I’m always up for a challenge, and wineCHATr.com is putting it out there: 12 citizen wine writers are being given the opportunity to catch a free ride across Washington to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference.
I will now be writing about Washington wine for the next month plus to try to win my behind a seat on [...]
Filed under: Events, Misc, Travel, Wine Regions | Tagged: Washington, WBC, Wine, Wine Bloggers Conference | Leave a Comment »
On my second day at the Wine Bloggers Conference we split up into eight different buses and headed to Napa Valley, with our first stop being at the Culinary Institute of America. It is situated in a humongous greystone building resembling Hogwarts School, minus the magic. I entered and was amazed at not only the size, but [...]
Filed under: Travel | Tagged: Culinary Institute of America, Hogwarts, Wine Bloggers Conference | Leave a Comment »
During my first trip to San Francisco, I could not resist visiting AT&T Park, home of the Giants. I purchased tickets for September 7th, a Sunday afternoon game against the Pittsburg Pirates. The ballpark was chosen as this year’s best sports facility, and we saw why.
Filed under: Food, Travel | Tagged: AT&T Park, Gilroy's Garlic Fries, Pittsburg Pirates, San Francisco Giants | Leave a Comment »
Going from winery to winery in Napa can be a bit draining. Travel, heat, and wine does make one a bit tired. Refreshment is just what the doctor calls for, and there is none better than Taylor’s Automatic Refresher.
Filed under: Food, Restaurants, Travel | Tagged: Ahi Burger, Diners Drive-ins and Dives, Food Network, Guy Fieri, Taylor's Automatic Refresher | Leave a Comment »
When we decided to visit wine country, we wanted a place to stay which was centrally located. We settled on the Inn at Sonoma. If you are driving, Sonoma will give you easy access to Napa to the east (15 minutes away), as well as Sonoma and North Sonoma Valleys to the north. If you [...]
Filed under: Travel | Tagged: Inn at Sonoma, Sonoma Plaza | 1 Comment »
On our drive back to the Inn, we had one last stop to make in Yountville- at Domain Chandon. It is a gorgeous and gigantic estate surrounded by vineyards and a stream. We walked in to see a huge retail area, which we checked out while we awaited our tour guide. Their wine array is [...]
Filed under: Tastings, Travel, Wineries/Vineyards | Tagged: Domaine Chandon | Leave a Comment »
Next visit led us to a small artisanal winery, Blackbird Vineyards. We were greeted at the farmhouse by Heather Yargus, Blackbird’s sales and marketing associate. The house was full of antiques and paintings- it felt like Little House on the Prairie meets the Guggenheim. We then were introduced to the wines.
Filed under: Travel, Wineries/Vineyards | Tagged: Blackbird, Gott, Pomerol | Leave a Comment »
First stop on our second day in Napa brought us to see Robert Lawson of Pavi Wines at the Napa Wine Company. Rob gave us each a glass of his Pavi Napa Valley Pinot Grigio and brought us out to the winery. He and his crew were busy since before sunrise harvesting, and now it was [...]
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Our last stop on our first day in Napa was with Tuck Beckstoffer of Vinifera Vineyards, Beckstoffer Vineyards, 75 Wine Co., and Private Reserve Jets. From the moment we met and shook hands, I knew that Tuck was my kind of guy. He was business and casual at the same time, with a warm and welcome demeanor. [...]
Filed under: Tastings, Travel, Wineries/Vineyards | Tagged: Beckstoffer, Vinifera | Leave a Comment »
