Palate Press

1 min read

Big red fruits come flying out of the glass on the nose. Black cherries, raspberry, and brambles fill the palate, and hints of coffee show on the mid-palate. Fruit lingers on the finish. This is a big mouthful of wine that calls for a big mouthful of steak to go

What We’re Drinking – Ridge “Ponzo” Zinfandel 2015

David Honig

Wine Reviews

1 min read

The color is not quite opaque, garnet all the way through. Gorgeous black raspberry and vanilla float up on the nose. On the palate it's a bit reductive, and offers plums, raspberry, licorice, and black pepper. Tannins are dusty, acids bright. This is a bit more ripe and a bit

What We’re Drinking – Ridge “Lytton Estate” Petite Sirah

David Honig

Wine Reviews

1 min read

Aromas coming from the glass are intense, including blueberry, lavender, smoke, and graphite. The palate is just as big and true to the nose, but tight. Tannins are still muscular, and black fruit is tight and angular. This is a very well made wine but very young. Give it five

What We’re Drinking – Ridge Vineyards “Lytton Springs” 2015

David Honig

Wine Reviews

1 min read

The wine is opaque in the center, garnet around the edges. Aromas of dark fruits, deep earth, herbs, and unsweetened chocolate all roil up from the glass, offering a full, rich mouthful. Petite Sirah gives an anchor to Zinfandel and Carignane lifts it, altogether giving an incredibly broad spectrum of

What We’re Drinking – 2013 Murrieta’s Well “The Spur” Red Blend

David Honig

Wine Reviews

1 min read

This is a powerful brute of a wine dressed in lace and finery. The nose smells like freshly-baked blackberry pie, with black fruit, pastry and vanilla aromas exploding out of the glass. The vanilla runs through the palate, as well, which is loaded with blackberry, mulberry, and blueberry. There is a

What We’re Drinking – 2014 Ridge Vineyards “Lytton Springs”

David Honig

Wine Reviews

1 min read

This is an absolutely lovely wine, rich but balanced, with complex fruit and a solid backbone. The nose shows blackberry and elderberry, bright on top with earthiness in counterpoint. It really explodes on the palate, with the black fruit getting elbowed aside on the mid-palate by black cherry and ripe

The Mother Vine: Livermore Reconsidered

Joe Roberts

Feature Stories

5 min read

That California’s Livermore Valley is largely off the radar for wine geeks and collectors is one of the more bizarre turns in the history of U.S. wine. While rarely mentioned in the same breath as Napa Valley, Sonoma County, or Paso Robles, it could easily be argued that no other

What We’re Drinking – Bonny Doon “A Proper Claret” Red Blend

David Honig

Wine Reviews

1 min read

If a Bonny Doon label says, "A Proper Claret," one thing you can be sure of is that it is not quite proper after all. Tannat and Syrah join traditional Bordeaux grapes here, and it works. Cabernet offers up classic cassis, softened by Merlot and leaned out by Tannat. Petit Verdot accounts

Wine

The Philosophy of Rosé: From the Costaripa Winery on Lake Garda

The Story of Spain’s Top Wine Estates

A New-Old White Wine from Abruzzo in Italy

Random

2007 Café Culture Pinotage

Spirits

Why Low-Alcoholic Wine May Be Increasing & An Adult Beverage Option; Even No-Alc can be Tasty

A Dog, a Mountain Hike and Gin

A Life-Saving Whiskey of Forests and Caramel

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Getting to grips with grappa

Travel

Wine Country Hospitality in Amador County

Why is Arianna Occhipinti a Winemaking Legend?

Top of the Mark Lounge in San Francisco Celebrates 85 years

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A Long Weekend in Newport Beach, California

Hospitality

Wine Country Hospitality in Amador County

Top of the Mark Lounge in San Francisco Celebrates 85 years

Women Chefs Seed Plant Forward Dining at The Grove in Napa

Random

Wine Country Hospitality in Amador County

What We’re Drinking – Dry Creek Vineyard “Heritage Vines”

What We’re Drinking – Ridge “Ponzo” Zinfandel 2015

What We’re Drinking – Ridge “Lytton Estate” Petite Sirah

What We’re Drinking – Ridge Vineyards “Lytton Springs” 2015

What We’re Drinking – 2013 Murrieta’s Well “The Spur” Red Blend

What We’re Drinking – 2014 Ridge Vineyards “Lytton Springs”

The Mother Vine: Livermore Reconsidered

What We’re Drinking – Bonny Doon “A Proper Claret” Red Blend