select central coast wines
You’re invited to the Second Annual Central Coast Wine Day, Friday May 31, 2013!
#CCWineDay follows in the footsteps of various #VarietalDays that have been going on for a few years. These include Cabernet Day, Albarino Day, Tempranillo Day, Pinot Noir Day, Zinfandel Day, and even Wine Tourism Day! (As you can see, I enjoy participating in these varietal days!)
Personally, I say the Central Coast begins with Ventura County, Continue reading
Even though I am still not completely done with my grading (and there’s another twitter tasting tonight!), today I was doing a little blogging on Art Predator and ended up checking my stats over here to discover that about midnight last night, my blog hit 50,000 page views! Which, for a wine blog like mine, is pretty good! (In contrast, my Art Predator blog, which I started in November 2007, is about to hit 500,000 page views and Compassionate Rebel which was born January 2010 is almost 10,000.) Continue reading
A toast to Mother’s! Cheers!
Pictured right to left, is my mom Suzanne Lawrence, my son, and my self from 2004. This was a publicity photo for a Living History Performance we did.
On Saturday, the last tuna boat of the year came in to the Ventura Harbor. We bought a whole tuna and celebrated Mother’s Day eve with fresh seared sesame oil ahi tuna on a bed of field greens with flower petals, blueberries, white Stilton with dried apricots, walnuts, plus a raw oyster! I love this meal with a silky Washington Merlot, but it also pairs well with a Pinot noir.
However since it was a festive occasion, we popped the cork on this beautiful Lucien Albrecht Cremant D’Alsace Brut Rose, made from Pinot noir grapes.
Lucien Albrecht Cremant D’Alsace Brut Rose is a perfect wine for Mother’s Day! Continue reading
The second annual Albarino Day caught me by surprise but fortunately, I have a few bottles of Albarino from Paco & Lola around. I saw it on sale and I went for it because it is such a wonderful wine with lots of bright acidity with tangerine and lime and that’s seafood friendly–especially with my beloved fresh raw oysters from Jolly Oyster at the Ventura State Beach!
Plus just a few days ago I picked up two bottles of Old Creek Ranch Winery’s Albarino de Moto (regularly $22) at my son’s school fundraising silent auction! (Old Creek Ranch Winery is a my local pick for Wine Tourism Day; read more about it here).
Unfamiliar with Albarino? Probably because most of this dark green, thick-skinned grape is grown in Spain, with very little of it found in the US. Albariño accounts for 90% of plantings in the Rías Baixas region of Spain. But as it grows in popularity, expect to find more of it here!
Want to join in celebrating Alabarino? Continue reading
This Saturday, May 11 is Wine Tourism Day, a day to celebrate North America’s wine tourism industry and all those who enjoy the experience of visiting wine country.
According to organizers, “Local wine industry folks in their respective regions — including wineries, hotels, restaurants, and other wine-related businesses — have created special events for people who love anything to do with wine, food, events, travel and fun!”
Events can be anything from wine pairing dinners to music events to structured tastings. Search for an event near you or register for the Great Wine Tour Giveaway.
Or create your own event! You don’t have to visit Napa–head out on Saturday to a winery near you and celebrate! You may be surprised by what you’ll find in a few hours drive. Please post in the comments and tell us which wineries are YOUR favorites to visit?
Read on for Wine Predator’s picks of places to prowl! Continue reading
Today, May 4, is Star Wars Day!
Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
May the Fourth Be With You today as you enjoy your Saturday–and get a laugh out of this series of Star Wars Parodies, “Wine Wars ” from the AUS wine satire blog Red to Brown They’re the ones who produced these Parker Hitler parodies.
Above is “Episode 1: A Vinous Hope” where in “a short time in the future, in a galaxy not that far away, two diametrically opposed wine making factions face off in a battle that will decide the future of wine consumption in the galaxy.” Of course, the rebels are from the Natural and Biodynamic WIne collective…
In Episode 2: , “C3-PO and R2-D2 have hooked up with promising young wine blogger, Luke Skywalker. Together they have trekked out to a remote vineyard to meet legendary, yet mystical Vigneron, Obi-Wan Kenobi .” Continue reading
I’m very excited to announce that I was chosen by the Wine Bloggers Scholarship Committee to attend the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference in Penticton, British Columbia!
This will be my sixth Wine Bloggers Conference: I’ve been to three states so far–California in 2008 and 2009, Walla Walla WA in 2010, and Portland in 2012 and soon to be three countries–US, Portugal (as a guest of Enoforum Wines in 2009), plus Canada in 2013!
Thank you to all the wonderful donors who made my scholarship possible! Especially Tom Wark of Fermentation who matched $500 of the donations and Amy Anderson Gross the Vine Sleuth who matched his match plus $1! Continue reading
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 