Five seconds after I missed the turn for my intended destination of Rombauer Vineyards, I realized I didn't really want to go there anyway. So I kept following the Silverado Trail into Calistoga. The afternoon was dwindling, and I wanted to hit at least one more tasting room...
Although Trefethen Family Vineyards is close enough to Route 29 that it could have one of those in-your-face billboards and slam-the-brakes sudden driveways, it opts for a quiet entrance off Oak Knoll Avenue. The approach trail takes you past well-manicured vineyard blocks, marked with signs...
With a late lunch winding down at Oakville Grocery, a companion suggests visiting Robert Mondavi before heading back to San Francisco. I flinch. It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, harvest season, and the Valley is swarming with tourists. Every parking lot is a perilous game of Frogger. It took...
In late 2007 I got a job at a fancy wine retailer in New York City. New hire training included tasting Corton-Charlemagne, Chateau Gruaud-Larose, Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, and other wines way above my pay grade. But then--then!--I learned I was entitled to a not-insubstantial employee...
If you make a bad Cabernet in Napa, you're in the wrong line of work, says Ed Roudebush, the wise man taking the lunchtime shift behind the counter at the Merryvale tasting room. He proceeds to pour me Merryvale's 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Fair enough. You probably would want to start...
In 2007, I snagged a bottle of Hall Cabernet Sauvignon from an east coast store shelf for less than $25. I can't remember the vintage but it was probably the first release, and if not it must have been the second, given that the winery crushed its first vintage in 2005. Today you're lucky to...
If you commute on I-95 in Maryland, I bet the words Dove Valley Winery are rattling around in your head somewhere. That's because two extremely well-placed signs on either side of Exit 93 announce the winery's existence to more eyeballs every day than any winery Facebook page could ever hope to...
The traffic on New York City's Vandam Street at 5 P.M. is straight out of a Los Angelino's worst nightmare. Trucks hauling soiled linen to New Jersey battle with Maseratis for an edge in getting the heck out of Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel. At the intersections, a chartreuse-clad traffic cop...
A connection to the past is palpable as you enter the cavernous tasting room of Sunset Hills Vineyard. During the Civil War, many barns in Loudoun County were burned to the ground by Union forces. After peace returned, new structures were built as the farming industry recovered. The dairy farm...
I never planned on building a tasting room, says Doug Fabbioli. The gregarious owner of Fabbioli Cellars is reminiscing about the origins of his Loudoun County winemaking operation, where he planted the first vines in 2001. Fortunately, his plans changed. As the reputation of Mr. Fabbioli's...
Lately, my thirtieth birthday has been making all kinds of threats about actually happening soon. So getting carded, which used to be a nerve-wracking experience no matter how good my fake ID was ten years ago, is actually kind of nice these days. And so when the young man behind the counter at...
While talking to Andy Reagan, Winemaker and General Manager of Jefferson Vineyards, you sense in him an urgency to make wines that are better, stronger and truer than anyone-himself included-has ever made before. It is also an urgency to crush any doubts that remain about whether Virginia can...