Been a long time since I’ve had a Gamay wine from Beaujolais, France. Not to be confused with Nouveau Beaujolais, its younger sister that is presented every November fresh from bottling, this particular Gamay had some aging (see the tech notes below). I knew it would be red fruit on the nose and palate –…
“Grandma was a bootlegger.” Not something you hear every day, but this is what Jane Portalupi told Karen and me when we visited. The tag hanging on the one-liter milk bottles of their Vaso di Marina red and white wines tells the story like this: “This wine is inspired by my grandmother, Marina Portalupi, who…
My editor Michael Perlis knows all about Carlisle Winery, and has for a number of years, so in this one bottle post I will give you my impressions of this one bottle alone. If you want to know more about winemaker/owner Mike Officer or the vineyard practices you can search our website for Michael’s articles…
Due to COVID-19 and the shutdown of winery tasting rooms, the thirty-three winery members of the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley Association are trying to cope with the unknown, as closures may continue longer than expected. Vineyard operations and winery production, as well as essential business operations continue with enhanced measures following CDC guidelines for…
It was a lovely day to taste Rose…that was and still is my opening as it sounds so good. But on the day of this particular tasting the skies had opened up as they have recently in LA and tried to ruin my day with about two inches of rain. The event, set for the…
The #LAWineWriters struck again en masse for a recent tasting and lesson, this time on the Lodi winemaking region: Camron King and Craig Ledbetter were on hand to tell us all about the wineries and vineyards in LoCa, aka the wines of Lodi. Camron is the director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, and Craig is…
Was pretty amazed, yes by the superb fruit and balance in the Rhônes and Zinfandels from Limerick Lane, and by the amazing auction items that had been donated so far to this particular Boy and Girls Club of SCV fundraiser, but equal to all that (for me) was a food pairing menu by Salt Creek…
…enjoy making new discoveries as well as trying the latest vintages of old favorites. Last week I wrote about the Australian white wine seminar I attended via the Australia Up Close event; what I learned and what we tasted. It got a little lengthy so I split up the story into two parts. Today is…
Limerick Lane, while it has been around for a long time, really burst onto the scene when Jake Bilbro acquired the property in 2011 from the Collins Family. The story of the timing of the escrow closing coinciding with bringing in harvest and then the destemmer breaking down is legendary enough that the annual Limerick…
The Historic Vineyard Society is an organization that is very near and dear to my heart. Dedicated to preserving California’s old vines, the HVS Board members, led by Mike Dildine, have not only spearheaded the efforts to save these important properties but their wineries are responsible for producing some of California’s most exciting wines: Mike…