Author: Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo

Ward Kadel - @drXeNo is the founder of Vinopanion wine blog, former West Coast Ambassador & Staff Blogger for WineLog.net and former Le Wine Buff for Bordeaux.com (CIVB). He will try any and all wines and tends to write about the parts of his life that include wine...like virtually all of it! He and his wife grew up in Napa and Sonoma and they still live in the Napa Valley. Check out the wines he's recommended with his WKBadges. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Like #Vinopanion on Facebook. Contact him: "Ward at WineLog.net". Ward happily accepts samples but does not guarantee a review, positive or negative.

WineQ.com: Your New Favorite Wine Club

WineQ.comI've always had a tough time with wine clubs over the years. On the one hand, there are so few wineries whose wines are so in tune with my palate and the styles that I like, that I don't find it worthwhile to join their club and be forced into some wines that I don't absolutely love. I've also joined many a wine club at a winery whose stable of vino changes over the years, so much so that I quit due to the change in my palate or their winemaker's. On the other hand, once I find that match, I love the convenience and thrill of getting that box of wine in the mail at my day job and knowing that I've just received some great wine that I'm going to be slurping in the future. That match occurs pretty rarely, more so as I expand my palate...there's also the issue of boredom, in that you receive so many wines this way that you don't get the chance to go out and shop for new wines that you've never tried. One new wine site has changed that equation. WineQ.com has managed to come up with one of those ideas where you just have to hit your head and say "ACK! Why didn't I think of that (and implement it really well)!?!"

Pops & Son 4th Wine Trip, Day 3: Chateau Jean-Gene-ie via WineTwo and tha Kaz

Chateau Jean-GeneDay 3 of our wine trilogy was my last day with Pops on this, our 4th Wine Trip together. I wrote about the first day in Napa, here and the second, more freestyle day in Sonoma, over here. Today we were focused on the whole reason we included Sonoma on this particular trip and a reason for which I had quite a bit of excitement...a semi-trade, private reserve tasting at longtime Sonoma Valley stalwart, Chateau St. Jean. My family from my grandparents down to my sister and I have been making our way over to our neighboring Valley for decades to picnic and tool around the beautiful grounds. I have to admit however, that despite having many of their more mass-produced wines, I couldn't remember ever tasting any of their Reserves or winery-only limited run wines. I was about to cross those off my list!

Pops & Son 4th Wine Trip, Day 2: The Good and the Bad

Carneros MapFriday was the sandwiched day of our trip, a continuation of the 4th wine trip that I've taken with Pops. I wrote about the first day when we visited Flora Springs via GiftyBox and Pope Valley Winery. It was the beef in our burger, cold cuts in the sammy, ice cream in the It's-It, or...ok, enough! Anyhow, Friday was our transition day to from Napa to Sonoma. It was also the only day on the trip where Pops and I had no set plans. We started the day as usual, having coffee at Brown's Valley Yogurt & Espresso Bar, with Pops' buddies. Following that, we headed out, alllll the wayyyy to Sonoma (it's about 20 minutes max, from my Parents' home in Brown's Valley, Napa). Our first stop was actually a couple miles South of Sonoma at one of our favorite diners, the Schellville Grill. It's been serving great down-home food for decades and almost just as consistently, flooding every Winter. The all-important big wine-tasting breakfast accomplished, we headed further South to the Sonoma portion of Carneros after some thoughtful planning over our country potatoes.

Pops & Son 4th Wine Trip, Day 1: Giftybox, Flora & the Pope

GiftyBoxOK, so I wasn't off gift shopping for some flowers to take to the Pope, I admit it. His continent was involved, however. A few weeks back, my sister and my mom headed off into the skies towards a three week trip in London and Paris. Freed from familial ties, my Dad and I decided that it was time for another Pops & Son Wine Trip, this time in the Summer. Previous wine trips taken during my week off from the day job during the holidays have included Glen Ellen and surrounding Sonoma wineries, Healdsburg and surrounding wineries and wineries in Napa that we had yet to visit. This time we were planning on doing a hybrid of both valleys. Earlier this year, Jason and Kim sent me this really great wine gift package to review, from Giftybox.com. I figured that this would be a great time to use my Winery Tour & Tasting package.

Lionheart Wines @ Artisan Recap

Last Thursday's Lionheart tasting at Artisan was a roaring success, with both tasters and winemakers very satisfied with the evening. Wine was discovered, bottles bought and taste buds were pleased. Outside Artisan WinesAs I announced previously, Lionheart's winemaker Leon Glover brought out 5 wines for us to try, all pre-release until his Mane Event Summer Release party later that Saturday at Crushpad. I got there a little before the start of the event and said hello to Leon and Artisan proprietor Lena and caught up with them for a bit before tasting some of the wines there that night. I hadn't tasted most of the wines since the barrel tasting, and I was excited to try them now from the bottle. I was so busy getting caught up that I forgot to try any of the wines before we got busy! Once that mistake was rectified, I was free to mingle and check out our crowd, with had great diversity in age, style and wine knowledge. Also making the event were Marshall & Brittany, founders of WineQ.com. After raving about Lionheart for so long, I was glad that they could finally check out the wines for themselves.
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