Suisun Valley Part One – A seven-minute read. This is part one of a four-part series. If you are like most folks, you have probably never heard of Suisun Valley. But, just for fun, let’s assume you did not see the title of this blog post. Ok, quickly, name every wine region, AVA, or nested AVA you can think of in California. On your mark. Get set. GO! The first name out of most folks’ mouths would probably be Napa Valley and then Sonoma. After that, it starts to get dicey depending on your wine enthusiasm for details. Depending on what…
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Bokisch Vineyards has been on my radar for a few years now. So when my friend Allison told me that they were on the agenda to visit last May, I was thrilled. Unfortunately, then it looked like they could not fit us into their schedule (it was Mother’s Day weekend!) before we headed to the second leg of this trip, Sonoma. At which point Markus and Liz Bokisch (co-owners) invited us to their home Monday morning for a breakfast wine tasting before we head to Sonoma. A “breakfast wine tasting?” Why not! So sure enough, at 8:30 am, we arrived…
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… And So Can You This is a 6-minute read. When we were in California, we had the pleasure of spending some time with the folks at The Wine Foundry. Like every other visit during this trip, we assumed we were there to taste their wine. We were. And we did. But truth be told, The Wine Foundry is more than a winery, and we were quickly enthralled at their business model. While they make wine to sell under two different labels, their primary mission is to help people make their own wine. The Wine Foundry Concept: The concept is…
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Sorry that I have been incommunicado, but we went to Northern California Wine Country. If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen some of our social media posts. Just know, we were hard at work exploring, learning, tasting, and more tasting of wine from Lodi, Sonoma, Napa, and Suisun AVAs. We traveled with friends and fellow wine writers Amber & David Burke of Wine Travel Eats and Allison Levine of Please The Palate. This trip would not have been possible without them and the countless others that set us on this journey. In eight days, we visited 36…
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* New Ownership * As most of my Charleston following know, Gary and my journey creating this blog, our in-person and virtual wine tastings, and now our wine concierge services started when Gary began his three-year stint working at The Wine Shop of Charleston. We recommended and sent many of you there to purchase wine. If Gary was there when you came in to shop, or it was one of the previous owner’s good days, all was grand. But if it wasn’t, many of you had an unfortunate encounter with her that left you bewildered or annoyed. Thus you found…
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I ended the last post here. If you missed the previous post, you could get caught up here. If not, let’s get on with the weekend getaway. Burntshirt Vineyard – Our Second Stop Since we went to a brand new winery first, it only made sense to go to an older established winery next. Burntshirt Vineyards is one of the older wineries in this region of western North Carolina and currently holds the distinction of being the 2020 North Carolina Vineyard of the Year. Burntshirt Vineyards got its name from Burntshirt Mountain. According to their website, “Mountain lore has it…
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, we, like everyone else, had to cancel all of our vacations, work trips, and weekend getaways. It did not matter where we were going. It just mattered that we were getting out of town. But for months which feels like years, we stayed home for the benefit of society as much as for ourselves. This past weekend we were supposed to be on a New York City getaway with seven friends to wine, dine, and see a couple of Broadway shows. That, of course, did not happen. We have been diligent about mask-wearing, hand…
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… in the Time of COVID-19 Since Gary and I typically buy wine 12 bottles at a time (for the case discount), we are never out of wine. The current inventory stands at 60 bottles of white and rosé and 70 bottles of red. But where we do our local wine shopping is super important to us. As we manage our way through the quarantines in this time of COVID-19, it is essential to support our friends locally. Each of these stores is doing curbside pickup and phone orders. Supporting Your Local Wine Shop Locally, we are big fans of…
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