• General Wine Stuff

    Recap of the 2016 LAWineFest (TL/DR version: FUN, with great wines!)

    Not all wine festivals are created equal.  Some are mob scenes where most of the attendees seem to be focused on how quickly they can get their buzz on, and others are just great fun–good crowd, some seriously great wines, and decent food to soak up all that vino.  The LAWineFest this year falls into the latter (better) category. I’m not going to go into exhausting detail, but will share a few thoughts followed by some of my phone pics from the event. Their Boutique Wine Garden is a fabulous idea, and the wineries who were included in that premium spot were impressive across the board.  It was an additional…

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  • General Wine Stuff

    Meet the Russells of Rabbit Ridge Winery

    Editor’s Note: There’s a reason I’ve chosen the Russells to be my first (of many, many) winemaker profiles, and it’s purely personal.  Their winery, Rabbit Ridge, was the first place I ever went wine tasting back in 2002.  They were still headquartered in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, and were the first of many wineries I would eventually explore along the region’s storied River Road.  I walked in a complete neophyte, and walked out with a new passion and a case of Erich Russell’s Nebbiolo.  While wandering the Paso Robles wine country a few years ago, I spotted a familiar sign with a familiar bunny logo–and that was the first I…

  • General Wine Stuff

    Update on Justin Winery’s Land Destruction

    When last we spoke about this, we were awaiting the first fallout from the discovery of Justin Winery’s horrendous destruction of its Sleepy Farm Road property in west Paso Robles.  The county and the Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District had both issued “stop work” orders and local outrage was spreading like wildfire, becoming a national headline.  Since that time, social media backlash exploded and local businesses began boycotting Justin wines. The Resnicks, who own Wonderful Brands (who in turn owns Justin, among other properties), are now attempting to repair the substantial self-inflicted reputational (ha!) damage.  First, the news:  they’ve announced they are abandoning efforts to convert their land, including…

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  • General Wine Stuff

    11th Annual LAWineFest this weekend!

    If you don’t have the time to plan a days-long wine-tasting trip through your wine region of choice, wine festivals are always a great way to explore a variety of wines, all in one location–and this weekend, the location happens to be my very own neighborhood.  I even have a promo code that’ll save you 50% off the $90 ticket price when you buy in advance! Read on . . . The 11th Annual LAWineFest is this weekend at Sunset Bronson Studios at 5901 Sunset Boulevard.  The festival features an impressive list of winemakers exhibiting (and pouring) their wares.  You can even check out specifically which wines will be available…

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  • General Wine Stuff

    Weeknight Wine – 2015 Curran Grenache Blanc

    I can’t stop loving you, Grenache Blanc! This is probably my current favorite white wine (maybe even my favorite wine, period, for the moment).  California winemakers realized about a decade ago that Grenache Blanc, generally reserved for Rhone blends, has the potential to be a blockbuster of a single varietal, and are now producing some truly outstanding wines from that grape. I’ve remarked before that Grenache Blanc is the white wine that thinks it’s really a red wine–which may be why I love it so much–but that’s in reality very likely because it’s considered a mutation of the red Grenache grape.  In the right hands (both grower and winemaker), it…

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  • General Wine Stuff

    I focus solely on small wineries. This is why.

    As I ready my first few winery stories on this nascent blog, I want to keep the conversation going here.  And a current story out of the Paso Robles area is precisely the kind of thing I’d like to talk about. When I read the first couple of stories that emerged about this last week, I was thisclose to firing off a scorchingly critical post about the evils of corporate-owned wineries. I’ve toned that down a bit.  But only just a bit. Here’s the current source of outrage:  Wonderful Brands, a large corporation that owns a portfolio of wineries and other food-related businesses, purchased Justin Winery in Paso Robles in…