Kenwood Vineyards Announces “TO TO” Sonoma Contest

Kenwood Sonoma Valley

Entrants Have 1,000 Characters To Say Why They Like Kenwood Wines KENWOOD, SONOMA VALLEY, CA, May 15, 2012 -- For more than 40 years, the wines of Kenwood Vineyards have been ambassadors for Sonoma wine country. Now those who enjoy Kenwood Vineyards wines have the opportunity to share their … [Read more...]

2012 Sonoma County Farmers Market Schedule

FarmersMarket

Cotati Farmers Market Thursday (June-September): 4:30-7:30 p.m., La Plaza Park, downtown (Old Redwood Highway and West Sierra Avenue). Gualala Farmers Market Saturday (May-November): 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Gualala Community Center, 57950 Center Street. Healdsburg Farmers … [Read more...]

In Case You Were Wondering

Case of Wine

Are You An Average American? SAN FRANCISCO -- According to the Wine Institute, on average, each resident of the United States consumed 2.54 gallons of wine in 2010. That comes to just over a case per person for the year.  Since you're reading this, we're guessing you're on the high side of the … [Read more...]

French Blue Restaurant To Open In St. Helena On May 29, 2012

French Blue, St. Helena

New Restaurant from Architect Howard Backen, Interior Designer Lori Backen, Winemaker Leslie Rudd Stanley Morris to Serve as Managing Partner, Philip Wang as Executive Chef/Partner   ST. HELENA, May 7, 2012 - French Blue, a beautiful and warm neighborhood restaurant located in the heart of … [Read more...]

Think Summer – Think Pink – Think Peju

Peju-Summer-Wines

NAPA VALLEY, April 30, 2012 -- It's that time of year again. The weather is warm, and winemakers are beginning to roll out their summer wines. Experienced wine buyers know that these crisp, dry, pink wines are typically made in limited quantities and aren't available for long. So now is the time to … [Read more...]

05-31-2012 Culinary Stars Abound at Auction Napa Valley 2012

Auction Napa Valley 2012

Featuring Chef Emeril Lagasse, Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc, and Many More  ST HELENA, April 26, 2012  -- Auction Napa Valley, the American Wine Classic charity fundraiser hosted by the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) and taking place this year from May 31-June 3, has always focused on food nearly as much … [Read more...]

Korbel Champagne Cellars’ Sustainable Gardens Open For 2012 Season

Korbel Champagne Cellars

Korbel Garden Refutes Sustainable Stereotypes GUERNEVILLE (RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY), April 10, 2012 -- When Korbel Champagne Cellars' spectacular garden opens on Sunday, April 15th for the 2012 season, visitors will marvel at the extraordinarily beautiful plantings – including 250 varieties of roses … [Read more...]

When Only The Best Will Do

Grgich Hills Estate In Napa Valley

Grgich Hills Wines The Exclusive Choice For James Beard Dinner RUTHERFORD, March 16, 2012 -- Grgich Hills Estate wines were the only wines served at the famed James Beard House in New York City on March 13 for a dinner that showcased organic, biodynamic and sustainable foods from Kentucky and … [Read more...]

Flavor! Napa Valley® Announces 2012 Dates

Flavor! Napa Valley

Second Annual Celebration of Food, Wine and Fun to be Held from November 14 - 18 NAPA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2012 -- The second annual Flavor! Napa Valley® will be held November 14 – 18, 2012, adding two additional days of hands-on activities and artisanal experiences to the festival lineup. Tickets … [Read more...]

Grgich Hills Cabernet Served At Dinner For China’s Next President

Grgich Hills Estate In Napa Valley

Historic Dinner Showcases One Of America's Finest Wines RUTHERFORD, February 22, 2012 -- The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles hosted a dinner for Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping on February 16th that included Vice President Joe Biden and featured Grgich Hills Estate 2008 Cabernet … [Read more...]

New Wine Collection Targets Millennial Women

Be Wines

New "Be." Collection Poised to Capture Growing Segment of Wine Consumers NAPA, February 23, 2012 -- Treasury Wine Estates, a global wine company with a leading portfolio of new world wines, today announced its new stylish, playful "Be." collection. "Be." wines, designed to appeal to the … [Read more...]

2012 Update: The Wine Country’s Best Values In Fine Dining

Best Values In Fine Dining For 2012

Ranking Of The Wine Country's 16 Michelin Star Restaurants By Zagat Scores (Click here for a more complete listing of the Wine Country's top-rated restaurants.) At the end of 2011, we looked once again at two leading sets of restaurant ratings and developed some basic conclusions about which … [Read more...]

