many charms are regularly eclipsed by the more glamorous Sydney and Melbourne. Most tourists who do fly into Adelaide are more often than not merely availing themselves of its airport en route to nearby Kangaroo Island or South Australia’s 18 celebrated wine regions, which have made Adelaide Australia’s wine capital. But these days the city is shining as a destination in its own right, and those who do decide to stay are in for a treat: Adelaide has elegant architecture and colonial beauty to spare, and a revival of independent cafes and bars and a booming arts scene have lately given the city a creative edge. So go ahead and fly through Adelaide on the way to its scenic neighbors — just make sure you spend a few days exploring the city as well.

Lukewarm Drinks, Enthusiastic Reaction - The temperature of a drink is not an issue typically up for discussion at the bar. Cocktails are cold, preferably very cold, except in those special time-honored instances (toddies, Irish coffee, Tom & Jerry) when they’re hot. Whatever the temperature of the room may be, the cocktails are not that. Recently, though, a handful of Manhattan bars have found virtue in the lukewarm. ... What gives? According to the bartenders treading this middle path, cold is not always a friend to cocktails; ice dulls the natural flavors of liquor. It also “mutes their aromatic qualities, which is 90 percent of flavor,” said Sother Teague, the beverage director at Amor y Amargo. At room temperature, those flavors and aromas flourish.

As the heat rises, the wines are a-changing - As a U.N. conference in Paris next week tries to limit climate change, wine makers from France to Australia are already changing their time-honoured methods, or even uprooting whole vineyards, as long-established weather patterns alter and the temperature rises.

Thanksgiving takes off in Australia, with turkey farmers reporting surge in sales

Philip Rich's top 20 wines of 2015 - Chardonnay was out of favour and almost didn't make the cut when this list was first compiled. Fifteen years on, it's one of the shining lights in the Australian wine sector.