“Instead of pruning, how about a pick up party?” I asked Steve Zambrano as we climbed into my car with my dog Cisco.
Steve is always interested in having new experiences and learning more about just about everything under the sun– and the moon and the stars! I’ve known Steve for at least 25 years as we both moved around the Ventura art scene, especially around Art City. He’d helped me with broadsides at Kinkos, he was a regular at poetry and other events I put on, and more. Last month he joined in the rose bottling party at Clos des Amis— where he helped bottle under the tutelage of one of his former Ventura College art instructors, Bruce Freeman.
Give it to Steve, asking him to a pick up party didn’t phase him one bit. In fact Steve is the kind of guy who hangs out in Hollywood with a porn star with a huge handmade sign hawking fake “Maps to the Homes of (Porn) Stars” just to get a response.
And while they all share certain Chardonnay characteristics, each one is different and resonant of the vintage, place or origin, and the winemaker’s intent.
Following our foray into Burgundy with the Winophiles (where we were sadly flummoxed by premox), we decided to explore six different regions in California– Sonoma, Napa, Santa Lucia Highlands, Lodi, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties– for this year’s Chardonnay Day extravaganza today.
For the past few years in May, we’ve focused on Chardonnay from France and Oregon, with a particular fascination for dry farmed wines. For example:
It’s time to celebrate! After a year of lock downs during the COVID 19 pandemic, now that so many people have one or both vaccines, it feels like the world is starting to open up again. And so yes it’s time to celebrate and what better than sparkling wine and hugs for hard working moms, teachers, and friends?
Well that MIGHT be a bit over the top but you get my drift. Continue reading →
Success often comes at a price, but at Reyneke, it’s important that their success does not cost the earth or people. So says Johan Reyneke. Instead, the goal of Reyneke wines is for both planet and people to flourish.
To achieve this goal, Reyneke ONLY produces organic and biodynamic wines– Continue reading →
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 