Sonoma 2008. Napa 2009. Walla Walla 2010. Portland 2012. Santa Barbara 2014. Penticton British Columbia 2013. Lodi 2016. Sonoma 2017. Virtual 2020. Eugene 2021. These are the years and the locations of the Wine Media Conferences I’ve attended. But at the close of the 2021 event in Eugene, organizers did not announce where we’d be going in 2022. Instead we took a poll and speculation abounded. Personally, I was rooting for Paso Robles, Idaho, or Colorado. Today, they had an answer Continue reading →
When people ask me how I got into wine writing, I usually tell them about working for Mr Alfred Peet, of Peet’s coffee, how the owners of Ridge would come in to talk with me about coffee, and how they convinced me to work in their Montebello Road tasting room on Saturdays until I left to hike to Pacific Crest Trail and attend UC Santa Crus where I was a double major in Environmental Studies and Literature/Writing. But the truth is my story is closer to wine from South Australia than it is to wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains. And my story is more about Grenache than any other grape!
This weekend, cruise the California coast, enjoy the early season bright splashes of wildflowers, and discover some of the smaller and more special wines produced in the greater Santa Barbara area at the Garagiste Festival in Solvang, California. Continue reading →
With our eyes and hearts set on romance this month, and with love in the air as spring is almost sprung, what’s more romantic than clinking a wine glass with a lover? Clinking glasses filled with sustainable wine paired with sustainably grown beef! (For more ideas from the French Winophiles, scroll down!) What’s also romantic? Having a climate conscious conversation with your sweetie while drinking sustainably grown wine and food! Bordeaux — and the rest of the wine growing and drinking world– must get serious about sustainability and climate change if wine is going to be enjoyed in the future. If we don’t, in thirty years, many of today’s wine growing regions will be too hot and the weather too volatile to grow wine grapes commercially. That’s why we all need to be having climate conscious conversations with our loved ones. Now that’s true love — for the planet, the people, and the species that live here! So clink sustainably with your sweetie! Here’s how.
You may be surprised to learn that 60% of Bordeaux vineyards Continue reading →
Did you know that February is Loveuary? Yes, according to Hallmark, but between Galentine’s and Valentine’s, President’s Day, Super Bowl, and the Lunar New Year, we’re here for all the ways to warm up the winter with fun times, romance, fine wine and dining! Especially if it means celebrating February with romance from France as suggested by Winophiles host Wendy Klik! For Loveuary 2022, we have a cheese fondue with crusty bread and veggies paired with two wines from Alsace and the easiest but still fancy coq a vin paired with two Rhone wines, and, for the grand finale, strawberries and banana dipped in gooey organic dark chocolate melted with cream. And no I am not going to saying anything more about “coq a vin” which simply translates to “cock in wine.” But yeah– the menu is all about… that! Continue reading →
Today we celebrate Valentine’s Day. A day where we pop corks and toast the ones we love. Well, around here, on Wine Predator, we love women in wine, and today, we toast Alice Paillard, daughter of Bruno Paillard, who is a key member of Champagne Bruno Paillard and who I met via ZOOM in December 2021. In fact, we love Women in Wine so much, we are inviting Winophiles to write about one or more women in wine for Women’s History Month for the March 19, 2021 #Winophiles! Scroll down for all the details!
Only a handful of independent, family-owned houses remain in Champagne. Bruno Paillard turned over day to day management to daughter Alice Paillard who serves as CEO. Growing up in a Champagne house like Bruno Paillard was mysterious and fun, and Alice Paillard loved it: Continue reading →
The Federalist Lodi Cab with Goldbelly’s Junior’s Grill Day burgers
Ah, SPORTSBALL. If it’s not one game, it’s another. That’s what it seems to me at this point. But not to my dad… and not to me growing-up. Living in the greater Los Angeles area, my dad was a lifelong Rams fan who loved grilling meat, and later in life, loved red wine. Back when I lived at home, I would often watch football with my dad — which meant he would be in the living room enjoying the game and I’m be doing the weekly baking — cookies and other desserts for him to have in his lunch box that he would take with him to his work as a plumber. And then I’d hear him whoop and holler and “come see this! you’ve got to see this!” and I’d hustle out to the living room from the kitchen to see a spectacular play.
My dad would have loved today’s Super Bowl game where the Rams won– and he would have loved the food and wine we paired with it.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 