Wayne Donaldson is a year and two vintages into his own wine label Eonian. After about 20 years in the wine business, working in Australia and California, he “decided it was time to do something personal.” I first met Wayne in 2002, when we he was Vice President of Winemaking and Vineyards at Domaine Chandon, the sparkling wine house in Napa Valley, and we were shooting one of the very first episodes for the show I produced, In Wine Country, on NBC. I’ll never forget him showing us how to saber open a bottle of sparkling wine. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. A few years later we shot a story with Wayne going mountain biking on the grounds around Domaine Chandon, another super fun shoot. So when I heard he was launching his own wine label, I had to get the lowdown. “Eonian the name means…
Fundraising with a Coastal View, and Pinot Too
When a charity event celebrates 30 years, no doubt it’s not only been successful but has helped beneficiaries and local community along the way. That’s exactly what Winesong, the annual fundraiser on the Mendocino coast of California has done for three decades. “Over 30 years we’ve raised $6.5 million,” says Jeri Erickson, executive director of the Menodcino Coast Hospital Foundation. “Our beneficiary and our sole purpose is to support the Mendocino Coast Hospital, a 25 bed hospital. We service 70 miles of coastline over 540 square miles, as were are a remote region. The closest hospital is an hour away through windy mountain roads, so a hospital in our community is absolutely vital.” Jeri owes part of Winesong’s longevity to its unique location. “All of our events have a coastal view,” she says. Winesong is always the first weekend of September. The Friday afternoon event is the Pinot Noir Celebration…
A Sommelier’s Secret Weapon
What does it take to pass what is perhaps the most daunting and difficult exam in the world? Master Sommelier Geoff Kruth knows. He sat for the Master Sommelier exam twice – as it is rare for anyone to pass on the first go round – and became a Master Sommelier in 2008. Since then he’s been on a mission to aggregate all the information needed to prepare for the exam in one place. The Master Sommelier (MS) exam is so infamous that a documentary film was made about it called SOMM. It is being given this weekend, May 18 -21, in Aspen, Colorado, the only time the test is being administered this year. So if you don’t pass, you basically have to wait another year to try again. No pressure for the exam candidates, right? There are 211 Master Sommeliers world wide. The pass rate for the exam is…
Wellness in Wine Country
The biggest trend in wine country these days isn’t the latest technology advances in winemaking or the up and coming varietals you’ve never heard of like Ribolla Gialla and Fruliano. In a word it’s wellness. When it comes to balancing mind, body and spirit, look to Napa Valley wineries, vineyards, hotels and beyond for an array of innovative ways to detox. Of course a little retox with a glass of wine afterwards is always allowed. Adjust Your Frequency Upon arrival in Napa Valley, you’ll want to make your first stop The Spa at Napa River Inn. Step into this jewel box of a spa retreat and you’ll feel like you’re worlds away. Hard to believe this little stand alone building was at one time the local Napa police station. Owner Jeanette O’Gallagher has created a calm oasis within. Recover from the stress in your life with the Adjust Your Frequency…
For 10 Years Wine Women & Shoes Puts its Best Foot Forward
Whenever I tell someone I am going to “Wine Women & Shoes” I get an array of reactions, ranging from, ‘what is that?’ to ‘that sounds like the most fun ever.’ Well it is the most fun ever. And after more than 150 events and raising more than $20 million for local women’s charities across the country, Wine Women & Shoes (WW&S) has become a phenomenon since launching 10 years ago. Elaine Honig developed the idea for a different kind of fundraiser while she was at Honig Vineyard & Winery in Napa Valley. She wanted something more than the same old boring wine and food pairing event. Mary Kay FunPhotography.US “I remember sitting down with Kristin Belair, our winemaker at Honig and saying okay, I’ve got this crazy idea about pairing wine and shoes,” she explains. “Kristin immediately began riffing on pairings. The classic black pump goes with a classic…
The Birth of a Wine Culture in South Korea
