Tasting Notes

Tasting notes for individual wines.

Saké and Cheese — A Natural Pairing

We recently sat in on a saké and cheese pairing hosted by Charles Communications Associates. The online tasting featured saké made in Forest Grove, Oregon by SakéOne as well as saké imported from Japan by SakéOne. Each of the four sakés was paired with a different cheese provided by Marin French Cheese Company, Laura Chenel and Rogue River Blue Cheese. As we discovered during the tasting, saké makes a great partner for cheese.

Meerlust manor house

Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, South Africa

Being the wine lovers that we are, we wouldn’t consider visiting South Africa without spending a few days wine tasting. We spent two days wine tasting in Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Tulbagh and Swartland. On the third day we ventured out to a stunning farm in Somerset West. We have never toured such a beautiful wine region, and the wines were not overshadowed one bit by the beauty of the scenery. Join our tour of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch in this post.

Lodi Tempranillo for #TempranilloDay — Five Delicious Choices

Today is International Tempranillo Day. An entire day dedicated to the enjoyment of Tempranillo wine. If you’ve never enjoyed the variety, it’s a good time to do so. If you’re already a fan of the variety, it’s the perfect time to enjoy your favorite Tempranillo or maybe find a new favorite. Here are five delicious choices from Lodi for your #TempranilloDay celebration.

November #WineStudio – It’s All About Willamette Valley Chardonnay

We will be spending Tuesday evenings in November getting the lowdown on Willamette Valley Chardonnay with #WineStudio, an online Twitter-based wine education program. The discussions, organized by Protocol Wine Studio, begin at 6 pm Pacific time. You can join the conversation by following the hashtag #WineStudio. We will post a summary each week to keep you up to date.

Two Red Wines, One Pasta Dinner

The birch tree in our backyard has turned bright yellow, and its leaves are dropping rapidly, creating a brilliant carpet. The weather is cooling and my taste is turning once again to red wine. I do love fall.

Just ahead of the change of seasons, we recently received two red wines as tasting samples from our twitter friend Mark Aselstine (@wineclubguy). Yes, as you might guess from Mark’s twitter handle he has established a wine club, along with brother-in-law Matt Krause. It’s cleverly called Uncorked Ventures. But it’s more than just a wine club.