Avignonesi wines are shaped by our soils, by our grapes and by our vineyards. In other words, our ‘terroir’ permeates everything we do. As such, our goal is to be the best custodians of the land that we can be and thereby craft the best possible wines from our vineyards. Rosso di Montepulciano DOC 2013 Aroma:…
The first time I met Victor Abascal, Winemaker/Owner of Vines on the Marycrest (VOTM) was at the Wine Classic, an event that ran a couple of decades as a fundraiser and held here at Cal Arts. I can still see Victor at his table pouring his wines, and had routinely seen him pouring his wine…
Over 60 Garagiste winemakers – aka garage winemakers, most of whom don’t have tasting rooms and don’t produce over a certain number of cases annually – would be pouring for the 8th Annual Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles. We’d covered this event in Los Angeles and Paso Robles over the years and oftentimes these wineries…
The Wine House is thrilled to be named one of ten of the “World’s Best Wine Shops” in Food & Wine! In addition to being described as a “wine geek’s dream destination” with modest markups and excellent small-production offerings, we were noted for having “an impressive lineup of classes.” Here are our current offerings! SUMMARY…
Last week I gave you an introduction to the latest Garagiste Festival held in Santa Monica. Here now are some comments about the wines Karen and I enjoyed. Ascension Cellars – winemaker Erick Allen continues to make consistently high quality wines from Paso Robles grapes. Primarily Rhone varietals, my favorites were the 2017 Siren Rose,…
Dinner at Opolo Vineyards after our first day learning and tasting at the Paso Robles Cab Collective Cabs of Distinction was a special treat booked for us by the public relations company marketing the event, Parker Sanpei. Starting with an after hours tasting in their tasting room – their Zin and Sangio stood out uppermost…
Santa Barbara County is our local world-class wine region. The region boasts a perfect combination of climate, soils, geology and geography, allowing growers and vintners to produce excellent wines from grapes associated with three major global areas – Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone. Santa Barbara County Vintners Vice President Michael Larner, a grower, vintner and geologist by…
I miss the Frankie’s NY Italian Restaurant we had in the Bridgeport Marketplace that shuttered in July of 2013, and was vaguely aware that its sister restaurant (truth be told our restaurant’s former owner, Teresa Competelli, is Frankie’s daughter) had been open on Melrose for 25 years. So when I saw this Facebook post, “Chef…
Where does one begin after their first dining experiences at Celestino Ristorante and Bar? The seasonal mushroom menu that included my first experience tasting truffles? Meeting Partner and Executive Chef Calogero Drago? Tasting “only three percent of the menu” but possibly the best as recommended by our server? Pairing Italian Cabernet Sauvignon and Italian Syrah…
In this Part Two story from my Healdsburg trip, today I’ll be sharing a few tastes from Seghesio Family Vineyards and Mauritson Family Winery. Seghesio When Edoardo Seghesio came out to California from Italy it was to work for Italian Swiss Colony wines. He, along with all of the winery workers, was given room and…