How do you create a wine culture where none exists? South Koreans have had a long history of a drinking culture, favoring Soju, a distilled spirit similar to vodka but very cheap. Wine was not on the table, not even in five star restaurants or hotels as recently as the 1990s. That didn’t deter Hi Sang Lee. He is a very patient man. He wanted to share his newly found love of fine wine with friends in Korea. Lee’s wine moment happened on a ski trip with friends in Stowe, Vermont. Up to this point Lee really wasn’t a drinker. One of his wine loving friends opened some good French wine. “It was like paradise,” Lee says, and the wine bug bit. He began buying wine, storing it in a friend’s basement. But he had a problem. How to get it back home to South Korea? “So I started a…
The Pied Piper of Napa Valley
For David Pack, legendary musician, Ambrosia lead singer and Grammy award winning record producer, his latest project, Napa Crossroads, is one he’s been dreaming of for 30 years. That’s when he first started visiting wine country. He calls Napa “my secret place, my magic spot, heaven on earth.” The wine bug bit David, and he says “I was one of those geeky guys who would boil off the wine label and put them in a book with tasting notes.” He learned as much as he could about grape growing and making wine, reading books and talking to everyone he knew. David still has those wine journals. A fortuitous meeting with Jeff Gargiulo, owner of Gargiulo Vineyards in Oakville started David’s journey to producing Crossroads. He was performing at the winery’s harvest party in 2005, where David Duncan, CEO of Silver Oak Cellars also happened to perform with some other local…
GourmetFest Brings Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams to Carmel
Twenty five chefs creating gourmet feasts. 70 cases of Champagne poured. 10 kilos of caviar consumed. All in four days. I can’t resist. As cliché as it is, the “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams” tagline made popular by Robin Leach’s Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, just feels like the perfect way to sum up the experience at GourmetFest. Inaugural Event For a first time event, GourmetFest went off seemingly without a hitch during its inaugural weekend in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The weather cooperated beautifully, and Carmel was easy to navigate, not just by foot, but thanks to shuttle service provided by event organizers. You can tell this isn’t the first rodeo for David Fink, Mirabel Hotel & Restaurant Group CEO and organizer of GourmetFest. He was part of the team that started the Masters of Food and Wine event at the Carmel Highlands Inn, a few miles south down the coast…
Wine Gets Naked With Randall Grahm
“I’m always interested in alternative ways of doing things,” says Randall Grahm, winemaker behind the often irreverent Bonny Doon Vineyard label, a fervent Rhone Ranger, and author of Been Doon So Long. The latest alternative way of doing things for him is joining Naked Wines, a crowdfunded virtual winery. Randall started making wine for Naked when Naked launched in the US about 18 months ago. Naked had already been up and running in England for five years. Randall’s already got an established wine business and name, so what does he get out of going Naked? “It’s an opportunity to play around a little bit, an opportunity to make some odd ball wines,” he says. Wines like Mutiny on the Bonny Grenache Blanc and the (G)renache Spot, all under the Randall Grahm label, not the Bonny Doon label. The other thing he gets out of Naked, Randall says, is having a…
A Nose for Wine at Morlet Family Vineyards
“These are my diplomas from Galimard.” Luc Morlet and his wife Jodie proudly hold up not one, but two certificates he earned at the Galimard Perfume Factory in Grasse, France in 2008. “I liked it so much I went back a second time,” he says. For two days this Napa Valley winemaker learned the art of perfumery and blending fragrances at Galimard’s Studio des Fragrances. Aromatics, you see, are a driving force in Morlet’s winemaking at Morlet Family Vineyards. It shows in a wine he calls La Proportion Dorée. “The Golden Ratio,” as this wine is named, “is the concept of three, a pyramid with the Semillion being the strong base, then Sauvignon Blanc in the heart and the point is Muscadelle,” Luc says. By the time Luc went to Galimard he had already developed this blend, but the reason for it made sense after he learned about how perfume…