At the end of July, I wound up at the top of Chalk Hill in Healdsburg. It was one of those events that I should be used to by now but that make me slightly uncomfortable anyway because they a) are held in lavish settings that seem to cost a billion dollars, b) usually end…
Category: on the road
Not Much Gold In Them Thar Hills (Inside The 2011 Lake County Wine Awards, Part Three)
[ This is part three of a short series covering my tenure as a judge in the 2011 Lake County Wine Competition – for more details, check out Part The First and Part The Second. ] The Gold Rush in California dried up more-or-less 150 years ago. And the 2011 Lake County Wine Awards results…
What I Learned At Summer Wine Judging Camp (Inside The 2011 Lake County Wine Awards, Part One)
A little over a week ago I helped to judge the 2011 Lake County Wine Awards Competition, which was held at Brassfield Estate Winery in the ludicrously-beautiful Clearlake Oaks area. Over 180 wines carrying the Lake County AVA on their labels were submitted to the competition. While I’m well-past the “cutting teeth” stage of judging…
Focus, Focus, Focus: Zeroing In On Wines For Now At Virginia’s Blenheim Vineyards
I am not a fan of small producers in emerging wine regions bottling and selling a large array of varietal wines; almost everyone loves having choices, but too often the cumulative result in this case ends up feeling like a Zinfandel that’s been watered-down in a feeble attempt to get it under 16% abv –…