FRAGments: A New Perfume Event
Maggie Mahboubian is on a mission. A mission to make the world a more fragrant place. A mission to introduce the world to the independent, artisan perfumers working in this country and Canada. A…
Come To Our Wine and Perfume Pairing Workshop!
Please join me and master perfumer Sarah Horowitz for a super fun wine and perfume pairing workshop! We’ll be pairing the handcrafted wines of Casa Dumetz by winemaker Sonja Magdevski with fragrant essences curated by Sarah.…
The Other 47 (States of Wine)
“New Jersey was a revelation.” Linda Murphy is talking about wine. American Wine to be exact, which is the name of the book she has just co-authored with Jancis Robinson, a Master of Wine and…
Deep into Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Country at Fernwood Cellars
Talk about off the beaten path. This has to be one of the most scenic drives to a winery I’ve ever been on. I’m not talking sweeping, panoramic views. Instead the road is shrouded in…
“King of Chardonnay” Miljenko Grgich Still Going Strong at 90
“In all my life I have been associated with two W’s.” The beret clad Miljenko “Mike” Grgich is standing in front of us, a group of wine press gathered at the Grgich Hills Estate winery…
Wine
Tasting Wine With Tony Terlato
On a recent sunny Sunday, a small group of sommeliers gathered at the Andaz hotel in Napa Valley to take part…
A New Kind of Wine Club
On International Women’s Day the courtyard of the Westin Versa…
The Wine Version Of A Tupperware Party In Your Own Home
I’m sitting in the living room of my friend’s home,…
One of Napa’s Best Dining Experiences Isn’t At A Restaurant – It’s At A Winery
Signorello Estate is a boutique family-owned winery that…
Perfume
Original Scent Opening Draws Stars and Fragrance Fanatics
Blue and green glass bottles fill shelves against a stark white backdrop. Mixologists hold bottle stoppers out for people seated at the…
Learning To Blend Perfume – A Class With An Artisan Pefumer
When you’re really passionate about wine, there’s nothing better than…
Gardenia In Full Bloom At CREED
Ah gardenia. This white flower’s creamy, milky fragrance is a…
More Articles
Only Pink Bubbles Will Do For Valentine’s Day
What’s more romantic than Champagne? Pink Champagne or sparkling wine. I’ve been pitched all sorts of wines to recommend for Valentine Day celebrations, but most of the wines are still wines. None of those will do. For me, it’s bubbles or nothing. And they should…
The One Wine Trend I Want To Go Away
First we had “critter” labels for wine — you know, Yellow Tail, Little Penguin, Dancing Bull, Smoking Loon. Then came what I call “dessert” labels — Cupcake, Layer Cake. Let’s not forget the “mommy” labels – MommyJuice, Mommy’s Little Helper. Now we have what I’m…
How To Love Wine: Eric Asimov Says “Pull Corks”
Eric Asimov, The New York Times wine critic, is still learning about wine. “Absolutely,” he says. He’s in Berkeley, CA at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, about to do a reading from his new book How to Love Wine. Asimov also admits to being wrong sometimes…
10 Last Minute Holiday Wine Gifts
With about a week to go until Christmas Day, have you done all of your holiday gift shopping? Have you even started? If not, don’t despair. To the rescue, a list of the 10 best wine gifts that you can snap up at the last…
the girl & the fig – 15 Years In Wine Country
“I love our plats du jour at all our restaurants, we’ve been doing it forever.” Restaurateur Sondra Bernstein is perhaps best known for her iconic Sonoma wine country restaurant the girl & the fig. She first opened it in the charming Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen 15…
Shafer Vineyard’s Road To Success Not An Easy One
If you had told John Shafer, when he moved from Chicago to Napa Valley in 1973, that his winery and one specific vineyard would earn the highest critical acclaim, bring in top bids at wine auctions and create a formidable fan following, he would probably…
SOMM Reveals Secret World of the Master Sommeliers
It’s not easy to make a film or a video around the subject of wine. I should know, I produced the TV show In Wine Country on NBC for nine seasons. Wine on the big or little screen gets super boring. Our challenge was…
A Jolt of Color: Makeup By Dick Page
He’s backstage at Michael Kors, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez. Color is his mantra; helping women feel beautiful is his goal. Uber makeup artist Dick Page was in San Francisco recently for an appearance at Nordstrom as the Artistic Director of Shiseido, a…
The Evolution of Sokol Blosser Wines
Alison Sokol Blosser is in Portland, Oregon at the Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC) instead of being on her honeymoon. She just got married on the August weekend before the start of the conference at her family’s winery in Oregon’s Dundee Hills AVA,which is about an…
Bernard Portet, “A Winery Without Walls”
It’s not everyday you get to have lunch and taste wine with a Napa Valley icon. Bernard Portet, founding winemaker at Clos du Val invited a small gathering of journalists to reflect on his 40 years making wine in the Napa Valley. He officially retired…