Get this, a Syrah, not a Pinot Noir, is the Best of Show Red Wine for the 2023 Oregon Wine Competition, results of which were announced over the weekend. It is the Resistance Wine Company 2018 Rogue Valley Syrah ($35), a muscular, layered and persistent take on the...

Oregon is too big and varied for one style of wine to become most closely identified with the state. Yes, in Oregon’s northern reaches Pinot Noir is established as the flagship wine of Willamette Valley and its numerous sub-appellations. And in southern Oregon,...

The 2023 California State Fair & Food Festival gets under way Friday at Sacramento’s Cal Expo and runs until July 30. While I recognize that many of you will be drawn to the fair by the opportunity to talk with Martha and I during our appearances at the author...

Last month, a bunch of vintners from France’s Rhône Valley landed in San Francisco for a series of tastings and seminars. Most were from the valley’s southern reaches, though, curiously, none was from that area’s most esteemed appellation, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, perhaps...

  Forty years after federal authorities designated Dry Creek Valley an American Viticultural Area, the appellation’s signature wine has emerged – Grenache! Balderdash, will protest Dry Creek Valley vintners who for decades have been saying that either Cabernet...

  Aside from tankards raised riotously at Renaissance Faires, mead plays virtually no role on the American beverage scene. This is odd, given mead’s long history, its variety and versatility, its close and natural association with the charming industry and...