Do you love a classic Margarita, a sophisticated Cosmopolitan, or a smooth Espresso Martini— but you don’t want to mess with making them from scratch or searching out the ingredients? Mission Cocktails is on a Mission to deliver bar-quality, ready-to-pour drinks, AND to make a difference: every bottle sold helps fund meals for families in need, with over 100k meals provided so far. Wow! And today May 13 is World Cocktail Day! No better way to celebrate this Mission than with a Mission cocktail and light bites!
We recently enjoyed taste testing a sample box with five of Mission’s award winning cocktails, Continue reading →
Discovering Virginia Wine + Cuisine via the Governor’s Cup Case 2025
Given the opportunity to taste six of the top wines from Virginia, would you choose red or white wines? That was my dilemma when I was invited to taste either the white or the reds plus one sparkling and to participate in a ZOOM about them. This year marks the 43rd year of the Virginia’s premier wine competition “The Governor’s Cup Case” and my friend Frank Morgan’s second year serving as Director of Judging leading judges like Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher in sampling over 620 of the best Virginia wines, ciders and meads from 87 wineries to determine the highest 12 ranking red and white wines. The Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition is a partnership between the Virginia Wineries Association and the gubernatorial-appointed Virginia Wine Board where any wine made from 100% Virginia fruit is eligible.
VA Gov Cup Case winners
Here’s the list of the 2025 Governor’s Cup Case Wines with links to the wineries:
Satellite Nat Coast Wine Fest poster by Michael Matheson
As we near the end of Earth Month, in California we received needed rain— even 6″ of snow in Tahoe. Our rain gauge shows a half inch and our rain barrels are all topped off again. This rain shouldn’t put a damper on today’s festivities— we might get a little more but that should be it. Which is great for area farmers and gardeners, and for people at local festivals like the Natural Coast Wine Festival in Santa Barbara just down the street from the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival — which is where we are headed! Then tonight we’ll go see Fantuzzi at Art City. Also this weekend is the Replant the Forest Fest in Santa Paula.
To celebrate Sonoma County Wine Month here at home, we have from the Russian River Valley, three from Women in Wine producing Pinot Noir: owner/grower Renee Stein at Balverne, owner/grower Allie Ketcham at Ketcham, and winemaker Susie Selby at Selby Winery all paired with French Pate and Duck Breast.
Paradise Pantry picnic with wildflowers on a foggy “Grapril” Day
Happy Earth Month! Happy National Parks Week! Spring is sprung, and wildflowers are everywhere— at least in my neck of the woods!In fact, there’s so many wildflowers that my latest article for the VC Reporter published April 17 in the “Great Outdoors” issue is all about three easy accessible wildflower walks with picnics in the parks! The three parks are in Ventura– Channel Islands National Park, Ventura Botanical Garden, and Arroyo Verde Park—and we put together a picnic from Paradise Pantry paired with a rose from Clos des Amis Ventura County Estate Vineyard and a Pinot Noir from The Ojai Vineyard’s Fe Ciega Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills.
organic Domaine Bousquet for Malbec Day paired with empanadas
On April 17 in 1853, French soil expert Michel Aimé Pouget showed Argentineans how to adapt French varietals, including Malbec, to Argentina, so Wines of Argentina created Malbec World Day on April 17 to celebrate Malbec from Argentina and “to position Argentine Malbec as one of the most prominent in the world.” While wine has been made in Argentina since the 1500s, you might be surprised to learn that today Argentina is one of the top five producing wine countries in the world — with Malbec taking the lead. In Argentina, almost 25% of vineyards are planted in Malbec (almost 116k acres of vineyards!). This is nearly 200% increase in 20 years. Nearly 45% of the red wine made in Argentina is Malbec meaning there’s a Malbec for every palate, budget, and event and most of it is grown sustainably.
Domaine Bousquet has taken a lead in sustainability in Argentina. They began their project growing organically 25 years ago, and Domaine Bousquet earned the first Regenerative Organic Certification outside of the US (the fourth worldwide!) Here’s four wines from Domaine Bousquet that won’t break the bank or the planet.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 