Potpourri of Tastings... Any winery starts with a vision. No doubt, no one starts out to make undrinkable plonk with a tasting room that resembles uncle Joe’s rec room. Unfortunately it happens. Thankfully, not too often in Napa and Sonoma. Especially so at Sonoma’s Ram’s Gate Winery. Only in biz since the fall of 2011, [...]
Tasting Tour .... While Santa Rosa took it in the teeth in the recent fires, it’s important to remember that a lot of Sonoma counties were relatively untouched, including much of Santa Rosa. Let wine lovers know it’s perfectly safe and welcomed abundantly to come back and taste some Sonoma wineries. In that vein, the [...]
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 [...]
Bocce, Pizza, Wine ... Bob and Sandy Comstock have been selling grapes for over a decade. But they always wanted their own tasting room. So in August 2015, they opened a nice, expansive facility and tasting room, debuting their own wine label at the same time. Complete with an outdoor pizza oven and bocce ball court, visitors can book [...]
Wine Man, Family Man... You want some kicks?? How about a walk thru of a 100-plus-year- old winery, 10 minutes from downtown Healdsburg? We’re talking Limerick Lane Wines. If you love Zinfandel wines like the Insider does, then you owe it to yourself to go down to Limerick Lane Wines and may be lucky enough to partake in some very nice [...]
Wicked Concert at Rodney Strong .... I thought I hung up my rock n’ roll writing shoes many moons ago (check my bio on here for reasons why, haha). Although, the Insider always tries to bleed a little of that rock n’ roll spirit into my food and wine writing. When I saw Rodney Strong [...]
Notes from the 10th Pebble Beach Food and Wine Fest... Thurs night was a total blast with great food snacks and awesome after party where the booze was flowing like water... Friday afternoon, a return to The Inn at Spanish Bay, where gorgeous fairways and greens line right up with the Pacific Ocean… so gorgeous, [...]
Extravaganza's Engaging Co-founder.... It was a kick to converse with David Bernahl, Monterey’s Restaurant 1833 owner and co-founder of the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival which is coming up on its 10th anniversary next week. David was bubbling over with the enthusiasm about food and wine that I try to bring to the Insider. [...]
A Fine Wine Lounge .... With the 10th anniversary of the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival coming up next week, the Insider thought it’d be cool to check in with sommelier Jeffrey Birkemeier of the Stave Wine Lounge at the Inn of Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach. Last night’s dinner? Nice rack of lamb [...]
Let's Talk With An Aussie Winemaker To the LedsonWinery and Vineyards in Kenwood we go to talk to head winemaker Andrew Bilenkij, an Aussie native who has been collaborating with Steve Ledson the last five years in turning out a very nice range of tasty wines. Last night’s dinner? Mongolian lamb and Agadashi tofu. A [...]
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