Pairing Albariño from Spain and Uruguay: Seek Seafood + Crab Cakes
Is Albariño the ultimate wine for summertime seafood? One of Spain’s most popular white wines, Albariño grows in Galicia on the north-western coast of Spain, and in northwest Portugal. If you’re looking for an aromatic, crisp wine to pair with oysters, crab, anchovies, scallops, swordfish, clams, even sole with beurre blanc…. look no further than Albariño, a light, bright white with sea fresh minerality that works well with seafood. While Albariño is most well-known from Spain’s Rias Baixas region where it has grown for 900 years, it’s grown in wine regions around the world including South America’s Uruguay which is producing Albariño along its coast. Albariño has a medium-sized, thick-skinned berry that’s susceptible to mildew. The wine can be made in several styles with bright acidity, floral aromas, and on the palate, peach, apricot, and citrus. grapefruit.
And what better day than today– Albariño Day, in the middle of summer, during a global heat wave– to pour this refreshing white wine into your glass? Continue reading →
Art Predator Gwendolyn Alley leads an informal tasting of Gold Coast wines on the Gold Coast; photo by Karen McMahon
What better way to spend a summer day than tasting Gold Coast Wine Competition wines along the Gold Coast? Many California county fairs like the Orange County Fair and regions like the California Mid-State Fair are famous for their commercial wine competitions, and winning wineries proudly display their medals. Wineries large and small submit their wines to see how they stand side by side. Ventura County winemaker Steve Holt, a frequent judge, realized that the Ventura County Fair was missing something– a commercial wine competition that would celebrate and showcase local and regional wines, and even wines from beyond the central and southern coastal regions. Plus an opportunity to taste the wines!
Gold Coast red wines on the Gold Coast include Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, and merlot
So in 2024, Steve Holt started the “Gold Coast Wine Competition” Continue reading →
Vilarnau organic cava from Spain pairs well with seafood dishes like anchovies, halibut, swordfish
On July 12, join Spain and the world to toast International Cava Day and celebrate Spanish sparkling wine made in the traditional method from grapes indigenous to Iberia like Xarel·lo, Macabeo, Parellada. Cava comes in various styles from light, fresh and young perfect for tapas to older and more complex to pair with meals to sweeter versions; basically there’s a Cava to go with every occasion and dish. D.O. Cava also has pairing ideas: check out this chart or use it in Cava cocktails like these as suggested by D.O. Cava.
Here’s another reason to celebrate Cava: there’s a good chance that the Cava in your glass is organic.
Lake Tahoe view from above high above Incline Village, NV
As we drove up from Southern California along the eastside of the Sierra on Friday July 3, we were surprised by the crowds along the Nevada shore of Lake Tahoe and the traffic that crawled through Kings Beach.
What’s better than enjoying a glass of wine in the mountains near a river or lake in the summer? Not much– guess I’m not the only one who thinks so!
I recently learned that a visit to Lake Tahoe is predicted to be the most popular lake this summer by far! Continue reading →
Rosati from the Montepulciano grape during judging at Radici del Sud 2026
One morning last week at Radici del Sud in Puglia, I tasted and judged 38 Rosati wines from the southern end of Italy dominated by eleven different grapes: from the familiar primitivo (think zinfandel in the US but NOT white zin!) to new grapes to me like Magliocco from Calabria. Pictured above is the first flight with a wide range of colors of six different and delicious Montepulciano — four from Abruzzo and two from Puglia. Surprisingly, the next flight all matched in color! Flight three had Rosati from three different grapes, and color variation again. Total, we had six flights of six wines plus two stragglers.
International judges at Radici del Sud 2026: Katarina Andersson, Nanyoung Baek, Antonello Nicastri and Gwendolyn Alley (Wine Predator)
Tuscan evening spring walk with fireflies and moon May 21, 2026
As I write this, my fingertips slightly stained by mulberries picked fresh off the tree, I sit in front of wide open double doors enjoying the evening air which offers hints of hay and the hot springs of Saturnia in southern Tuscany. A deep sniff might reveal a whiff of lavender, elderberry, honeysuckle. The waxing moon heads toward the west casting a faint illumination over the hills. The lights of Montemerano glow in the distance above me while Saturnia is up the steep hill behind me. The fireflies dance in the grass to the music of the owls, crickets, and other night beings.
People have lived here in community with nature for thousands of years, and the night sparkles with life– human, insect, bird, plant, mineral even. I could do without the mosquitoes and their bites which leave me so itchy, but they feed the birds which I love listening to and watching as they flit from tree to tree or soar above me. It’s all a cycle of life.
Wine. Cheese. Wine. That’s the basics of tasting wine with cheese! You start with a swirl of the wine in the glass to see the color, then sniff and sip a mouthful of wine which you can spit or swallow. Think for a moment about the elements of the wine: Fruit? Florals? Woods? Acid? Texture? Finish? Next is a bite of cheese. Chew to coat your mouth with the cheese before swallowing. How did the cheese go with the wine? Did the cheese make the wine better? Or the wine make the cheese better? Then you’re back to the wine. Is the wine better now with the presence of the cheese on your palate?
These were the directions for our guided tasting “Cheese the Day,” one of 80 events during the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience this week. Continue reading →
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 