SEE-LA hires new executive director

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2012/07/see-la-executive-director-hollywood-farmers-market.html

Gewürztraminer Muscat Viognier Roussanne Marsanne

Where is the Priorat?

Where is the Priorat wine region? The Priorat has vaulted into one of the most prestigious wine regions of the world. It is located in Spain due west of the city of Tarragonia on the east coast of Spain. Just north of Tarragonia on the coast is Barcelona. The Priorat wine area has been awarded […]

The post Where is the Priorat? appeared first on Wine Country Getaways.

Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/where-is-the-priorat/

Syrah or Shiraz Zinfandel Grenache Sangiovese Gamay

$10 of $75 at Whole Foods via AmEx Sync

If you've got an American Express card (or cards!) you can enjoy $10 off a $75+ purchase at Whole Foods Market. You can get this deal once for each AmEx card you have - even cards for authorized users - so you can effectively get 13.3% off at Whole Foods for $75 times how ever many AmEx cards you have.

The deal needs to be activated for each AmEx card you want to use. The easiest way to do this is by logging into your AmEx account and navigating to "Offers for You". If you want to activate the deal for multiple cards, use the multi-tab browser trick by exposing the offer for each card then clicking each offer to enable it for all of your cards.

If you don't see the offer available for one or more of your cards you can also activate it via Twitter:

Tweet #AmexWholeFoods, get $10 back 1x on $75+ qual purch at Whole Foods w/cnctd Amex Card! RegLtd Exp 9/30 Terms:http://t.co/e3k3PaF368
? Whole Foods Market (@WholeFoods) July 21, 2014

To avoid overshoot consider buying $75 gift cards or paying for larger transactions with multiple $75 swipes (a split tender) if your cashier can figure out how to do that.

Using these techniques you should be able to get 13.3% off on groceries. Or perhaps more relevantly applicable to this wine blog, stack this offer with Whole Foods typical 10% off 6+ bottle sale pricing. Or use it to get a discount on items they normally don't allow discounts on like Veuve Clicquot.

If you have questions on this feel free to drop me an email: wellesleywinepress@gmail.com
Or on Twitter: @RobertDwyer

I'd love it if you subscribed to the WWP for future updates.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/eid1-uG97Eo/10-of-75-at-whole-foods-via-amex-sync.html

Santa Barbara Shafer Shafer Firebreak Sinskey Smith Madrone

Carneros for a quick wine country getaway

Carneros is a quick wine country getaway Carneros is a terrific wine country to visit. It is a quick and easy ride from San Francisco or Oakland. When traffic is light, you can be there in slightly less than one hour. Carneros wine country in some respects is lost in the shadow of the great […]

The post Carneros for a quick wine country getaway appeared first on Wine Country Getaways.

Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/carneros-quick-wine-country-getaway/

Cain Cuvee Castoro Caymus Ch. St. Jean Ch. Souverain

Behind the Scenes: An Interview with Yours Truly on Grape Collective

I'm prone to intense, serious staring during winery visits

I've been banging away here on this blog since 2008. And for the most part I've avoided extended ramblings about inside-baseball topics like leveraging social media, how to start a blog, and sharing pictures of my kids. So forgive me this quick self-indulgent detour.

I got an email last week from Jameson Fink from Grape Collective (and other online wine properties) asking if I'd be interested in participating in an interview series they've been doing with wine bloggers and wine industry personalities. Knowing Jameson mostly through Twitter (@JamesonFink) I was definitely up for taking part.

If you've had a blog for any period of time you'll notice you get spammy requests for all sorts of things, and a request for an interview usually turns into unpaid writing.

A common fallacy about bloggers is that we're starving for things to write about. On the contrary I find I often feel guilty for not writing about things I feel I should write about and that I've been neglecting the blog for too long.

But the moment I received the questions Jameson emailed me I was thrilled to immediately respond.

Because the questions were so insightful and summarized exactly what's on my mind better than I could have.

