Yountville Live Returns

Rain Didn't Dampen Yountville Live ... Had a soggy but fun time at Yountville Live’s 2018 edition. At the opening night reception under the main tent it poured as we lined up and kept raining for an hour or so while the crowd sampled the excellent cocktails and wines that were on offer for the guests. Gotta love [...]

By | April 16th, 2018|Napa Eateries, Napa Stays, Napa Wineries, Play in Napa|Comments Off on Yountville Live Returns

Vancouver Wine Festival & Victoria Beer Festival

 Great Views at Vancouver Wine Fest ...   My liver took a pounding but had a lot of fun.  Victoria’s 5th annual craft beer festival kicked off at the Victoria Public Market. Vancouver Island Brewery had a raspberry export stout that was delicious. Normally I try to avoid beers with fruit titles in them as they [...]

By | April 8th, 2018|David's Travels, Napa Wineries, Sonoma Wineries|Comments Off on Vancouver Wine Festival & Victoria Beer Festival

Seattle Wine and Food Experience

Great Food and Wine... Had some great food and drinks and viewed interesting exhibits as the Seattle Wine and Food Experience celebrated 10 years down at Pier 66 at Seattle’s Bell International Hall. Most of the wine sampling was concentrated on the ground floor with over 30 Washington State wineries and a dozen each or so [...]

By | March 6th, 2018|David's Travels, Napa Wineries, Sonoma Wineries|Comments Off on Seattle Wine and Food Experience

Napa Survives

Napa Welcomes You... The Insider is all about promoting Napa and Sonoma. In the wake of the wildfires, it’s imperative to let people know, even though the fires were devastating, most of Napa and Sonoma counties weren’t affected by the fires thanks to the awesome First Responders's actions. So the Insider set out to do a day tour of each area to [...]

By | November 13th, 2017|Napa Wineries|Comments Off on Napa Survives

Check Please

Leslie Was Delightful... To the T-Vine Winery we go where Leslie Sbrocco, host of PBS’ Check Please, is hosting a tasting of Calistoga Wineries finest. A Petaluma resident, don’t know if this should go under Napa or Sonoma, ha ha, doesn’t matter… But it was fun to get the ebullient TV host to do the [...]

By | September 12th, 2017|Napa Wineries, Sonoma Wineries|Comments Off on Check Please

Priest Ranch Wines

Fine wine, BBQ and Country Rock... To the Priest Ranch Wines tasting room we go to on Yountville’s main drag on Washington St.  They collaborated with Tips-Tri-Tip trolley. If you like barbeque you can’t go wrong with the Tri-Trip Sando sandwich of a ½ lb of tri-tip, coleslaw, with chipotle sauce on a toasted roll.  And for entertainment, Miracle Mule kept [...]

By | September 9th, 2017|Napa Wineries|Comments Off on Priest Ranch Wines

Mean Harp Blows Into Mean Meat

Meat, Meat and More Meat ... It wasn’t a good time to be a vegetarian in Napa this past weekend. Blues, Brews and BBQ hosted live blues music from some of the Bay Area’s best blues musicians, including Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, over 30 hard to find micro-brewed beers in a large beer garden, [...]

By | September 4th, 2017|Napa Wineries|Comments Off on Mean Harp Blows Into Mean Meat

2017 Summer BBQ & Barrel Tasting at Yao Family Wines

Hoopster Who Loves Wines ... To the Yao Family Wines Tasting Room we go where they were celebrating the dog days of summer with a barbeque that featured ribs, sausage, chicken and all the sides, along with your choice of Napa Crest Rose, Sauvignon Blanc or Red Blend. The tasting also featured the very first [...]

By | August 25th, 2017|Napa Wineries|Comments Off on 2017 Summer BBQ & Barrel Tasting at Yao Family Wines

Clos Du Val Dinner

Perfect Night For A Wine Dinner... “A Dragon Lady?” laughed, Clos Du Val’s head winemaker Ted Henry as we walked through his vines, before sitting down for Clos Du Val’s fun, gorgeous night out supper at their new vineyard in Yountville.  “What are you talking about?”  The Insider read a piece recently in Forbes about Madame Bize-Leroy of Domaine-Leroy, [...]

By | August 20th, 2017|Napa Wineries|Comments Off on Clos Du Val Dinner