Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Jan 11, 2019

An Oregon Wine Tasting and the Lure of a New Road

This is the very first wine event I plan to attend upon becoming an official Citizen of Oregon: SIP: McMinnville Food & Wine Classic Seventy-Five Oregon wineries as well as local brewers, distillers, chefs and bakers. What’s not to like. Plus, it’s in McMinnville. I’ve tried a large number of Oregon wines over the years and, like most, am drawn to the diverse collection of Pinot Noirs. But I have a great deal of catching up to do (poor me)….

May 31, 2018

Great Event To Explore How Wine Plans to Help Weed Take Its Marketshare

The Second Annual Weed and Wine Symposium is only two months away. If it is anything like the inaugural event, it should be fascinating. The tagline for the coming Symposium is: “Exploring the Opportunities & Issues that the Legalization of Cannabis Presents to the California Wine Industry”. I should go on the record that I believe the opportunities are few and the main issue is, how can the wine industry minimize the negative impact that cannabis legalization will have on…

Feb 17, 2018

Underground Sonoma

My favorite wine event are small wine event. I don’t mean small venues. I mean a smaller number of wineries; a manageable number of wineries; a number small enough that you can spend time with them all. It’s also a bonus if you are talking about wineries that are small, minimal production, hands-on, newish wineries. That’s why I’m bringing your attention to Sonoma Underground. • Fifteen Wineries • February 24, 2-5pm • At Longboard Vineyards in Headsburg, CA • $49 in…

Dec 19, 2014

Consumer Wine Tastings in Jeopardy in California

If the California Board of Equalization (BOE) gets what it wants, some of California’s best consumer wine tastings may find themselves in great jeopardy. One already is. Pinot Days, the annual tasting of Pinot Noir produced by Lisa and Steve Rigisich’s Bay Area Wine project is all of a sudden, after 1o years conducting this non-profit tasting, being told that they are responsible for paying taxes on their Pinot Days entry tickets (which the BOE calls gate receipts). Lisa and…

Jun 9, 2014

Marking 10 years Since the Pinot Noir Groundswell

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of two important Pinot Noir milestones: The first San Francisco Pinot Days Tasting and the release of the film Sideways. These anniversaries ought to give us good reason to stop and consider the state of Pinot Noir in 2014. First, however, let me encourage you to attend Pinot Days. It is a great and very accessible tasting of Pinot Noir. This year upwards of 100 different producers of Pinot Noir, mainly from California, will…