Unconventional Diet Advice For The Holiday Season

Drink Your Carbs

Drink Your Carbs Launches a Guide to Losing Weight Without Giving Up Alcohol SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6, 2011  -- Today, Drink Your Carbs celebrates the launch of drinkyourcarbs.com, a diet and lifestyle guide based on the premise that drinking alcohol is fully compatible with healthy weight … [Read more...]

Three Wine Country Restaurants Among Top 100 In USA

Open Table Logo

Farmhouse Inn, French Laundry, Madrona Manor Share Diners' Choice Award Honors SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2011  -- To celebrate another amazing year in fine dining, OpenTable, Inc. today announced the Diners' Choice Awards for the  top 100 best restaurants in the United States.  The list of winners … [Read more...]

Great Wine Capitals Global Network Announces “Best of Wine Tourism” Award Winners For 2012

Wine Capitals Winners 2012

Beau Wine Tours, Hess Collection and Sterling Vineyards Are Among The Winners And The Winners Are . . . Kara Adamson, Auberge du Soleil; Mecaela Miller, Round Pond Estate; Mark Mathewson, Sterling Vineyards; Jim Caudill, The Hess Collection; Jerry Colton, Ma(i)sonry; Dev Sidhu, Cakebread; Louise … [Read more...]

Three Napa Valley Restaurants Make Open Table’s Top 50 Fit-For-Foodies List

Open Table

Ad Hoc, Ubuntu, and (Surprise!) French Laundry Take Diners' Choice Honors (Editor's Note:If you're interested in Wine Country dining, see also our complete list of Top-Rated Wine Country Restaurants and our blog post, The Wine Country's Best Values In Fine Dining.) SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 21, … [Read more...]

J Vineyards & Winery Commemorates 25th Anniversary With Special Cuvee 20 Sparkling Wine

J Vineyards & Winery, Healdsburg

HEALDSBURG, Calif., July 12, 2011 -- J Vineyards & Winery kicks off its 25th Anniversary with a stylish new look for its popular Cuvee 20 Brut sparkling wine.  The anniversary bottling, adorned with the winery's signature yellow brushstroke "J" logo and a back label QR code that takes you to a … [Read more...]

Gourmet Walks Offers First Foodie Tours in Napa

Gourmet Walks Napa

Award-Winning Company Provides Exclusive Inside Culinary Experience NAPA, June 10, 2011 -- Gourmet Walks has launched the first wine country culinary walking tours in historic downtown Napa twice weekly. The three-hour tours begin at Oxbow Market and end at the Napa Mill. “We started our … [Read more...]

Lake County, California Announces Wine Events For Summer 2011

Lake County, California

LAKEPORT, CA, May 18, 2011 -- Though Lake County is still often referred to as “The Undiscovered Wine Country,” its grape-growing history dates back to the late 1800s with Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino as its next-door neighbors. The influence of the area’s temperate climate combines with the … [Read more...]

“The Party Girl Diet” Offers Weight Loss With Wine And Chocolate

The Party Girl Diet, By Aprilanne Hurley

Fitness Nutrition Expert Aprilanne Hurley Has A Sensible New Way To End Yo-Yo Dieting SAN FRANCISCO, May 10, 2011 -- "The Party Girl Diet" is more than a diet, it's a way of life," Hurley reports. It is a "Survival Guide" for people who have tried every fad-diet out there and are looking for a … [Read more...]

Trinity Oaks Wines Marks 4.4 Million Trees Planted

One Bottle One Tree

Trinity Oaks Wines Supports the Planting of Enough Trees to Cover San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park 10 Times April 20, 2011. St. Helena Calif. >> In under three years, Trinity Oaks Wines has turned its tree-planting program One Bottle, One Tree® into thousands of new forest acres.  This … [Read more...]

B Cellars Winery Announces Enhanced Wine and Food Experiences

B Cellars in Calistoga, Napa Valley

Hell's Kitchen Winner Chef Christina Machamer Will Lead the Winery’s Programs CALISTOGA, Calif. (April 18, 2011) – B Cellars (www.bcellars.com), a premium winery and tasting salon located on the picturesque Silverado Trail in Calistoga, is proud to announce a number of enhanced tasting … [Read more...]

