I studied just a half page on the wines of Idaho when I was preparing to be tested (and pass) my American Wine Specialist® Certification course last year. Frankly, I was pretty intrigued by all of the U.S. states that found a way to make wine that fit their location, climate and soil conditions. But I didn’t…
International-renowned sommelier, Noel Shu, provides in-depth look at the modern Chinese wine I can’t recall the last time I tried wine from China, possibly at the LA Wine Fest. So here I had an opportunity for a virtual taste and a cultural lesson all in one after reading Shu’s book, “China, Through a Glass of…
VERONA, ITALY (PRWEB) – Three nations, 490 wines tasted, and 120 “heroes”: these are the 2019 achievements of the Native Grapes Academy (NGA). NGA is a project co-financed by the European Union and coordinated by Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) and Organización Interprofesional del Vino de España (OIVE) aimed at training wine specialists on PDO, PGI and…
NEW YORK, NY (PRWEB) – The Chianti Classico Consortium (Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico) is pleased to announce the positive results of the recently-completed 2019 harvest, a year which promises to be memorable for the historic Tuscan denomination. Both qualitative and quantitative factors strongly indicate a vintage of classic proportions, and one that will be of…
Santa Rosa, CA—The Russian River Valley makes another big stride in proving itself to be one of the world’s premiere wine growing regions. In the 2019 Sonoma County Harvest Fair Wine Competition, the top three Sweepstakes winners were all wines made with Russian River Valley grapes. All three of the wineries are also members of the Russian River Valley…
Tickled to have had an opportunity to learn about Cognac from one of my peers in our #LAWineWriters group, Irina Ponomarenko, at our favorite spot in LA for pairings, Napa Valley Grille in Westwood. This was the invite: Join us for a luncheon at Napa Valley Grille with Cognac Educator Irina Ponomarenko. Cognac, the most…
CALISTOGA, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) – Larkmead Vineyards, celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2020, announced today the planting of a Research Block in preparation for the next 125 years of Napa Valley viticulture. The Research Block will be located at the Larkmead estate in Calistoga and will host several different grape varieties, clones, and rootstocks for trial purposes…
During my Santa Barbara trip this past summer – the word trip is used lightly as we only stayed two days – my focus was on the winery tasting rooms in the Funk Zone for an article for Elite magazine. One of the winemakers that I interviewed was Doug Margerum of Margerum Wine Company. (Photos)…
In an ongoing effort to educate myself and wine 101 readers I recently attended an “intensive seminar covering regulations, styles, crus, villages” of Champagne, France. Diego Meraviglia, the Director of Education for the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), led the class. And this article, part one of two as there was that much to learn…
Try to imagine: an award-winning winery, hotel and restaurant – all built into a restored 12th century abbey in Spain. A small group of wine writers were tasked with that very thing a couple of weeks ago. And between a stellar wine and food pairing luncheon with Abadia Retuerta LeDomaine GM Enrique Valero Quintana and…