Americans love the clean, crisp and fruity Pinot Grigios from Northern Italy.  They’re a great value and it’s really hard to find a bad bottle in the bunch.  So when I opened a bottle recently and took a sip, expecting to taste the refreshing but predictable wine, I almost fell off my chair.  I immediately grabbed the bottle to take a closer look at the region and producer.  The wine I tasted from Attems was completely different than any other Pinot Grigio I’d had from northern Italy with exquisite weight, …

My motto is “discover the world and savor the classics.”  But when it comes to learning about wine, I believe in starting with the classics, and that applies to wine regions, specific appellations and producers.  With Italian wines, it can be a daunting exercise simply because of the sheer numbers:  Twenty official wine regions, 370 controlled appellations (48 Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita  and 322 Denominazione di Orgine Controllata), about 2,000 grape varieties of which most are indigenous to Italy, and a span of vineyards covering over 1.75 million …

If the greatest wines in the world are made to age using the most expensive production methods, have a long history of quality control and are so recognizable by style that they can only be a single wine from a singular place, then Port is such a wine.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine made since the 17th century from grapes grown in the Douro River Valley in Portugal.  They are aged, traditionally, downriver in the cooler port city of Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from Porto.  In the …

For those of you touring Napa Valley wine country, it’s sometimes nice to spend one day in one place, without a car, but still get the complete food and wine experience.  There are others of you visiting San Francisco who only have a day or two to spend in wine country.  Downtown Napa has more than 20 tasting rooms, wine bars and wine lounges to get a taste of Napa Valley wines, at your convenience.  While the local wine tasting rooms owned by Napa Valley wine producers pour their own …

The new 1313 Main upscale wine bar and lounge in Downtown Napa opens officially on May 27th.  It is the latest addition to Downtown Napa’s wine tasting scene that differentiates itself by offering a range of local and international wines that are hard to find by the glass and available in 2 oz. and 5 oz. pours.  Even better, the price points are accessible, allowing wine lovers to discover wines they wouldn’t normally buy by the bottle.  For example, Kistler Chardonnay at $7 per 2 oz. pour.
According to proprietor and …

Some of the most popular food wines today are the mostly dry, aromatic whites such as gewurztraminer, pinot gris, pinot blanc, riesling and muscat.  These rich and balanced aromatic whites pair so well with our California, Mediterranean and ethnic foods. 
Once the province of Alsace France, these grapes are now grown around the world.  One of the leading wine regions in the US for these aromatic whites is the Anderson Valley, a 15-mile long, 2,000 acre appellation in Mendocino County that straddles the Navarro River as it heads northwest towards the …

There are few producers in the U.S. that can say their wines are made by a fifth generation American winemaker, and fewer still whose owner has been making wines for 17 generations.  Together, winemaker Mark Beringer – great, great grandson of Jacob Beringer – and Codorniu of Spain, combine their heritages to make classic, high quality Carneros chardonnay and pinot wines that appeal to the modern consumer.
Quality starts with innovation and track record and in Codorniu, one gets both.  Codorniu was established in 1551 in the coastal Penedes region west of Barcelona.  It was …

Throughout the Napa Valley on Thursday evening, vintners were holding welcome dinners for guests and bidders participating in the 30th annual Auction Napa Valley.  In Calistoga, one of these special dinners was hosted by Suzanne Phifer Pavitt and Shane Pavitt of Phifer Pavitt Wines, producer of Date Night Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
After an elegant reception on their patio overlooking the Valley, guests were treated to a four-course dinner and wine pairing prepared by Chef Brandon Sharp of the Michelin star restaurant Solbar in Calistoga.  Chef Brandon Sharp’s menu was stellar with each …

When the four acres of hobby zinfandel vineyards at the Smith’s family residence just north of the town of Saint Helena needed to be replanted in the early 1990′s, Jeff Smith sought the advice of leading viticultural expert Dr. Mark Kliewer of UC Davis to evaluate the site.  Dr. Kliewer told Smith that the rocky vineyards were situated at a very unique part of the valley and that it was one of the premier sites for growing cabernet sauvignon.  The vines were thus replanted to cabernet sauvignon in 1992, beginning the legacy of Hourglass wines on both sides of …

 
There should be more Napa Valley rosé.  We live in a Mediterranean climate and eat Mediterranean cuisine.  Most of us live outdoors on our decks and patios in the summer and nothing is more appealing on a hot summer day than a chilled glass of rosé.  Even better?  A dry, ethereal rosé made in the Provencal style of southern France.  France is the world’s largest producer of  rosé with 28% of global production and Provence represents 40% of that.  Americans love these wines apparently, with retail sales of Provence wines rising 28% for the year ending …