Tag: Cinsault

Côtes du Rhône – Everyday Blends

Thursday night at Fine Wines of Stockton we tasted wines from the Rhône River Valley. The valley is long, stretching from just south of Lyon, along the river to the Mediterranean, some 150 or so miles (3). Over twenty grape varieties may be used to produce wines in this region, with specific requirements for individual AOCs (appellation d’origine contrôlée).

Lodi RulesTM — What Does That Mean?

We recently had the opportunity to participate in an online tasting of wines sourced from vineyards that have been certified as sustainably grown through the Lodi RulesTM certification program. The tasting was organized to celebrate Earth Day by the Lodi Winegrape Commission and Charles Communications Associates on behalf of growers and vintners in the Lodi Appellation. The wines were provided to us, we tasted them and shared our impressions via Twitter during the tasting.

South African Wine Party

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.

One Thing Leads to Another

It all began with an e-mail in the mid-November from one of Pete’s sisters. She had drawn Pete’s name in our family Christmas gift exchange and wanted to run an idea by me. “Would he enjoy a copy of Randall Grahm’s book Been Doon So Long? I can get an autographed copy.”