Throughout the year I drink wine at dinners, various wine events, festivals, tasting rooms, and have samples submitted for review. In most cases it can be difficult to properly review a wine without bottle submission, however, there are moments when a wine seems to hit all cylinders even with a small pour. These are the wines that immediately say "Hello!" 

Some wine media produces publications with wines that are too scarce or soldout. Their 'Top 100' in my view often becomes much like going to a restaurant and looking at pictures of the food and then going home. 

Wines That ...

(This bottle was a sample provided by Cellars of Sonoma) 

Baseball and Cellars of Sonoma are in full swing! Each week on TV-Tuesday nights at 6 PM, Scott Jordan from Cellars of Sonoma pops the tops of some of the highest quality small producers. In most cases the winemaker joins on live stream and we taste the wines and ask questions via twitter.

Kicking things off was the James Family Cellars Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast. This Chardonnay was loaded with fresh lemon peel, minerality, pineapple, carmel, vanilla with a touch of French oak and beautiful bright acidity. It was ...

(This wine was a sample provided by R.Stuart) 

When it comes to food and wine, most of us gain some type of excitment when we see things like: that special dish that only your grandmother makes at Thanksgiving, or when someone brings me guava jelly from Flordia or Hawaii, or a Pizza from a 50+ year old Italian restaurant that is 35 miles away. These types of special things that you only have once in a while, but when you even just see or hear the thought of having it simply gets you excited, and may even make your ...

(Full disclosure, sample provided by Blendz - Tom and Sandy. I offer the wine segment on their radio show.)

Remeber (before answering machines) when you called somebody, and if they weren't home, you had to call back? How about when you wanted to find a number you pulled the phone book, and used your phone with that 50 foot cord on it so you could move around?

Funny how in today's society, everything is so different. I discovered Four Brix winery on Twitter. We started a conversation, and then I learned they were pouring out of a local wine ...

For the '805' there has been some big news in the wine world within the past couple of weeks. Ballard Canyon is the newest recognized wine region inside of Santa Barbara County. 

What does this mean? 

A couple of things, starting with wine labels likely will show off the new AVA name, Ballard Canyon. In my view, on some level there is a science to this, and on the other hand, it becomes marketing.

(Above Single Photo - Taken by Lee Tomkow with my camera)

As Ballard Canyon is noted for producing stellar Rhones (like Viognier,Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache ...

Chef Michael Voltaggio was one of the many celebrity chefs at Sunset Magazines' Savor the Central Coast. Savor CC for short, is an annual food, wine, and cooking event held in September at Santa Margarita Ranch in Paso Robles. (More event details) 

It really is so much more, with four days of events, winemaker seminars, gardening demonstrations, live music, cooking demos from celebrity chefs, cookbook signings, and all loaded with wineries/breweries/restaurants from all over the central coast. 

The best analogy just might be a real life experience from the pages of Sunset Magazine, or maybe just a Disneyland ...

If you are familiar with wine from the Santa Barbara region, no doubt you have some familarity with Mr Rhone, otherwise known as Andrew Murray Vineyards. Andrew Murray has been a posterboy for high quality Syrah and other Rhone varietals for more than 20 years. 

(Sample Provided by Andrew Murray Vineyards)

It might be difficult for some outside of the region to talk about Santa Barbara without the mention of Sideways, Merlot, or Pinot Noir. Some may recall a scene in the movie that mentioned the lone Syrah that the Pinot Noir loving Miles was excited about.....if you guessed ...