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Lodi ZinFest 2019

Lodi ZinFest is the annual celebration of Lodi wine, food and fun that takes place at Lodi Lake. The 2019 event will kick off on Friday, May 17 and run through Sunday, May 19. A few of this year’s highlights include: Friday, May 17 2019 ZinFest Blind Tasting – A Study of Ancient Vine Zinfandels of California. This tasting will […]

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Celebrate #EarthDay with Paxton Wines

Today is Earth Day! Every year April 22 is the day set aside to celebrate environmental protection. Ideally everyone’s commitment to our environment extends beyond just one day, but the day can, at the very least, be a reminder to think of our planet and do what we can to protect it everyday. As a winelover one of the ways […]

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#MalbecWorldDay — Let’s Celebrate

This year we are celebrating Malbec World Day in grand style by sipping five Malbecs from Argentina. And even though Malbec originated in France, the variety is now most closely associated with Argentina. We received these wines as tasting samples. When I open Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, including their Origins and Flavours by Jancis Robinson, […]

Montinore Estate Pinot Noir and Maple Chipotle Salmon

Celebrating Biodynamic Wine with Montinore Estate Pinot Noir #winePW

This month’s Wine Pairing Weekend (#winePW) challenge comes from host, Gwendolyn Alley. She thought Earth Month would be the perfect time for our group of wine and food enthusiasts to explore the world of biodynamic wine. Brilliant idea, Gwendolyn. The principles of biodynamic farming are complex and interdependent, but worth understanding. It isn’t necessary to understand every detail of biodynamic […]

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Desert Rhino Camp: Respect for Rhinos and More

I always like to see exactly where I’m going on a map before I get there. The vastness of Namibia (it’s twice as big as Spain) and its relatively small population (2.5 million in 2017) mean that almost every location outside of the capital city of Windhoek is remote. And sometimes difficult to find on a map. But remote and […]

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2019 Lodi Wine & Food Festival

On Saturday, March 30 more than 40 Lodi wineries will be pouring their wines in the Ole Mettler Grape Pavilion at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds on Lockeford Street in Lodi. The Lodi Wine & Food Festival will also include a variety of food provided by local restaurants and caterers along with local olive oil. There will be music and […]

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Odfjell: Organic (and Biodynamic) Wines from Chile

Today’s tasting takes us on a virtual trip to Chile for a sip of three wines made using grapes that are farmed organically and biodynamically. The winery’s story includes a Norwegian ship owner, Norwegian Fjord horses and very old Carignan. Sounds interesting, no? We received these wines as tasting samples. Dan Odfjell (odd-fee-yell) made his fortune in the shipping business. […]

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A Day of Wine Tasting in Namibia

Wine was not the primary reason we traveled to Namibia, but once we discovered there are several commercial wineries located in this arid African county we made it our mission to taste wine from as many of them as we could. It took two trips, but we have now tasted wine from all four commercial wineries in Namibia and visited […]

"Wine For Dummies", 7th edition by Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan

Wine For Dummies: A Book Review

Wine for Dummies is in its 7th edition. Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan co-wrote the first edition back in 1995 and they have recently completed extensive updates to the 7th edition. We recently received this newest edition of Wine For Dummies for review consideration. This is the first edition of Wine For Dummies I have read. Both Ed McCarthy and […]