Category Archives: Sonoma

Darryl Is A Camel Jockey; Pass It On

Posted on March 2, 2013 by

If you’ve been in the wine business since the mid-nineteenth century like Darryl and me, your majestical roof—your brave overhanging firmament—probably resembles the sky above Selfridge Air Base during pilot training week.  Lots of criss-crossing contrails with comrades in arms, … Continue reading →

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Sonoma | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Creature From The White Laguna

Posted on January 9, 2013 by

Creature From The Black Lagoon, Universal Studios, 1954 Plot Summary: A geology expedition in the Amazon uncovers a fossilized hand from the Devonian period; Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), an ichthyologist who works at a marine biology institute, returns to … Continue reading →

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Russian Rivers, Sonoma | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Digging A Re-Invented View Of Buena Vista Winery

Posted on October 24, 2012 by

There’s an adage in the wine business, on-premise and off: ‘Spend more than $100 for a bottle and you are starting to pay for the label’. What that means, of course, is that a lot of folks suffer from Veblen … Continue reading →

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What The Heck Does Champagne Have To Do With Golf, Anyway?

Posted on June 6, 2012 by

Plenty, dahling.  Crank the Wayback Machine to 1962 when Tony Lema promised reporters at the Orange County Open that he’d force-feed them Champagne if he won—then beat Jack Nicklaus by five strokes and did, becoming known as ‘Champagne’ Tony Lema … Continue reading →

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Frei Vs. Fre: One Has An ‘I’; One Doesn’t. One Has A ‘High’; One Doesn’t.

Posted on April 21, 2012 by

Mad Magazine was the fundamental catalyst in my kidhood drive to write humor for a living.  Advancing alcoholism is why I made wine, beer and spirits my venue. Remember that old Spy vs. Spy panel cartoon?  Where the white ‘n’ … Continue reading →

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Dry Creek, Sonoma | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Stryker Sonoma Petit Verdot: The Golden Ticket

Posted on March 26, 2012 by

My buddy Roger Bonga makes a sinfully serious chocolate wine out in Grand Rapids; Oregon’s Shallon Winery makes ‘a rich chocolate and orange whey* wine’; and of course, there’s that inexplicably weird and awful Dutch mess called Chocovine, a blend … Continue reading →

Posted in Petit Verdot, Sonoma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Cellar No. 8 ‘Eight’: Stuck Here In Lodi By Choice

Posted on September 7, 2011 by

One of the effects that alcohol has on the human brain, specifically on the nucleus accumbens, is that it makes you go all silly sappy and irrationally nostalgic.  So when a winery recalls it’s founder and his guiding principles in … Continue reading →

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Rodney Strong Like Bull, And That’s No Bull

Posted on September 4, 2011 by

There’s strength in numbers, and if they happen to have dollar signs in front of them, Rodney Strong Vineyards is pulling down some weightlifting gold.  Growing at a pace of 14% a year (compared to 2% for the category according to … Continue reading →

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Forchini Vineyards: Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag

Posted on September 3, 2011 by

  Fifty out of fifty States now produce wine, including Alaska, where moose blubber is used as a fining agent and the must is strainied through Sarah Palin’s brassiere. Today, every continent has a winemaking tradition except Antarctica, but the geophysicists … Continue reading →

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Ravenswood: Better Living Through Joel Peterson’s Chemistry—Particularly C2H5OH

Posted on September 3, 2011 by

First off, I love how Ravenswood rolls off the tongue; it conjures up Gothic images—remote, crumbling castles on windswept moors filled with persecuted virgins and hereditary curses. The Ravenswood label, a cryptic crest displaying a trio of stylized ravens with … Continue reading →

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