The origin of the name Villa Maria has been a curiosity to me since first I first read the wine bottle label and realized it was a New Zealand wine. The name never quite fit with its New Zealand origin. I remember several years ago searching the Villa Maria website for a clue as to its origin. The founder of […]
Ongava Game Reserve sits just south of Etosha National Park in northwest Namibia. The private reserve covers more than 74,000 acres that include rolling hills and mopane bush. As we drove from the airstrip to camp the landscape looked familiar, but not to anything we had seen in Namibia. Rather the rolling hills, dusty earth and rustling mopane bush reminded […]
If the calendar isn’t enough to remind me that summer has officially arrived, a quick check of the outdoor temperature sure is. As I write this the mercury has reached 102º F in Central California. Alright, it’s true there is no mercury involved, just a quick check of my weather app, but it’s really hot! The time of year and […]
Terrunyo is a range of wines made by the well-established Chilean producer Concha y Toro. Terroir is the focus of this range. Specific vineyard blocks in prime locations for each grape variety have been identified and are the source of grapes for these wines. The range includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère and Syrah in addition to Sauvignon Blanc. This Sauvignon Blanc, […]
When you think of wine from Rioja you probably think primarily of Tempranillo. Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo (Carignan) are the usual blending partners for Tempranillo in the region and these wines are great partners for roasted or braised meat. I love them with lamb. Red wine production predominates in this region of northern Spain that straddles the Ebro River, but […]
After missing several Wine Pairing Weekend get-togethers we are back with our monthly food and wine pairing group of bloggers. We missed everyone! Camilla, who blogs at Culinary Adventures with Camilla, challenged us to fire up the grill and devise a food and wine paring. No problem, we love to grill and do so quite often when the weather is […]
Dave Phinney is a worldly winemaker. His Locations range, known for their distinctive labeling that identifies the country of origin, includes wine from Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, California, Oregon, Washington, Texas and Corsica. Whew. That’s a lot to keep track of, and a lot of airline miles accumulated in a year. We have tasted most of these wines and […]
We recently made the acquaintance of Alice and Eliot Sutro, the couple behind Sutro Wine Co. We had the opportunity to taste their wines and tour the Warnecke Ranch which is the source of the grapes for their wines. We began in the vineyards below Chalk Hill, with Alice, and finished in Healdsburg, where Eliot joined us, for a wine […]
The following three wines from Paul Dolan Vineyards are made by Mendocino Wine Co. located in Ukiah, California. We received all three wines as tasting samples. These wines are of particular interest to me because they are made from organically grown grapes. Whenever I buy food, and I consider wine to be food, I look for organic options. So, naturally, […]
LoCA, the Lodi Winegrape Commission, recently held a wine tasting titled “How Do Lodi Wines Compare to the Best In the World? (A Blind Tasting with a Panel of Professional Wine Educators)” as a prelude to their annual Zinfest celebration. I was pleased to be a guest at the tasting and put my blind tasting skills to the test. It […]
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.