Grape Notes

December 19, 2007
GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - George Taber
Author and writer George Taber (Judgement of Paris)had been in town in October to promote his new book, To Cork or Not to Cork, and GrapeRadio scheduled some studio time to talk with him. However, his laryngitis was so severe we all decided to put off the interview until another time....
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December 11, 2007
SHEA VINEYARD TASTING
GrapeRadio sat in with Rusty Gaffney (the Prince of Pinot) for a tasting of 11 Pinot Noirs from the Shea Vineyard in Oregon with some interesting results....
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November 13-14, 2007
NAPA VALLEY - up close at Tra Vigne Restaurant
Knowing we were going to be in wine country, we had previously decided to take advantage of our geographical location and head over to Napa Valley. Our goal was to film head chef Nash Cognetti of St. Helena's Tra Vigne restaurant, as he went through his paces....
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November 10-12, 2007
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
We made our way north again, to continue filming interviews and scenery of what we hope will be a benchmark documentary of the Russian River Valley....
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October 6, 2007
MELVILLE TASTING
Continuing on with our local themed dinners, we sat down with Ron Melville and Stephen Janes from Melville Winery at Antonello's Ristorante in Orange County to explore some Pinots....
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September 1-8, 2007
VISITS IN CHAMPAGNE
We felt very fortunate to receive a offer from the Office of Champagne, USA, to accompany a press tour to cover the 2007 harvest in Champagne. Over the course of eight days, we visited nine Champagne houses/growers....
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August 29, 2007
CHATEAUNEUF DU PAPE TASTING
Our little Orange County bunch descended on the American Canyon Lodge, a place tucked away in Laguna Beach, for a night of Chateauneuf du Pape. Rob and Francine had arranged the wines in flights, and we were ready to go at it....
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August 4-5, 2007
SANTA YNEZ WINERY VISITS
Finding myself up in Santa Barbara County, I took the opportunity to pay a second visit to Jonata Vineyards (the large Ballard Canyon property owned by the Screaming Eagle pair, Banks and Kronke), as well as making a stop at Buttonwood to see how the new winemaker, Karen Steinwachs (former Fiddlehead asst.) was doing in her new digs....
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July 28, 2007
RIVERS MARIE TASTING
What could have easily been a "Wines of Thomas Brown" tasting, instead focused on his own label, Rivers Marie - which at present consists of Pinot Noir and Cabernet....
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July 19, 2007
GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - Richard Geoffroy, Dom Perignon
We had the rare opportunity to sit down with the Chef de Caves (winemaker, cellar master) of Moët & Chandon's Dom Perignon, Richard Geoffroy....
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July 3, 2007
PINOT NOIR TASTING - VINTAGE 2005
We held a blind (wines are bagged to avoid label bias) tasting, and I have to admit some surprise at not seeing any dups. Interestingly, bagged is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to find....
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June 22-24, 2007
2007 WINE & FIRE
Having attended the first [annual] 2006 Wine & Fire event, there was no way we were going to miss this year's event.....
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June 16, 2007
THE WINES OF BOB FOLEY
With the recent popularity of "pay it forward" events (SQN, Aubert, Kosta Browne, Loring, etc.), several OC locals decided to organize one for the wines of Bob Foley (Pride, Switchback Ridge, Hourglass, Robert Foley). The challenge was accepted by Steve Christle, and the dinner was held at Antonello Ristorante, near South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa....
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June 7-9, 2007
2007 AUCTION NAPA VALLEY
Once again, GrapeRadio was in attendance at the annual Auction Napa Valley. Arriving late Wednesday, we immediately headed for Taylor's Refresher before heading to the Silver Rose, our B&B in Calistoga....
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June 1-2, 2007
2007 VINTAGE WALLA WALLA
GrapeRadio attended Vintage Walla Walla, a wine and food festival that showcases the vineyards and wineries of the Walla Walla Valley, an AVA that straddles the states of Washington and Oregon....
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May 26, 2007
PINOT NOIR TASTING
Recently, Rusty Gaffney (PinotFile) and I sat down to blind taste 18 Pinots (wines are bagged to avoid label bias). This is always instructive, and sometimes even a bit humiliating....
