Yearly Archives: 2012


Rocks & Rhone 2012

Passport is not the only wine event in El Dorado County.  It is the biggest, but not the only one.  One of the other events is coming up on Memorial Day weekend.  Five of the wineries in the Pleasant Valley region of El Dorado County put on the 2 day Rocks & Rhone event. Rocks […]


wine barrels

Online Empire Expands!

As an author trying to get my books out to interested readers, I find that I need to occasionally shift the focus of my online presence.  Now is such a time. I have created a Pour Me Another specific website, PourMeAnotherGuide.com.  This new site will be my primary online sales presence for Pour Me Another. […]


What Temperature to Serve Your Wine?

It is a true-ism that white wines are served chilled and red wines are served at room temperature.  But is that strictly true?  What temperature is “chilled”?  What temperature is “room temperature”? Scott Harvey recently posted to his blog on this subject.  He even provides a particularly handy chart of recommended serving temperatures for various […]

Wine Serving Temperatures

White wine and beef

El Dorado Passport 2012 Fun and Fabulous!

Now that some time has passed, I am able to reflect on this year’s El Dorado Winery Association’s Passport 2012 with a bit more objectivity. It was fun and fabulous! My partner and I have been venturing to El Dorado County for Passport events since 2006.    Our first introduction to the region was a […]


El Dorado Passport 2012 – Recovery Day

Just back from an outstanding Passport 2012.  This post will have to act as a placeholder and tease for upcoming posts about the event and the wines tasted.  A visual log perhaps? Our merry band of wine tasters managed to visit 11 wineries in two days. We were able to visit David Girard – where […]

Tasting at Mount Aukum

Old Growth Vines in Amador County: Posts I Wish I’d Written

Oh, man, there are times when I read something really phenomenal about a subject I’m knowledgeable about and think, “Man, I wish I’d written this”.  Well, today I had just that experience. Patrick Frank, one of the writers at Palate Press, wrote a great piece about the old growth Zinfandel vines in Amador County that […]


El Dorado County Passport 2012 Coming

It is that time of the year again.  The El Dorado County Wine Makers Association’s Passport event is only a few weeks away.  The food and wine pairing event will be held on the weekends of 14-15 April and 21-22 April.  The roads around Placerville will be buzzing with wine-o’s! (In the best possible way). […]


Opinionated Interview: Mark McKenna

This is the next in my occasional series of interviews with wine makers and others in the industry.  Late last year I interviewed Mark McKenna by email.  Mark is the wine maker and General Manager at Andis Wines in Plymouth, California.  I recently uncorked a bottle of the Andis 2009 Reserve Cabernet Franc.  I raved […]


Three Wineries to Carry Pour Me Another

I am happy to say that Pour Me Another: An Opinionated Guide to Gold Country Wines will be available for purchase in three Gold Country wineries! In El Dorado County, Jodar Vineyards and Winery will be carrying my book.  In Amador County, both Sera Fina Cellars and Amador Cellars will be selling my book.  All […]


The Drops of God, Tadashi Okimoto

The Drops of God – A Graphic Novel About Wine

I am probably hopelessly out of date with this posting, but, I’m a bit of a fuddy-duddy at times.  I’ve never seen an episode of The Wire, or The Sopranos.  I find many critically acclaimed TV shows unbearably bad…yet I can’t wait for the next episode of American Idol. Sigh. I know. Don’t start. So […]