Having lived in Los Angeles over 6 years, I'm embarassed to say that my first trip to the Santa Ynez Valley to drink wine came last summer. I was invited to board a party bus full of winos to celebrate our friend Shannon's birthday, and enjoyed an absolutely stellar day of food and drink.
Departing from Century City just after 9 am, we reached our first winery destination - Fess Parker - at around 11:30. This place immediately struck me as sort of the "Robert Mondavi" of Santa Ynez Valley. I...
On our recent trip to Spain with friends Stephanie and Jason, we decided to take a day trip to the wine country near Barcelona. There are many fabulous wine producing regions in Spain including la Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rias Baixas and Priorat, but the one that is nearest to Barcelona, and the most steeped in Catalunyan wine making history, is Penedes - the home of cava. Cava is the Spanish equivalent of Champagne and has been made there for centuries from three native grapes - Xarel...
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my girlfriend and I took our second trip to the Willamette Valley . Although this is the busiest (or second busiest after Memorial Day) weekend of the year, we were able to stay off the beaten path and avoid the crowds for the most part. The hospitality in Willamette Valley is unrivaled in any wine growing region that we've been and we were treated like old friends everywhere we went. Here's a little report:
Accomodations:
We stayed at the Abbey Road Farm Bed&Bre...
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