Yearly Archives: 2015
Napa Valley: Outdoor Eating and Drinking in St. Helena
I’ve been in Napa for the past week attending the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers which was held at the lovely Meadowood Resort. Now I’m on my own, staying at the much less posh but very convenient El Bonita in St. Helena. It’s easy to walk to the heart of the town for eating and [More]
The Pleasure of Wine: A Lesson From Poet Billy Collins
This morning I heard Poet Billy Collins give the Creative Keynote at The Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley. Many things he had to say about wine and writing resonated deeply with me, but none more than this: “Obvious joys of wine get buried in the analysis.” So on that note, it [More]
The Best Cheap White Wine: Cono Sur Bicicleta Viognier
I traveled all the way to a ramen place in Richmond, British Columbia, to find—from Chile—one of the best cheap white wines I’ve ever had: the 2013 Cono Sur Bicicleta Viognier. This is a grape that can produce very expensive, sublime wines in France from the tiny region of Condrieu. Viognier can also produce very oily, [More]
Dabble Does San Diego: Eat and Explore With Me
What a thrill to be on assignment for Dabble Magazine in San Diego. I can’t believe I had never been before! And when it came time to leave I was ready to stay…FOREVER. And, yes, what they say about the weather is true. It was also a wonderful trip because of my new pal, Photographer Angela Auclair. [More]
Italian Wine Discoveries at VINO 2015
Recently returned from a whirlwind (whirlwine?) few days in snowy, cold, loveable New York City attending VINO 2015. (This was a sponsored media trip, BTW.) Let’s get straight to the cool wines that I discovered. Well, it wasn’t like I found the Ark of the Covenant, just that these wines were new to me. I [More]
Drunken Nights: The Wine
Cabernet Franc suffers the fate of not being Cabernet Sauvignon. It doesn’t have the reputation, familiarity, nor the sheer numbers of bottles available compared to the more famous Cabernet. Wait, what? What is this staid romance about standing up for a grape?!? Let’s get to the part where we all have lampshades on our heads! Let me [More]
CakeSpy Illustrates My Love for the Champagne Flute
If you’ve been a faithful reader of this blog, there is one thing you know without a shadow of a doubt: I am a staunch defender of the Champagne flute as my preferred vessel for sparkling wine enjoyment. Wait, you didn’t know that? OK, we can rectify that later. But first I want to give [More]
