It's National Rosé Day!!! It seems that there's a National Something day every day of the year. But since it's National Rosé day on June 12th, I thought it would be an excellent time to run a post on one of Napa's best Rosé makers: Jillian Johnson DeLeon. Jillian Johnson DeLeon But first a confession. [...]
A Top Down Drive to Napa... I always like an invite in my email. Not too cynical or busy to hit delete without opening. Now, I won't go to the opening of a car door, but anything that sounds fun, tasty and interesting.. hell, yeah.. I'll try and make it. So it was when I [...]
A Very Fine Virtual Tasting... It's taken me a bit to get into virtual tastings. As Bob Seger sang, call me old-fashioned, call me over the hill... I love face to face talking with the sommelier, tasting room pourer, waiter or event gal. But when I got a virtual tasting invite for Inglenook's Historic Napa [...]
No Wine Snobbery With This Gal ... I've often considered that sommeliers are unfairly painted with the snobbery brush. Oh sure, you can get the odd, pompous twit. But in my experience it's really a thing of the past. Maybe I've been treated well because I'm media, combined with my oh so charming wit and [...]
A Native Son Who Knows His Grill… It's not often when you get to talk to a Napa or Sonoma native professional. It's not surprising really. A lot of top pros want to come here to make their bones. Being in a great climate and surrounded by gorgeous fields, with incredible wine and dining doesn't [...]
Valentines can't buy her… I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Day. Seems you just get over spending a lot on Christmas when you got to turn around and blow a bunch on a silly, made up holiday like Valentine's Day. Not that I'm against romance, not at all. If you asked any of [...]
A Gal Who Loves Wine and Fun... The NSI quiz has always meant to be short, sweet, informative and fun. Why? Maybe it's me, but I've never understood the appeal of most food and wine sites, with their eye glazing recipes and tasting notes or their fab experience talking terroir in some grape field. Informative? [...]
Always Up For An Anniversary… A quick peruse of this website will reveal that the Insider is always up for a great meal, party or anniversary. So when I got an invite in my email to celebrate a Vancouver landmark restaurant, CinCin’s 30th anniversary with a terrific 3 courses for $30 offering I couldn’t walk [...]
20 Years and Counting... PERCY BRANDON Vintners Resort offers one of the more special places to stay and dine in Sonoma County. It has an in house spa, wine country tours and a fine dining restaurant in John Ash & Co. Considering all of the amenities Vintners offers, perhaps it's no surprise that its General [...]
Inspires Loyalty... Sommeliers are notorious for not staying with an establishment for no more than five years at the most. Even if they're wildly happy with a place, it just seems to be the nature of the beast that wine people move on. So it was a pleasant surprise when recently conversing with Elizabeth Cahill, [...]
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