Founded in 1961 by Sir George Fistonich, Villa Maria Estate is New Zealand’s 4th largest winery yet remains family-owned. Villa Maria has two wineries, one located in Auckland and one located in New Zealand’s famous winegrowing region of Marlborough. They source grapes from all of New Zealand’s main winegrowing regions. Villa Maria produces between 800,000 […]

On Friday evening, we hosted our 100th wine tasting dinner. Early on in our wine journey when we found what we thought was a good wine while visiting a winery, we would buy a case and take it home. Too often the wine did not taste nearly as good at home as it had in […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2008 Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah from the Columbia Valley of Washington […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2009 Jacob’s Creek Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawarra region […]

Founded in 1987 by Champagne Taittinger of France in partnership with Kobrand Corporation, Domaine Carneros is located in the heart of Carneros in California’s Napa Valley. Claude Taittinger, the president of Champagne Taittinger, began searching for a site to open a winery in the United States in the late 1970’s. He selected a site in […]

Chateau Ste. Michelle is Washington State’s founding winery with its roots dating back to the repeal of Prohibition. In 1976, Ste. Michelle built a French-style chateau in Woodinville, just northeast of Seattle. While all of Chateau Ste. Michelle’s vineyards are located on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, all of their white wines are […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2008 Rocca di Montemassi Le Focaie Sangiovese from the Maremma Toscana […]

Each month when I post about one of our challenging wine pairing meals, I ask for suggestions for challenging wine pairings for us to try in the future. On several occasions, we have received requests to try Korean cuisine. While I had never prepared any Korean dishes, I decided to give it a try. While […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the NV Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut Rosé from the Columbia Valley of […]

Mackey Vineyards, located in Walla Walla, Washington, is a newcomer in the Washington wine industry. Brothers Roger and Philip Mackey relocated from California to Walla Walla in 2007. They bought a farm with apple orchards and grape vines. The Mackeys brought the vineyard on their farm, now named Mackey Vineyard, back to life. They also […]