A touch of Petit Verdot with Cabernet Sauvignon For our Wine Country Photo of the Day, I chose this vineyard shot of a row of Petit Verdot next to a row of Cabernet Sauvignon. Petit Verdot is one of the five Bordeaux varieties, along with Cab Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec. The vineyard belongs … Read more
Redwoods and Wine Country Where there are Coastal Redwoods in California, there is wine country. The Coastal Redwoods depend upon the fog bank that forms along the Pacific Coast from the Monterey area to the Northern border of California. Fog equals cool climate temperatures. These temperatures are ideal for growing Pinot Noir. The above photo … Read more
Wildflowers in Wine Country – St. Helena After five years of drought conditions, we finally have a wonderful season of rainfall. The wine country in the Napa Valley and Sonoma has not seen this amount of rainfall in 50 years. The result as we swing into Spring and warm weather is a bounty of wildflowers. … Read more
Sutter Creek Tasting Rooms Sutter Creek is our favorite gold country town in the Sierra Foothills. We love the town for its old buildings and historic points of interest. Just in the past few years, Sutter Creek has been enjoying a boom in wine country tourism. Wine lovers are spending vacation time to visit the … Read more
Gott’s Roadside Café in St. Helena – The original Just south of the downtown business area of St. Helena as one drives along Highway 29, it is hard not to notice the activity at Gott’s Roadside Café. Just about any time of the day, the Café is busy with lines of people and crowded tables. What … Read more
Merryvale Tasting Room The Merryvale tasting room is a very popular spot in the Napa Valley. Coming from the South, Merryvale is on the right just before the downtown business area of St. Helena. For the wine tasting visitor, no reservations are required for a regular wine tasting experience. The tasting fee is currently $30 per … Read more
It is wild mustard season in wine country With the heavy January rains, this mustard season in wine country should measure up as one of the best in recent years. The photo above was shot in a year ago February at the B.R. Cohn Winery in the Sonoma Valley. Wild mustard should be in full … Read more
CIA moves into Copia building The Culinary Institute of America is branching out in the Napa Valley. For many years the historic Greystone in St. Helena has been the West Coast branch of the CIA. The long-vacant Copia building now houses many CIA events and glasses. There is also an innovative restaurant on the premises, … Read more
Wine Travelers in December Why wine travelers love December and January in wine country – Top ten reasons December and January has a unique wine country beauty The solitude Quiet roads and byways No waiting in the tasting room Peaceful walks The wild mustard The bare vines The blooming cover crops among the vines The freshness of the air … Read more
Wine Barrel Cleaning Wine barrel cleaning or washing is one of the most important tasks in the wine cellar. Anytime the winemaker removes wine from a barrel, it must be washed and cleaned thoroughly. Any minute amount of bacteria that in the wine barrel can cause future spoilage of the wine. Wineries use various methods … Read more