I recently fell for three aromatic whites from Navarro Vineyards – one dry and two sweet. All three are deeply perfumed, with silky, clean fruit flavors and long, intense finishes. Here are my notes:
Navarro Vineyards 2007 Gewurztraminer Anderson Valley ($19). Loved the pretty floral and stone accents to the lush apricot, peach, orange citrus and spice flavors, with [...]

One of the wineries that I visited last year on my Mendocino/Anderson Valley trip was Greenwood Ridge Vineyards. Proprietor/winemaker Allan Green was an enthusiastic and gracious host — about the wine and the region (and all things baseball!).
I had the opportunity to taste through the winery’s current releases, but I have to also mention that one [...]

One of the most memorable highlights of a recent visit to Mendocino was an overnight at Saracina Vineyards. The evening culminated with watching the Perseid meteor showers on a cloudless night — dozens (hundreds?) of streaks of light weaving through brightly twinkling stars, illuminating the kind of inky darkness that’s only possible this far away from city [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Kilikanoon winery and lunch with CEO Nathan Waks. At the end of the lunch, Nathan pulled out a sort of briefcase with samples (in uber-cool vintage bottles) of Seppeltsfield fortified wines. Waks is also one of the owners of Seppeltsfield, a Barossa-based winery steeped in Aussie history and [...]

I visited a bunch of really interesting wineries on last year’s tour of Mendocino, and I’ll continue spotlighting them until I work my way through my list! Next up: Nelson Family Vineyards.
Winemaker Chris Nelson and I (and Oscar, one of the winery dogs) settled in at a picnic table under soaring redwoods to have a casual lunch and talk about [...]

A few months ago I had the opportunity to sit down to lunch with Kilikanoon CEO Nathan Waks. That the winery’s website officially lists him as “major interferor (CEO)” tells you everything you need to know about this charming fellow. Well not quite, as the website goes on to explain:
Better known as a musician, which [...]

Most journeys to California’s wine country begin with a rental car heading north out of the San Francisco airport. But for a change of pace, head 40 miles east toward Stockton and stop at Wente Vineyards in the Livermore Valley.
Here you’ll find a distinctly different kind of vista than, say, Napa Valley. It’s noticeably warm and decidedly windy [...]