A Free Wine Encyclopedia!Louis L’Amour, the late writer of westerns, was a family friend. He had a library of books that would knock your socks off. One day as I was admiring his enormous “room of books”, he pointed to a section of about 20 paperbacks and said, “If you read every one of those books, you would… read more »
The Joshua Hill Winery label is a proud premium brand offered by what is, actually, the ninth largest winery in the U.S., Delicato Vineyards. A vintner’s vintner, Delicato is a family owned Central Valley winery, now in its 56th successful year. It operates the second largest single-plant winery in the nation, with a storage capacity… read more »
When I was a little girl, “pasta” meant spaghetti doused with tasteless bright red tomato sauce and sprinkled with some-kind-of-awful, artificial-tasting parmesan cheese. “Pasta” really wasn’t high on my list of childhood favorites. Years later, friends would rave about this fusilli or that pené, and I would simply tune them out. When I finally came… read more »
Bill and Ingrid Wheeler, owners of the William Wheeler Winery, met while Bill was posted in South America as a U.S. Foreign Service officer. In 1970 they bought a 175 acre Sonoma County ranch. They planted their first vineyard (Cabernet Sauvignon) during 1973-1974 and harvested their first grapes in 1975 (these they “sold off”). They… read more »
Founded in 1921, Zonin is Italy’s largest privately-owned wine-making concern in operation today. Considering how far back many Italian wineries go, this makes the company a relative newcomer. In all fairness, it is important to state that prior to establishing the firm seventy years ago, the family had actually been active in the wine industry… read more »
Before we had children, my husband and I thought nothing of hopping into the car and heading out to the latest “In” dining spot. We’d sit like critics for the local newspaper and scrutinize everything from the quality of the china to the selections on the wine list. As one might expect, we quite often… read more »
This is my swan song. I can hardly believe I have been writing this column for 14 years. Son Paul surprised me by saying, “mom, I’m letting you off the hook. Cousin Leslie (my niece) agreed to be food editor.” This pleased me very much, as Leslie was a journalism major at UCLA and is… read more »
Nestled into its own environment off the main road through Sonoma (all two lanes of it), the Spa is a welcome destination for the person in need of self indulgence. Encompassed by eight acres of eucalyptus shaded grounds, the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa is situated right on top of sparkling mineral water springs (bottled… read more »
The season is upon us, and one of my favorite no effort pastimes is to ask people if they arc to be the chef of the day. If the answer is affirmative, I then ask what they will be serving their guests. I never fail to get a big smile and a list of what… read more »
The Hacienda Winery is a family business. In days of takeovers and large company buyouts, it is refreshing to find quality wines from a winery owned and operated by the family. In 1879 the Cooley family moved west from Ohio in search of their share of the Gold rush. And as luck would have it,… read more »