My husband and I were recently out to dinner at Café La Haye in Sonoma when a woman surprised us by popping over to our table unexpectedly …
Nancy Lilly pointed to the bottle of MacRostie pinot noir on the table, and she said we were drinking the grapes she and her husband Tony reared on their Wildcat Mountain Vineyard.… Read More »
Vintners Barbara Banke of Sonoma County’s Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates and Annette Shafer of Napa Valley’s Shafer Vineyards are heading to Florida for the Naples Winter Wine Festival to pour their cabernet for generous palates who have an appetite for goodwill. The Naples auction has raised more than $94.5 million since 2001 to create and expand charitable programs serving underprivileged and at-risk children in Collier County. Banke is expected to arrive in Naples this afternoon. Doug Shafer is already in Naples, but his wife Annette boarded one of the two private planes at 8 a.m. this morning set to whisk vintners off to Naples. … Read More »
I’ll be making my yearly pilgrimage to the Zinfandel Advocate & Producers ZAP tasting on Jan. 28th and to gear up, I’m doing some pre-ZAP tastings. I like to work up a wine grid in advance of the tasting – one that will be published in next Wednesday’s Press Democrat –- to highlight some rock star zins.… Read More »
As the days grow cooler, this is the time of year that I am eternally grateful for my slow cooker because it’s like having a personal chef. Who wouldn’t want Siri in the kitchen?… Read More »
Iron Horse Vineyards in Sebastopol will be shipping off to Beijing 880 cases of its “Year of the Dragon Chinese Cuvee on January 10th. The Chinese Cuvee was created to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, which begins January 23. Smart move. If you want to capture a culture, celebrate its celebrations. That’s right, uncork bubbly in its honor.… Read More »
Our wine-of-the-week winner is the Schramsberg, 2007 Blanc de Noirs at $38, and we did a Q&A with Hugh Davies, president and CEO of the winery to find out what happened behind the scenes in making this standout. The key ingredient, it turns out, is time. Q: What is the most challenging part of making a great sparkler? Davies: “I would say time is the most challenging factor. It has taken years to get vineyards up and running in the… Read More »
With New Year’s Eve in the offing, here’s a tip: The conversation should be as scintillating as the sparklers. I came across something interesting on the market – Wine TableTopics (www.tabletopics.com) — and decided to check it out. There are actually some great conversation starter s here – 40 questions, with more than a few good ones.… Read More »
With the trial opening today, the Foppiano Winery in Healdsburg is in the spotlight as a bitter fight between siblings unfolds. In a lawsuit Susan Valera accuses her brother, Lou Foppiano, of misusing assets, and she wants his ouster to keep him from overseeing the family trust.… Read More »
The Honig, 2010 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($16) has a unique label, and I’ve never come across anything quite like it. The label is inside the bottle and reveals a picture of vineyards that you spy through the white wine.… Read More »
The unassailable sparkle in bubbly was a result of Champagne’s cool temperatures which would halt fermentation in the fall and unleash it again in the spring when the wines warmed up. When the winemakers couldn’t win their war with the bubble, they decided to make peace with it, and ultimately celebrate it.
