Los Olivos and Los Alamos are quite possibly my favorite small towns to visit outside of Paso Robles in Central California.They are 15 minutes apart making it doable to plan a wonderful trip around the wineries and incredible restaurants in just these two towns. Los Alamos is on a redevelopment roll with old structures under renovation and new infill popping up. The town has attracted … Continue reading Los Olivos – Los Alamos……..
Life sometimes gets in the way and those ” I meant to do” things get waylaid. We have had a number of visits and tastings over the past 12 months that never received their just post. I want to attempt to make up here for a few that were left on the back burner. Wellington Cellars located just down the road from us in Glen … Continue reading Bits & Pieces………
Between holidays and company I’m not always able to keep up with my posts. This past year we were fortunate to taste at a number of wineries that I have not previously written about that absolutely need to be posted. In Napa on Dunaweal Lane is a winery called Canard. Rich “Duck” Czapleski and wife Carolyn own this winery. With son Adam and winemaker Brian … Continue reading Dunaweal Lane Winery…..
Located in Napa’s Soda Canyon with a stunning view back to San Francisco is Relic. It’s the love and passion of Mike Hirby and Schatzi Throckmorton. They have been making their wine since 2001 when both Schatzi and Mike were working for Behrens & Hitchcock (now Behrens Family Winery). They continued making wines for 14 years before opening their own facility / winery in Soda … Continue reading Relic
This was the 15th year The Garagiste Wine Festival was held in Paso Robles. In the world of wine festivals, these festivals are one of the best. Participants are from small wineries in this select area of California who are making less than 1500 cases per year. 50 micro-wineries poured at this years festival. 11 of them for the first time in Paso and 5 … Continue reading Paso Robles Garagiste Festival……..
This post is a follow up to the previous post – Esther Mobley’s San Francisco Chronicle column – Septemer 6, 2023. Because you were unable to open the link to the 25 Sonoma wineries, I’ve posted them here. You can also read more about many of these in other posts on the blog. The best 25 Sonoma County wineries that don’t require reservations Continue reading Walk in Wineries in Sonoma
Mauritson Winery makes a number of wines under the labels – Mauritson, Rockpile, Charlie Clay and Loam. They are all award-winning, estate grown, exceptional wines Clay Mauritson, owner, and winemaker, Emma Hall are responsible for. This week we participated in tasting the release of Mauritson’s 2019 Loam wines. It was truly a wonderful opportunity to relax in the winery’s library and try these three wines … Continue reading 2019 Release Tasting
We had friends from Florida visiting recently who were interested in tasting Pinot Noir wines, in particular Papapietro Perry. It has been several years since we were there so we were looking forward to a return. Their tasting room is off Dry Creek Road, north of Healdsburg alongside several tasting rooms as well as winemaking facilities. Their tasting room is what I would call “casual … Continue reading Papapietro Perry
Gundlach Bundschu Winery is an institution. It’s been around forever! About 35 miles from San Francisco the winery sits at the southern end of the Sonoma Valley. Referred to by many as “GunBun”, it is one of the oldest wineries in the state. It’s also one of the most diverse for visitors, offering venue experiences unlike any other winery I know – from cave tastings, … Continue reading GunBun!
John's Wine Cellar 