Georges Duboeuf is a modest man. He is modest in stature and rather reserved, in an elegant, French way. He is extremely modest about his contributions to the international wine world, of which championing Beaujolais — the region and the wines — will be his legacy. He is also modest about his success with promoting Beaujolais Nouveau, even though it has become a an overhyped caricature of itself.
‘Tis the season and time for holiday gift recommendations. What to get the wine lover in your life? Not the same old same old. I’ve been looking all year for the coolest, most unique – and yes, stylish presents for you to give — and a few you might want to keep for yourself! Cheers and happy holidays. Chill Out. Forget chilling a whole bottle of wine, go by the glass. Keep the Napa Wine Chiller, a shiny silver sphere, aka “balls of steel” in the freezer until you’re ready to pour a glass or two of wine. Takes about 2 minutes or so to completely chill one glass of wine, and it works for at least two glasses. Does not hit your mouth when you sip. When you’re done, rinse, dry and refreeze. Tip: really only works with wide mouth glasses and bigger glasses that allow you to swirl even with…
I recently returned from two days at the Paso Garagiste Festival. This is the event’s fourth year, and it has grown leaps and bounds since I wrote about the inaugural event in 2011. That year, 44 wineries participated in a one-day event; now it is a four day event. This year 60 wineries alone poured on Saturday, November 8 at the Grand Tasting; another 19 wineries participated in The Opening Round on Friday night. In all told, 79 wineries pouring over 150 wines. The garagiste movement is strong.
Attendance that first year was nearly 700 people; this year more than 1,000 consumers attended. The event also moved from a quaint horse stable at Windfall Farms to the larger Paso Robles Fairgrounds. Perhaps not as elegant, but winemaker and lighting designer Bill Powell (who was also pouring his wines at Powell Mountain Wines) did a nice job of transforming a cavernous room into something cool.
As the world gets ready to celebrate the arrival of the 2014 Beaujolais Nouveau, it’s a good time to turn the spotlight on this region’s wines, especially the complex, aromatic and fascinating wines of the Cru Beaujolais. These Cru wines are a revelation for anyone who is accustomed to drinking the super fresh, super fruity and super young Beaujolais Nouveau. After all Nouveau is a style unto itself, bottled only weeks after the grapes are harvested. While Nouveau’s roots are in a wine to celebrate the harvest, the Cru wines are what Beaujolais is all about. Moulin-à-Vent’s landmark windmill In June I joined a group of fellow journalists on a taste journey through five of the 10 Cru Beaujolais appellations. The producers we visited all make wine with the legendary Georges Duboeuf, who has done more to spread the world about high quality Beaujolais wine than any other producer from…
November in the wine world means time for Beaujolais Nouveau, with all the pomp and circumstance and celebration surrounding the release of this wine around the world. Legally it cannot be released until 12:01 am the third Thursday of November. That’s when you hear proclamations of “le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!”— and millions of corks popping. This year the festivities take place on November 20, 2014. As a wine Beaujolais Nouveau is soft and fruity, very easy to drink. Yet critics deride the wine as being cheap and uninteresting. Well it is cheap inexpensive, usually selling for $10-$12 a bottle. It’s certainly not as complex as a red wine aged for one to two years in oak. Beaujolais Nouveau is a baby, made and released as a finished wine in only four to six weeks after harvest. That’s why in 2014 you’ll be drinking the 2014 vintage later this month. …
When the air turns crisp and the days become short, I crave all things apple. My beverage of choice is hard cider—hard apple cider, that is. I’m not alone in my love of hard cider; it’s the fastest-growing alcoholic beverage category in the country. In Silicon Valley, there’s one label I turn to and that’s Red Branch Cider Company. Like so many labels in the wine and beverage world, Red Branch Cider started in a garage. Read my entire article in Edible Silicon Valley.
This is another installment of a series called “Livermore Stories,” which takes a look at the most exciting wineries in this wine growing region located east of San Francisco. More than 50 wineries now call Livermore Valley home. The wines have never been better, and the wineries have great stories to tell. Winemakers come to winemaking from all sorts of backgrounds. Take Rhonda Wood. “I used to fly for US Airways,” says the commercial airline pilot turned vintner. “I flew as a First Officer on the Airbus 320, the Boeing 737, the F 100, and the BAE 146, and I was side saddle (flight engineer) on the Boeing 727.” How many winemakers can say that? Rhonda as a teenager on Stinson in Watsonville, CA Rhonda’s winery is Wood Family Vineyards, in the heart of Livermore Valley. She actually started learning about making wine in Fremont, a community in the southern…
Driving along the twisting roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains near Boulder Creek, you begin to wonder if there’s really a winery among the redwoods here. At the end of a narrow residential road you come upon a clearing, arriving at Big Basin Vineyards. “Welcome to the middle of nowhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains,” is the greeting from assistant winemaker Matt Ryan to visitors who make the journey. Read my full story on Edible Silicon Valley
“Handcrafted” has become such a buzzword in the wine industry that it’s almost meaningless, superfluous. But not at BoaVentura de Caires, the Livermore Valley winery owned by Brett Caires. His operation is truly handcrafted. Brett planted the vineyards and renovated the horse corral that’s now his winery and tasting room almost wood plank by wood plank. He salvaged redwood, a couple of stained glass windows and a door from buildings on the nearby Concannon Vineyard property that were being demolished. And, oh yeah, Brett farms the vineyards and makes the wine. His hands are on every grape cluster, every vat of fermenting grape juice, every barrel of aging wine, every bottle filled and dipped in wax. BoaVentura is not your typical winery, and that’s what makes it such a wonderful place to visit. When you pull up the steep driveway, you see a sign that says “No limos past this…
I grew up spending two weeks each summer going to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina with my family. The Lowcountry is a special place for me. Those summers were idyllic. I love the beauty of the marshes and the long, wide sandy beaches with sand dunes and sea oats. This is my second home (thanks Dad for retiring there!). I’ve always loved the easy, breezy Lowcountry beach lifestyle, perhaps even more now that I’m living on the west coast and don’t get to Hilton Head as often as I’d like. However, I’ve also fallen in love with the Wine Country lifestyle. After all, I did a TV show about it for 10 years, In Wine Country. So when I found out Robert Mondavi, Jr. and his wife Lydia were building a house and launching a home collection in Beaufort, SC, I had to find out more. The Mondavi name is…