With 2011 nearly here along with January’s arrival, arrives my favorite time to consume Chardonnay.   In other parts of the country where winter winds howl unmercifully and snow seemingly falls by the tonnage, my white wines would probably sit in a cellar waiting for March.   This is fair for I (and other wine connoisseurs and […]

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 […]

Seemingly out of nowhere the week before Christmas has fallen upon us and here in the Bay Area and Napa Valley residents are enduring rain storm after rain storm.   Water is beginning to stand in low-lying vineyards and despite this, the first few blooms of mustard have risen above tall healthy green blades of grass […]

During the month of December, typically rain systems roll down off of the Pacific Ocean to shower on the Bay Area and across to Napa Valley before mustering themselves into snow for the Sierras a few hours to the east.   Some years during the month of December, moments of sun can be difficult to catch […]

Rolling into December, the grape vines of Napa Valley cling to the last of their now brown and lifeless leaves.   Mother Nature has readied the vines for oncoming winter such that they stand barren throughout acres upon acres of vineyards in Napa Valley.   Above, clouds rumble bringing long-awaited rain and fog (typically absent from California […]