frank mangio

In January, Colorado became the first state in the U.S. to allow retail recreational marijuana sales to adults 21 and older.  37 dispensaries  opened for business and business has been booming.  But hold on.  Since 2005, the Colorado wine industry has more than tripled to more than 144 million, with …

On my visits to Temecula’s wine country I have been making the beautiful drive north on the I-15 in San Diego County for some 9 years now, passing though what is known as Fallbrook.  I have also driven though most of …

August is barely here and already harvest whistles are blowing for one of the major varietals of wines in NapaValley, the sparkling wines.  A collective sigh of relief was also being heard by winemakers as last winter was one of the driest …

“Discover Beaujolais” read the campaign slogan.  It caught my eye because Beaujolias is one of the oldest wine brands in the world, crafted by respected wine makers in eastern France above Lyon for something like 2000 years.  It’s squeezed into an area dominated by Burgundy in the north, and the Rhone wines …

I may need a few household things, but when I am finished at the COSTCO in Carlsbad, I have my few things PLUS  nearly a case of a variety of wines to fill the cart. Sound familiar?  The Carlsbad COSTCO has the 2nd largest …

Like most west coast wine lovers, my choices have been confined to California, Oregon and Washington.  The ten selected wines will take a break from that with two selections from Colorado, a high country state with massive swings in temperature, that have served the beer industry well and are …

There is no more elegant bottle of wine than a well crafted Rose.’  I am always captivated by this hybrid wine that radiates pleasure, coolness and seduction. Rose’ of course is not a grape varietal, it’s a style of wine; the …

The current issue of Wine Spectator, the leading wine publication in the world, has its annual restaurant awards section, based on the quality of the wine list, presentation and type of cuisine. A total of 3,748 restaurants worldwide were named …

A parade of new releases from the traditional Tuscany wine country and from parts not so well known, have made 2014 an” Italian Job,” with a flood of new releases. With the Italian government’s help in some campaigns, Italian wineries in unfamiliar …

The Coast News expands. As some of my readers know, I’ve been criss-crossing Colorado for the past couple of weeks, visiting wineries from Denver to Grand Junction and will deliver the news of what I found out about Colorado wines in just a few weeks. While I was gone, …