2021 came in hot, didn’t it? It sort of feels like an extension of 2020 a bit, right? All we can do is move forward with life, as difficult as it may seem. I am focusing on doing things that bring me joy, which includes enjoying some spectacular wines. Today I’m hosting a Zoom webinar […]
I have not been lucky enough to step foot on the Vega Sicilia property, considered to be one of the top luxury wineries in the world. Situated in the Ribero del Duero DO in Spain, Vega Sicilia is a gem among gems. About a year ago I was invited to an exclusive collectors’ dinner at […]
Italy does not have one ruling white or red grape. In fact, Italy is home to over 1,000 indigenous varieties, many of who you might never have heard of. Frappato? Molinara? Cortese? Turbiana? Lugana Wine: Fresh and New Turbiana is the white grape used to make Lugana wine, a refreshing and dynamic white wine from […]
Sauvignon Blanc, I love you. You were there when I needed a break from Chardonnay. You were there when I wanted a crisp, clean, high acid white. Thank you. Thank you for being a constant in my life. But Sauvignon Blanc, I need a break. It’s not you, it’s me. You have been lovely, I […]
In January I had the privilege to participate in the WineStudio program featuring Chianti Classico wine from Ricasoli 1141. WineStudio is an online Twitter-based educational program produced by Tina Morey, a Certified Sommelier who’s been in the food and wine industry for over twenty years. Each month a different producer is selected, along with a […]
The history of Fontanafredda (and Langhe Nebbiolo) is a noble one and began in 1858 after the unification of Italy, when the country’s first king, Vittorio Emanuele II, purchased this beautiful estate in Piedmont’s Langhe region for his mistress. Quite the scandal! Here he started producing wine from local varieties, Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo, which […]
One of my last wine country trips was in December on a self-guided press trip to Southern Oregon wine country with Neal and Alyse of Winery Wanderings. We met a few years ago at the Wine Media Conference and became fast friends! This was our second trip together, the first one being to Napa Valley […]
I spent the first 5 months of COVID daydreaming about when I’d be able to “get out of dodge”. Finally, just after my birthday (in late July) I took a weekend trip up to wine tasting Paso Robles. Shockingly, I had never been there. Crazy how I have been all around the world, but never […]
Today we go down under to Tamburlaine Organic Wines, Australia's largest independent organic producer with over 300 hectares of organic wines in the Orange and Hunter Valley wine sub-regions of New South Wales. Independent meaning that they don’t sell to big-box retailers. Quite impressive for a 120,000 annual case production. Tamburlaine’s Entry into Hunter Valley […]
The wine world has a problem. It’s too white. Like starkly white. The US has very few black-owned wineries or wines made by the hands of black winemakers. In addition, there are only a small amount of black wine professionals in positions of leadership in wine sales and marketing. This is a layered problem that […]
Driven by a passion for exceptional Nebbiolo, the Travaglini family has been producing remarkable, limited-production wines from their estate in Gattinara for four generations. They are the foremost producer and largest vineyard owner in this northern region of Piemonte, Italy. Travaglini Gattinara: The Bottle Travaglini Gattinara wines have a distinctive bottle shape, featuring […]
F Last summer, I took a lovely trip to explore Willamette Valley wine on the Wine Writers Educational Tour (WWET), which was organized by Fred Swan. The trip was 3 days long and consisted of multiple vineyard and winery visits with about 20 other wine writers. Oh, how I miss trips like this. The trip […]
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.4.9"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.4.9"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.4.9"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.9"] On March 6th, I hopped on a San Francisco-bound plane to work with a client on an upcoming event. That weekend I spent some time with friends in Marin, and our visit to Chalk Hill Estate was my last public outing before COVID got serious in California. I […]
It’s July now, and I assumed that when I wrote this blog post, we would be in a post-COVID world and that I would be giving you tangible suggestions for how to produce a live event post-COVID. Hilarious, right? When COVID hit in March, it first felt like a blip on the radar, then it […]
Since March, we have all become Zoom masters. Depending on our line of work, and connectivity with our family/friends, Zoom is now something we say and do daily. I know some in the corporate sector who have no fewer than five to seven Zoom calls per day, and that does not include personal Zooms with […]
