This past Sunday Joel Peterson was gracious enough to host me and my partner under a canopy in Bedrock Vineyard and we tasted through most of the 2021 Once & Future Zinfandel lineup. Although I met Joel a few times back in the days at Ravenswood those moments were fleeting and in passing. This was my first opportunity to sit…
In early August we visited Rivers-Marie Winery in Calistoga. This was my first visit to the new facility. We were greeted in the parking lot by Thomas Rivers Brown which was a complete surprise and super cool. After chatting with TRB briefly, Frank Ingriselli, the Hospitality Director showed us into the winery where we would do a sit down tasting.…
Earlier this month we had the opportunity to visit with Alex MacDonald at MacDonald Vineyards. We met Alex at the cottage near the vineyard that is situated off Walnut Lane in the Oakville AVA of Napa Valley. The visit began with a walk of the vineyard and an oral history from Alex of the vineyard and winery. The history of…
Reichwage Winery was founded in 2014 by Max Reichwage to fulfill a dream of producing small quantities of classically made Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. Max is the owner and winemaker. Before starting the winery Max studied chemistry at the University of Michigan, and viticulture and enology at University California Davis. Reichwage has two estate vineyards in Sonoma County: Twin Hills and…
Violin Wine was founded in 2013 by Will Hamilton and specializes in Pinot noir and Chardonnay from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The name Violin is a reference to Vino and Will’s son Olin. Will strives to make wines that are elegant and a true expression of the vineyard and region. Violin has a tasting room in Amity but I visited with…
I had never shopped on Wine.com but some killer discount codes were brought to my attention that were too good for me to pass up. The codes WINEABR1 and WINEKB1 both give the buyer $100 off on a $300 purchase. The wine itself must total $300 as opposed to the total order amount after shipping and handling. I used one…
Williams Selyem Winery was founded in 1979 by Burt Williams and Ed Selyem. I started buying the wines in the early to mid 90’s. These wines fueled my passion for Russian River and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Williams Selyem was one of the very first mailing lists I signed up for. In 1998 Burt and Ed sold the winery to…
Kosta Browne was founded in the late nineties by Dan Kosta and Michael Browne. In 2009 controlling interest was sold to Vincraft for close to $40 million. In 2015 J.W. Childs Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm, bought out Vincraft. With these investments have come numerous changes including a new Winery (Gallery) in Sebastopol and the purchase of Keefer and Cerise Vineyards.…
This is my 7th annual “Birth Year” case blog post. This post can serve as a guide for readers who had children born 2015 and want to set aside some wine for them to enjoy when they reach the age to appreciate said wines. My 2014 list was published in May of last year. 2015 was an exceptional in year in…
Bruce Patch cut his teeth in the music industry — having once met the Beatles and helped to discover the famous 80’s band, The Cars. Bruce moved to the Russian River Valley in the late 1990’s, and transitioned his sales and marketing background into a successful distribution business representing small independent wineries in Sonoma County. Bruce Patch Wines sources grapes from throughout Sonoma County, including…