During the 2013 Charleston Wine and Food Festival, I had the distinct pleasure of attending Merry Edwards‘ Single Vineyard Pinot Noir tasting.  Merry was one of the first women wine makers in CA, beginning her career in the industry in 1974.  In 1997, family and friends joined Merry to found Merry Edwards Winery, with a focus on producing Pinot Noirs…

An unusual experiment is taking place right here in Charleston Harbor.  Mira Winery of Napa Valley, CA, submerged four cases of 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon to test the effects of “ocean aging.”  The bottles were treated with additional wax seals and placed in specially designed steel mesh cages that allow the water to circulate around the bottles. The wines are in…

A beautiful new book, Rock and Vine, will be available soon and I have two gorgeous pre-release copies of this book to give away!  There is no cost involved and no”catches”. It is the story of California’s evolving wine business.  Most of us know some of the names of the great pioneers of wine in California, the likes of Robert and…

Hello and  Happy 2013. I hope the new year is off to an excellent start. The holidays were fun and wine-filled and several deserve special mention.  Some of our family gathered in Charlotte, NC, to celebrate Christmas and we consumed many bottles of Champagne and Pinot Noir.  Our Christmas Eve selection was Gaston Chiquet Rosé pictured here – gorgeous salmon…

Misuzu, who is a wine distributor from Japan, was interning at Ken Wright Cellars when I visited in 2011. She was back in the U.S. for a combination vacation/business trip and we had the opportunity to go to some wineries together while I was in Oregon.  We share some favorites and our first stop was Alexana where our friend, Christie,…

Friday got off to a fast start with an Argentine Food and Wine pairing brunch at 10:00 a.m. I wasn’t hungry and I wasn’t ready to drink, but neither of those factors were relevant. My favorite pairing was a Beef Empanada with Raisin Balsamic, Kalamata Olives, and Red Pepper Puree with Bodega Catena Zapata Alta Malbec 2009. The spice and…