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Category Archives: Wine
Governor Declares September “Wine Month,” Or, My Lunch with Arnie
So, Governor Schwarzenegger has declared September “California Wine Month” (again). Apparently, he’s never been to Sonoma where every month is “Wine Month,” which is comprised of “Wine Weeks” and “Wine Days,” and so on – to hours, minutes and nanoseconds. What’s the duration of a “wine nanosecond?” About the amount of time it takes to realize [...]
Also posted in Column: Published Weekly in the Sonoma Index-Tribune Tagged california, California State Park, Governor Schwarzenegger, sonoma, Wine, wine month 4 Comments
A Fairly Decent Jobbe
To ring in the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference, the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau commissioned the comic, cheese-ball parody of Murphy Goode’s controversial “A Really Goode Job” campaign below. The quick flick premiered at the conference’s opening night and I’m happy to report that it was well received (according to the several kind emails, tweets and [...]
Also posted in Blog, Watch Tagged a really goode job, Murphy Goode, satire, sonoma, tim zahner, Wine, wine bloggers conference Leave a comment
Left Bank: Lunch on the Gauche
If you ever want to get in the good graces of your editor, take him or her to lunch at the Larkspur’s convivial French brasserie, the Left Bank. Part of a chain also represented in Menlo Park, San Jose, Pleasant Hill and San Mateo, the restaurant is something of a gustatory homage to La Rive [...]
Also posted in Blog, Restaurant, Reviews Tagged Kenneth Volk Vineyards, Larkspur, leftbank, lunch, Wine 2 Comments
Amateur Wine-drinking
Let us momentarily transubstantiate ink for wine, so that with these words I may toast the Valley of the Moon Dilettante Enological Society. Clink.
I like these guys, not just because they make wine, but because their name is nearly as pretentious-sounding as my own. I mean, what would it score in Scrabble – infinity? Moreover, [...]
Cinderella fermenting in Marin
There is a troika of contiguous counties that have laid claim to Northern California wine country – Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino – but Like Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, Kendric Vineyards wants you to know “There is another.”
Of course, I didn’t know this at first. The availability of Marin County wines in Sonoma Valley, [...]
SonomaWinos.com
My Fellow Sonomans –
It’s high time to reclaim the name “Sonoma” from brands beyond our county. Sonoma is not a truck, a pack of cigarettes or a gated community in Florida, nor is “Sonoma Valley,” merely an eau de toilette made in Boston. Sonoma is our home and place of business. Sonoma is our way [...]
Après nous, le Déluge
Madame de Pompadour wasn’t talking about ZAP, the annual (and infamous) Zinfandel Advocate and Producers festival, when she said “Après nous, le Déluge,” but no other citation summons the decadence and existential ache that defines the experience. Though de Pompadour was making a splash with the crimson humor, I cannot help transubstantiating wine and blood, [...]
Also posted in Column: Published Weekly in the Sonoma Index-Tribune 1 Comment
GunBun 2.0
Gundlach Bundschu winery president Jeff Bundschu’s blog “Blogshu.com,” isn’t the only indication of a “GunBun 2.0” consciousness arising at the family-owned winery. On the site, Bundschu refers to himself as a “6th generation vintner looking for something to prove.” With an astute blend of vision, talent and technology, Bundschu has at least proven that GunBun, [...]
Sparkling Darlings for the New Year
The marketing mavens behind Certs breath mints once ran a campaign predicated on the product’s peculiar tendency to spark in the dark, when bit with a modicum of force. The spots successfully knitted one’s fresh breath and dimming the lights with the promise of sexual congress (like most advertising). They also provided a perfect visual [...]
Also posted in Blog Tagged blanc de noir, certs, Gloria Ferrer, kiss, mendocino, Roderer Estate, sonoma Leave a comment
Hanna Winery and Vineyards