frank mangio

In the wine tasting world, if you have a wine that starts with the letter A, you have a distinct advantage. Tasters have a “clean” palate and are starting fresh. J Vineyards starts and ends with one letter, J, and …

The road map to find my great 8 wines for the first three months of the year took me to many road shows, wine bars, resorts and restaurants. Wineries are teaming together to tell their story along with a taste …

The 2014 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, biggest of its kind, saw some 6,000 entries from over 1,500 wineries from all over America gather for the massive task of choosing the best of the best in blind tasting with 65 judges …

Since the beginning of my wine writing journey, I have been fascinated with the increasing number of wine blends released by creative winemakers. Such legendary stalwarts as Opus One, Insignia, Rubicon and Isosceles are but a few from respected wine …

Between the Central California coastal city of Lompoc and the town of Buellton, just west of the 101, lies 30,700 square acres of the Sta. Rita Hills.  This pristine, peaceful land is located in Santa Barbara County and is part of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. ( American Viticulture Area) …

It is a well known occasion among knowledgable wine consumers that the beginning of the California wine revolution began with an extraordinary blind wine tasting of French and California wines in Paris in 1976, known as the Paris Tasting. In …

A friend of mine recently passed me the official site map for  Temecula that I speculate could have been printed in the 80’s.  It showed 12 wineries, some 25 less than are counted today in the winegrowers brochure, an amazing growth record. …

Nine years, but who’s counting.  This is column # 463 for TASTE OF WINE and it seems like yesterday only because there is so much yet to know about this vast wine world. Can’t wait to taste what’s around the corner. And …

A leading wine publication, Wine Enthusiast, has revealed its Top 10 Wine Travel Destinations for this year, and many are real eye-openers.  It based the choices on international wine countries, extraordinary food and cultural points. Italian locations could have taken up …

I pay attention to an e mail from Jim Barrasso, the energetic  owner of Firefly Grill and Wine Bar in Encinitas. Barrasso has a keen sense of wine bargains and occasionally will share this good fortune with his  customers. One day recently he flashed …