A Taste of Wine

The Summer of 2014 for the search of great wines was unlike any I’d seen before.  For me, it started out in Colorado where the word is loose that their mountain wines were getting a foothold in the marketplace, when in fact they are but a …

I have known Maurice DiMarino when he began with the Cohn Restaurant Group at Island Prime.  As he proved himself as a sommelier , he was assigned more restaurants until now, he proudly can say he is the Certified Sommelier/Wine and …

Make your plans now for the biggest and best wine and food festival on the West Coast and the most talked about public event in San Diego. The dates are Sunday November 16 to Sunday November 23rd.  This is an international showcase of the …

When I was going through San Diego State University as a “late-blooming” student chasing a Journalism degree, I used to ponder the role of the “gatekeepers,” those news editors who had the responsibility of using press releases for articles, or flushing them into the round file, never to …

As of day five after the 6.0 earthquake that struck the southern district of Napa Valley, damage estimates may top four billion dollars, with 120 injuries, 3 critical, with over  103 dwellings “redtagged” as un-livable.  104 smaller earthquakes have been recorded to …

Wine royalty came to Coronado a few weeks ago when Il Fornaio’s General Manager lit up the island by bringing in Cakebread Cellars of Napa Valley for a wine dinner that packed the restaurant. Luca Allieri has ramped up Il Fornaio’s dinner events …

For the longest time in California, Zinfandel was the most widely planted grape in California until Cabernet Sauvignon, thanks to the Mondavi Family and Napa Valley, caught up and passed it in 1998.  For the longest time, it was thought to be California’s native grape.  One of our recent …

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 …

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 …

Before I even thought about the relevance of wine and food, Poseidon on the beach in Del Mar was my hangout.  My radio buddies and I got all fired up around the big pit by the bar and the conversation about sports, music, radio …