The first of the Zin's I recently stocked up on is the Rancho Zabaco Dry Creek Valley 2004 Reserve. The 2004 vintage is 96% Zinfandel and 4% Petite Sirah. Much more jammy than the Paso Robles Zins I recently tasted and more like those Zins I had difficulty handling years ago. Deep dark fruit aromas with some cherry. MORE >>

Last night at Eataly (the new Italian food specialty megastore in Manhattan) I discovered  Domodimonti,  a boutique winery located on the picturesque countryside of Montefiore dell'Aso, in Le Marche Region, Italy. In addition to Domodimonti we tasted other specialty items from Marche, as well as fabulous Amaro digestifs from Varnelli. MORE >>

The seminar and tasting for New York journalists was held March 8 and included a larger representation of cool climate VQA Chardonnays featuring 54 wines from 31 Canadian wineries located in British Columbia and Ontario. Wines included: Angels Gate Winery Mountainview 2008. Burrowing Owl Estate Winery 2005. MORE >>

It is a picture perfect snowy day and my host is Inniskillin winery, who has one of the most quality wines in the region. Today the winery, located in Niagra-on-the-Lake, is covered in fresh snow. Afterwards, we had an icewine tasting with Bruce Nicholson, who was responsible for the vintages during 2006 and afterwards. MORE >>

The lanky, California maker of pinot noir, chardonnay, and syrah told me at his Sonoma winery that he had his conversion in 2005, after returning from a trip to Burgundy and the Rhone. He tasted the pinot noirs and syrahs he had been making since starting his own label, Copain Wines , in 1999. Thus he decided to change his style. MORE >>