For this month’s Italian Food Wine and Travel investigation into Vermentino, a crisp, acidic, white wine commonly found in the Italian regions of Liguria, Sardinia and Tuscany, we focused on two from Tuscany and discovered that while the same grape and region they had two equally pleasant and completely different flavor profiles yet both paired wonderfully with our meal of oysters, lemony caesar salad  chockfull of salty anchovies and parmesan, fried calamari, and pasta carbonara. And they offer a great value!  Scroll on down to see what others drank and ate! Continue reading →

Today is Star Wars Day AND Sauvignon Blanc Day! Two of my favorite things!

To make it extra special, I’m in Lake County staying in a cabin in a hillside vineyard (more photos below) where I’m attending the Sauvignon Blanc Experience Continue reading →

As Earth Month 2018 draws to a close, we want to draw YOUR attention to the 2016 American Winery of the Year Bonterra, an organic and biodynamic winery based in Mendocino County California that I visited in November on a press trip before the Wine Bloggers Conference and which #Winestudio featured in January 2018.

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Fans of Oregon wine at The Line Hotel in Koreatown, Los Angeles

At Tuesday’s Oregon Wine Trail in LA, it was remarkable how many comments we overheard from people talking about how great the event was!  While some 330 people gathered in LA at the Line Hotel on Wilshire in Koreatown to get a taste of Portland and Oregon wine and culture, it never felt too crowded at the 50 wine tasting tables and there was plenty of amazing food to fuel us from Olympia Provisions, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and the Oregon Cheese Guild. Continue reading →

Did you know that Oregon has the most certified sustainable vineyard land of any major U.S. wine growing state? That’s why Oregon is justifiably well known for sustainable farming AND winemaking practices including organic and biodynamic wines like Cooper Mountain Vineyards and Troon Vineyards in southern Oregon which we wrote about last year (Vermintino in May) and Malbec in February.

It’s pretty simple actually: great wine starts with great land — land that is healthy and full of life!

Today Tuesday, April 24, Sue and I will be tasting lots of Oregon wine in Los Angeles at the Line Hotel on 3515 Wilshire. Continue reading →

For your Earth Day toasting pleasure, may we suggest two biodynamic wines from the US?

Today, April 22, 2018, is Earth Day. First designated in 1970 following a number of ecological crisis related to industrial development and pollution, Earth Day called attention to the plight of the planet and led to changes in laws and practices including the development of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, and more important legislation in the United States.

This year Earth Day will be celebrated in 192 countries and by a billion people around the world, with many focused on this year’s theme of ending plastic pollution, Continue reading →