Do you ever feel that Mother Nature has a mischievous streak when there’s a spike in temperatures? No worries. You can outsmart her antics with these tips: When cooling a bottle during a heat wave, don’t be rash. Skip the freezer as your most expedient method of cooling down a [...]
After a rigorous week of tasting more than 16000 wines in this year's Decanter World Wine Awards, 240 judges gave high marks to California. It won the majority of Gold and Platinum medals awarded to the states. Rutherford’s Frog’s Leap, 2013 Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon was awarded Best USA Red Bordeaux [...]
At Auction Napa Valley Saturday, bidders under the white tent seemed more than happy to dispose of their disposable incomes. Their spiraling bids helped organizers raise an estimated weekend take of $14.2 million. To capture the color of the auction weekend – the fashion, the humor, the bidding mentality – [...]
No need to spend the nest egg with this line-up of cabernet sauvignons. With an eye to Auction Napa Valley, I wanted to offer a line-up of cabs with a palatable price tag. Here's a recap of this week's blind tasting: TOP PICK Louis M. Martini Louis M. Martini, 2014 [...]
A panel of French judges unwittingly picked California wines as the victors, transforming the global winescape forever. Ron Dick, a grower in Alexander Valley, is intent on claiming his family’s part in the historic upset. His father – Henry Dick – supplied 20 tons of chardonnay grapes for the winning [...]
Robert Louis Stevenson has said “Wine is bottled poetry.” But after a unique, wine-centric dinner last night at Healdsburg’s Valette, I think this quote is more apt: “Wine is bottled passion.” A trio of friends decided – over beer mind you – to create a dinner that would showcase [...]
A group of wine experts considered 11 of the best wine regions in America to visit, ranking Sonoma #3 and Napa #4. What can you make of this? I think Sonoma has the edge in this competition because of its diversity and enticing unknowns. The palate loves a little mystery, [...]
Sonoma County’s Bacigalupi family celebrated the 40-year anniversary of the 1976 Paris Tasting Saturday, by paying homage to its victorious grapes. These Bacigalupi grapes, you recall, accounted for 40% of the bottling in the winning white – the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay. The burnt red Volkswagen truck used to transport [...]
Merry Edwards Winery founder Merry Edwards is a tenacious and gifted vintner who was honored as 'Woman of the Year' at the YWCA’s Women, Wine & Cheese 2016 event on April 22, and for good reason.
The most fascinating part of judging in a wine competition is finding wines that wow you. But equally compelling is the table talk with fellow judges in-between flights of wine. This chatter, this free-flowing conversation, is intriguing because it reveals juicy morsels, striking little bits of life. For instance I [...]
Press Democrat wine writer Peg Melnik blogs about local wines and hot topics in Wine Country.