After coming up with the idea for our “Savor the Flavor” entry in 2017, it’s become an annual tradition for WineAndCheeseFriday! Neil and I love to see the evolution of aromas and flavors over the life of a bottle of wine and this is our way to showcase them to all of you. Throughout the year, we actually earmarked a handful of wines that we thought would be perfect for this entry so without further ado, here you go. Read More…
We continue through the month of February with more sparkling wine! We did this tasting with Always Five Star (Pam) and her husband, John, during our trip out to California. Their home on Seal Beach was our first stop in the state. And really who else would you expect us to drink sparkling wine with? They already had a cheese shop picked out for us to visit, Cheese Addiction. Sounds right up my alley! We didn’t need an occasion to eat cheese and drink sparkling wine but it just so happened that Pam hit 10k Instagram followers while we were there! Let the celebrating begin. Read More…
We came up with the idea for the Savor the Flavor entry at the end of 2017, https://wineandcheesefriday.com/savor-the-flavor/, to showcase some noteworthy wines from the year. We’ve decided to continue the tradition for 2018. One of the ways we were able to really Savor the Flavor this year was by using our Vacu Vin. Have you ever tried these? They are wine vacuums/pumps that suck the air out of the bottle in order to preserve them longer. We were able to keep one of the bottles for two weeks! Can’t say I was ever able to do that in the past. Read More…
There was one place remaining in our big intro to Paso Robles wine tasting day, Tablas Creek Vineyard. Lori told us it was a must-visit to close out our day and when we found out that Tablas Creek was instrumental in the AVA too, we knew we had to continue tasting. (Rough life, I know). The tasting room opened in 2000 and this winery was the first to plant Rhone varietals in Paso. They are actually the ones who brought the grapes from France through Cornell University. Well now I’m even more excited to taste! As we walked through their front patio, we saw the mother vines of these original varietals. I can already tell this is going to be a great tasting! Read More…
Eberle Winery is located in Paso Robles, CA which was unchartered territory for Neil and I. When we lived in California, we focused on the wine regions immediately surrounding San Francisco. We took the opportunity during our recent trip to California to explore some new wine regions. As luck would have it, Lori from Dracaena Wines volunteered to bring us to some of the landmark wineries of the area as our introduction to Paso Robles. She knew it was only appropriate to begin at Eberle Winery where we could experience the winery responsible for getting the AVA started. Not to mention, that Eberle Winery uses many Rhone varietals, grapes that Neil and I enjoy very much in wine. Read More…
We began our Sideways Wine Tour in the Wine Ghetto, Lompoc, CA. First stop was Pali Wine Co., thanks to a recommendation from our AirBnB host, Edward. He was previously part of the wine industry and happily suggested Pali wines. I’ve heard of the Wine Ghetto but was open to places we should taste in the area. He told us about it since we wanted to try some local Pinot. Read More…
For how many times Neil and I have watched Sideways, we’ve never been to the region to try the wines. We made a point to take a trip to the Santa Rita Hills AVA this summer to follow the Sideways tourist map. We were calling it our Sideways Wine Tour and it would begin outside of Santa Barbara and end in San Jose with us stopping every day or two along the California Coast. Read More…
When Neil and I drink wine, we do it for the total experience of the wine. We love to smell it, taste it and think about the flavors. There are days when Neil does ask me, “Can we just drink this one?”, to which I say “No”, but he puts up with me. This is a collection of wines that made a pretty significant impression on us, enough for us to extend our tasting over multiple days. Do you subscribe to the theory that wine that was opened yesterday can’t be good any more? Many folks will tell you that certain wines need to breathe for a couple days or at least will agree that the flavors will change. That’s what this entry is all about, the evolution of flavors. Maybe this will inspire you to “Savor the Flavor” too? Read More…
We arrived to the Sol Rouge Vineyard last night. We are excited about all the wine opportunities that this experience will provide! We are already scheduled to help bottle the wine on Monday morning so stay tuned for an entry regarding that. There will also be tasks to be done in the vineyard which Maria is super excited about.
book written by George M. Taber, Time Magazine writer
I am a wine enthusiast who loves to learn, that’s what drew me to this field. When I first started out a few years back, I watched about five “wine movies” to get started with some wine knowledge. It still surprises me how much you can pick up when you really want to learn. One of those movies that I always go back to is Bottle Shock. When I saw the book Judgment of Paris — California vs France and the historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine at the library, I figured it was worth a read since I already had a loose idea of the story. I never realized I would end up enjoying the book so much that I constantly had to keep taking notes!