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Q&A with Jon Bonné, Wine Editor, San Francisco Chronicle

by Michael Cervin

Jon Bonné is The San Francisco Chronicle’s wine editor, responsible for the paper’s wine and spirits coverage and the annual Top 100 Wines list. Before coming to The Chronicle, Bonné was lifestyle editor and wine columnist for MSNBC.com and lived in New York. His work has earned him two James Beard awards and multiple awards from the Association of Food Journalists. Previously Bonné was wine columnist for Seattle Magazine and has written about wine for Food & Wine, Decanter, Saveur, and the Art of Eating. He has also reported for The New York Times, Court TV, and National Public Radio, and is working on a book about California wine. 

What wine varieties would you like to see the public embrace more fully?

So many Italian white varieties should be better known. Vermentino could be a star in California. Ribolla Gialla. Friulano. Grechetto. Timorasso. Ditto Portuguese varieties, but we’re much earlier on the curve. What else? Grenache. It’s everything that people claim to want in red wine, and it doesn’t have Syrah’s years of baggage. For that matter, let’s add Grenache Blanc to the list. It’s remarkably user-friendly.

Meet Doug Frost: Author, Master Sommelier, and Master of Wine

by Michael Cervin

Doug Frost is a Kansas City author who writes and lectures about wine, beer and spirits. He passed the rigorous Master Sommelier (MS) examination and two years later became America’s eighth Master of Wine (MW). He is one of only three people in the world to have achieved both these remarkable distinctions, and he’s sincerely a nice guy. Doug is also the author of three books on wine including “Far From Ordinary: The Spanish Wine Guide.” He is a contributor to the Oxford Companion of Wine, and writes about wine and spirits for many publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, Underground Wine Journal, Drinks International, Practical Winery & Vineyard, Wines & Vines, Wines & Spirits, Cheers Magazine, Santé Magazine, and Epicurious.com, and he is the beverage columnist for the James Beard award-winning food section of the Kansas City Star.  

Q&A with Winemaker, Andres Basso, from Lynfred Winery

Lynfred Winery was entirely a creation of the love and ingenuity of Fred and Lynn Koehler. Between Lynn's ideas and Fred's practicality, they created one of the most unique attractions — not to mention gourmet tastes — in the United States today.

The Koehlers were pioneers in the Illinois wine industry, and their road was not an easy one. Naturally, getting the business of a winery in Roselle, Illinois, off the ground took quite a while.  Starting in an historic house that was originally built by the Hattendorf family in 1912, the Koehlers quickly went to work restoring the house and organizing a cellar to expand their "hobby" into a business.

Lynfred Winery is celebrating 32 years in 2011. The winery has come a long way from the original tasting room opened in 1979. Lynfred has now expanded into a 24,000-square-foot facility. Fred still carries on the Lynfred legacy but has passed the winemaking duties along to Chilean-born Andres Basso.

IntoWine recently caught up with Andre Basso to discuss wine and thoughts on current trends in the wine industry.

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