Sweet Treats: Warre’s Porto

Warre’s Porto

Even though today is Halloween, I’m not going to suggest wine to pair with candy.

Nope, not doing it.

this witch clearly enjoys Porto! at The Bees Knees located between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay near rural Los Osos, CA

Instead, as the days get dark and cold, and you have a sweet tooth this holiday season, Continue reading

Interview with Oded Shakked of Longboard plus #MerlotMe with Dakine Vineyard at the Bees Knees

Oded Shakked pours himself a splash of rose in the Longboard tasting room to enjoy during our mid-October 2020 interview.

“My ego is not in the wine,” says Longboard’s Oded Shakked in a recent interview held in his tasting room and winery in Healdsburg. “My passion is in the wine.”

Oded’s passion for wine came about through his passion for surfing. After surfing breaks along the Atlantic Coast in Bordeaux (“there’s big waves in Bordeaux!”), Spain and Portugal, he was the one sent into town to get their jug of wine.

It was a health matter, he explained: Continue reading

Curious About Carignan?

Carignan: “It’s the perfect blending grape,” says Ridge’s David Gates, that’s “why it’s still around.” According to Gates in a Carignan Day webinar today, Oct. 29, 2020 led by Fred Swan, Carignan brightens acidity, brings out aromas, and pushes fruit flavors forward.

Curious about Carignan? Or is it Carignane? Maybe Cariñena?

Either way you spell it, this “bistro style wine with good tannins but not too much” says Gates, works on its own or blended– and it should show up more often in your glass and mine! Continue reading

In The Heart of NoCal Wine Country: Sonoma’s Healdsburg Welcomes You #WorldWineTravel

a mural just off the plaza on Plaza Street in Healdsburg

“I am in Healdsburg a few short blocks to the plaza and wineries,” my friend Sandy writes, saying she needs a cat sitter while she’s out of town. “It’s a one bedroom, a duplex in a house from 1895. I have a nice covered porch surrounded by trees and wonderful neighbors. I know you like to travel and do wine things in different areas. All the restaurants seem to be open. I see wine tastings on the sidewalk.” Continue reading

#MerlotMe More with Napa’s Peju

As we cautiously consider moves further from home, wineries with expansive lawns and trees  like at Charles Krug and gracious gardens like at Peju will be precious places to visit.

Napa Valley’s Peju offers one such retreat with its distinctive 50 foot tower designed by renowned Southern California architect Calvin Straub which graces the label’s estate-bottled Peju wine.

In the Before Time, I visited Continue reading

Everything Pumpkin Paired with #MerlotMe: Trick or Treat from Napa Ghost Winery Flora Springs

So far 2020 has been all tricks, no treats.

You can change that by treating yourself to this sweet treat: wines from Napa Valley’s Ghost Winery Flora Springs paired with a pumpkin everything dinner.

an inspiring pumpkin themed tableau at the Bees Knees, Los Osos

First off, what’s a Ghost Winery:

  • It’s a winery that died and returned from the dead to haunt us with yummy wine!!
  • In 1920, California wineries numbered 700.
  • In 1933, only 40 were left.
  • The wineries that didn’t make it are known as “ghost wineries” as all that was left was the ghost of the winery.
    Learn more about a few of California’s ghost wineries here.

a selection of Flora Springs wines

Continue reading