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 …

Kenzo Tsujimoto, Chairman of publicly held Capcom Co., Ltd., is the owner of Kenzo Estate, a 15,000 case production winery in the eastern mountains of Napa Valley.  His luxury cabernet sauvignon wines are made with the best talent money can buy but his goal wasn’t to create an exclusive wine that few can buy.  Like the successful video game products his company sells worldwide, his wines are approachable and accessible.
Tsujimoto wasn’t one of the those wealthy businessmen seeking to create a monument to himself in the Napa Valley.  While he …

Americans  love malbec from Argentina.  It is consistently good, fruit-driven and best of all, a great value at $10-15/bottle.  Argentine exports of bottled Malbec wines grew 20% by value in 2009, then 31.7% in 2010, with the US being the largest global market with about a 35% market share (winesofargentina.org).  Argentine wines are not cheap per se, they are helped by a favorable exchange rate which belie the quality inherent in the wines from unique terroir, natural farming practices and modern winemaking.  But does it warrant luxury status?
The short answer …

The Champagne Bureau, the official US representative of the Champagne Wine Council (Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, or CIVC),  completed its first official Champagne Grand Tasting tour in San Francisco on Wednesday to a packed audience at the Westin St. Francis hotel.
Over thirty prestigious Champagne Houses poured their best wines to some of the most important members of the West Coast wine trade.  While the CIVC’s successful campaign to communicate the singular message that Champagne only comes from the region of Champagne in France, the tasting highlighted that House …

Had the chance to see Stephane Derenoncourt Friday night at Sweetie’s in San Francisco’s North Beach district.  The place was so Derenoncourt.  It’s a neighborhood bar in a residential area just south of Bay Street, where the counter is already packed on a Friday evening and patrons look up immediately when someone walks in to see if its a chum.  I strolled past the pool table and through the doors that said “no entry” and inside was a spacious room and garden beyond, with stylish guests already mingling around a table of Derenoncourt’s 07 Napa …

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 …

Iconic Bordeaux consultant and winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt introduced his small, 1,500 case production Napa Valley wines to an intimate group of wine professionals at Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford today.  The wines represent the 2006 vintages of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, and 575 cases of Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Hills Vineyard.  The consumer allocations of the 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc have been pre-sold, with the 2007 vintages expected to be released sometime between September and November. 
These are not Bordeaux-style wines but …