With summer comes summer vacation and in California, it is easy to hop into one’s car and motor up and down Highway 101.   Leaving Napa Valley and heading south, one does not have to travel very far to find outstanding cuisine and other wine regions.   Descending into San Luis Obispo County, the temperature warms and […]

Much of the country the last few weeks have been gripped by high heat temperatures yet summer weather has been slow to arrive in Northern California.   Like a pot rolling to a slow simmering boil, temperatures only just this week have reached into the 80’s throughout the Bay Area and may even flirt with the […]

We lost:  only in the very limited sense, however, in that we did not receive a shiny medal from Hall Winery and that none of the proceeds would go directly to my team’s chosen Napa Valley non-profit, the Napa Valley Opera House.   So, in what sense did we win? By simply participating, we helped our […]

Throughout the summer and fall, articles have appeared seemingly left and right pondering the outcome of the 2010 growing season and what it will mean for Napa Valley wines.   Residents, hospitality staff and winemakers alike sat and nibbled their fingernails in nervous anticipation of 2010 harvest and collectively shivered through an unseasonably chilly summer.   While […]

For those who do not have the benefit of living in Napa Valley, it is often a mystery why it is that one year a wine can be outstanding from a vintner and the next year it can be drastically different.   Provided that the fruit is selected from the same vineyard and the vinification process […]