The 2010 Portland Independent Wine Festival that took place on May 8 is a very manageable tour de force that promotes hand crafted artisanal wines and winemakers. This is the second post on the festival which focuses on Byron Dooley, the enthusiastic and innovative winemaker and owner of the Seven of Hearts brand. [ed. pen and ink drawing above captures Dooley's Luminous Hills vineyard by Yamhill artist Terry Peasley] (more…)

Holidays are here. tBoW is getting ready for a big Xmas day party. Touring local wineries today. Here is my holiday bling collection courtesy of a Downtown LA vendor. Have to make a shopping stop there next week. Here are the wines bringing holiday cheer.
2005 Fitou Bel Armant Chateau Champ des Souers $15: This may be the third time tBoW has reviewed this wonderful little Languedoc/Corbieres wine from Beck Wasserman. Toffee nose, soft, vanilla, fruity. Balanced well. Blends Grenache, Carignan and Mourvèdre. Just very pleasant and completely enjoyable. 13.5% (more…)

Thanksgiving is an extravaganza to be indulged at every age. The day is all about indulgence in your favorite activities. AMC has all the Godfather movies. There are college hoops, college football and the pros. A buncha abundanza. Many folks will make some effort to re-enact or recognize the “first” Thanksgiving. There will be plenty of political talk at the table. Some adult may look at everyone and suggest everyone say what are they thankful for today. Should that happen here is how tBoW will reply [ed. it did, he did]. (more…)

Last minute travel to Lake Tahoe. No time to plan the wine program. Will have to rely upon the fetching wench to quench the thirst of masses (including tBoW). She turns in a stellar performance in the wine department and in the boggle pit and makes a very strong case why Navarro Vineyards and Winery of Mendocino belongs in the constellation of Under-the-Radar stars along with Tablas Creek of Paso Robles.
2007 Canayli Vermentino di Gallura $18: Torrontes-like given the oily texture, fruity flavors. Somewhat rich. Slight bitterness. Very good choice for the just-flew-in from-LA arrival wine. 13.5%
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SUMMER’S BEST LOCAL EVENT IS COMING UP JUNE 13 & 14. I am referring to the TOPANGA CANYON ART STUDIOS TOUR: tBoW travels through Topanga Canyon often. Once a year the Topanga cooperative art gallery hosts a tour of local artists who live in the canyon. This is hands-down the best one day summer activity for people who want to know more about the venerable, charming and mysterious canyon. If you want to see how and where Topanga artists live then you must buy a ticket at the gallery and spend Saturday and/or Sunday June 13 & 14 driving around Topanga. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (more…)

Jim Morrison sang “Strange days have found us. Strange days have tracked us down. They’re going to destroy our casual joys<. Can we use his gravesite as metaphor for the 2008/9 economic collapse? His fevered fans have trashed his grave like our fevered wall streeters trashed…you get the point. I hope we all listen to his moody lyrics and act with the anger he showed singing. Troubled rock stars are a cliché today. We can only hope boom-to-bust traders, AIG executives and hedge fund managers will become tired clichés tomorrow. I can foresee a new era of celebreality shows that replace the Bad Girls Club; maybe Broke Brokers and Bad Bankers, or TARP Traders; re-enact the hey-day of unbounded greed and self-interest. Thursdays at 9:00 on the WB. Strange days have come!!
Yeh!! (more…)

Just because the economy is in the tank does not mean we cannot enjoy fine wine. Huddling with pals amidst the economic collapse can prove a good tonic. You just have to know how to balance the U20s with the O50s. Here is our plan for finding a way to balance U20 selections with O50 [ed. over $50] indulgences. Purge your cellar and scour the sales bins at local high end retailers for the O50s. Hit the Kirkland bins for the U20s. Pressure your wine pal into playing the piano (no please OK). Now you can create some spice and verve for a special event like Valentines Day at the home of a dear pals. We had our own little V Day massacre with IGTY’s [ed. igottatellya] Williams Selyem collection showing how it all gets done. (more…)

I have begun to think of my cellar as a bunker. Members of the tBoW tasting team seem to share this view. The Act of Purging is as essential as other necessary functions that keep a storage center clean. We don’t want “impacted” cellars. Here is what the Venice tBoW tasting team came up with recently at a hosted dinner on a balmy winter Saturday night in LA. (more…)

It is axiomatic to oenophiles that you have to sit on some wines for awhile so the wine can develop in the bottle. I am coming to the conclusion that this is just one more corollary to the magic chef and the hallowed ground marketing themes that have created the Parker/Rolland two headed monster. Wine does age in the bottle. But does it get better? Recent pourings/tasting have concluded otherwise. The 1996 Burgundies flopped like Vlade Divac taking a charge. And here we have some pinot noir bottlings from the fabled Santa Rita Hills that also fell well below high expectations when purchased on release. (more…)

As they say in the blippin teen franchise Bring It On movies…it’s already been brung…al fresco dinner party hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Dotoré. Four couples with open minds and palates giving the tBoW team a clear shot at tasting wines we like to drink OR anything we care to pull from the cellar. The guests are in training and bring what they can find in a decent wine shop that might keep up in the wineocracy. (more…)