Sonoma County Winegrowers, Sonoma County Vintners, and Full Circle Wine Solutions periodically band together to showcase Sonoma County’s sixteen AVAs. Their Sonoma in The City event was held recently at The Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. And lest you think this was purely about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay [make no mistake, there were excellent examples…
Verde Valley (Green) is now producing some very exciting wines. Verde Valley is also excelling in the realm of organic wines. Where is Verde valley? Jerome, Arizona, of course. Not only is this unlikely region producing wines of distinction, they are the vision of one whom some may consider, an unlikely source. Caduceus Cellars is…
I’ve been thinking about POP Champagne bar in Pasadena for a few months because…well…we don’t have a Champagne bar in Santa Clarita yet. With dozens of Champagnes, by the flight, glass and bottle, also doing the same for sparkling wines, fortified wines, pink wines, vintage champagnes and regular wines…I figured that I would get over…
Second Annual Sierra Pelona Valley Wine Festival http://www.sierrapelonavintners.com/ Do you know what an AVA is? It is the abbreviation for “American Viticultural Area”, which is an officially designated wine grape-growing region in the United States. Creation of a new AVA has to be approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the…
As the verdant slopes of Mt. Meliton stretch down to mingle with the crystal clear waters of Toroneo Bay, 475 hectares of the largest Greek vineyards lie in amphitheatre-like formation. The “Slopes of Mt. Meliton” vineyards are some of the largest in Europe and a model of organic viniculture…Domaine Porto Carras. The vineyards of Domaine…
Ever since its release, Dave Phinney’s Zinfandel based, “The Prisoner,” captivated the wine world. For many, it came as a surprise in 2010 when Phinney’s Orin Swift Cellars sold two of their most popular wines, Saldo and The Prisoner, to Chile’s Huneeus Vintners. According to Phinney, the sale is more of a partnership as Huneeus…
Were there really men over forty-years-old dancing in my family room to Eraserhead? (Or was it Tortoise Head or maybe even the more discerning, Porpoise Head?) Eddie’e CD collection from the eighties strewn across every available counter top? Middle-aged women discussing random acts of body piercing in my kitchen? An impromptu lecture on getting really…
An interesting thing that happens at large wine events: camaraderie grows as wines are consumed, people tend to become chattier and want to share their discoveries of the day. So instead of just keeping track of what I was digging at the Family Winemakers Pasadena tasting, I listened to the buzz coming from Santa Clarita…
This is a continuation from last week’s post, part 2, and shares what we tasted at Lisa Madison’s party. The Tasting For Lisa’s launch party she had enlisted the assistance of executive director, Diane Nozik, to “conduct the guided tasting of 6 handcrafted wines from some of California’s best vineyards”. “We call our parties edu-tainment,…
Riesling Wines are very interesting and allure many different types of wine drinkers. It has been my finding that people that are not really serious wine drinkers tend to go for the sweeter versions of this style of wine but it goes much deeper than satisfying non wine drinkers. There are many different styles of…