Detox Then Retox in Wine Country
The first time I heard of a winery offering a yoga class was in 2008, at Periscope Cellars in Emeryville, CA. This was actually a yoga class where you sipped wine as you held…
New Kids On The Wine Block
The Santa Cruz Mountains American Viticulture Area (AVA), in northern California, running along the Pacific coast south of San Francisco to Santa Cruz, is one of the most diverse wine growing regions in the world.…
Drinking Wine For A Good Cause
Every year there are countless wine launches, and so many get lost in the shuffle. I can’t tell you how many press releases fill my inbox or Twitter feed announcing the latest and greatest wine…
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…
New! The Essence of Wine and Perfume – A Pairing Workshop in LA
Please join me and master perfumer Sarah Horowitz for a super fun wine and perfume pairing workshop in Los Angeles! We’ll be pairing wine with fragrant essences curated by Sarah at her perfume studio. You’ll get…
Wine
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…
Deep into Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Country at Fernwood Cellars
Talk about off the beaten path. This has to be…
“King of Chardonnay” Miljenko Grgich Still Going Strong at 90
“In all my life I have been associated with two…
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
A New Kind of Wine Club
On International Women’s Day the courtyard of the Westin Versa in Napa Valley is a lively scene with people having a great time sipping, eating and talking. As you walk around to the 30 or so tables where wines are being poured, you don’t see…
The Wine Version Of A Tupperware Party In Your Own Home
I’m sitting in the living room of my friend’s home, where she’s gathered a small group of friends for a wine tasting. Betty Kaufman is pouring a sparkling wine. While my friend is the host for the evening, Betty is our wine guide and will…
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 sits on a west facing hillside overlooking the Napa Valley. It is nestled between the appellations of Stag’s Leap District and Oak Knoll on the Silverado Trail and is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. The…
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…