Instead of reflecting on last year’s favorite wines, or making any pesky wine resolutions, this article, one of the first for Beaconeers in 2012 is my 15-member list (alphabetical, and not in order of importance) of men that have contributed to my wine education in 2011. I prompt you to start working on your own…
Last week’s article wrapped up our day in Dry Creek Valley. Before moving on to our last day in Sonoma County [finally, right?] I wanted to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming with a great event that happened recently in Los Angeles involving the Dry Creek Valley. On February 20th, 2016, the Winegrowers of Dry Creek…
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…
Ian Blackburn has been teaching all of us about wine for the last 20 years. First with Learn About Wine and now with Wine LA, he has been teaching classes and putting on events which have been instrumental in turning a lot of wine drinkers into wine lovers. His “Stars of…” events are legendary and…
Thank goodness for Ian Blackburn. Allow me to explain… Not long ago, I had the extreme displeasure to attend a wine seminar and tasting event that was run so poorly that I ended up leaving far earlier than I normally would, and vowed never to attend an event again by that particular organizer until I…
Granted, it was a wee bit difficult for some to get past winemaker Jean-Luc Colombo’s heavily accented-English. The one word I did pick up, which peppered most of his one-hour lecture, was “stupid.” When I laughed out loud at one of his stories, detailing a wine practice he thought was stupid, I got a smile…