Each month the French #Winophiles blogging group explores a particular French wine theme. Sometimes it’s a notable region whose wines we’d like to explore in-depth; other times it’s more about exploring a grape variety vinified throughout the country. This month we are exploring grower Champagne. If you’re not familiar with grower Champagne. Have a look at…
Tag: Wine Tasting
Celebrate Harvest Season Livermore Valley Style!
For winemakers, harvest season, when the bulk of the grapes are pick, pressed and fermented, brings anxiety, long hours, and a multitude of critical decisions to be made. Also, know as crush season, it has historically also been a time to celebrate the harvest. That’s especially true this year for the annual Livermore Valley’s Harvest Wine…
Lodi Chronicles; Lodi, California Rosé: Summertime In A Glass
As you may know if you follow this blog, I’ve been contributing to Visit Lodi! Conference & Visitors Bureau blog. Visit Lodi is the official travel website for Lodi, California. From time to time I share the blog posts I’ve written for Visit Lodi here. My latest piece written for Visit Lodi is entitled Lodi, California Rosé:…
Pinots d’Alsace?…Yes Please! #Winophiles #AlsaceRocks
This month our French Winophiles group is teaming up with Wines of Alsace, and Teuwen Communications for their Alsace Rocks! promotion. As part of the promotion I was provided with 4 sample wines (as always opinions are my own!) My Pinot Flight included at least one of the four Pinot grape varieties of Alsace – Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris,…
Digging Out By Digging Into the Chilean Wines
When I started this blog 8 years ago, I recall feeling as if I was on the outside looking in because so many of the wine bloggers I admired seemed to have an endless supply of sample wines. Wine I did begin to receive wine samples it started as a trickle . These days it feels…
Family Wine Makers Tasting Favorites
I recently attended the Family Winemakers of California (“FWC”) Grand Tasting in San Francisco. The FWC is the trade advocate for California’s “small family” wineries (according to this year’s program, case production ranged from 200 to 200,000! ). A huge tasting like this brings in trade, media, and wine lovers from across the country. There were…
A Taste of Albariño from Rías Baixas #RiasBaixas #Albarino
A few weeks back, I was sent ten bottles of Albariño from the Rías Baixas in preparation for a virtual tasting organized and moderated by Snooth last week. While I was delighted to receive the wines, my thoughts quickly turned what I’m I going to do with 10 virtually full bottles of Albariño after the tasting? Clearly,…
A Taste of Lodi’s Sustainability and Diversity #EarthDay #LodiWine
Earlier this month, in honor of Earth Day, I took part in a Facebook Live tasting of wines certified by Lodi Rules™ for Sustainable Winegrowing Program. It was part of the broader April is California Wines: Down to Earth Month, an initiative to promote earth-friendly California wines made with sustainable winegrowing and winemaking practices. The objective of…
Livermore Valley Winegrowers #BarrelsBottlesBrews
The last weekend in March, my wife and I attended Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association‘s Barrels, Bottles & Brews with a friend. Barrels, Bottles & Brews is a two-day event that offers amateurs and aficionados of beer, wine and spirits the opportunity to sample all three over the course of a couple of days for $45 (advanced)/$55…
Wine Of The Day; 2013 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor
2013 Don Melchor – “It shows enticing cassis, black cherry, blackberry, vanilla and extra dark chocolate with espresso bean flavors”. Concha Y Toro’s Don Melchor vineyard is situated at an altitude of 2,145 feet, at the foot of the Andes Mountains on the northern bank of the Maipo River. It is part of the Puente Alto (“high…