Two SoCal Wine Festivals To Prowl This Weekend!

Wine Predator plans to prowl this weekend at two Southern California wine festivals this weekend: LA WineFest which runs  June 9 and 10, and the 26th Annual Ojai Wine Fest Sunday June 10 from 1-5pm on the shores of Lake Casitas near Ojai, CA. Continue reading →

WBW #77: Bad Day? Good Wine!

Where do you turn after a bad day at work? Specifically, May’s Wine Blogging Wednesday prompt from host Alleigh from A Glass After Work asks: what glass of wine do you turn to?

Fortunately, I more often than not come home exhilarated after a day –or a night–at work because my “day” job is usually at night: I teach writing at a community college and day after day, night after night, my students amaze me. I have a job where I make a difference in my students lives, and I get to see them learn and grown over the course of the semester, to discover themselves as writers, as thinkers.  A single mom of 3 told me that our class activities had shown her, reminded her that she’s more than just a mom, but a person with ideas, and that she still “exists.”

But there are definitely THOSE DAYS. Continue reading →

For the Non-ABCer: #ChardDay 5/24

Have you heard anyone use the term “ABC” when asked what he or she would like to drink?

ABC means Anything But Chardonnay. Really! Continue reading →

Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Report

Wednesday night’s Thirsty Girl Twitter Tasting, as usual, was a blast. We honestly enjoyed both Villa Maria Sauvigon Blancs very much, our food pairs were divine, the company was vivacious, and keeping up with all the action on twitter as well as with my fellow Wine Predators (including new Predator Que Syrah Sue!) was an adrenaline rush!

We tasted the wines with bread, goat cheese with and without sundried tomatoes, olive oil, two kinds of pesto (kale as well as the arugala, rosemary, basil), and raw oysters with or without pesto garnish. We loved them both and found them inspiring; Continue reading →

NZ Sauvignon Blanc Twitter Tasting 5/16

Next Wednesday, May 16, from 5-6pm, I’ll be participating in the Thirsty Girl Twitter Tasting (https://twitter.com/#!/beathirstygirl) with Villa Maria Wines (https://twitter.com/#!/villamaria_wine), Master of Wine, Alastair Maling (http://twitter.com/alastairmaling) and head Thirsty Girl, Leslie Sbrocco–and you can too! I think you can guess from this photo of Alastair from the Thirsty Girl website that we’re going to be in for some laughs.

Everyone is welcome to ask about New Zealand wines and in particular Sauvignon Blanc. Just use the hashtag #TGTaste so we can find your tweets! In particular, I am interested in learning more about the winery’s environmentally sound and sustainable practices, of which they are proud. Continue reading →

#WBW76 Boomerang Roundup & #WBW77 Theme–Good Wines for Bad Days

According to the wrap-up on Wine Blogging Wednesday #76, it seems that a number of wine bloggers felt they’d “turned their backs” on the wines of Australia during the past few years and enjoyed rediscovering wines from “down under” that came in under $30. About a dozen bloggers participated in April’s event hosted by wine-zag.com. Thanks, Adam, for hosting!

May’s Wine Blogging Wednesday host is Alleigh from A Glass After Work who wants to know, what glass of wine do you want after a bad day at work.

In your post, include what wine you open, why you picked that wine to wash away your bad day, and the price (or suggested retail price) of the wine.  There are no restrictions on price, country, varietal, etc.  The sky is the limit.  You just need to give us all the details so we can find the wine for after our own bad day. Continue reading →

Wine Blogging Wednesday #76: Going for Ringland’s Shiraz & Cab from Barossa

In this month’s edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, #76, host  Adam Japko aka Wine Zag prompts us to revisit the Barossa legendary wine region of Australia, located just north of the port city of Adelaide in the underbelly of the continent. In his prompt, he says Australia is the “latest comeback kid” –and that an appreciation of Oz wines has boomeranged.

Lettie Teague from WSJ also wrote recently on the “Rise and Fall of AUS wine.” On March 8, 2012, in her post she argues that wine from Australia has yet to boomerang and says that sales are still down.

“Entire import companies like Dan Philips’ Grateful Palate have disappeared,” writes Lettie Teague. “Grateful Palate went into receivership about two years ago and Philips himself seems to have vanished.” Continue reading →