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May 3-5, 2007
2007 HOSPICE DU RHONE
Arriving on Wednesday for the 15th annual event, we started off the evening with an offline wine dinner at Ristorante da Gaetano. Pinot Noir was the theme, and we had a table full. Thursday was the Syrah shootout, followed by yet another offline dinner....
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April 21, 2007
TRAVELING WITH WINE - taking wine on a cruise
Traveling with wine can sometimes be logistically difficult, assuming it's even permitted by a cruise line. So, basically you have a couple of options....
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April 19, 2007
GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - Stephen Tanzer
GrapeRadio had the opportunity to sit down with Stephen Tanzer (International Wine Cellar) for another interesting interview...
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March 22-25, 2007
ROAD TRIP - interviews & visits to Mid-Atlantic wineries
We were going to be in Washington D.C. so we thought, what the heck - let's see some if there are some wineries in the area...
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March 21, 2007
WASHINGTON DC - press conference & interviews
We attended a press conference in Washington DC - one that emphasized truth in labeling laws, in order to protect wine names and places of origin...
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March 10, 2007
SANTA BARBARA FUTURES TASTING
The Annual SB Futures tasting held at the Wine Cask in Santa Barbara. For now, a quick summary - I will have the wine reviews posted soon...
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March 4-6, 2007
SONOMA & MENDOCINO CO - visits and interviews
GrapeRadio made the trek up to Northern California to visit the Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Mendocino Co, for interviews with Burt Williams, David Hirsch, and ...
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March 1-3, 2007
WORLD OF PINOT NOIR
Attended the 2007 World of Pinot Noir. Not much to report now, but a photojournal and some notes should be forthcoming...
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February 28, 2007
MOVIE REVIEW - A Good Year
I received an advance look at the newest Russell Crowe movie, A Good Year. In a nutshell, I liked it! No, it's not going to win an academy award, but to use a wine analogy, it's a good drink...
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February 22, 2007
CARGASACCHI TASTING
Attended a tasting of Peter Cargasacchi's wines (Point Concepcion, Cargasacchi) at a local wine store. Kind of fun to see Peter in this kind of setting...
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February 15, 2007
SANTA LUCIA HIGHLANDS TASTING
The usual monthly get-together of the south Orange County bunch. This month - wines from Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County...
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February 5, 2007
GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - Michael Trujillo, Karl Lawrence Winery
GrapeRadio had the opportunity to sit down with Michael Trujillo of KarL Lawrence for an interesting interview. Michael has recently taken over the reins of Sequoia Grove, so big things should be happening to that label as well...
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February 3, 2007
KOSTA BROWNE OFFLINE
Thirty people attended a tasting of several flights of Kosta Browne Pinots, thanks to the donations of several in attendance...
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February 3, 2007
VISIT TO THOMPKIN CELLARS
I was able to pay a visit to Jeff Dobkin, who along with his wife Julie Thompson-Dobkin, own Thompkin Cellars, and small 1,000 case production winery located in Costa Mesa, CA...
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February 3, 2007
OREGON PINOT NOIR TASTING
I sat in with with Rusty Gaffney (the Prince of Pinot) for a tasting of 17 Pinot Noirs from Oregon. Nice cross section of wines...
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January 29, 2007
LITTORAI TASTING
GrapeRadio sat in with Rusty Gaffney (the Prince of Pinot), for a short vertical of Littorai Pinot Noirs, which is one of the more comprehensive looks I've had at the label...
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January 26, 2007
AUSSIE TASTING
Headed up to Northridge for this tasting, and 2 hrs and 70 miles later we were there. The theme was Aussie - those with high review scores...
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January 22, 2007
GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW - Frederic Panaiotis, Veuve Clicquot
GrapeRadio headed up to LaLa Land (aka Hollywood) to sit down with Frederic Paniotis, one of several winemakers from Veuve Clicquot for an interview...
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January 21, 2007
MELVILLE CLONAL TASTING
Melville Vnyds makes several bottlings of specific clones available, and we were able to have our own seminar, do our own blending, etc...
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