The month of May brings optimism and hope to wine country each year as the weather starts to warm, farmer’s markets commence a new season and the grape vines fill with leaves.   Yet as the sun’s rays begin to warm, Mother Nature can be terribly fickle and send clouds and cold winds from the coast […]

No matter where one finds oneself in California, one senses a movement to eat locally and consume wine locally.   This concept, while increasingly popular is largely rooted in common sense.   Produce simply tastes better when the time lapse from “vine to dine” is as small as possible.    While Northern Californians often like to assume a […]

With a title such as that, any reader, let alone a Petite Sirah aficionado, would want any introductory banter about the present weather in Napa Valley, the blooming mustard, the cloudless sunny days sparking the hope for a good vintage year ahead or any other whimsical observations to quickly wrap and move on to the […]

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 […]

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 […]