Wine Information

Virginia Wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail – Wine Bloggers Conference 2011

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Last week 300 wine bloggers met in Charlottesville, Virginia, for their 4th annual conference and spent three days learning how to be better wine bloggers, while at the same time discovering Virginia wine and wine country. What better way to learn about Virginia wine than to visit nearby wineries?

On Saturday the 300 wine bloggers were wined and dined at wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail. Each wine blogger boarded one of seven buses that trekked the bloggers out to two wineries for a day of touring, tasting, and feasting on appetizers and a gourmet lunch. The bus we boarded took us to two very interesting and wonderful wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail, Pippin Hill Farms & Vineyards and Veritas Vineyards. Here is a brief description of the two wineries we visited.

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Winemaker Andrew Murray on the Santa Ynez Valley

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This is a guest blog post by Andrew Murray, winemaker and owner of Andrew Murray Vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. I have tasted several of the Andrew Murray wines and have enjoyed them very much over the years. I recently ran into Andrew Murray at a wine tasting in San Francisco. He mentioned that he would love to be a guest blogger and post a description of the wine country where he lives and makes his wines. What a great idea I thought, because it has been a few years since we have been to the Santa Barbara wine country and I need to be reminded of the wonder of this great wine region.

From Andrew: Nestled between the San Rafael and Santa Ynez mountains, the Santa Ynez Valley is just a short 40 minutes above picturesque Santa Barbara, California. Reminiscent of the French Riviera, Santa Barbara has long been famous as a Hollywood retreat and a second home for scions of industry. John F. Kennedy honeymooned with Jackie at the San Ysidro Ranch, and the famous photos of Albert Einstein on a bicycle were taken in sunny Santa Barbara.

Though the quiet Santa Ynez Valley is a bit more modest than its flossy Santa Barbara cousin, it too has seen its share of stardom. Michael Jackson’s infamous ‘Neverland’ Ranch is located out Figueroa Mountain Road, and stars such as Bo Derek, John Corbett, David Crosby, and Cheryl Ladd are frequently seen going about their daily lives at the market or gym.

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Discovering Lake County Wineries

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We spent three days exploring the wine region of Lake County. What we discovered was an array of beautiful vineyards and exciting and delicious wines being produced from this wine region. This was our first trip to Lake County and we found much to like here, enough to convince us that we need to develop a section on our wine travel Website, WineCountryGetaways.com, devoted to the wineries of Lake County. This wine country is an exciting area of opportunity for winemakers, wineries, and wine travelers.

Red Hills AVA

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April in Wine Country – Piner Road/Olivet Road

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This is one of our favorite months in wine country. The weather is warm and California poppies are proudly blooming among the vines. The main event this month is bud break. It signals a new growing period for the vines and it is the perfect time to savor the beauty of wine country.

We have a couple of suggested trips for this month. We’ll start with one in the Santa Rosa region. We’ll call it the Piner Road/Olivet Road Trail. In our next blog post, we will tell you about a great set of interesting wineries in the Geyserville area in northern Sonoma County.

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Skinner Vineyards

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We met up with winemaker Chris Pittenger at the Skinner Vineyard’s winery this past Sunday, Feb 27 and spent the next couple of hours tasting some excellent Rhone style wines and learning all about this fascinating winery.

This February in California Wine Country

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Valentine’s Day Activities
This is biggest event of the month. Wine Country is the perfect romantic spot for a getaway with your loved one. If you’re looking to stay in the Napa Valley, Sonoma or Healdsburg, you might be too late reserving that perfect B&B and that favorite intimate restaurant. You might find a few open spots this late in the Napa Valley in the towns of Calistoga, Sonoma or Geyserville. Calistoga is a more laid-back town with more casual restaurants and lodging establishments. Calistoga may not have the panache of the other Napa Valley towns but it does have something the other towns don’t have, mud baths and hot springs. Geyserville, five miles north of Healdsburg, is all of two blocks long but boasts several really great tasting rooms and one of the hottest restaurants in the area, Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria. Try the Geyserville Inn for accommodations.

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Top Wine Country Photographs 2010

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What a great year of tasting delicious wines and taking photographs of the all the beautiful wine regions we visited. These are our favorite wine country photographs from the year 2010.

TAPAS Wine Tasting 2010 — Our Favorites

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Tapas stands for Tempranillo Advocates, Producers, and Amigos Society. Some 50 wineries poured Tempranillo and other Spanish and Portuguese varietals at Fort Mason’s Herbst Pavilion this past Saturday, June 5th. It was a pleasant but somewhat eerie atmosphere in the Herbst Pavilion, with wineries spread out along the perimeter walls. We are used to four times as many wineries and a ton of trade and media representatives packed like sardines at Fort Mason tasting events. At the Tapas we had plenty of elbow room and, best of all, many opportunities to talk to the winemakers and winery owners.

We spent four weeks in Spain in 2007 and explored the Toro, Ribera del Duero, and Riojo wine regions where Tempranillo is king. Ever since that visit, we have been constantly on the lookout for great-tasting Tempranillo wines. The Tapas tasting is the perfect opportunity for wine lovers like us to discover Tempranillo and other Spanish varietals.

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Vintage Wine Tasters Petite Sirah Taste Off

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The Vintage Wine Tasters met this past Wednesday at our bimonthly meeting to blind taste and judge six Petite Sirah wines in the budget category of around $20 or less. In case you are new to following the Vintage Wine Tasters, we are a group of nine hobbiest wine drinkers who love discovering terrific wine bargains and values. We drink a lot of wines and have been doing so for a very long time, hence the name of our group, Vintage. Our host Bruce did a terrific job searching out Petite Sirah wines in this price category. It seems to be that the majority of Petite Sirah wines are above $30 mark in price, so the task of finding quality Petite Sirah was a little more intensive than the norm. The host always has the assignment of searching out wines and tasting a broad selection until arriving upon the top six for the wine tasting.

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Hopland Inn and the Wineries of Hopland

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We have been to the old Hopland Inn on four occasions beginning in 2003. There is something about this old Victorian mansion that keeps us going back for more. But after our last visit, we may not visit again. First, a little history: The inn opened in 1890 and was called the Thatcher Inn, owned … Read more