On the Road with the Grape Guy

Report from: Get Fresh in the Valley 2015

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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

Spring at Good Earth(April 18, 2015) ... On a gorgeous spring day we headed out to take advantage of the 20 Valley's spring wine and food pairing program "Get Fresh in the Valley".  22 wineries pair up food with some of their newest vintages (or what they deem to be something fresh / refreshing for the season).  Each winery also hands out a recipe card so you can replicate the dish at home (if you so desire).  This year we started by picking through the wineries that offered up something that we thought sounded interesting - not based on the wine, but solely on the food (this year's full selection can be found here) - we planned our route and out the door we went.  

Below is our ranking of the seven places we went to, some food commentary (because in all seriousness this event is all about the food) and a note on some of the best wines we tried on the day - be they part of the pairing or not.

To see the wine and food pairings we were impressed with click here.

Report from: Stem Wine Group Annual Tasting, 10th Anniversary

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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

That the Stem Wine Group called this an "annual" tasting is a little bit of a misnomer, my understanding is that this is to become a biennial event ... so you have to wait every two years to enjoy / taste this level of quality wines.  The majority of the portfolio is Italian wine, 30 producers in attendance this year; four from France, eight from the US, two from Australia and one each from Argentina and New Zealand ... many had at least one wine that was worth the price of admission.

Click here to see the picturial evidence and for reviews of the wines tasted.