Georges Duboeuf is practically a legend. Originally from the Pouilly-Fuissé region of Burgundy , Duboeuf was raised on a small farm where his family owned a few acres of Chardonnay vines. His father died when Georges was young, therefore his uncle and older brother, Roger, took over the business. Duboeuf helped out on the family vineyard growing up, even using the manual grape crusher when he was just six years old. By age 18 he was delivering wine on his bicycle from producers to local restaurants. He began bottling Beaujolais to meet one of his customer's demands. Duboeuf became a négociant in 1964, when he founded Les Vins Georges Duboeuf. He is best known for Beaujolais Nouveau, though he produces many others. His wines now hold world-wide appeal and are sold in an astonishing 120 countries.

Wine has been made in Texas as far back as the late 1700s when the Spanish planted the underwhelming Mission grape. Today the state is the 5th largest producer of wine in the U.S., which may surprise you; however the caveat for Texas wines is that most of it is consumed by the 25 million dedicated Texans who drink it before the rest of us can get hold of some. “There’s a pent up demand for Texas wines,” admits Grape Creek Vineyard owner Brian Heath. And let’s face facts, Texas and the rest of the U.S. have had little to drink wine-wise except for what California produces, and now, with the help of the slow food movement, and awareness of all things “local,” states want to drink what they make.

France’s Loire Valley, is home to many great wines including the region of Vouvray, the home of Chenin Blanc. While Chenin Blanc wines are made around the world, perhaps nowhere else makes such distinctive and wonderful wines from that grape as the Loire Valley. The Loire Valley is in northeastern France and Vouvray is located east of the city of Tours along the right bank of the Loire River.

Talbott Vineyards in Monterey Country is one of the regions top Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producers. Owner Robb Talbott, son of Robert Talbott who started a high end clothing line in the 1950s, first planted vineyards in 1982 and quickly established his label as one of the premier wineries in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Though much has changed in Monterey County in the last 30 years, Talbott nonetheless continues to craft wines that truly reflect a sense of place.

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 .

Treasure Island Wines® is the first Treasure Island Winery and tasting room founded in 2007 by intrepid brothers James and Paul Mirowski. Dedicated to making “affordable luxury” artisan wines minutes from downtown San Francisco, Treasure Island Wines is a “micro winery” that incubates other “micro wineries” with a small complementary collective of alternating proprietorships including Bravium and Eristavi. What prompted you to pursue winemaking as a career? I studied at UC Davis and had been a serious home winemaker for well over a decade when I discovered the former Naval PX on Treasure Island. It was a perfect spot to make wine – with the infrastructure in place from the food processing. Consistent temperatures – drained paver floors - high humidity- three points of access for processing/large equipment to get in and out. There isn’t another comparable facility on the island.

What's an appropriate wine to serve at a Los Angeles of Anaheim themed party? What wine would be a good gift for a hard core Angels fan? Although their baseball stadium is in Anaheim rather than Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim display their own brand of L. A. glamor. The team was created in 1961 as a Major League Baseball expansion team, with Gene Autry, the "Singing Cowboy" and media mogul, as its first owner. The Angels' name dates back to Los Angeles' first professional baseball team, the 1892 California League Los Angeles Angels.

Mendocino wine country is a lot like my sister – the middle child who never gets any attention. Napa and Sonoma are the best known regions, Paso Robles is “up and coming” and Santa Barbara had “Sideways” to thrust it into popularity. Mendocino seems left out of the equation. Geographically, Mendocino (just Mendo as it is known) is north of Sonoma, but few wine lovers ever seem to make it that far. They should.

It's Fourth of July weekend and, on what will likely be a boiling hot summer day for most of the US, picnics and barbecues with their typical summer holiday fare will rule. While I am tempted to suggest wines that pair well with picnic fare like burgers, ribs and chicken, I'm going to ignore the food and instead focus on the weather. An unusually warm San Francisco summer has put me on a rosé kick of late. -A quick aside: Rosé all too often gets a bad rap for not being a "serious" wine. Part of this is deserved as there is no shortage of crappy bulk rosé being pawned off on ignorant consumers. The reality though is that there are some fantastic rosés on the market and it's a shame that rosé is often bypassed and dismissed as some sort of inferior alternative to "real" wine (i.e red or white).- Anyway, rosé is arguably the ideal wine for a hot summer night (though Vinho Verde and Alvarinho make an incredibly strong case for the title "Best Wine for Hot Summer Night").

As an avid foodie, and pretty good home chef, one of the things I’m loath to admit is that I am frequently ambivalent towards vegetables. There are a few vegetables I hate, there are also few that I love, and then just a whole bunch somewhere in the middle. Not sure if I was attacked by killer tomatoes (movie reference there for those over 35) as a kid, or what, but I rarely get excited about cooking the vegetables. That said, there a few I do really like, and when the season hits I tend to overload on them. During spring, one of my favorites is Asparagus…which is absolutely delicious and is great to pair with food. But asparagus, also brings some serious wine pairing challenges.