What could be better on a warm summer afternoon than a picnic? How about a picnic next to a winery? In our experience, this is just about the best way to kick off a day of wine tasting in the whole world. As you might expect, we have some ideas to share on good places […]
We have visited the Darcie Kent tasting room several times. We love the wine, love the art (so much that we have one hanging in our living room) and love the friendly staff. With all that to love, we became wine club members almost immediately. Last weekend was our first chance to attend a club […]
Our Valentine’s Festival started strong, with brunch and two winery tastings on Saturday. Where could we go from there? Why, brunch and more winery visits on Sunday, of course. To add a bit of intrigue to our mission, we decided to leave the familiar behind and venture out to new (at least for us) wineries. […]
It is a family tradition to extend one-day holidays into Festivals. These festivals normally run through the end of the following weekend, so if your birthday is on a Monday (for example) you win big. With Valentine’s Day falling on a Friday, it was only natural to extend it through Sunday. Equally natural? Include good […]
Like most retail businesses, the winery business is very quiet after Christmas. While that is tough on the wineries, it is an excellent chance for all of us to enjoy wine tasting in a quieter, more relaxed environment. Less waiting also means that we can fit more fun into our day. So that’s what we […]
Readers of this blog know that we visit Eagle Ridge frequently. The wine matches our palette perfectly, and the tasting experience is always relaxed, fun and informative. We’ve been wine club members for years, and its been fun to watch winemaker Jim experiment with different formats for his wine release events. The latest release featured […]
One of our favorite events in the run-up to Christmas is the “Holidays in the Vineyards” weekend in the Livermore valley. Many of our favorite wineries have special decorations, craft booths, music and food. We spent a fun Sunday visiting as many wineries as we could, taking in all of the sights — and tastes […]
Since many of our clan have endured working retail jobs, we are honor-bound to skip the “Black Friday” sales and participate in other traditions of the season. For us, of course, that usually means wine tasting. This year was no exception. A Distillation Column Our first stop was to the Eckert Estate Winery. The Eckerts […]
In many parts of the country, November brings snow storms and the natural urge to nest. Happily, Northern California offers a different November experience. The days are cooler, yes, but hitting 65 degrees on a sunny afternoon makes for some wonderful wine tasting. Here is how we spent a recent Sunday afternoon. We started our […]
As fans of the Cedar Mountain Winery, we were a bit sad when Earl and Linda Ault sold their property on Tesla Road. We had a lot of good times there, even an amazing wedding! But change is constant, even in wine, so we were excited to see Darcie Kent Vineyards open on the Cedar […]
Serendipity is a wonderful thing. For those of us not versed on our SAT words, serendipity describes the wonderful moment when you discover something nice without looking for it. We were spending our afternoon wine tasting (which is already finding something nice) when we stumbled upon the grand opening for a new winery. What could […]