"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food." W.C. Fields

Our favourites!
Wow, looks fabulous...we will definitely give you a shout when we make it to the US. Our favourites are Zinfandel and Gewürztraminer grapes but the best we ever tasted was a Malbec Rose from Mendoza in Argentina from a little boutique winery...amazing! Sadly, Donna can't drink red wine as it gives her migraines, Neil, however, will drink anything ;) We love the fact you can eat all that great food while drinking fantastic wine!

Lois and I went to Napa Valley in 06. We got on board the Wine Train. Nice way to observe wineries as you are tasting wine. I got drunk on Sangria in college. Haven\'t enjoyed wine since!!

Wines You Like; Wines You Don't
I should get Andras to comment on this as he's the wine guy (even worked in the industry for a while). We really liked V. Sattui wines when we were in Napa. I also liked Franciscan Gamay Rose (though I thoroughly disliked the customer service at their winery) - great picnic wine. Lately I've been big on the Argentinian "New Age" white - a blend of sauv blanc and malvasia, served on the rocks with lime (yes, a wine with ice and citrus!). Give me a $10 bottle of something crisp and refreshing over a $200 bottle of bold, aged red any day. Great quote too. I thoroughly enjoy any recipe that requires I have "wine to taste" while cooking ;)

Oak? Currant? Lavender?
*eyes rolling* Those stuff are alien enough to me so I'd likely claim a quiet corner and shy away from any "discussion" *eyes rolling again* But i do like red -- with beef, chicken or fish. Ain't choosy. And yes, we do enjoy our Syrah here too.

A mouth-watering blog!
If you can find it, Argentine Malbec is still a firm favourite. We have fallen for Spanish reds in a big way though, and not just Rioja! Navarra wines are excellent but rarely exported.

So much to think about
Firstly, thanks for prompting me to open a bottle. It's my day off, so I popped a Santa Cruz Mountain Chard. Big fat Zins and Syrahs are really my favorites. I am glad you had such a nice time. I wondered if Brutus was the designated driver, but after so many shot of him curled up with a bottle, I doubt that he would be been a good choice. lol On a different note, the shots of the flowers were outstanding. What color and essence of the Valley. Great blog, great pictures!

Wine Time California Style
Thanks for the great blog - this region is on our short list - your review will help mucho!

I remember passing through the California countryside last year on our way to San Francisco, though we didn't get to visit the vineyards because of lack of time. Your blog may be the closest I got to it. Thanks for sharing!

DARE I SAY IT
Denise raised in the Hunter River wine region of New South Wales. Denise's favourite Limestone Coast and mine Coonawarra...both South Australian wine areas. Looks splendid your way...but dare I say it. Once you have truly savoured the best of your Californian wines...do yourselves a delicious favour...come to OZ to taste the best...not the export stuff...the stuff we keep to drink at home...too good to send overseas!

Hoi!Hoi!Hoi!
Reminds me of our time in Vietnam and being encouraged to try lots of different spirits. You both look great in the pictures. CA must agree with you. Carolyn

Holamundo favourites :-)
What a great blog - we really felt like opening a nice bottle which is not a great idea when sitting in the office around midday on a hot summers day ;-). But we will do this tonight at home. We discovered our favourite wine at a small winery around Franschoek in South Africa. It is a Pinotage, a very strong red wine. You can even smell the south african sun in the glass. Unfortunately we could not take one home last time we went there. So time to return soon. Another great wine is Carmenere from Chile. The grape was originally imported from France to Chile. There, especially in the region of Talca (south of Santiago) they make this excellent wine. We are so happy that you can get some good chilean carmenere here in Switzerland. But sometimes, our friends send us some. And one final one - the icewine from Canada. We cannot remember any more where we tried it and how it was called. But especially Mark, who loves sweet dessert wines, is still dreaming of this one. Enjoy some more. We will be thinking of you tonight while opening a bottle ;-) Nina + Mark

Must do wine tour next visit to CA.
Hi Dave and MJ Our first night in FRance we had a bottle of Sauv blanc..but a real crappy wine bottle opener...couldnt budge the cork ..ended up digging it out with my swiss army knife and then filtering the bits of cork out of the wine ..which was not very nice anyway... but later on in France w have had some nice local Rose and I love the aperiftif wine Muscat...will take several bottles home. Au revoir. xx

Wish I could be sipping now...
Thanks for sharing this. We just finished sampling Oregon wines and are planning a Sonoma/ Napa trip for my 50th birthday. We'll be sure to visit some of your favorites.