We’ve been fans of wines from the Rockpile AVA for a long time. There is just something about the rich balanced flavor and structure of the wines from this region, primarily Zinfandels and Petite Sirahs. But only recently have we gotten a better understanding of the history of this AVA. Located at the far west…
When we visited the Dry Creek Valley last fall, we gave a full report on Mazzocco Sonoma winery and winemaker Antoine Favero along with our stay at its onsite Briar Cottage: Perlises Pick: Mazzocco Sonoma in the Fall of 2025 – Part 1 – Eve’s Wine and Spirits 101 Perlises Pick: Mazzocco Sonoma in the…
After tasting some delicious white wines, we were ready for what the Dry Valley AVA is best known for – Zinfandel! Tasting room manager Eddie presented these tastes in a side-by-side format. We started with the 2023 Briar Zinfandel and the 2023 Sullivan Zinfandel, also from the Dry Creek Valley. The Briar has 9% Petite…
We have really missed attending the events put on by the Historic Vineyard Society. The events encompassed tours of multiple vineyards followed by delicious dinners shared with wonderful people. Getting to rub elbows with our winemaker idols and enjoying their free flowing wine only added to the experiences. In recent years as times changed, the…
We’ve been fans of wines made from the Dusi vineyards in Paso Robles for many years, perhaps almost as long as we’ve been fans of wine. Wineries like Ridge and Turley, among others, have always made special wines from these amazing vineyards. We were very excited when Janell Dusi started her own winery, J Dusi…
It seems fitting to finish up this short series on Mendocino County and Coro Mendocino wines by going back to where it started at Jaxon Keys when winemaker Antoine Favero first showed us a bottle of Coro a couple of years ago. Since that trip was all about the brandy and we hadn’t reported on…
Very excited about our now-annual November visit to Napa wineries – our Thanksgiving Chef Ann (my husband’s sister) moved to No CA so we follow her there now for dinner and enjoy wine tasting on the same trip! I had already shared a teaser of who we were to visit in this blog, read it…
I don’t know how many years I’ve turned to LocalWineEvents.com to find events to go to, take a wine quiz, look at “culinary vacations” and market my own non-profit wine, food, and spirit events. I recommended that my own newsletter readers sign up for The Juice newsletter as a resource. Nowadays I repost their Instagram…
We have long expressed our love and support of old vineyards, including promoting California’s Historic Vineyard Society (HVS) whenever possible. At the just concluded 2024 international event of The Old Vine Conference, they announced that their 2025 event would be held in October at Copia, Napa in partnership with ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) along…
Back in 2009, or maybe even a bit earlier, I had an appointment with our insurance agent at her office in Newhall. She mentioned that a “money guy” who worked down the hall, had been reading my wine column in The Signal newspaper and wanted to meet me. The guy was Michael Perlis. That fateful…