On March 2, at the beautiful Beverly Hills Peninsula hotel, once again organizer Ian Blackburn of WineLA.com brought together the most acclaimed STARS of the Napa Valley wine scene. And, as we all know how stars can be bright or fade from view, leave it to Blackburn to select shining stars year in and out…
One of the great things about Sonoma County is its size and diversity. While many people think of Sonoma as being about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, nothing could be further from the truth. While excellent representations of these varietals do come from the area, Sonoma is also known for great Zinfandels and Rhones. As Karen…
Écluse Wines Consistently Peak Judges Interest in Largest Gathering of American Wines Paso Robles, CA – Écluse Wines, a boutique, family owned winery located on Kiler Canyon Road on the Westside of Paso Robles was awarded Best of Class, along with three Double Gold medals and two Gold Medals in the 2016 San Francisco Chronicle…
If you noticed, my favorites were distinctly different than the selected winners, though some of the winners were my second or third choices. (Editor’s Note: Part One ran on this blog on 2/20/16.) It was impressive to see the variety and quality of the best of class entries into the Sweepstakes level of the competition,…
In reviewing two bottles of Napa Valley wine, from the same winemaker but two different varietals, I expected to find no similarities. But, in looking over my tasting notes for today’s column, I found one: Both wines developed, ripened, blossomed and smoothed out after ten minutes in my glass. I found myself returning to my…
Check out these cocktail recipes from Van Gogh Vodka and Little Black Dress Wines: Peachy Diva 1 oz. Van Gogh cool peach vodka 2 oz. Little Black Dress Chardonnay 1 oz. Limoncello di Capri squeeze of 1 lemon wedge METHOD: Shake ingredients very well with ice and strain into a martini glass. GARNISH: peach slice…
“If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.” Ted Plemons, CASS winery partner. Guests at a recent CASS wine pairing dinner were treated to more than one Ted-Ism, as Ted Plemons wife, Lisa, calls her husband’s affable speech, on a warm night on Salt Creek Grille’s patio. But first, SCG…
There was more than one Goddess braving the SCV cold in nothing but a toga and a ceremonial grapevine headdress on one recent Friday night. Me, as the temporary Goddess for Circle of Hope’s Vine 2 Wine event in June, and the Goddess of Wine, a fellow-wine blogger, wine educator, WSET Level Two Certified, lucky-for-me-she-lives-in-Burbank-and-can’t-take-my-peeps-home-with-her,…