If you are a writer like me, you need peace and tranquility to do your best work. A beautiful view is an added bonus. If you are looking for a retreat where you can put pen to paper so-to-speak, Writing Between the Vines is now accepting applications for Winter/Spring 2015 retreats. Five retreat locations are available for 2015, one in Texas’ Hill Country, one in British Columbia, Canada and three in California. Locations for single […]
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Wines of San Juan, Argentina
Wines of where? Puerto Rico? Nope, these wines are from the up-and-coming province of San Juan, Argentina, and they offer a pleasant reminder of the value that lesser-known wine-producing regions around the world can deliver. They also remind us that purity can equal quality in wines. Bonarda, Tannat, Syrah, Malbec and Torrontes are some of the main varietals coming out of this province, and with little exception, it seems that winemakers of San Juan are […]
Continue readingMore TagNapa, wineries take stock, assess damage after 6.0 Quake
Napa Valley wineries report diverse assessments as a result of last Sunday morning’s magnitude 6.0 earthquake that shook residents from their 3:20 a.m. slumber. The ‘South Napa earthquake,’ so named by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), was the largest to hit the San Francisco Bay Area since the October 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta quake that killed 63 people and resulted in over $11 billion in damage.The South Napa quake, which hit about 3 miles northwest […]
Continue readingMore TagTop 10 Things I Learned at WBC 2014
The 2014 Wine Bloggers’ Conference co-mingled about 150 citizen bloggers and 200-plus wine and related industry personnel with wine makers and producers from all over the world last week at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott in Buellton, California. This was the seventh year of the annual event started by Joel Vincent and Zephyr Adventures in 2008, and now run primarily by Zephyr with a small board of advisors. In addition to Buellton, the North American WBC conventioneers have […]
Continue readingMore TagA Languedoc Top Ten List
Okay, so it’s really two Top Five lists about Languedoc put together. Quit being so anal, it adds up! It is truly a shame that Languedoc is not more well-known, so first up… Top 5 reasons you may not know Languedoc: 1. Too much time spent on things that the consumer doesn’t care about such as appellation arguments. 2. No truly defining style. 3. Confusing labels (for the consumer) 4. Diversity provides overwhelming number of […]
Continue readingMore TagLanguedoc Day is May 30 – Celebrate South of France wines!
Join us this Friday, as we toast the wines from the region we love in the South of France — Languedoc! May 30, 2014 is officially Languedoc Day, and we will join wine lovers all over the world as they tweet about this important wine region using the hashtag #LanguedocDay. Beaucoup des cepages! (Many Grape Varieties!) With a typically Mediterranean climate and wide variety of soils, from pebbly terraces, sandstone and marl, limestone and schist, […]
Continue readingMore TagYellow House Bed and Breakfast – Salado, Texas
Need a get-away for an all-girls weekend? How about a peaceful retreat from the frenetic pace of the city? Either can be yours at the delightful Yellow House Bed & Breakfast in Salado, Texas! Less than an hour north of Austin, two hours South of Dallas, and three hours from Houston, the Yellow House Bed and Breakfast is delightfully different from the lace-doilied lodging lampooned by IFC’s Portlandia. Cathy and Brian Harris have created a […]
Continue readingMore TagJessup Cellars & Butterfly Restaurant: A Winning Combination
A beautiful view, incredible food and great company. Add wine and lively conversation, and you’ve got a winner. We found one when Butterfly Restaurant’s Chef Rob Lam served up some fabulous dishes to pair with Jessup Cellars wines from Napa Valley. Last week I traveled to San Francisco, California to attend the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers annual Zinfandel Festival, and meet with the brains and brawn behind Creative Furnace to help plan an exciting conference […]
Continue readingMore TagWin Tickets to San Francisco Zinfandel Festival, Jan 31 – Feb 2
UPDATE: Friday, January 25 is the last day to enter to win tickets to the San Francisco Zinfandel Wine Festival. Make sure you enter to win a pair of tickets to wine tastings and food pairings at this awesome event January 31 to Feb 2. There’s a guy who makes wine he calls Bedrock But he didn’t go into it half-cocked. He was raised in a cellar, what a cute little fellar, Some might say […]
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