Wine tasting is fun any time of year, but tramping through a vineyard in December? It might sound crazy, except that we recently did just that and had a great tour thanks to Joe Neenan, ‘Passionista’, from Stolpman Vineyards.
Kent Callaghan listens more than he talks. He’s reserved and unassuming. He’s had his hands in the dirt of his Elgin vineyard since at least 1990. I’m guessing he has learned something about that vineyard every day since. It’s reflected in the wine he makes. If you have visited his winery and tasted his wines, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Pete discovered a hybrid Bed & Breakfast called Xanadu Ranch GetAway located just south of Sonoita. We decided to spend two nights in Sonoita to be close to area wineries. We were able to book two nights in the Bunk House at Xanadu. I’m so glad we did.
In case you didn’t know, April 17 is Malbec World Day. So designated by Wines of Argentina since 2011. Wines of Argentina is an organization that promotes Argentinian wine worldwide and assists Argentinian wine producers it developing their export strategy.
Our wine education continued recently at the San Francisco Weekend Celebration of American Rhone Wines. This two-day event was sponsored by The Rhone Rangers (1), “a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to promoting the enjoyment of Rhone varietal wines produced in the United States”.
We are planning a trip to Africa in July 2014. We will be visiting Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We will fly into Johannesburg then travel on to Chobe National Park via Victoria Falls. From Chobe we visit the Okavango Delta, then fly on to Kafue National Park in Zambia. Next, we fly to Zimbabwe and visit Hwange National Park before returning to Victoria Falls and then Johannesburg. Whew! This part of the trip is planned for us. We need only show up with our very minimal luggage.
We had the good fortune to spend some time recently visiting with Antonio Pasos of Pasos Vineyards. His tasting room is located in Vino Piazza, The Winery Plaza in Lockeford, California.
Recently I have seen a couple of articles discussing tipping the tasting room staff.
Sorry for the apparent duplicate. The original post had a problem and I had to delete it. Please use this link.
Napa – A Fishing Destination. A guest post by Yvonne Kendall.
A story by my sister the home winemaker.
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.