Wine Recommendations

Acumen was born in 2012 with vineyards on Atlas Peak in the Napa Valley. They started two labels, Acumen, and PEAK, the latter focusing on small lot production of mountain grown wines. Which brings us to the 2016 Cabernet from their Edcora Vineyard. Acumen has created what aims for a classic Napa...

Napa Valley is filled with wineries. What’s it’s not filled with is small family-owned wineries that seem to fly under the radar. Such is Lawer Estates located in Calistoga. Started just over 25 years ago, the goal was always to produce small lot wines. Their 2017 Estate Cabernet exemplifies their...

Winemaker Theresa Heredia makes a lot of Pinot Noir, working with 36 different vineyard sites. Many of the Gary Farrell Pinots are site specific, vineyard designates. This wine then tastes and feels like a “greatest hits” wine, because it pulls from all the vineyards, including well known vineyards...

Typically the Pinot Noirs coming from the Anderson Valley in Mendocino offer bright acidity and more rustic, berry notes. Goldeneye, when it was founded in 1996, has always capitalized on this, making excellent Pinot. Gowan Creek has long been a great source for Goldeneye, as it comprises both...

Wine with bubbles. Whether it’s called Champagne, Cava, Sekt, Prosecco, or sparkling wine, we like wine with bubbles in them. There are a good many wineries that are known for their still wines, but are also quietly going about making sparking wine. Sure the Pinot, or Cabernet, or Chardonnay gets...

For those, like me, who occasionally relish in a bold buttery fully malolactic fermentation, no holds barred and unapologetic Chardonnay - this is your number. With stunning notes of honeysuckle, butterscotch, white peach, apricot, lemon zest, lime kefir, sweet resin, and wild grasses, this offers...

For three decades Cambria Estate Winery has helped define the Santa Maria Valley. This Chardonnay offers a bevy of subtlety; lemon-lime, guava, honeysuckle, granny Smith apple and white peach. Nothing here is over the top. Four different clones were used on their estate property. “I sourced mainly...

Though Napa is undisputed cabernet sauvignon country, zinfandel actually has a longer heritage in the valley, though still receives little fanfare. Good thing then that Frank Family still keeps at it. This offering is all zinfandel with 11% petit sirah added in, then aged 16 months in a combination...

You may be familiar with the Decoy label, which has been around since 1985. Affordable and well-produced wines, they have earned a loyal following and are certainly ubiquitous. Now they have launched Decoy Limited, a step up from the Decoy wines, still reasonably priced but with a big bump in...

According to winemaker, Cecilia Leoneschi, “2015 was a textbook vintage.” The first thing you notice of her wine is the color - a brick red beauty, with lovely notes of raspberry, pomegranate, strawberry compote, cherry, cedar, redwood, light tobacco and great, balanced acidity. In the dry clay and...