Santa Barbara County wines are the closest backyard wine region to Los Angeles. “It’s one of the most diverse regions to produce some of the best grapes in the world,” said organizer Allison Levine from Please The Palate, welcoming a group of oenophiles to a Santa Barbara Wine Road Trip luncheon. “The wine region is located…
Category: Wine-tasting
Free Wine Tasting & Tour in LA
Right in the heart of Los Angeles is the San Antonio Winery offering locals and visitors FREE tastes of their award-winning favorite wines that include wonderful whites, robust reds, Champagnes, semi-sweet and sweet wines. Afterwards, take a tour of the winery to learn about how wine was originally made by the Franciscan Fathers of the early Spanish…
10 Most Drinkable Australian Wines
After attending an Australian wine tasting seminar at The Church Key last week during Savour Australia Los Angeles, I learned about a variety of wonderful wines produced in Southern Australia. The focus was on the fertile regions of Barossa, Hunter Valley, Margaret River, and McLaren Vale. Australia began making wine over two centuries ago. Some of…
Fabulous French Passion Jura Wines
In the eastern region of France are 200 estates producing Jura wines. They account for less than 1% of national wine production from all of France’s wine regions, yet this area is known as “the grandest of the small wine regions.” With 5 distinct varietals there is an ideal wine to enjoy as an aperitif…
The Magnificent Masters of Taste
It was a spectacular day to savor the finer things in life on the field of the historic Rose Bowl during Masters of Taste on Sunday, April 3. The new outdoor, luxury culinary festival opened at 3 p.m. to the public as a fundraiser for Union Station. Approximately 2,000 influential food and beverage enthusiasts enjoyed…
Italain Wine 101
A cohort of mine, Allison Levine is a wine and spirits expert @plsthepalate. She invited me to the Slow Wine 2016 Tasting at the elegant Taglyan complex on Vine Street in Los Angeles to learn about Italian wines. There were almost 60 exhibitors pouring at least three tastes of their different wines. What I found…
Spin The Bottle is Fun!
I was invited to Spin The Bottle with my husband last Friday night in Toluca Lake to sip and learn about a few wines, and to meet the Proprietor/President Doug LaGambina. Born in Brooklyn, LaGambina with an Italian background, enjoys a good bottle of wine. When he moved to Los Angeles in 1997 as a…
The Journey from Croatia to Napa Valley
Born into a wine making family in the town of Desne on Croatia‘s coastal region of Dalmatia, Mike Grgich gained international respect for being the wine maker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena–Chardonnay that shined over several white Burgundy wines in the wine tasting event that became known as the Judgement of Paris at the Paris…
Healthy Eating is a Breeze
After experiencing a Paleo dinner prepared by Chef Ali Parvinjah last Saturday night at Breeze Restaurant and Bar, I vowed to start my New Year’s resolution early, by eating like my ancient ancestors in the Paleolithic era. Chef Ali at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza is an expert at Paleo cooking and inspired me to…
Fleming’s Steakhouse and Bar at L.A. Live
What makes Fleming’s Steakhouse different from other steakhouses is their tableside martini. The bartenders make eight varieties including a vintage vodka martini, appletini, and sparkling peach martini. A server picks up the creative cocktail from the bar and brings a silver martini shaker and iced cold martini glass to the table. He shakes it for about…
Celebrate a Special Event at Monte De Oro Winery
The minute I walked into Monte De Oro Winery, I looked at my husband and said, “We should have a party here.” Open 1 ½ years ago, this winery is owned by 67 families (investors) throughout the U.S., England and South Africa. What makes this winery special is their glass floor in the middle of the tasting…
Europa Village – A Taste of Spain, Italy and France
Visit the ambience of Spain, France and Italy while sipping wines at Temecula’s Europa Village. Opened 3 ½ months ago, they put a lot of money into their charming temporary tasting facility. It’s a picturesque location for sipping wine as visitors step inside the front garden filled with iceberg roses and olive trees overlooking acres of…
