The production of high quality Douro reds is a relatively young endeavor, given impetus when the law requiring Ports to be aged downriver in coastal Vila Nova de Gaia – an expense favoring the larger shippers – was lifted in 1986.  This broke down some of the financial barriers for smaller growers and investors to make their own wine in the Douro Valley, and it favored dry wines over Port.  As Christian Seeley of Quinta da Romaneira explained, the lead time to become a new Port brand is long because …

The 21st annual Zinfandel Festival in San Francisco this week, sponsored by the Association of Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP), highlights why California’s signature grape is worth preserving.  Zinfandel is not just the charmingly fruity wine that we all love, it is a chameleon of a grape that expresses its diverse origins and reveals true complexity and signature spiciness with age.  ZAP works to preserve this diversity by sponsoring a long-term zinfandel research program – conducted by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) – whose aim is to find …

Zinfandel has been grown in California since the 1850’s and, unlike many of the early-planted varietals, zinfandel has maintained its popularity to this day, representing the 2nd most widely planted red wine grape in the state.  We love youthful zinfandel for its fruity charm, but it’s the old vine zinfandels that we treasure for their intensity of flavor, structure, spiciness and most of all, expression of terroir.
To record and preserve the diversity of zinfandel expression, the University of California, Davis – with major support from the Association of Zinfandel Advocates …

 
It’s said that fruit-driven Vintage Ports reflect the vintage conditions and aged Tawnys reflect the Port House style which is a complex blend of wines from different vintages.  The House style can be drier than sweeter, or fruity vs. complex.  It is up to the winemaker to determine how to achieve the House style using a mix of grapes and vineyard locations, a range of vat sizes, a vast inventory of existing blends and vintage wines, and a blending philosophy.
Graham’s House style, for example, is rich and sweet, while Warre’s …

Irreverent, irrepressible and incorrigable – that about sums up John Caldwell and Napa Valley wouldn’t be the same without him.  No other person outside of Napa City founder and Coombsville namesake Nathan Coombs is more closely associated with the Coombsville wine region than Caldwell, and it started really as opportunism to develop land as tony real estate in the emergent Napa Valley tourism destination in the late 1970′s.  He was flying high then with his successful shoe stores in the valley, he says, touring around in his Cadillac Seville ragtop …

When I gave winemaker Rui Cunha my card, he laughed and said that I would find the wine muses at Ramos Pinto, the next stop on our trip.  Imagine my delight when Ramos Pinto descendent Joao Almeida told me about the ‘inspirational’ images founder Adriano Ramos Pinto used for marketing wines beginning in the 1890′s to seduce a new generation of buyers in export markets.
The House of Adriano Ramos Pinto was founded on exports to the growing Portuguese colony of Brazil.  So when Adriano devised his marketing strategy, he searched …

The Coombsville AVA became official on December 14, 2011 but the region was always an integral part of high quality Napa Valley wines since the  1870′s and, more recently, has been high on the radar of insiders.  Considering its long history, volcanic effluvial soils and ideal climate, the granting of the formal AVA is a mere formality.
Coombsville’s low profile may have been a result of its location – about 1,360 farmed acres just east of the large city of Napa, obscured by a hill of residential homes which gives way …

Virginia’s state motto is “Virginia is for lovers” but it could also be said of dreamers because wine lovers have been trying to grow grapevines here since the founding of the country with varying levels of success due to poor climate, choice of grape variety, even pests.  The French planted the domestic Scuppernog grape but didn’t like the taste while the Italians experimented with European vitis vinifera which didn’t adapt well to the climate.  Thomas Jefferson tried – and failed – seven times to cultivate vitis vinifera at his estate …

If you decide to visit the two Mendocinos, here are my suggestions for getting and staying there, dining and tasting.
Anderson Valley
Anderson Valley is about 2 1/2 hours from San Francisco via Highway 101 north to Highway 128 which meanders northwest along the Navarro River through spectacular redwoods to the coast.  The 27 wineries are easy to visit being concentrated on either side of the highway from Booneville to Navarro.  The list of wineries and map are located on the Anderson Valley Winegrower’s website at www.avwines.com
A good time to visit Anderson …

A wine lover’s tour of Mendocino wine region is usually comprised of a quick drive through the Anderson Valley on the way to the coastal town of Mendocino.  But that would just be skimming the surface of the diversity of Mendocino wines from the cool climate aromatic whites and pinot noir of Anderson Valley to the full-bodied cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel and Cal-Itals from warm Inland Mendocino, connected by a mere 17 easy and beautiful drive over the mountain on Highway 253.  From the charming and gentrifying Anderson Valley to the …