Judith Smelser Wineries

A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Part 6 – The Last Day

About this series: After years of loving (and semi-seriously studying) wine, I finally took my first trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was a wonderful week of sunny days, cool nights, beautiful views, and beautiful wines. These are the impressions, discoveries, favorites, and surprises from my journey.

Part 1: Chateau Montelena, CADE, Pride
Part 2: Frog’s Leap, Heitz, Mumm Napa
Part 3: Y. Rousseau, Antica, Failla
Part 4: Stony Hill, Domaine Chandon
Part 5: Fort Ross, Gary Farrell

Day 7, Part 2 – Friday, Aug 5

We had no more appointments after Gary Farrell, but it was our last day in Wine Country, so …

Joseph Swan: No Fountains or Gardens, Just Great Wine

I looked on the map and noticed Joseph Swan was just down the road. I’ve enjoyed their pinots in the past, so I gave them a call to see if we could come by.

“Sure!” said the nice male voice on the other end of the line. “We don’t have the views they have up there at Gary Farrell, but we’ll be here!”

Continue reading “A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Part 6 – The Last Day” →

Judith Smelser Wineries

A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Onward to Sonoma – Fort Ross & Gary Farrell

About this series: After years of loving (and semi-seriously studying) wine, I finally took my first trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was a wonderful week of sunny days, cool nights, beautiful views, and beautiful wines. These are the impressions, discoveries, favorites, and surprises from my journey.

Part 1: Chateau Montelena, CADE, Pride
Part 2: Frog’s Leap, Heitz, Mumm Napa
Part 3: Y. Rousseau, Antica, Failla
Part 4: Stony Hill, Domaine Chandon

This being my first trip to California Wine Country, I focused mainly on Napa, but I couldn’t leave without a little taste of Sonoma too. We managed to fit quite a lot into just a day and a half, including a few well-known places and one hidden gem.

Continue reading “A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Onward to Sonoma – Fort Ross & Gary Farrell” →

Judith Smelser Wineries

A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Stony Hill, Domaine Carneros

About this series: After years of loving (and semi-seriously studying) wine, I finally took my first trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was a wonderful week of sunny days, cool nights, beautiful views, and beautiful wines. These are the impressions, discoveries, favorites, and surprises from my journey.

Part 1: Montelena, CADE, Pride
Part 2: Frog’s Leap, Heitz, Mumm
Part 3: Y. Rousseau, Antica, Failla

Farewell Napa, Sonoma Bound

On Wednesday and Thursday, we said goodbye to Napa with one historic and refreshingly white (wine) Napa experience, followed by an iconic (and bubbly) one.

Continue reading “A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Stony Hill, Domaine Carneros” →

Judith Smelser Wineries

A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Y. Rousseau, Antica, Failla

About this series: After years of loving (and semi-seriously studying) wine, I finally took my first trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was a wonderful week of sunny days, cool nights, beautiful views, and beautiful wines. These are the impressions, discoveries, favorites, and surprises from my journey.
Read Part 1: Chateau Montelena, CADE, Pride
Read Part 2: Frog’s Leap, Heitz, Mumm Napa

Day 4 – Tuesday Aug 2

If Monday focused on well-known wineries in the middle of the action, Tuesday was the opposite. From a tiny boutique outfit tucked away in an office park south of downtown Napa to the little-known Atlas Peak outpost of a storied Italian wine family, this was definitely a day of discovery!

Continue reading “A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Y. Rousseau, Antica, Failla” →

Judith Smelser Wineries

A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Frog’s Leap, Heitz & Mumm

About this series: After years of loving (and semi-seriously studying) wine, I finally took my first trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was a wonderful week of sunny days, cool nights, beautiful views, and beautiful wines. These are the impressions, discoveries, favorites, and surprises from my journey.

Day 3 – Monday, Aug 1

We spent our first two days in Napa at wineries that were a little off the beaten path. I assumed the weekend crowds (which turned out not to be so large after all) would thin out on Monday and that we could safely venture into the heart of the valley, where wineries seem to dot every inch of the roads.

Continue reading “A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Frog’s Leap, Heitz & Mumm” →

Judith Smelser Wineries

A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Part 1

About this series: After years of loving (and semi-seriously studying) wine, I finally took my first trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was a wonderful week of sunny days, cool nights, beautiful views, and beautiful wines. These are the impressions, discoveries, favorites, and surprises from my journey.

Continue reading “A Florida Oenophile in California Wine Country: Part 1” →

Judith Smelser Wine Reviews

2008 Chapelle de Maillac

I don’t usually post wine reviews – I prefer to write about wine experiences. But tonight, I opened a wine that was an experience.

I bought this 2008 Roger Sabon Chapelle de Maillac, from Lirac in France’s southern Rhone, back in January during a sale at Tim’s Wine Market in Orlando. I tasted it in the store and knew I needed to drink it fairly soon. That’s how I rationalized opening an aged wine by myself, to enjoy on my porch on a beautiful summer Sunday evening in Florida.

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Judith Smelser Wineries

Missouri Wine Country holds secrets of America’s wine history

Independence Day is a great time to celebrate American wines. But I’m not going to talk about California or Washington or Oregon. No, I’m going to talk about … Missouri.

Believe it or not, the Show-Me State was America’s second largest wine producer in the 19th century, thanks to the know-how of German immigrants who settled near the town of Hermann.

Hermann Church
Echoes of Germany in Hermann, MO

Missouri provided much of the rootstock that saved Europe’s wine industry from the scourge of phylloxera in the mid 19th century. The state is also home to home to the country’s first federally-designated AVA (American Viticultural Area).

Prohibition and anti-German sentiment after the first World War decimated the state’s winemaking industry in the early 20th century, but it’s been making a comeback in recent decades.

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Judith Smelser Tastings, Wine Experiences, Wine Reviews

Canadian Wines for Victoria Day

Americans are heading into the Memorial Day weekend today (stay tuned for some holiday beach wine reviews), but Canadians celebrated their national holiday this past Monday.

Neither I nor my British husband had ever heard of Victoria Day. They don’t observe it in the U.K – I guess the Brits aren’t as excited as the Canadians about that particular monarch.

Canada lantern
Maple leaf lanterns festooned Orlando’s Victoria Day celebration

But that didn’t stop us from celebrating with Orlando’s Canadian community at a heck of a party organized by our friend Faiyaz Kara, food critic for the Orlando Weekly  … and proud Canadian.

The event – which benefited Orlando chef Kevin Fonzo‘s charitable foundation – pitted local chefs against each other to see who had the best take on Canada’s national specialty, poutine.

For the uninitiated (or un-Canadian), poutine is a dish comprised of french fries drenched in gravy, topped with cheese curds. The chefs at this event added meat and a whole lot more. This was not a low-fat affair.

But what excited me most – as you might imagine – was that the evening’s festivities also included a tasting of five Canadian wines, all from the Niagara region! We don’t get many Canadian wines this far south of the border, so this was a real treat. And no, they weren’t all icewines!

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