Today is the final day of California Wine Month, which is celebrated all month during September every year!
This year, we traveled to Lodi to celebrate with Albarino, we toasted Bogle on their 50th anniversary Petite Sirah from Yolo County, we rejoiced in Grenache from Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, and today, we say hooray with a range of wines from El Dorado County.
And I just want to say along with the video below:
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE!
Please visit us!
This October, you’re invited to join the Italian Food Wine Travel group to discover LUGANA, a white wine made from the Turbiana grape and grown in the Lake Garda region of northern Italy about two hours from Milan, one hour from Verona, and 90 minutes from Venice on the coast.
The largest lake in Italy was formed by glaciers coming down from the nearby Dolomites at the end of the last Ice Age. When the glacier receded, it left a large moraine which dammed and retained the melt water. Before agriculture, a dense, marshy forest called “Selva Lucana” covered the land.
According to the Consortia Tutelar Lugana, the soils are “stratified clays of morainic origin while sedimentary in nature are Calcareous and rich in mineral salts, with more sand in the hillier part of the D.O.C. Difficult to work, the soil compacts easily, becomes hard during drought, and soft and muddy when it rains. “However,” they point out, “it is these very chemical and physical features that make it the source of Lugana’s organoleptic qualities, because they give the wine clean, powerful scents that combine hints of almonds and citrus fruits, as well as acidity, tanginess and a well-balanced structure.”
Turbiana is related to Trebbiano di Soave which grows nearby but on volcanic soils.
Happy Belated Albarino Day!
And Happy California Wine Month!
Did you know that 54 million visitors to California have a wine experience with related activities? Continue reading
September is California Wine Month AND it’s Grenache Day on the third Friday of September!
We’re celebrating both by opening up four Grenache wines from Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties paired with gourmet beef and lamb burgers.
Why celebrate California wine? Among the many reasons, Discover California wines points out that wine is a signature industry, an economic driver, a sustainable leader, a culinary delight, a family business, a top crop,
September is California Wine Month and so for the rest of the month we will be featuring various regions of California and encouraging you to visit. As a native Californian, I may be a bit partial, but California is a truly beautiful state graced with gorgeous weather and has been hit really hard by wild fires which has discouraged tourism.
So just in case you haven’t gotten the message,
CALIFORNIA IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
And we’d love for you to come visit!
California’s wine growing goes back to the Mission days when the Jesuit planted what came to be known as “Mission” grapes in the 1700s, and the industry was flourishing by the 1770s. California Wine Month celebrates our 250-year winegrowing history and recognizes the achievements of California vintners and growers in preserving tradition and driving innovation.
Did you know:
So it seems appropriate to make our first stop just south of the Capital of California in YOLO COUNTY’s CLARKSBURG, to the home of Bogle, and where the Bogle family is celebrating has been farming in the Delta since the late-1800s and in 1968, the father and son team of Warren and Chris Bogle planted the first 20 acres of vines in Clarksburg. Continue reading
Marathon Wines from Greece paired with Greek dishes: “It is not About the Sprint but the Marathon”
For this month’s Wine Pairing Weekend focus on Greek wines hosted by Cindy Rynning at Grape Experiences, we decided we’d check out something new: Marathon’s first two wines, “Athena’s Vineyard” and “Nike’s Vineyard,” paired with a few favorite Greek dishes.
“Wine loosens the muscles and invigorates the spirit,” says ultra marathoner Dean Karnazes who enjoys wine after a long run and claims it works much better than ibuprofen.
In Ventura along the coast of California where we live, summer days and nights tend to be foggy.
That’s why we call the months May Gray, June Gloom, No Sky July, and Foghust…
While it’s not exactly cold during the day or night unless the fog is blowing in, it’s not sunny and hot either. But come September, the sun comes out! And the Santa Ana or East Winds begin to blow and it can get really really warm during the day until the ocean breeze and the cool fall evenings bring the temperature down!
So that’s why along the central coast of California, our best beach weather is in the fall!
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 