Ridge Vineyards is the producer of some of our favorite wines. We’ve enjoyed them since the 1980’s getting their shipments in Florida and coming out to visit initially at their first estate – Monte Bello in Cupertino. Today Ridge has three estates – Monte Bello, Lytton Springs, and the newest in Paso Robles. Ridge’s Lytton Springs estate outside Healdsburg is closest to us and among … Continue reading A Monte Bello Cabernet Tasting…..
From land that has been producing grapes since 1880 in the Napa Valley, one of the world’s greatest wineries has called it theirs since 1972 – Shafer. Robert Parker is responsible for giving the winery that title. I know many would agree! We visited the winery just after Christmas. It’s wise to book your visit well in advance. Tasting appointments are very limited to enable … Continue reading A Taste of Shafer…….
The Garagiste Wine Festival was a great excuse, not that you need one, to spend a long weekend in Paso Robles. The rainy season has already begun in Northern California. Heading south to Paso Robles gave us a break from the rain and some terrific sunny, 80 degree weather we happily soaked up! Serial Wines tasting room is just off the square in downtown Paso … Continue reading This Fall in Paso Robles…..
Napa Valley wines have a well known reputation for being rather pricey. When there is so much terrific wine to be had in California it is difficult to spend the high price tag to taste and to purchase. We were over on Howell Mountain to taste Jon Jones’s newest releases at Paravel and arranged for an afternoon tasting in Yountville at Elyse. Elyse’s tasting room … Continue reading Napa’s Elyse
Tucked in a corner in Bacchus Landing in Healdsburg is the tasting room of Smith Story. It’s a welcoming storefront with a beautiful garden patio. Ali Smith and Eric Story are the couple behind the wine. Katy Wilson is their consulting winemaker and Dusty Rhodes their hospitality director. And not to be left out in any way is Lord Sandwich, the canine behind it all. … Continue reading Picpoul & Bourboulenc?
It’s ten o’clock in the morning and we are sitting down to taste wine. We’ve returned to the Spire Collection just outside of Callistoga. I wrote about our first visit in the blog entry – Tasting in Napa. It will give you a gracious plenty on the background of the Spire Collection so I won’t repeat myself. It is a modern, tastefully appointed tasting room. … Continue reading Myriad & The Spire Collection
Tasting on a Monday can almost guarantee you a less crowded experience. Tasting on Halloween absolutely did! Truett Hurst was our choice for a morning tasting and picnic. Their winery is on Dry Creek Road outside of Healdsburg. The property borders on the creek and has beautiful, expansive vegetable and flower gardens as well as a crew of goats and a variety of chickens, all … Continue reading Halloween tasting
When you truly enjoy wine and visit the wine country for decades it is hard to resist the desire to make it home. We did and we love it. However, some who move here plunge in a bit deeper and take on the challenge of wine making. Laurie & Dean Gray along with partner Steve Nordhoff did just that and started Riverain Vineyards in Rutherford, … Continue reading Riverain
August 2020 – A Paravel UPDATE – We had the pleasure of having Jon Jones join us for a birthday dinner celebration in Santa Rosa. Jon brought his wines to pair and share making the dinner and the evening one exceptional event. Jon poured his 2019 Mendocino Poor Ranch VYD Old Vine Zinfandel Rosé while he told us the fantastic story of how he discovered … Continue reading “Music to your Mouth”
We took a little trip over to Napa for a first time visit to Anderson Conn Valley Vineyards. Our visit was during a region wide power shutoff so our tasting was held on their lawn rather than in their very dark wine cave. Harvest was well underway and we were the only visitors early that day. Our host, Tom started us off with Rosé and … Continue reading Anderson Conn Valley
John's Wine Cellar 