Rodney Strong Vineyards’ Green Light Pledge Oversubscribes At 85 (Thousand!)

Rodney Strong Vineyards Green Light Pledge

April 7, 2011 - Healdsburg, CA: Rodney Strong Vineyards' Green Light Pledge program, in which the winery provided an energy efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb to people who pledged to change out a standard incandescent, garnered over 85,000 pledges in just over a month causing the winery to … [Read more...]

Napa Valley Uncorks New Welcome Center In Downtown Napa

Napa-Valley-Welcome-Center

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. (April 4, 2011) – America’s premier wine, food, arts and wellness capital opened its new Napa Valley Welcome Center on Saturday, April 2. Located at 600 Main Street, along the Riverfront in Downtown Napa, the 2,400-square-foot Center provides the perfect starting point for … [Read more...]

September 2-4 (Labor Day Holiday): Save These Dates For Sonoma Wine Country Weekend

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, Labor Day 2011

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, the premier wine and epicurean event that showcases the birthplace of California wine, has been set for Labor Day Weekend September 2 – 4, 2011. “We have created a premium, three-day destination event that celebrates the vineyards, wines, cuisine, culture, and … [Read more...]

Napa Valley Marriott Completes Two-Year, $7 Million Renovation

Marriott Napa Valley Hotel & Spa

Napa Valley – (March 17, 2011) – After two years of extensive renovation, the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa will officially launch on March 29, 2011 following a $7 million renovation.  Unveiling pristine grounds and an entirely new concept that effortlessly blends the needs of business … [Read more...]

U.S. Overtakes France As Top Wine Consumer

We're No.1!

SAN FRANCISCO, March 15, 2011 -- The U.S. surpassed France as the world's largest wine-consuming nation in 2010, with wine shipments to the U.S. from California, other states and foreign producers growing 2% from the previous year to nearly 330 million cases, a record high for the industry, … [Read more...]

The Napa Valley Collection™ Will Satisfy Wine-And-Art Cravings

THE NAPA VALLEY NEUERFINDUNG by Gordon Huether

NAPA VALLEY, Calif., March 8, 2011 -- The Napa Valley, known for its premium wines, Michelin-star dining, healing hot-spring waters, relaxing spas, and unparalleled natural beauty is also the home of an extraordinary collection – an impressive trove of world-class art for visitors and residents to … [Read more...]

Wine Hours At Select Kimpton Hotels To Feature Local Eco-Artists

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

SAN FRANCISCO, March 3, 2011-- Honoring its 30 year commitment to environmental responsibility and care, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is bringing Earth Day to new heights with the launch of Kimpton EarthCare Week, from April 15 – 22, 2011. From pop-up eco art exhibits to organic spa … [Read more...]

Stags’ Leap Winery Uses Stress To Fight Recession

Manor House at Stags' Leap Winery

(Napa, March 2, 2011) Are you among the millions of Americans experiencing stress during the recession? So is Napa Valley's Stags' Leap Winery, but not in the way you might think. Read the whole story from Bloomberg News and the Press Democrat here: http://bit.ly/fxIgWH. Read more about Stags' … [Read more...]

California Wineries Lead 25% Jump in US Wine Exports

US Wine Exports

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22, 2011-- U.S. wine exports, 90 percent from California, rebounded to a new record of $1.14 billion in winery revenues in 2010, an increase of 25.6 percent over 2009 wine exports. Volume shipments rose 1.9 percent to 425.5 million liters or 47.3 million nine-liter … [Read more...]

Beringer Is The Official Wine of the PGA TOUR

Beringer-Wines-Logo

NAPA, Calif. and PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The PGA TOUR and Beringer Vineyards today announced a four-year extension of their marketing partnership that secures Beringer's designation as the "Official Wine of the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour" through 2014 … [Read more...]

Tra Vigne Pinot & Cioppino Night

Tra Vigne Logo

Wednesday evening my wife and I made what has become an annual excursion to partake of Pinot & Cioppino NIght at St. Helena’s venerable Tra Vigne Restaurant. An annual excursion for us, but a weekly routine for them. We were a little surprised to discover that it’s an every Wednesday … [Read more...]

The Wine Country’s Best Values In Fine Dining

Wine Country Dining

(Click here for a more complete listing of the Wine Country's top-rated restaurants.) We’ve come to the end of 2010 and restaurant critics have released their lists of best restaurants for 2011. We’ve looked at two leading sets of restaurant ratings and have come to some basic conclusions … [Read more...]