Following on the heels of my panel workshop at the very successful 9th Pinot Noir Summit this past month, I'm involved in another new, rather exciting Pinot adventure this month. California Pinot Noir: In Pursuit of Balance (Twitter) is a revolutionary new partnership intending generate dialog about balance in Cali Pinot. The partnership was founded by Jasmine Hirsch (Twitter) of Hirsch Vineyards and Winery (Twitter) and Rajat Par, longtime wine director for the Michael Mina family of restaurants including his own Rn74 (Twitter). As a well-respected family winegrower and an international restaurant wine director respectively, they are knee deep in the world of Pinot each and everyday. It is through this dedication to a single varietal that they realized a conundrum: is California Pinot becoming too big and unwieldy?
Tag: drXeNo
Pops & Son Wine Trip 6: The Mountains of Murphys
This was a trip so epic, that it took a year to digest and to prepare the story-telling...that's the story I'm stickin' to anyway! Pops & I have taken many a wine trip together over the years, this was the sixth, in fact. Each one has been in a different appellation or sub-appellation around NorCal. Following my pre-WBC09 Twisted Murphys visit with some other vinopanions in crime, I decided that Pops and I needed to definitely take over Murphys and its Calaveras County wine country for our upcoming trip later that year.
I spoke a lot in that earlier Murphys post about the exciting, up and coming aspects of the Calaveras County wine region and how it has already reached at least the wine crafting quality of it's larger and surrounding appellation of the Sierra Foothills and is coming into its own as a true wine destination. Murphys, the historic Gold Rush and logging town, has completely reinvented itself as a more boutique, yet still nicely rustic wine and food mecca, tucked underneath the stunning Sierras and Calaveras Bigtree National Forest. Pops and I decided that we needed to dig a bit deeper this time and really get to know this comfortable piece of wilder wine country. 5 Questions with Three Thieves
It's not every day that we as wine lovers get to stumble upon a truly good show about wine. I'm not talking about something that involves some guy dressed in tails and swishing aged, thin wine in his mouth and spitting...no, I'm talking about three renegades digging deep around the world to find new wines to grow, to sell and to chug by the bottle: Three Thieves (Twitter) aren't here to mess around.
Already known around the wine biz as the triumvirate to buck any stodgy trend with their affordable and tasty jug wine, Bandit Tetra Pak wines for that on the go tipple among many other fun and innovative wine brands, the guys have fully branched out with their first tv gig, Three Thieves now on The Cooking Channel. I managed to hunt down thief Charles Bieler (Twitter) to chat about his Cooking Channel adventures with his fellow vino amigos, Joel Gott (Twitter, WineLog) and Roger Scommegna. Vintners Hall of Fame Class of 2011 Inductees
Last November I had the distinct pleasure to again welcome the newest class of wine legends into the Vintners Hall of Fame (VHoF) at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, CA. The previous year's luncheon and gala for the 2010 inductees were quite the shindigs and so I was very thankful to be invited back as a member of the wine media. The 2011 class of VHoF members is another set of US wine icons and the upcoming celebratory gala should be another extremely memorable night. P.S. I Love You kicks it Dark & Delicious
You can walk up to any wine-o-phile and ask them about the wines that they love the most and they'll probably toss out some famous name from Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux, Burgundy or what have you. But if you were to pour them another glass, compliment their good looks and expound upon their precise palate, you might just find that they'll open up a bit more and tell you about their "pet wines:" wines that they seek out and which light their face up whenever they successfully discover a new one. One of my pet wines are none other than the true Pet, ie. Petite Sirah. While a professed fan of cool climate, balanced wine I can't help but fall over my feet (before AND after) whenever I spot a Petite Sirah within close proximity of my glass hand. It is with this in mind that I'm foaming at the mouth at the return of PS I Love You's Dark & Delicious annual Petite Sirah fest at Rock Wall Wine Company, Alameda CA on 02/18/11.