One of the most unique visits during our excursion in Southern Oregon was to Plaisance Ranch, founded in 1898 by Joseph Jean Ginet, who immigrated to America from Savoie, France.  His family grew grapes in France and Joseph went in search of land that he could farm. Near Jacksonville, Oregon, he found an abandoned orchard and was able to salvage…

Sunstone Winery is one of my favorite properties, located just southwest of Solvang, in the Santa Ynez Valley.  They have a large portfolio of wines available in an accessible price range.  Just celebrating their 25th anniversary, the winery buildings were designed and built to look like a Tuscan estate.  Since the weather is good most of the year, guests prefer…

Brave & Maiden Estate is one of the newest wineries to emerge in the Santa Ynez Valley.  Vines were planted on the property in the 1990’s, but the grapes had never been used to make single vineyard wines.  The current owners acquired the property in 2010, named their winery Brave & Maiden, and released their first wines in 2011.  Their…

It was September and time for our quarterly wine tasting trip.  We hadn’t been to Paso Robles since last November and in addition to visiting some wineries, we wanted to visit the fabulous light show called Sensorio.  There is a wonderful winery just south of San Luis Obispo called Laetitia  that specializes in sparkling wines and Pinot Noir.  Wineries and…

Pursuing Pinot has been experiencing creative shut down during the pandemic. However, I have encountered two new wineries that I want to share with you. My daughter, Hilary, and I ventured to Santa Barbara County in June to visit several of our favorite wineries and one new to us, Andrew Murray Vineyards. Lots of new rules were in place such…

Melbourne, Australia Vue de Monde came highly recommended by co-workers of my daughter, Hilary, and it didn’t take much discussion for us to decide that we wanted to try it.  The restaurant has received critical acclaim for over twenty years.  In 2011, Vue moved to the 55th floor of the Rialto building, providing panoramic views of the city.  Upon arrival,…

A Marathon Chardonnay Tasting and a Cooking Class Another absolutely packed day awaited us.  We were collected early by our fabulous tour guide and driver, Brad, owner of Vine Venture Tours, and taken to the Agrestic Grocer for breakfast. The Agrestic Grocer is famous for its delicious coffees and features a beautiful retail store along with the restaurant – how…

The Wine Media Conference offers several pre- and post-conference excursions. These are always special experiences because of the limited number of attendees. I chose the excursion to Orange and our group consisted of just nine people.  The organizers had originally intended to fly us to Orange on a local carrier, but with such a small number of travelers, they chartered…

                  Thursday was a travel day as we made our way from Blenheim, back to Auckland, and then on to Sydney.  After a two and a half hour drive (no, we didn’t drive – hired a car!), we arrived at the Hunter Valley Crowne Plaza, location for the 2019 Wine Media Conference. …

We awoke on our second morning in New Zealand to a chorus of beautiful bird songs and chicken clucks. After coffee and breakfast, we got ready for the day’s adventures. My friend, Amy (wine buyer at Mission Wines) was able to arrange a private tour and tasting for us at Whitehaven. We had seen signs for Whitehaven on the way back…