When it comes to special bottling of holiday wines, no one does it better than Flora Springs– Continue reading
2 Biodynamic Loire Pét-Nats: Free Mousse and Bulle Nature #WinePW
Bulle Nature Pét-Nat from the Loire served just outside the troglodyte cave dwelling where we stayed
Can you say oysters in French?
How about cheese?
Or beets?
On our first morning in the Loire, in the small village of Montreiull- Bellay, we walked to the castle across the river that we could see from our accommodations Continue reading
3 CA Pinot Noir from Unexpected Places Paired with Pumpkin Risotto
It may be December and it may dark at an ungodly hour but it’s still fall and fall is all about pumpkin right?
Well pumpkin and and squash… because squash is a pumpkin right?
But really what I want to talk isn’t squash but California PINOT NOIR from unlikely places and pairings to go with them.
How unlikely? How about like the Sierra Foothills. Like Richmond near San Francisco. Like Lake County.
3 Surprising Sparklers from Emilia-Romagna’s Terramossa #ItalianFWT
When Rome –what we think of today as Italy– was split between west and the east, Ravenna in Romagna was the eastern Roman empire seat. With eleven UNESCO sites and plenty of Roman ruins in the unexplored areas, plus being the gastronomic and economic hub of Italy with the oldest University IN THE WORLD (Bologna), it’s no wonder in 2018, the Lonely Planet guide named Emilia-Romagna as the best place to see in Europe!
While it may be well known gastronomically, the region is less well known for its wines, which is why for this month’s Italian Food Wine Travel prompt host Susannah includes the area when she suggests “focusing on wines from those regions perhaps you know less about such as Valle d’Aosta, Lombardy or Liguria in the North, Emilia Romagna and Lazio in Central Italy or Basilicata, Molise, Calabria in the South, among others.” She invites us to investigate an area of Italy that we haven’t explored recently…but for Sue and I in Ventura, those wines can be hard to come by without a trip to Winehouse LA or shopping online!
Enter Italian Wine Ambassador and importer Sheila Donahue of Verovinogusto. I contacted her to see if she had any wines for us to write about because her US warehouse is located only a few miles from my house! More importantly, she’s based in Bologna, knows the region well, and imports a number of wines from Lombardy and Emlia-Romagna. In fact, in June we wrote about two wonderful Lambrusco that she imports from Lombardy.
Ventura CA Dec. 7: Winter Wine Walk or Holiday Hootenanny? Both?
This Saturday, Dec. 7, the Winter Wine Walk marks its 10th event in downtown Ventura from 4-7pm and at the brand new Colt Street location of Topa Topa Brewery the Ventura Land Trust holds its first Holiday Hootenanny from noon-4pm.
Should you do one? Or both? Continue reading
Loire #CabFranc: Manoir de la Tete Rouge’s “Bagatelle” and “Fat Head”
As we drove south from Champagne through Paris to the Loire by way of the Chartres Cathedral, Sue anxiously searched for accommodations on Air B N B while I tried to negotiate the highway, particularly the tolls. (At some point, the tolls won and my ignorance lost because I ended up with a ticket.)
We were making our way to Chateau Chambord to compete in the World Wine Tasting Championship as members of Team USA 2019– and we weren’t exactly taking the most direct route there. Continue reading
November in Ventura Vineyards: Dormancy and Grateful for Syrah, Old and New
Baby it’s cold outside!
And that is just fine for the vines!
At the end of the harvest cycle, the vines stop sending energy to the leaves and they turn from vibrant greens to browns, golds, and reds, and by late November, most of the leaves have dropped, and the vines rest in a period of dormancy which helps them manage the colder temperatures.
The vines survive on reserves of energy and they continue to respire as well, and while they look “dead” they definitely are not! Just like bears, they are in a deep sleep waiting for warmer temperatures to rouse them. And just like humans, this period of rest is as important to vines as sleep is for us. Continue reading
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 