… so tonight I tried the 2006 Sangiovese and Malbec from de Lorimier. The varietals had nothing in common save that they are produced by the same California winery in the Alexander Valley, so other than this, there was no real "comparison." I thought they were both excellent examples of the California take on [...]

… so if you are reading this for the first time, before reading the "tale" below you should know that the goal of this exercise is to taste wines blind and deduce the vintage, grape, and other matters of importance. Typically, I have different stores (familiar with my objective) send me "themes" of wines in [...]

Ah, Syrah! Do you prefer it young, fresh, and juicy with expression? Or sophisticated, well-rounded, yet seductive all the same? One of the best things about living the vida loca wine life is that there are so many helpful “enablers” all around you, feeding into your literal thirst for wine knowledge. Take wine store clerks, [...]

J. Lohr is a California producer of many different varietals, and increasingly, many different vineyards. I had the good fortune recently to receive a case of 2008 wines and must say all are of exceptional quality for the price.  If I had to choose my two favorites, they would be the Chardonnay and the 2007 [...]

Today the American Sommelier Society invited their members to hear Nicki Pruss, winemaker for Stags Leap present her wines. I had met Nicki last year at the Master of Wine conference in Napa, as the winery invited us to tour the vineyards and meet Nicki and tsste the wines. Today’s tastings started with 2008 Arcadia [...]

  Cantina di Soave … I’ve had the occasion to taste some interesting whites this week, and all four of them would be perfect for to accompany dishes for a Thanksgiving dinner. Let’s go to Italy for the first. Cantina di Soave produces two "Soave" wines, both with very different taste profiles. If you are [...]

  .. in these economic times everyone is looking for a way to get great quality wine at a value. The "private selection" name sounds posh but the bottom line is  that this new brand offers both value and quality because of the Mondavi name. I tried both the 2008 Meritage and Cabernet Sauvignon and [...]

  Rather risky, don’t you think, to put a California sparkling wine up for comparison among some of the best houses in Champagne? Yet that’s what Hugh Davies did in NYC recently when presenting his sparkling wines to a very select group of journalists. “Of course, I can detect a California sparkler!” you might think [...]

… So I just had a fabulous lunch at Avra in NYC with Nicholas Miller, whose family owns the Bien Nacido brand (Pinot Noir and Syrah) and Solomon Hills brand (Chardonnay) in Santa Maria, California. “Bien Nacido means ‘born with a silver spoon’ – or some such in Spanish,” says Nicholas. As the scion of [...]

Brooks Painter, winemaker   … so recently I received three wines from V. Sattui Winery, a family owned winery dedicated to making handcrafted wines in small lots. As is the current trend, the wines are only sold at the winery or direct shipped. This is a practice that makes sense in our competitive market, and [...]

… it’s always fun to sit next to a winemaker / winery owner during a wine dinner at a top restaurant like Park Avenue Spring in New York City. It was the first time I would meet Dennis Cakebread, and it was a thrill to be able to taste the wines and pepper him with [...]

…I had a chance to catch up with new developments at J Vineyards and Winery today with George F. Bursick, VP Winemaking, who was showing many of the company’s wines. Though the company had its foundation in sparkling wine, it now has ten estae vineyards totaling 257 planted acres in the Russian River valley. It’s [...]

  It’s always fun to compare wines from the same vineyard and different years. Recently I received two chardonnays from Fess Parker (both Ashley’s / Sta Rita Hills) The 2007 is a pretty medium gold color, with a nose of melted butter and ripe apples. On the palate, more melted butter and apples and a [...]

John Falcone As a Californian, I was incredibly loyal to my native state and spent many long, sun-soaked weekends checking out all the new wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley. Now that I am on the East coast and more Old World focused as a result of my (more Old World) wine studies, it is [...]

Taylor Mason, Resident Chef …. it seems like I’ve been going to the Napa Valley every few weeks this year. Only February, and I’ve been in late January for the Master of Wine educational seminar and just last week, the Symposium for Professional Wine Journalists and the Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Auction. Usually Yountville looks [...]

Gary Fisch (stripped shirt) of Gary’s Wine and Marketplace (location New Jersey) ,,, so here I am, freshly returned to NYC after a week in Napa tasting fantastic wine, spending time with fellow journalists at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood, and attending many of the festivities and tastings leading up to the [...]

Wednesday’s events took place at the CIA in the famed Greystone building. Jeff Morgan, winemaker and author whom I interviewed many times, gave a fabulous brief on winemaking bore Karen MacNeil (author of The Wine Bible and now invited to the Hall of Fame from our Wine Media Guild) in New York and Eric Asimov, Wine Editor of the New York Times, gave a great presentation on tasting notes.

  Chardonnay is everyone’s favorite grape … it can take on so many expessions. Increasingly, you should recognize that many old world producers, especially in Macon, are edging towards new world appellations in style while some new world producers are trying to emulate old world producers.  So for those of us who appreciate the apple pie a la mode [...]

Are you a jaded diner? In today’s power-packed culinary world, many people are lucky enough to visit four and five star restaurants as a matter of course. Twenty years ago, for example, dining at a top restaurant would be because…

Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood Want to be a winemaker? It sounds like a lot of fun, and of course, it can be. And to hear the rags to riches (well, not quite rags) story of how Joel Peterson, founding winemaker ofRavenswood, created an internationally famous brand is mesmerizing. Joel was born in 1947 the [...]