Chardonnay pairings: Watermelon, mint, feta, arugula salad; fresh seared blue fin tuna; grilled zucchini; zucchini flowers stuffed with goat cheese battered and fried; raw oysters
“In the name of productivity, the ‘fast life’ has changed our lifestyle and now threatens our environment and our land (and city) scapes,” writes Carlo Petrini in the SLOW FOOD MANIFESTO. Arguing that we “confuse efficiency with frenzy, we propose the vaccine of an adequate portion of sensual gourmandise pleasures, to be taken with slow and prolonged enjoyment.”
Featured in the Slow Wine Guide is pioneering Fetzer, one of the first larger wineries to get on the certified organic bandwagon, and is also now a B Corp. While they do source and use conventional grown fruit in their Fetzer brand, their Bonterra brand is all certified organically grown grapes, and they also have biodynamic wines. Fetzer’s family of wines includes Chile’s Cono Sur brand which uses organically grown certified grapes.
“Verdicchio? Is that a vegetable?” My writing partner Sue Hills was asked this question twice in twenty four hours. While Verdicchio may sound like some sort of green vegetable, it’s actually a green fruit — a grape to be exact, and not surprisingly, a greenish grape. To make it even more complicated, Verdicchio is known by many other names, and combined, it’s one of the most planted grapes in the world — and likely one that you don’t know! Continue reading →
“Because I was dead last year.” That’s what Bruce Freeman said when he brought out and opened a 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon from the cold room at his winery, Clos des Amis, located on South Mountain in Santa Paula, Ventura County, California, on Cabernet Day 2021.
Bruce Freeman
What he said is true: during the 2019 harvest, two years ago, Bruce was very sick. Near the end of harvest, he was Continue reading →
Clos des Amis winermaker Bruce Freeman with a truckload of Olivelands Chardonnay, Santa Paula, Ventura County, CA
It’s that moment we’ve all been waiting for and preparing for: Harvest 2021! A week or so ago, I spent two days picking and then processing the Chardonnay from the Olivelands Vineyard just south of Santa Paula, Ventura County, California. These grapes will go into the Clos des Amis Olivelands Chardonnay, a small experimental vineyard hidden in a pocket hillside and surrounded by Continue reading →
EL TABERNO: a veritable tower of vegetables! a great vegetarian pairing for Monastrell!
What wine is known as “the dog strangler”? What was the fourth most widely planted red wine grape variety with 106,380 acres in Spain five years ago? Why, Monastrell aka Mourvèdre in France and Mataro in Australia! Sadly these plantings are DOWN 150k acres from 10 years ago as vineyards get replanted with popular international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
However, in eastern Spain, particularly around Murcia and Valencia, Monastrell continues to be one of the primary red wine grape varieties in the DOPs of Jumilla, Yecla, Valencia, Almansa, and Alicante.
As we gaze at the moon, whether it is waxing or waning, full or new, descending over the ocean, ascending over a hillside, or passing through the trees, the moon makes memories with us. But one of the most spectacular events in the sky occurs during the daytime when the moon passes in front of the sun, blocking it, and the sun’s atmosphere can be seen should you be so lucky to find yourself in the right place at the right time. Once considered fearsome, now these events are understood, celebrated, and commemorated.
Brooks Winery is located just south of McMinnville and north of Salem
“Meet Magdalena. Quite a remarkable, resilient character, according to those who knew her best. Born in the early 1930s, Magdalena lived a long and fruitful life in Lodi, California, luxuriating in the loamy sandy soil, not far from the Mokelumne River until her early death from tractor blight.” So begins my entry to the 2021 Wine Writing Competition about the Lucas Winery’s Lodi ZinStar Vineyard.
And today I’m SO EXCITED to announce my essay on old vines is up NOW on JancisRobinson.com! How did this happen? In late July, Sue Hill and I visited Lucas in Lodi with hopes that they’d qualify for the next Slow Wine Guide. We had a lot of help from the Lodi Wine Commission setting up appointments in the region, and we were told possibly David Lucas might be able to meet with us briefly. Imagine my surprise and joy to have both David Lucas and Heather Pyle Lucas sit with us under the redwoods for an interview. Continue reading →
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 