We recently had a bottle of the 2016 Comstock Rockpile Petite Sirah along with a few other wines. Petite Sirah is well known for often being dark, brooding, and taking a long time to come around to peak drinkability. This was just the opposite. It was bright, lively and downright elegant. It was the wine…
The San Francisco Chronicle named Morgan Twain-Peterson and Tegan Passalacqua their co-winemakers of the year for 2015. Why does this matter, you may ask? Typically, we don’t pay too much attention to these kind of awards. But since Morgan and Tegan are two of our very favorite winemakers (Morgan for Bedrock Wine Company and Tegan…
It is finally time to move our focus to Northern California, so now we can write about the Big Three. Ahhh, the Big Three. These are the three winemakers that have had the biggest influence on our wine drinking over the last 2+ decades. Not only do they make great Zinfandel [kind of a requirement…
Michael Perlis and I are both big Zinfandel wine fans. Don’t get us wrong though, we love almost all varietals and our choices are completely dependent on what we are eating or the occasion. If the lesson is Rhones we’re there, Burgundy sometimes, Bordeaux varietals is pretty much a yes, and Zinfandel…well that just takes…
Elevating Zinfandel was a tasting event I attended, once again put on by WineLa.com, in which the guest could not only sample an array of California “Zin” (the common abbreviation), but by doing so elevate the senses as only one can that attends a single varietal tasting. For wine 101ers I’ve found one of the…
Grass Valley, CA – The premier tasting event for Zinfandel lovers will celebrate its 24th anniversary, January 29-31, 2015 with four festive celebratory events over three days that feature a diverse selection of wines and styles from renowned producers and emerging wineries. The Zinfandel Experience provides opportunities for both new and seasoned wine lovers to…
THE INVITE: Long before Sideways, LearnAboutWine was telling their audience that Santa Barbara winemakers are producing some of the best wines in the world. We invite the “Best of the Best”, “the brand standards” and “the newest and most up and coming” to our participate in the 10th Annual STARS of Santa Barbara at the…
“Free run juice” is the initial juice that drains from the grapes when they are crushed but before they are pressed. My limited understanding is that this juice can theoretically produce wines of higher quality than from grapes that have been pressed, due to reduced exposure to the skins and the chemicals released by the…