Jameson could write a book on how to conduct an interview. He could easily hang with Terry Gross. Coming from the perspective of an interviewee - the key to conducting a good interview is to do the hard work of researching a subject's background and identifying the unique interesting things readers would find entertaining.

Head on over to Grape Collective to check out the interview.

We talk about Tuscany, wine-centered kid-friendly vacations, how to leverage points & miles to visit wine regions, Monastrell, and Northern Arizona University (NAU Alumni represent!). Something for everyone.

And for a little bonus content check out my view on the Top 10 Places to Wine & Dine in Boston.

My thanks to Jameson for the opportunity and his amazing work. And thanks for reading these past six years. I'll look forward to continuing the conversation.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/gmqFo6RfhXE/behind-scenes-interview-with-yours.html

Mondavi Pine Ridge Phelps Pastiche Ritchie Creek Rochioli

?Lafite is out, Conti is in.?

China pivots to Burgundy. Source: Theatlantic Via: The Atlantic Thankfully, the wine market’s sour turn could also just be a sign of changing tastes. Eighty-six of the 100 bottles Liv-ex tracks are Bordeaux, the traditional king of fine wine. But as the Financial Times wrote in May, recent auctions suggest that Hong Kong buyers, perhaps […]

“Lafite is out, Conti is in.” originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/fUtBR47grfE/

Shafer Shafer Firebreak Sinskey Smith Madrone Tablas Creek

Decoding Orin Swift Winemaker Dave Phinney's "E" Spanish Red

I keep seeing email offers for this "E" wine and seeing it on retailer shelves so I decided to buy a bottle of it. I vaguely knew that it was part of Orin Swift (the Prisoner being probably their most famous wine) winemaker's foray into international wines.

Reading a bit more about it, it sounds like these are old world grapes made in a new world style. This particular bottling, E-2 (the E is for Esapana, and this is their second non-vintage bottling from Spain), is comprised of red grapes from some of Spain's most desirable regions: Priorat, Jumilla, Toro, Rioja, and Ribera del Duero.

For me, Spain is the next best place to look if you've gotten into wine through California and you're looking to branch out. The wines have a similar flavor profile and are more wallet-friendly. You can't just throw darts but it doesn't take much sleuthing to find tremendous value wines from Spain.

So this wine sounds right in my wheelhouse. And tasting it - it is. Rich, juicy fruit - it presents itself with more "sweetness" (a term I hesitate to use as it implies residual sugar, but I don't know how else to say it) than Alto Moncayo Veraton for example. Where Alto Moncayo (Veraton and proper) differentiate themselves compared to this E bottling is that Alto Moncayo brings more savory notes, which I find tremendously appealing when combined with rich fruit and vibrant acidity.

I'd rate the E-2 in the 88-89 point range.

According to Wine.com Robert Parker went nuts for these wines:

If you judge wines on how they taste and the degree of pleasure they offer, they are all incredible efforts. The three new cuvees I tasted are among the finest wine values one could hope to find. Moreover, there are 50,000 cases of each, no easy feat given the grapes Phinney has accessed and the quality he has turned out. As of now, Dave Phinney might be my ?value winemaker of the year? candidate. P.S. It?s too expensive for this report, but I am including it as an hommage to what Dave Phinney has achieved. If there are better wines for under $20 a bottle in the world today, please share that information with The Wine Advocate.
93 Points The Wine Advocate

You can buy this at Wine.com using code AMEX30 to get $30 off $100. Use it to round out a purchase at just over $100. At $17.99 in Massachusetts with 30% off, free shipping and no tax that would bring the price down to ~$12.59 a bottle. More info on how to maximize the Wine.com deal here.

Click here to shop for this on Wine.com (affiliate link):
Locations by Dave Phinney E on Wine.com

Question of the Day: Have you had any of these Locations wines from Dave Phinney? If so, what did you think?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/c_sbOKI6-_g/decoding-orin-swift-winemaker-dave.html

Talley Whitehall Lane Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc Riesling