This past Thursday at The Wine Company in Temecula, twenty fortunate souls had the opportunity to visit with John Ogden from Sonoma County’s Olson Ogden Wines.  John brought five of his wines along, two Pinot Noirs and three Syrahs all from the 2007 vintage, and shared the Olson Ogden philosophy of winemaking with us while we sampled his fares. John started the winery with good friend Tim Olson in 2002. Tim is the winemaker and John handles publicity. They source all their fruit and have no tasting room, but if you call ahead, you may be invited for a barrel tasting. He told us that their focus is on food friendly wines with good acidity. The first was Read more »

It was a picture perfect day in Temecula Wine Country for Valentine’s Day. I’ll let the photos do the talking. Read more »

Dan Atwood

Dan Atwood launched the Counter Club at the Wine Company in Temecula several months ago. His idea was to have his distributors bring in a selection of wines and let his customers, for a nominal fee, taste the wines with him, waived if you purchase any of the wines presented. It’s been a runaway success. I’ve only missed a few of these events and yesterday’s raised the bar to a new level. Les and Dorian Linkogle, the owners of Briar Rose Winery stopped by with a generous sampling of their wines. They brought former Major League baseball player and Read more »

Future site of Lorimar Winery's visitor center & tasting room

“I’ve got a song in my heart, and I want our visitors to have a song in their hearts when they spend time here.” Temecula’s newest winery, Lorimar, has a music note on several of its bottles. When I asked co-owner Mark Manfield why, that was the answer I received. Mark grew up in the bar and restaurant business, working in his dad’s restaurant in Kansas City, MO since he was nine years old. When he left college he took over the bar and remained in charge until they lost the family business they had owned since 1948 to eminent domain. Mark moved to California and got into real estate and Read more »

The IFWTWA “Conference At Sea” was an opportunity for a group of writers to not only enjoy a cruise on the Caribbean, but also to see the inner workings of a cruise ship. As a wine writer, I was curious to see the challenges faced by a Cellar Master whose job includes making sure that more than a thousand different wine drinkers each week are happy with what they are offered. Fernando Bacsa has a passion for what he does and he clearly loves his work. He has been with Holland America for thirteen years now and says “it’s not just a company, this is my family.” He does have a family at home in the Philippines, though; a wife and three children. His two sons want to follow in his footsteps and are already in training to work for Holland America.

Fernando got a degree in hotel operations in the Philippines and then began work as a catering supervisor in Libya, working for Moammar Kadafi in the Presidential Palace for five years. He was also employed by Nelson Mandela, so you can safely call him Read more »

All this time you’ve probably been wondering – where’s the wine? At Beacon Point in St. Thomas, we found Guava Berry Wine. I’ll tell you about that stop later in the story. We docked at Charlotte Amalie at about 8:00 Wednesday morning, splitting up into three groups. One group chose the Skyride, a seven minute ascent in a gondola with a spectacular island view. Another group opted for Coral World Ocean Park for a chance to get up close and personal with marine life. My group decided to visit The Butterfly Farm. Located near the Havensight Mall, The Butterfly Farm offers visitors a chance to see butterflies at every stage of their growth cycle. The group there is dedicated to learning more about these delicate creatures and how they impact our planet’s environment.

Green Swallowtail

We were blessed with Read more »

After a wonderful day on the Island of Grand Turk, we re-boarded the ms Eurodam and got right back to work. There were wines, avocado oils and balsamic vinegar to taste! Linda Kissam was our host as we tasted 10 wines from Keyways, Tesoro and newcomer Lorimar. The group was impressed with the selection provided and Linda did an excellent job presenting the wines. We then tasted some incredible avocado oils from Oak Mountain: Toasted Onion, Chili, Roasted Garlic, Lemon Pepper and Key Lime, followed by the Dark Sweet Cherry Balsamic Vinegar. Avocado oils have a higher flash point, meaning they can sustain higher cooking temperatures before burning. All of them tasted delicious and the balsamic vinegar was a big hit. After the tasting, we retreated to our cabin to freshen up and then made our way to the Crow’s Nest for the drawing for IFWTWA’s scholarship auction. Not only am I Read more »