A few weeks ago we were invited to a tasting sponsored by the Soave Consortium of Italy, which took place at the Boarding House Restaurant in Chicago. It’s rare when you attend a tasting of white wine only, but that’s what made the visit intriguing. Master Sommilier Evan Goldstein co hosted the event with Soave Enologest Giovanni Ponchia. We spoke with Giovanni just before the start of the event and gained detailed insight into the wines of Soave.

Learn more by visiting www.ilsoave.com

Growing up on a farm is a natural beginning for a winemaker. Russ Weis, President of Silverado Vineyards in Napa Valley may not appear to be typical farmer, but his roots are right outside his door.  The Silverado Vineyards tasting room sits (of course) on the well known Silverado Trail in the Stag’s Leap District of Napa Valley. The stunningly beautiful tasting room sits atop a hill with magnificent views of Napa, which is where we met with Russ to talk about his personal wine trail.

Learn more by visiting www.silveradovineyards.com

Napa Valley has several excellent AVA’s which produce some of the finest

wines you can find. In 2011, the Coombsville area was giving it’s official designation

as an AVA and the area has consistently produced fantastic wines. In fact many

wines poured at the Auction Napa Valley Barrel Auction were from Coombsville.

Arrow & Branch is a relatively new label which calls Coombsville home. We met with

General Manager Elizabeth Robertis in the garden of the property and enjoyed

a Coombsville tasting.

Learn more by visiting www.arrowandbranch.com

Why is the wine business cool? It’s cool when you can create a space and spend $8 million dollars and call it the Boneyard Cellar. Rodney Strong Winemaker Justin Seidenfeld did just that by designing an innovate type of tank…that is square. The challenge was use of space and with Justin’s background, the winery supported his vision. That’s pretty cool.

Learn more by visiting www.rodneystrong.com

World famous winemaker Jean-Charles Boisset talks about bubbles!!