Pillsbury Wine Company recently opened a tasting room at their vineyards in Willcox. They call it their Vineyard Cottage and Tasting Room. Sounds cute, doesn’t it? Well it is. Not only that, the drive provides a great sense of what the Sulphur Springs Valley is like.
Curt Dunham and Peggy Fiandaca have transformed their appreciation for good wine into Lawrence Dunham Vineyards. They could not have chosen a more scenic location than at the foot of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona.
Allegrini Estates a large wine producer by almost any standard (1 million cases per year), is a family-woned winery with a long history. The estate was founded in 1858, though family winemaking dates back 500 years. Production has been handed down through the generations since. The estate is located in the village of Fumane within Valpolicella Classico, near the city of Verona in northeastern Italy (find Venice and go due west to find Valpolicella).
We recently visited Summerhill Pyramid Winery as part of a Pre-Conference Excursion to the Wine Bloggers’ Conference 2013 in Penticton, British Columbia. The excursion was planned for us by Tourism Kelowna and included a tour and dinner at the winery.
In a continuing effort to find great-tasting, moderately-priced wine the theme for the Thursday night tasting at Fine Wines of Stockton was Crozes-Hermitage. This AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) is located in the Northern Rhone region of France, adjacent to the very prestigious Hermitage AOC.
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).
The Thursday night tasting at Fine Wines of Stockton was all about Syrah. We tasted five Syrahs, four of which were from California, one from southern Oregon. George and Gail were unavailable to do the tasting, so Alan presented these wines. Let’s see what we can learn about Syrah.
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”.
Howell Mountain American Viticultural Area (AVA), located within the Napa AVA, was the first sub-appellation to be designated in 1983. Howell Mountain is located on the northeast side of Napa Valley. The AVA ranges from 1400 to 2200 feet, putting it above the fog line.
We recently participated in a tasting of red wines produced in the Finger Lakes AVA (American Viticultural Area). The Finger Lakes AVA is located in central New York State.
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.