Tasting the Rhone Rangers...in my living room...

Yeah, yeah...I'm complaining because I'm still way behind.  I haven't told you about the delicious wines from Dutcher Crossing in Sonoma, or the charming couple who grow and make the noteworthy Laraneta wines from Paso Robles.  And I haven't written about the Napa Nightlife event from LearnAboutWine at the Elevate Lounge downtown, so all those columns will be coming up shortly, but I really felt that I needed to tell you about the truly fun tasting I did on Saturday afternoon, where I participated in the Rhone Rangers Grenache tasting event -- from my living room!

Deep Sea Wines, Part Deux...and a special offer...for those who read to the end...

Finally, time to sit and taste the wines from the Conway Family Wines!  Feeling pretty cocky with my new Riedel stems freshly washed from last night's glassware class at LearnAboutWine.

First, full disclosure - These wines were sent to me by the winery, and the winery rep did treat JD and me to dinner the other night.  It was very pleasant, and I do plan on helping Elizabeth put together an event for the winery somewhere in Burbank.  So stay tuned for that, and for the special offer at the end of this blog!

The Goddess and the Deep Sea...wines, that is...

As mentioned in previous posts, I am way behind, but trying to catch up!  You may or may not recall that while JD and I visited Cambria in February, our wine guru, Dennis at the Cambria Wine Shop, introduced us to a lovely red wine from Arroyo Grande, Deep Sea.  My very brief notes from that visit say "2008 Deep Sea Red - Andrew Adam is the winemaker.  Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache.  Yum.  Big funky Syrah nose.  We loved it.  Bought 2 bottles."

Shortly after I posted that tidbit, I got an email from a marketing rep for Deep Sea who wanted to send me some wine to review.  Her office address was in Burbank, so I suggested we get together for a glass of wine.  We met Elizabeth at a local Daily Grill for dinner and she told me about Conway Family Wines of Rancho Arroyo Grande. 

The Conways have created some interesting blends using grapes from what they have termed 'Maritime Appellations'.  These areas include the Central Coast AVA, Monterey County AVA, Santa Maria Valley AVA, Sta. Rita Hills AVA, and Los Carneros AVA, all of which provide premium wine grapes to the winemaking community. 

Trying to catch up...Georgian Wines

Yikes!  Thought I was holding things together only to discover I hadn't written anything since the end of February!  And JD and I were in such a hurry to get out of town in Feb that I completely forgot to write about an unusual and fun tasting we attended at the Valencia Wine Company back on 2/6.  So here's a quick catch up, of sorts...

06-Feb-2010 - Exploring Georgia - Wines from the Republic of Georgia (the former SSR).  Guy LeLarge at the Valencia Wine invited Gregory Alonzo of Terrell Wines  (pictured, right) to bring in a selection of wines from the oldest wine producing region in the world.  Traditional Georgian grape varietals are not very well known in the West, even though there are some 500 to choose from, of which only 38 are available for commercial consumption.  Georgia is at the same productive latitude as France and Northern California.