Continuing where the 1976 Paris tasting left off after the success of the fictionalized account Bottle Shock, this past summer, that growing hotbed of boutique winemaking, Bakersfield, CA is planning their own global wine showdown next month. First broken by the Dregs Report, this promises to be the biggest tasting since the last time Europe and America clashed in the wine business.
ZAP Zinfandel Festival 2009This year's ZAP Zinfandel Festival I ran into a number of good wines. One of the interesting ones that I got to try (again actually) and get some back story is the Paso Creek Paso Robles Zinfandel 2006. While having a taste, I chatted with Susan Bergland, Public Relations Manager at Icon Estates a bit about their newer estate vineyard and winery.
The second and last day of our latest Pops & Son Wine Trip series took a dramatic turn, ie, Pops was no longer involved, unfortunately! That cold that was was starting to come over him in the
morning of the first day and then really kicked in
during the afternoon? Well, it hit big time and he woke up this day feeling terrible...no wine for Pops! Poor guy ended up in bed all day...so our plans changed!
OK. So...what the heck is all that stuff in the title?? Don't worry...all shall be revealed by me, your wine geeky host! I joined a group of 8 wine enthusiasts at the kind behest of Luscious Lush Thea (Twitter) at Crushpad (Twitter) last Saturday for a custom wine blending session, replete with winemaker Tom Leaf. Following this event we had the latest Twitter Taste Live: Open That Bottle Night.
The afternoon of our first day on the 5th Pops & Son Wine Trip continued the vinous adventure that we had
started in the morning at
Kirkland Ranch and
William Hill. As we traveled up
Silverado Trail on the Western side of the Valley, we mused about which winery to next visit, as we had plenty of time before our 2:30 appointment with the highlight of the day,
Terra Valentine on
Spring Mountain. We passed numerous wineries along the way, including many
Stags Leap favorites such as
Regusci,
Darioush and
Clos du Val. As we approached the
Oakville appellation, Pops asked if I’d ever visited the large contemporary building that housed
Miner Family Vineyards. I had not done so and just that easily, we had picked our next winery!
