Tag archives: wine
On a recent afternoon, on the rolling grounds of Eastside Knoll Vineyard in Sonoma, falcons are on alert. With the 2022 harvest finally underway, and with the pinot noir grapes here quickly maturing toward optimum ripeness, the birds of prey have been employed as an eco-friendly alternative to netting to keep hungry starlings away. “It’s […]
Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff, who has been making wine for 17 years, has opened her first La Lieff tasting room in the Funk Zone. The 1,000-square-foot Gray Avenue locale, formerly a storage facility for the late Pierre Lafond, had a sneak preview for Tama Takahashi’s 10-year-old Inside Wine club with 37 guests to show […]
On a recent sunny afternoon, inside a cozy cabin enveloped by grapevines, a few dozen of us gathered to sip through 10 years of Kimsey Vineyard wines. “Not just any 10 years,” winemaker Matt Dees reminded us. “The first 10 years!” Indeed, sipping through the nascent decade of any wine project is a study in […]
One of the biggest wine and food events of the year happened after a two-year hiatus, at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH). Over 1,000 folks gathered on the 17-acre campus to stroll along the shaded banks of Mission Creek sampling the Central Coast’s best food, wine, and spirits from 80-plus purveyors. This […]
Coming up on Saturday, July 23 is Mental Wellness Center’s 3rd Annual Alma Rosa Winery Peace of Mind: 10,000 Steps in the Right Direction Walk. The live walk will take place at the scenic 628-acre estate of the Alma Rosa Winery and participants will have the opportunity to walk through the winery’s luscious pinot noir […]
“Diatom has been very positively disruptive in the marketplace since its inception,” says winemaker Greg Brewer, “because it blurs the lines with regards to style and grape variety.” Indeed, ‘diatom’ (capitalization rule ignored by design), a limited-production chardonnay-only label that Brewer launched in 2005, has always been a fan favorite. Describing its fan base as […]
The Fourth of July this week has many of us thinking about one thing: the grill. Okay, two things: the grill and wine. For those who are lovers of all things fired and grilled, another major event is on the calendar this month. It’s a barbecue-inspired affair for wine lovers that is years in the […]
Michael Brughelli’s 2019 wines – out just last week – are more than just the second release of his eponymous label. They feel a lot like a rousing encore performance. The Brughelli wines received critical acclaim early. His inaugural launch, a 2018 pinot noir and a 2018 chardonnay, saw scores high in the 90+ stratosphere […]
Santa Barbara’s big culinary takeover next week is actually two years in the making. Taste of Santa Barbara, presented by the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience in partnership with the Julia Child Foundation, was originally scheduled for May of 2020, and then the world shut down. Rescheduled to this month – May 16 to 22 – […]
Jazz is about a lot of things, not the least of which is the ability to improvise in connection with both the music and the other instrumentalists. That’s a Marcus Roberts Trio specialty, as the long-term partnership featuring pianist Roberts, drummer Jason Marsalis, and bassist Rodney Jordan share equally in shaping performances via changes in […]
The temperature is starting to rise, beautiful garden gatherings are ramping up, and humming bees collecting pollen can be heard any time you step outside. It is music to my ears for so many reasons, and it instantly brings to mind one of my favorite spring cocktails: The Bee’s Knees. Let’s take a look at […]
Pierre Lafond passed away this past Sunday at the age of 92, after 60 years in Santa Barbara enterprise overlapping a 25-year career in architecture. Pierre Lafond and his wife, Wendy Foster, developed a number of shops in Montecito and in greater Santa Barbara. And they were vintners and early adopters of Central Coast viticulture, […]
“People do tell me – ‘Wait, I thought you said you’d never do pinot!’” jokes winemaker Larry Schaffer. We’re chatting inside his sleek Tercero tasting room in downtown Los Olivos. And he’s pouring me his latest release: pinot noir. Schaffer’s Tercero label has always been a bastion for imaginative, thoughtful Rhône wines. And his approach […]
This month marks a major milestone for travel to Ireland: one of the most popular European destinations for American travelers dropped all entry restrictions on March 7th and, last week, celebrated St. Patrick’s Day publicly for the first time since 2019. For a famously gregarious people, a momentous occasion indeed. I was there to cover […]
Two of our favorite pastimes have plenty to offer on their own. Drinking great wine enhances everything from consumption to conversation. Listening to music we love can lift our spirits and set the mood. Both also make us feel good. But what about putting these two actions together? And I’m talking about beyond just turning […]
Rome, Italy. Postponed. Las Vegas, Nevada. Posponed. Loreto, Baja, Mexico. Posponed. Spring 2020 — this was my dilemma (as a longtime travel writer with several assignments in place), when a nasty little virus called COVD-19 began wreaking havoc with the world. It was a year the world remembers well – and not particularly affectionately. Italy, […]
Coupe, Collins, Nick and Nora, highball, rocks, double old fashioned, julep, and the list goes on. Have you ever wondered why there are so many glasses for cocktails? What is each style used for? What’s the difference between an old fashioned, rocks, and lowball? Sometimes glasses are generic and used for many different drinks (e.g. […]
I’ve discovered the perfect afternoon sipper – Rusack Vineyards just released its 2021 Boundless Mission ($28), a wine that is, quite literally, history in a bottle. The mission grape was brought over to the Americas in the 1700s by Spanish Catholic missionaries who didn’t want to go without table and sacramental wine along the way. […]
It’s all about skin contact! An apropos start of a story about Valentine’s Day, I guess. But we’re talking wine here, and those pink sippers that look and smell and taste so pretty, they’re sure to be our go-to thirst quenchers this Valentine’s Day. That seductive hue is, indeed, the product of calculated contact between […]
Pinot noir buffs from all over the world have their eyes – not to mention, their taste buds – set squarely on Santa Barbara. After a COVID-driven virtual-only experience last year, and a truncated live event at the pandemic’s onset in March of 2020, the World of Pinot Noir (WOPN) is making a big in-person […]
