Recent Posts

Six Wines from the Snake River Valley, Idaho: an introduction to the wines of Idaho

We recently had the opportunity to taste six wines from four wineries located in the Boise area. One of the regular tasters at the Thursday night wine tastings we attend at a local wineshop regularly visits the Boise area; her brother and sister-in-law live there. During a recent trip they did a bit of wine tasting and brought back the selection of wines we tasted. It was a great introduction to the wines of the area.

HALL Wines: Two Artistic Napa Valley Cabernets

We continued talking wine education with PROTOCOL wine studio, and several of their guests, while sipping two delicious HALL Wines on a recent Tuesday evening. PROTOCOL wine studio provides wine education via Twitter on Tuesday evenings (search #WineStudio on Twitter) and in their classroom in San Diego. It was fun and instructive.

Hungarian Romance for #winePW 9: Chicken Paprikas and Hungarian Furmint

The theme for the February Wine Pairing Weekend (#winePW), naturally enough, is “It’s All About Romance – Food + Wine Pairings.” So, how do we define a romantic food and wine pairing? For us, it’s something indulgent, rich and spicy. It wasn’t too difficult for us to decide on the food pairing actually. The inspiration for this pairing came from a wine tasting we enjoyed back in June.

Champagne: one bottle, two gifts

An artistically wrapped present can be two gifts in one. The first gift is a visual one, the beauty of the wrapping and the enjoyment of opening it; the second, of course – the contents of the package. This is how I think of a bottle of Champagne.

Aaldering Vineyards and Wines: Three South African Red Wines

Aaldering Vineyards and Wines is an Estate winery located in Devon Valley, a ward within the Stellenbosch district is South Africa. It’s history is relatively recent compared to some wine farms in South Africa, having been established in 2004 with the purchase of 24 hectares. Aaldering’s first vintage was 2007, which they released in 2010.

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.