One of the first wine fests I attended as press was the LA Wine Fest. Founder Joel Fisher was very kind in extending passes and personally welcoming us at the event. Since then I’ve covered the 500+ winery/brew/spirit event in photos, as my hands are always too full with a wine glass and program to…
Ana T: havin a glass of vino and I thought of you, lol, hope you’ve enjoyed one tonight as well! 🙂 This message from a Facebook friend prompted this return: It’s funny you said that Ana, I do find myself thinking of other people that might be enjoying wine, somewhere else, while I’m doing the…
No, I didn’t just go to Maria’s and order dinner and write a post about it. There was one, maybe two, more steps. The first step was that was when I was there ordering dinner I spied some really cool items in their freezer: Ziploc bags of meatballs, cheese ravioli and spinach ravioli. About a…
After reading Paso Robles Cab Collective: Wine Dining in the Beacon on 5/9, Paso Robles Cab Collective: En Primeur, Current and Reserve Tasting (also on May 9) on this website, today I have the final installment on the Cab Collective (though you can also look forward to an entire article just on HammerSky alone very…
In this, the second annual Cab Collective, now called the Paso Robles Cab Collective, the media was given a multi-day schedule. I planned on resting my head for two nights at the Hammersky farmhouse, after days that would be spent doing barrel tasting of the 2013 vintages, vintner panel discussions, library tastings, interviewing winemakers over…
Last Friday night we let our 14 year-old daughter terrorize the mall with her friends from 5-6pm. We figured one hour was not enough time for Paul Blart mall cop to drag them by their heels over to us at the wine bar. (Thrilling being a parent in SCV isn’t it?) Anyway we settled in…
There were more food, wine, lifestyle vendors and appreciative guests this year, in only its second time around, at Reyes Winery for the Sierra Pelona Valley Wine Festival last weekend. While VIPs were given early access and other perks, every guest seemed to be feeling the VIP treatment with unlimited access to both commercial and…
Okay, I did it again, I used a braising sauce/starter kit from Williams Sonoma when I invited an old friend over for dinner and didn’t have time to make something from scratch. We’ve had great luck with these sauces, they run less than each, and all I need to do is add meat, veggies and…
Simply Wine Festival http://simplywinefest.com/ What started as a dream fairly quickly turned into an amazing reality. Martha Peretz and her team at Great Festivals Incorporated should be congratulating themselves for putting on a practically perfect extravaganza, the Simply Wine Festival, especially considering it was their inaugural event. Start with the venue itself, the Four Seasons…
We spent last weekend celebrating Earth Day in Paso Robles, in case you missed all my hints in the Dear Wine Friend e-newsletter. We started out with a lovely tour and overnight accommodations at the Creekside Bed and Breakfast formerly owned and operated by Per Cazo Cellars owners Dave and Lynne Teckman. From there we…