Sparkling wine is the United States’ local sustainable answer to French Champagne.  Naturally, no one is allowed to call a fun bottle of bubbles “champagne” unless the vintage actually hails from the Champagne region of France.  Traditionally, the notion of “champagne” exudes messages of elegance, luxury and celebration.  Friends who have traveled or lived in […]

Sparkling wine is that wine that we inevitably reach for in a moment of celebration.   Yet there are so many varieties of varying sweetness to ultra dryness.   Depending on the grapes used, the amount of sugar added and the dryness of the sparkling, a wide world of varying cuisine can be paired with sparkling wine:   […]

As summer switches into gear, backyard gardens look big and lush.  Produce is just starting to ripen:  a tomato here, a zucchini there, a handful of sugar snap peas today, bulbous spring onions tomorrow.  Backyard produce has not commenced bountiful delivery yet and with the sporadic harvest of this or that, all that remains sitting […]

  For anyone who has grown grapes, made wine or for any length of time simply lived adjacent to the wine industry, the heart and the base of winemaking is agriculture.  Our culture for generations has associated wine consumption with finery, celebration and at times, elitism.   But at the end of the day, the grapes […]

  This week’s article admittedly was done on a lark.   A few weeks ago I was up early on a Sunday morning and had nothing pressing ahead on the day’s agenda.  With the luxury of a rare lazy Sunday morning at home and delightful warm weather outdoors, the back deck was simply too inviting to […]