Elizabeth Smith

Bourgogne is world renowned for its wines from 84 Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée (AOCs) and diverse Climats (plots). One of the regional AOCs is Mâcon, Bourgogne’s southern, lesser-known area of quality and value wines. Producers in the Mâconnais…

Within a 15-mile stretch of Oregon’s NE North Valley Road in Yamhill, which becomes NE Bell Road traveling east to Newberg, one can spend a day visiting three boutiques, family-owned wineries each in a different sub-AVA of the Willamette Valley:…

Juli St. John grew up immersed in the family business, the Geyserville-based Pedroncelli Winery, which celebrates 94 years in 2021. In addition to her official role as vice president of marketing and third-generation family owner, she is the winery’s…

According Diane Nelson, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis, the state of California produces four million tons of wine, which yield thousands of tons of wine grape residue like pulp, seeds, skin…

Since her first harvest in Pennsylvania in 2003 until today, Nova Cadamatre, MW, has worked as a winemaker for two of the world’s major wine brands at various wineries in California and New York, founded a family winery with her husband, Brian, in…

Until the coronavirus disrupted life, most Napa County residents never knew of The Hen Pen Farms or Emma Rasmussen because she and the farm sold directly to bakeries, restaurants and other retailers. However, over the course of the past year,…

A transplant to California in the early 1990s, Dennis McIninch, born in New Jersey and raised on Italian food, never anticipated that marriage, a daughter and a pandemic would set him on the path to perfecting a famous French sweet, macarons. Or that…

I had a “Roussillon moment” that haunted me for more than six years. In May 2014, I traveled from Napa to Philadelphia to take the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 3 blind tasting and theory exam in Philadelphia. There was an essay question about…

During an anniversary trip to Carmel, Napa realtor Mark Mazotti and his wife stopped for gas and lunch at a poke shop. “Although it was good, it wasn’t great, but there was a long line nonetheless and it was extremely popular,” he said. “I have been…

The new California Brandy House on First Street in Napa. Germain-Robin brandies are available at the California Brandy House. Guests at an outdoor tasting at the California Brandy House. A tasting flight at the California Brandy House in Napa.…

“It was already a tough year with the closures,” said Chris Madrigal, owner of Madrigal Family Winery in Calistoga. Covid-19 had caused him to shut down his Sausalito tasting room, and he was conducting up to 25 Zoom tastings a week. He didn’t know…

Chuck Meyer began his culinary and beverage career washing dishes at the Chart House in Westwood in Southern California. Fast-forward to today. Meyer, the co-owner of Napa Palisades Beer Company and Saloon, is an entrepreneur, restauranteur, and…

During what has seemed like endless solitude, sheltering in place in my “household bubble” of one, what I have most missed is international travel. When a European wine industry friend told me about his forthcoming wine tour to another country, I was…

There are winemakers, then there is Matt Parish. The former director, officer, and chief winemaker at Constellation U.S., Treasury Wine Estates Americas, and NakedWines.com, Parish has come into his own with a professional life he describes as “a…

What is it like to go wine tasting in the Napa Valley? I made my first winery visit since March 1 to Charles Krug, the valley’s oldest family-owned and operated winery in St. Helena. During my meeting with Jim Morris, vice president of Estate…

In late February, Kara Haspel Lind, founder of Kara’s Cupcakes, was poised to launch her new wine bar and restaurant, Bar Lucia, when COVID-19 halted her plans. “I closed all of my businesses and laid myself off along with 90 other staff. It was…

A couple of months ago on Facebook, a fellow wine writer known as Sierra Wine Guy posted, “Why does Mourvèdre get treated like a third wheel? Nobody puts Mourvèdre in the corner.” What ensued was a lively discussion of Mourvèdre as a single-variety…

La Cheve Bakery and Brewery has opened in the Old Adobe building in Napa. Cinthya Cisneros is the owner of the new Napa bakery, restaurant and brewery. A concha and porter at La Cheve La Cheve serves local beers and draft beers made by the owner…

Originally founded as French Blue in 2012, parent company, Auberge Resorts, renamed the St. Helena restaurant Archetype in 2014. In 2018, owners Ann Ernish-Backen and Howard Backen rebranded Archetype to reflect their “values for family, community,…