Wine of the Day: 2013 Urbano Cellars Cotes du Clements

Urbano Cellars sourced fruit fro this wine from the Bokides Ranch,  which lies within the Clement Hills AVA which is located within the SE corner of the Lodi appellation.  Clements Hills is characterized by rolling hills that emerge out of the San Joaquin Valley to form the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  It is distinguished…

Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant and 2013 Josetta Saffirio Barbera d’Alba #ItalianFWT

The theme for this month’s Italian Food Wine and Travel (#ItalianFWT) is Fall in Italy.   And since today, October 1st is also World Vegetarian Day,  I decided to bring a vegetarian dish  – Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant to our virtual table and pair it with the  2013 Josetta Saffirio Barbera d’Alba!  On My Plate When…

Wine of the Day – 2014 Seed Malbec

Seed Wine  is a boutique winery crafting less than 200 cases of wine annually.   Fruit for this wine was grown in the prestigious and rugged Altamira district of the Uco Valley from  42-year-old ungrafted Malbec vines grown in well-drained alluvial clay, limestone and gravel soils.  The cool, high elevation vineyard is situated at the extreme…

Five Great Regions For Spanish Garnacha #SnoothVT

Last week I celebrated Grenache Day by I participated a virtual tasting of Garnacha (as the grape variety is known in Spain).  The tasting was organized by Snooth. Easy-going Garnacha is 2016’s red wine grape du jour. While savvy growers have brought Garnacha to all corners of the globe, there are five distinguished designations of…

Livermore Valley’s Taste Our Terroir’s; Quest For Pairing Excellence

I attended the 2016 Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association; Taste Our Terroir – The Quest For Pairing Excellence back in July.  I intended to blog about it before now.  You see how that  went. What is Taste Our Terroir? Taste Our Terroir is Livermore Valley’s  preeminent food and wine festival.  The affair, held each July, spans four…

2012 Weingut Angerhof-Tschida Grüner Veltliner Eiswein

The 2012 Weingut Angerhof Tschida Grüner Veltliner Eiswein is an ice wine from the  Burgenland region in Eastern Austria.  Burgenland is Austria’s key red wine region ( the main grapes being Blaufrankisch and and Zweigelt).  But sweet, primarily botrytized, wines are also a specialty of the region. This wine is a rarity. That’s because ice wine of Grüner Veltliner doesn’t often come…

2012 Rombauer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Stice Lane Vineyard

Fruit for this wine was sourced from the Rombauer Vineyards‘s estate Stice Lane Vineyard in the St. Helena AVA .  A former river bed, the site’s gravel deposits provide ideal soils for growing concentrated full-bodied Cab.   Sustainable farming practices were utilized throughout the growing season.   The vineyard is  Napa Green/Fish Friendly Farming certified….

Wine Pairing Weekend Explores Grüner Veltliner; In The Glass And At The Table

David B. Crowley of Cooking Chat kicked-off Wine Pairing Weekend in June 2014.  On the second Saturday of each month, a group of bloggers who are passionate about the way good wine enhances a meal come together to blog about a wine pairing they have done. Each month has a different Wine Pairing Weekend theme to…