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The confluence of Presidents' Day Weekend with Valentines' Day presents an almost unprecedented array of wine tasting opportunities over the February 13-14 weekend.First, at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg (just south of Sacramento), the five resident wineries (Including my...

As the weather turns cooler, we get more visitors to our Murphys and Clarksburg tasting rooms expressing interest in port.  (Really, since the 2006 European Trade Agreement, we can no longer legally call these dessert wines "Port" since they are...

Harvest is the favorite time of year for most winemakers -even though the season is truly "twenty-four/seven" as grapes are harvested at their peak sugar/flavor content and crush activities run around the clock at most wineries.In the midst of all...

I've been writing all along about the "Mediterranean" nature of the grapes that prosper in the Foothills.  This year's judging at the California State Fair certainly confirmed that.  Looking just at the "major" awards (gold and silver), the strengths of...

Annually, one of the highlights of the summer season in the Calaveras County Wine Country is the Ironstone Vineyards concert series.  Sure, wineries in most regions offer a summer concert series, but few can rival the breath of entertainment offered...

The weekend of June 26 thru 28 will mark the return of one of Calaveras' most popular events of the wine year: Passport weekend.  Starting with a festival in the bucolic Murphys Downtown park on Friday evening, the weekend continues...

Starting Thursday, May 14 thru Sunday, May 17, the famous jumping frogs return to Calaveras County as the unique featured attraction of the Calaveras County Fair.  With one of the richest heritages of any county fair anywhere, the Calaveras County...

Now that you've all traveled to Calaveras and discovered Tempranillo (you have, haven't you?), I'd like to introduce an enticing white wine - just in time for the warmer weather of spring (which always seems to increase the interest in...

One of the larger integrated wine-centric web sites is www.snooth.com.  Snooth is currently pursuing a "Global Tasting Initiative" wherein they are tasting specific varietals from growing regions throughout the world.  Last week, the varietal was Tempranillo - a grape with...

Now that Presidents' Day Weekend is over and George, Abe, and Caleb B. Smith (Interior Secretary for Mr. Lincoln - sorry if you missed him.  You shoulda been in Murphys) have returned to the hall of past politicians for another...