Paso Robles: Revisiting, Relaxing, and Discovering

Victor Abascal of Vines on the Marycrest with his song-title labels. Early February on the Central Coast of California is not high season for tourism, but for my husband’s birthday this year the entire family wanted a place to relax, sit by a fire, watch the Superbowl, and just chill and be with each other. …

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More on Mudgee, Australia!

In my first post on Mudgee, I focused on Day 1 of my excursion with the Wine Media Conference to this gorgeous wine region and town. On Day 2, I visited several more wineries, and below are my notes on each. Logan Vineyard’s unique winery and tasting room Logan Wines Logan Wines is the site of one of …

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Book Review: Root Cause, a Wine Thriller

I love wine, and I love a good mystery novel. Put the two of these together and I’m ready to curl up with my cat and dog on my couch for a good long read. I recently came upon a copy of Steven Laine’s Root Cause, a “wine-soaked” mystery, according to Kirkus Reviews. This lengthy …

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Mudgee … It’s a Wine Region in Australia!

The beautiful skies of Mudgee I post this in the midst of the horrible destruction of human and animal life as well as property caused by the catastrophic bush fires in Australia. In October 2019 when I visited, the drought concerns expressed by the vintners in the Hunter Valley and Mudgee wine regions caused me …

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Hunter Valley’s Simple Yet Complex Semillons

This year’s Wine Media Conference took me to Australia’s Hunter Valley, for the first-ever overseas version of this yearly event. This gorgeous region, which is little known outside of Australia, produces some of the world’s best Semillon wines. Both youthful versions and aged versions have been thrilling wine aficionados for decades, and I was thrilled to …

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White Wines All the Time!

Almost every day at The Wine House I get a customer saying they want to stock up on white wines because they keep running out of them. Their daily choice when reaching into their wine refrigerator tends to be whites, not reds, leaving the reds for either cooler weather or a more “serious” occasion. I …

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Exploring Oregon at ‘Wine Camp’

Being invited to the Oregon Pinot Camp is like being handed a golden ticket. Just imagine, a camp for adults in the wine country of Oregon, dedicated to the wines, wineries, and wine makers of this beautiful state. What could be more fun? When I got the good news that I got into camp this …

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Mexican Wines Uncorked

Dubbed the ‘Napa Valley of Mexico’ by Forbes Magazine, Valle de Guadalupe in Baja, Mexico, is located about 215 miles south of Los Angeles, an area not generally known for its wine regions. But with global climate change and the right combination of soils, sunlight, fog, ocean breezes, and modern wine-making techniques, the wine world seems …

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The Whites (and a Rosé) of Lodi

I recently sampled six wines from Lodi, California, for the latest Snooth “virtual tasting.” And not one of them was a Zinfandel! If you have any knowledge of the wine industry, you are probably aware that Zinfandel is quintessentially Lodi, and that it is the “State Grape” of California. However, it’s not the most fashionable grape, even …

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“Other Bubbles” Favorites and What’s Next?

It was extremely satisfying seeing the enthusiastic response to the “Other Bubbles” tasting I hosted at The Wine House on February 12. What started as a small idea, which I initially discussed with some of my wine friends, turned into an actual event that sold out quickly. It seems many people like bubbles! We ended …

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