We are getting ready for another road trip. This time we are heading down south to Buellton which is in Santa Barbara County. It’s about 1/2 hour north from Santa Barbara. We are heading there specifically to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference 2014, #wbc14. We went to the first and second wine bloggers conference when […]
We met Ryan and Jessica Carr last year at the Wine Bloggers Conference, and enjoyed talking with them and drinking their wine. Actually, I only got to try the Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as part of the Pinot Noir Heaven tasting night, and their Pinot Gris was worthy of special mention that night. Ryan […]
Lori and I just completed a short trip to the Central Coast of California (Santa Barbara through Paso Robles) to celebrate our anniversary. While more details about each winery will be provided in future posts, here’s the itinerary we followed: Monday 13 July Drive from home to Paso Robles Lunch at Basil, Paso Robles (on […]
While Lori and I were in the Santa Ynez Valley for the Wine Bloggers Conference, we took ourselves out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. My brother and his wife recommended the Mirabelle Inn Restaurant, in nearby Solvang, where they had eaten within the last year. With no other information to go on, and because […]
Just had brunch at the Wine Bloggers Conference, sponsored by the Wine of Portugal. They did a variety of pairings of Portuguese-influenced food — Portugal, India, Brazil, Japan — and Portuguese wine. My favorite was the pairing of Indian food with Portuguese white wine. Specifically, the dish was called Mathunake Dudkiwale Aloo, which apparently means […]
I’m sure most of you have heard the term “social media”. More and more industries are hiring a staff person to strictly be their social media person. This means that this person will handle the media outreach for the company such as on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin, Plaxo and YouTube accounts, for example. The wine […]
Having just got back from the Wine Bloggers Conference 2009 in Santa Rosa California where I sipped, drank and spit over 300 different wines from over 200 wineries between Napa county, Sonoma county and Portugal. I am convinced that it makes a big difference as to what kind of glass the wine is poured into. […]
A few years back Lori and I spent a few days in the Santa Maria/Santa Ynez Valley/Santa Barbara area doing some tasting. We had some great wine tasting experiences on that trip, but overall the best wines (and tasting experiences) were the Rhônes, the Syrahs, Grenaches and Mourvèdres and blends of those (typically called “GSMs”). […]
At the Wine Bloggers Conference last year, one of the sessions was on Ballard Canyon AVA Syrahs. Ballard Canyon is one of the newest AVAs in the Santa Ynez Valley, and has made its reputation based on the Syrahs and other Rhône varietals that are typically grown there. I tried Syrahs from 7 different wineries […]
Family legend has it that my parents used to trade Dodgers tickets for Qupé wine. According to Bob Lindquist, owner/winemaker of Qupé Winery, there was at least one discussion about that, but it never happened. So it’s just legend. We do know that my parents met Bob just after he started Qupé, while he was […]