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Smoke Gets in Your…Vines
A smattering of Napa Valley wineries and swaths of their premium vineyards suffered heavy damage or were gutted, as the Glass fire swept through in the midst of an already challenging wine grape harvest.
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How I’m Buying Wine These Days at a Great Discount
Here’s the story of how I’m buying $80 wine for $13 and how you should hopefully see some deals at your local retailer in the near future.
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Notes Regarding a Cheese Exchange, A Wine Tasting and Hand Sanitizer: You’ll Get It
I am usually wary of private label products…but in the case of Smart & Final their cheese selection is quite good and very inexpensive compared to the other stores.
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What Started Out Big is Better Small
A Shake Shack mention in a news story inspires me not make their burger but rather their chicken sandwich with the intention of incorporating the sandwich into my catering offerings in a smaller, slider size.
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So What To Do When a PR Lady Offers to Send Three Bottles of Wine?
So I get an email from a woman with a public relations firm asking me if I would entertain receiving three bottles of wine from a winery not 20 minutes away from us in Sebastopol.
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Our Last Winemaker
Moondance Cellars is a bit off the beaten track and doesn’t exactly have flashing lights and a bunch of big signs in front of it telling you that you’re welcome to come in….
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Tasting Out of Town Wine in Town and Bad Biscuits
It was our pleasure to have toured down the Oregon’s Willamette Valley some eight years ago where we enjoyed the casualness of the area and found the wines to be very good so I was quite happy…
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You May be Jarred by My Tomato Sauce Review
I realize this statement may cause shock and turned up noses when I suggest that I often use a jared tomato sauce when a recipe only calls for a cup or two as a base for building a more complicated recipe. I usually grab whatever is on sale…
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Wine, Wine Everywhere – But Not So Great Chicken Sandwich News
Yes I know the title says there’s too much wine and the picture is McDonald’s Chicken Sandwiches but…
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Bubbles, Bubbles and Bubbles 2019
We recently visited Roederer and had the opportunity to taste the same wines in both formats and confirmed what I always believed that the larger format really makes a difference…
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A Fowl Report- ‘Now That’s a Piece of chicken”
“That’s a piece of chicken!” said a surprised tasting panel member. The truly Brioche bun holds a big, thick well-cooked solid piece of chicken with two big slices of pickle so you get pickle in every bite.
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Learning from Two Wine Legends
It was my good fortune to have recently attended a forum featuring five great Sonoma County winemaking pioneers and it was my pleasure to have had a few moments with two of the them, David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyards and David Ramey of Ramey Wine Cellars.
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Whose Bubbles are These?
It has come to my tasting attention over the last year or so that a number of wineries known for their big reds and luscious whites are now featuring a sparkling wine when in fact just months earlier there was none. Sparkling wine doesn’t just happen over the weekend and is a rather long-term and costly project…
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Woody's Whines // Woody's thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects
Smoke Gets in Your….Vines
Writing from the edge of the Russian River in Sonoma County It pains me to tell you that as of this writing in the first days of October, fires are raging across Napa and in portions of Sonoma County. Our area was threatened earlier in…
Notes Regarding a Cheese Exchange, A Wine Tasting and Hand Sanitizer: You’ll Get It
Writing from the edge of the Russian River in Sonoma County A Cheesy Exchange It took some time searching for local grocery and wine sources after our move, places where I could buy for wholesale or at least somewhat less than standard grocery prices. We…
Wine Reviews // Tasty and reasonably priced reviews
How I’m Buying Wine These Days at a Great Discount
Writing from the edge of the Russian River in Sonoma County I’ll get to discounted wine in a minute but thought I’d let you know I’ll also be sharing info on food friendly wines; Popeyes a year later; how Trumps bad tariffs are killing wine…
Bordeaux You Could Actually Buy
Research tells me that the second label bottles of many Bordeaux wines – that’s what doesn’t fit in the first blend of major Chateaus, will be outstanding and probably at very good prices, a reflection of the old saw, “a rising tide lifts all boats”…..
Woody's Recipes // Great meals to go with great wines
Salmon Fillet Marinated in Olive Oil, Tarragon, Mustard, Shallot, and Dill
Wine to pour is a full bodied Sauvignon Blanc
Ham Glazed with Dr Pepper and Prunes
The sweet, fruity Dr Pepper glaze on this juicy ham pairs best with an equally easygoing, fruity wine—Zinfandel from the Lodi region.
Latest Podcasts // Audio from interviews with the industry greats
podcast post
Our most recent wine adventure was a week long visit to the Willamette Valley wine country of western Oregon, what a remarkable area and what spectacular wines. It was the first week of October and the weather was terrific, sunny, warm and windy – they…
Chef and Retailer Michael Chiarello
As I travel and taste I always have my recorder and camera with me and I share those interviews with you at What Goes With What. We met at a wine tasting event in Chicago and on a trip to Napa and Sonoma I had an opportunity…