Italy

An Escape to Europe: Affordable European Wines for Summertime

*Sidenote* My apologies *AGAIN* for disappearing. Life is crazy. Life is good. Life is making me BACKLOGGED! Recently, I was able to attend a tasting with some affordable Italian, Croatian, and Macedonian wines. And when I say affordable, I mean under $20/bottle retail, for the most part. While I won’t go through all 16 (!!!!) […]

Oregon

Travel Tuesday: Argyle Winery

Note: Well this has been fun. Technical difficulties have sidelined me, and for that, I profusely apologize. When one thinks Oregon, they immediately think Pinot Noir, and only Pinot Noir. Speaking as a quasi-Oregonian (as the crow flies, I live 5 miles from Oregon, but to drive to Oregon, it’s 22 miles…yep, I live on […]

California

New Year’s Eve Sparklers

Dec. 31st is Champagne/Sparkling Wine Day. And why not have a better day? I always drink some sort of a sparkling wine on New Years Eve, whether it’s cava, champagne, crémant or other forms of sparkling wine, I usually have something bubbly to drink when the clock strikes midnight. Two that I enjoy for celebrations […]

Columbia River Gorge

The Figure 8: Analemma Wines

According to Merriam Webster, an analemma is defined as, “a plot or graph of the position of the sun in the sky at a certain time of day (as noon) at one locale measured throughout the year that has the shape of a figure 8; also : a scale (as on a globe or sundial) […]

Clark County

FareStart Dinner in Pictures #IFBC15

In the months leading up to IFBC, the Facebook group for attendees and alumni was buzzing with excitement. And who wouldn’t be excited? IFBC is one of the best conferences there is! One of the topics of conversation was a dinner at FareStart. The idea behind FareStart is really awesome. They train adults who are […]

Holidays

A Thanksgiving Wine Primer

Thanksgiving is, by a foodie standard, the orgasmic holiday. Everyone stresses the perfect turkey, the perfect sides, the perfect desserts and the holy grail…the perfect wine pairings. The typical Thanksgiving dinner has a myriad of flavors. Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Green bean casserole. Macaroni and cheese (that may just be my family…). Stuffing/dressing. Cranberry sauce. An […]

Clark County

Summer’s Here!!!!!! What are you going to do???

Summer is here, and the start of what I’ve heard as the “Wine Tasting Season” is upon us. To which I reply with an emphatic, “HOORAY!” (even though I know there a lot of places that are open year round). With that said, I thought I’d take a moment to recommend some of my favorite […]

Argentina

A Taste of South America with Terra Andina

Before WBC rolled around, I had the opportunity to taste through some wines from Terra Andina. These wines are for what I’d refer to as “introductory” wines. All of us wine geeks have that one friend who says, “I want to get into wine, but I don’t want to spend a lot of money.” Personally, […]

Cocktails

It’s *that* time of year again…

The air is nippy…houses are brightly adorned with twinkling lights…people are driving with trees on their roofs…local stores are packed…the little ones are really making sure they’ve been good… Yep…it must be the holidays. Which means it’s also time for holiday parties, gift exchanges and those “oh shit!” last minute gifts.  Or the predicament I […]

California

Hard work pays off…Domaine Chandon étoile Rosé

So, after a seemingly long 5½ weeks of training (really? Have I been there for nearly 6 full weeks already? Damn, time flies!!), I discovered that I had fully passed my company’s training program. Yes, I still have to survive until Friday in the training program, but the biggest hurdle was achieved in day 2 […]