In August, I visited the Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon, subregion, also known as a nesting AVA, within the Willamette Valley American Viticulture Area (AVA). This day trip was part of the 2021 Wine Media Conference (WMC), one of several optional post-excursions that the conference offered. Pro tip: The WMC excursions are often the best value of the
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Sunny with a Chance of Flowers Wines Monterey, CA This is an unusual wine review, in that Sunny with a Chance of Flowers Wines are unusual wines. The label was born out of a desire to create a great tasting, yet lower calorie, wine with a lower ABV than average and no residual sugar. Wines
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Early on in the pandemic shutdown, I received two wines to review for this blog from Black Stallion Estate Winery (website), located in the Napa Valley. Like much of California wine country right now, Black Stallion is not that far from wildfires caused by lightning strikes last weekend, though they are not under threat as
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Can you sense it? That faint wisp of an unseasonal mist? The tortured scream of someone who’s blood-red drops have run dry? Oh, that’s just me, finishing off my samples of Bogle’s Phantom Wine, website here. Obligatory Disclaimer: “Wine sample” means these wines were free for my review. Sure, it’s almost Christmas, but that’s no
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Obligatory disclaimer: These Chalk Hill chardonnays were free to me for my review. They are Chalk Hill’s two commercially available chardonnays; the winery produces two others that are only available at the estate or at their website.The 2016 Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnay comes completely from grapes within the estate’s Chalk Hill AVA vineyards. It’s all
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Harney Lane Wines Wine Region: Lodi, CA Obligatory disclaimer: All wines mentioned in this blog were free to me for review. The Winery: Harney Lane Winery and Vineyards stands on farmland owned by the Mettler family since 1900. Currently, its proprietors are Jorja and Kyle Lerner and Jorja’s mother, Kathy Mettler. The Mettler’s history with
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Did you say vertical tasting? That’s an irresistible invitation for wine bloggers. We love to compare and contrast different vintages from the same winery, to ponder the sometimes subtle, sometimes great, differences between them.  Make it five vertical tastings in an evening, at a restaurant I’ve never tried before and from a wine region with
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Last January, I was delighted to visit Chateau Montelena for the first time on the invitation of Calhoun & Company. Obligatory disclaimer: That means the Chateau Montelena Dream Tasting was entirely free to me. Indeed, it was a media and industry event, and I was thrilled, and a bit intimidated, to be included among the
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The History Last spring, I had the pleasure of visiting Bodegas Aguirre Winery for the first time. Obligatory disclaimer: This was an invitation extended to media, and thus, free to me. Located in the Livermore Valley, which is a historic Californian wine region, Bodegas Aguirre is the passion project of cardiac surgeon Ricardo Aguirre. Dr.
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For my last post on the 2017 Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC), I want to highlight the caviar tasting experience Jordan Winery has developed with Tsar Nicoulai Farms. I tried both during a WBC Friday night excursion dinner, which means the food and drink enjoyed was offered at a very steep discount to me <—  Yes,
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