April 9 was the first day of the Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) class at beautiful St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery in Rutherford, halfway up Napa Valley. It was a beautiful Spring day and the grapevines were undergoing bud break up and down the valley. Mary Sugrue, the wine educator at Joseph Phelps Vineyards, taught the first
We arrived in Napa Valley in early evening after driving from the San Francisco Airport over the Bay Bridge in heavy late afternoon traffic — caused by a combination of the afternoon rush hour and the San Francisco Giants home opener ballgame against the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park (the home team won 7-3). Luckily,
With dinner at a friend’s house, we had a terrific bottle of 2009 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Chateau Montelena, of course, is the Calistoga winery which won the famous Judgment of Paris competition in 1976, when its Chardonnay was selected by a panel of French wine experts in a blind tasting of Chardonnays
With our Easter dinner today, we opened a bottle of vintage sparkling wine from the Carneros appellation in California which we had picked up on a trip to Napa and Sonoma a few years ago. The 2003 Domaine Carneros by Taittinger Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs Brut was rich and full-bodied, as you would expect
At a recent wine tasting dinner at Max, we enjoyed a selection of four wines with our meal of salad, beef bourguignon and apple turnovers with vanilla gelato. 2011 Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc from Chile – pale greenish yellow in color, with aromas of fresh tropical fruits, flavors of apple, lemon and grapefruit and nice acidity
To serve with a dinner of steak frites, we opened a scrumptious bottle of 2004 Crane Brothers Syrah from the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley. The wine had a bold aroma of grapes and dark fruits, and intense colors and flavors of black cherries and ripe blueberries, with a great black pepper spiciness on
The 2011 Husch Vineyards LA Blanc is a white table wine produced at a small family-owned winery between Philo and Navarro on Highway 128, the road to the coast of Mendocino, California. Founded in 1971, Husch Vineyards is the oldest winery in the Anderson Valley. The name of this wine is based on great-grandchildren, Luke &
The 2009 Castle Rock Carneros Pinot Noir is a medium-bodied red wine with aromas of blossoms, red cherry and spice, and flavors of black cherry, vanilla and oak, with mild tannins and a long smooth finish. It is produced from grapes grown in the Carneros region, a cool climate appellation straddling Napa and Sonoma in
The 2009 Three Saints Chardonnay is produced in the Santa Maria Valley appellation near Santa Barbara, California. The bottle features an image of three saints, representing Santa Barbara County’s three wine growing regions: Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Maria Valley and Santa Rita Hills. Santa Maria is a funnel-shaped valley opening west to the Pacific Ocean,
The 2010 Cosentino Winery Sangiovese Il Chiaretto from Napa Valley is a Library Selection, with limited production allocated to Cosentino Winery Club Members only. Produced from 100% Sangiovese grapes grown in Napa Valley, this is Cosentino’s version of a fine wine from Tuscany. Dark purple in color, and with 15.5% alcohol, this was a big,