In another life, before "old media" imploded, I wrote two weekly
wine columns - one for the food sections of traditional newspapers, and
one for so-called "alternative weeklies," which are heavily focused on
arts and entertainment.
With Valentine's Day coming up, I thought it would be fun to
resurrect one of my old "alt. weekly" columns for a publication in
Sonoma County that dealt with wine and its role in romance.
The opening paragraph, which references a pair of iconic television characters, will provide some...
It took bidders and imbibers a mere four hours to generate more
than $8 million for underprivileged and at-risk children during the
Naples Winter Wine Festival.
That's Naples as in Florida, not Italy. The event was held at The
Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, and the winning bids for the 61 lots ranged
from $22,000 to $440,000.
No wonder Wine Spectator calls it "the most successful wine auction in the nation." Sorry, Napa Valley...
It's somewhat of an American pastime to bash the country's corporate giants.
That's certainly true in the wine industry, since the concept of
artisan winemaking promotes the belief that "smaller is better."
But sometimes bigger can be better as Diageo - one of the world's
largest wine, beer and spirits companies - spearheaded an effort that
led to 45,000 pounds of food and...
Some wineries have histories that are more... what's the word?... colorful than others.
A case in point: Jackse Winery in the Napa Valley town of St.
Helena, which was founded in 1905 by an Austrian immigrant named
Stephen Jackse.
During Prohibition, surreptitious winemaking continued at a number
of estates, even though the law technically prohibited production for
anything other than...
Benziger Family Winery has promoted winemaker Rodrigo Soto to Vice
President of Winemaking, and in his new role, Soto will supervise the
winegrowing program for the certified sustainable Benziger Family
wines, as well as the vineyard designate program.
He will also be managing the certified organic and certified Biodynamic Signaterra and de Coelo winemaking programs.
The Chilean-born Soto joined Benziger as Director of Winemaking in
2006. He brings extensive international winegrowing experience with
Biodynamic and organic...
It happens each year in the Napa Valley as winter begins to morph
into spring: Wild mustard appears all over the valley, first in small
patches, gradually growing into massive yellow blankets.
As the yellow-gold becomes ever more prevalent, the grape growers,
winery proprietors and restaurateurs of the valley celebrate their
cultural and agricultural bounty with a series of events under the
banner of...
Even as the economy headed south last year, the United States saw
the number of wineries within its borders increase to 6,223.
The message is clear: Ever so gradually, America has become a
wine-drinking nation. As more and more people become aware of the
health benefits associated with moderate wine consumption... not to
mention the pure enjoyment that a glass of wine can bring...
One wouldn't normally think of a Best Western hotel/motel as a
tourist attraction. Like most of the major national chains, it's simply
a place to get a good night's sleep on the way from one locale to
another.
But there's a Best Western in Sacramento, Calif., that you
absolutely must see if you ever find yourself near California's state
capital. It's the Best Western Sandman, located at 236 Jibboom Street,
just off Interstate-5.
There, you'll encounter an amazing collection of sculptures sawed
and carved out of redwood. Al Sarti is the art patron who envisioned...
