There are special, very special wines out there. The 2007 Abreu Vineyard Madrona Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley is one of them. The Madrona Ranch Vineyard is in St. Helena, California and they produce wines with a magical blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of sharing not only the Madrona Ranch but … Continue reading Not your everyday wine……..
One of our favorite Sarasota restaurants is the State Street Eating House. They have a great bar, a casual atmosphere and homemade potato chips that are, the best! We dined there this week with our daughter and one of her friends. Drinks were amazing. The mojito and the mint julep looked like adult snow cones! We shared a very nice bottle of wine with our … Continue reading Dinner at State Street……
The day after Thanksgiving we took off driving north along Florida’s gulf coast to spend some time in the panhandle. We planned to stay in Carabelle the first night but the old hotel there was booked so we made our reservation to stay in Apalachicola. I will definitely plan a future road trip to Carabelle to experience what we missed – the Carabelle Hotel … Continue reading Road trip…………
I’m not fantastic at posting individual wines very often. The 2002 Roar Gary’s Vineyard Pinot Noir was so good, delicious in fact, I did not want to miss adding it to the blog. Visit Roar’s website to learn more about some great Santa Lucia Highland’s wines. Continue reading A delicious wine!
August is a good time to depart Sarasota. The thought of experiencing a cooler climate becomes ever more enticing after two long months of hot and humid days and nights. John and I flew north to spend two weeks in some fantastic weather. Our first stop – Maine. On the drive from Portland to Blue Hill we stopped at Day’s for a lunch of lobster and … Continue reading Blue Hill to Sturgeon Bay…..
A few weeks ago we spent a lovely evening at a Lido Shores neighbor’s wine tasting party. One of the guests, architect Peter Shaw, designed the home when he worked for Jonathan Parks Architects. The spectacular entrance staircase is a concrete marvel. We hired the subcontractor, D and D Concrete Construction, for our home after we saw the stair under construction – one of the best decisions we made … Continue reading Remarkable Design and Wine…….
This August we had the pleasure of visiting Canada via Boston with a return through New York City. We planned an overnight in Boston to meet up with our daughter Sara who was heading back to Boise, ID in just a couple days. We stayed at The Park Plaza mostly for its convenient location but also because it is competitively priced, reliable and supporting historic … Continue reading Oh Canada!……….
Saturday morning we stopped in to see theWinetoBuy.com’s new store located on Gulf Gate Drive. Wow! The storefront sign gives the shop a great presence on the shopping strip. The space is definitely larger than the former store on Stickney Point Road. It includes a temperature controlled wine room and a spacious granite counter area for future wine tastings. They are still busy unpacking and … Continue reading Saturday morning wine purchase…….
I’ve attended way too many events where no thought beyond price was given to the wine being served aside from having the word “wine” on the bottle. More often than not, I would find myself declining to take a glass or regretting that I took one. Occasionally I have been charged with purchasing wine for a group, a meeting or an event and I’ve struggled … Continue reading A better “group” wine………
This rates as one of the most creative dinners I’ve had the pleasure to experience. The chef owner of Indigenous created all of the courses from ingredients found within a 100 miles of Sarasota. Thank you to Chef Phelps for introducing us to some delicious local ingredients and to your experienced staff for making the evening so amazing! Who would have believed the berries on … Continue reading Indigenous’s 100 mile dinner………
John's Wine Cellar 