Drink

grape goddess®

bringing wine down to earth©

Romantic Wine for your Valentine!

It’s all about setting the mood – soft lighting, sexy music – class it up with some Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Etta James or Nina Simone – and seductive sparkling wine. Don’t fill up the flutes – pour lightly, then move in frequently to top up and whisper sweet nothings in their ear...more

Winemaker Katie Madigan

St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, a pioneer of ultra-premium Sonoma County winemaking, having recently announced the retirement of winemakers Tom Mackey and Dennis Borell, is pleased to introduce Katie Madigan as its new Sonoma County Winemaker....more

“We’ve had a very important changing of the guard here at St. Francis,” Winery President and CEO Christopher Silva said. “This is the next generation of winemaking at St. Francis. Upon the retirement of Tom Mackey and Dennis Borell, we’ve put into place our young but incredibly talented all-female winemaking team to continue our legacy. As our Sonoma County

PAMA Seeks Home Bar Star

The top 25 entries, as determined by the PAMA judging panel, will be posted to PAMA’s website and Facebook page for visitors to vote on their favorite entry. Finalists can share their recipe with friends and family in order to gain votes. The top 10 highest-voted entries will then be judged by an esteemed panel of cocktail professionals who will create and taste each recipe. The panel includes Kate Krader (Food & Wine), Darryl Robinson (The Cooking Channel’s “Drink Up!”) and Eben Freeman (master mixologist and PAMA spokesperson)...more

The Cheese Impresario

Vik Primo is passionate about all kinds peppers and how they marry up with fruit. He was inspired by exploring the very varied mole sauces. This led Vik to create his Primo line of fruit preserves beautifully balanced with the magic of these peppers. I've served them with goat, sheep, buffalo and cow's milk cheese. As I'm writing this column I'm also preparing for a Cheese Gig way up in Malibu. I'll be teaching my Artisanal Cheese & Wine Pairing Adventure Class...more

The New Wine List

Restaurant Wine List, available on the iPad in the iTunes App Store, finally allows restaurants and wine bars to get rid of outdated and wasteful printed wine lists. The first wine list app developed specifically for use in a commercial environment, Restaurant Wine List distances itself from the many collector-themed wine lists currently available for iPad with the use of a robust administration section while keeping the customer’s interface clean and simple...more

BettyMills® Coffee & Teas

The BettyMills®, an Internet TOP 500 Retailer and the one of the nations’ leading B2B suppliers of cleaning, facility, break room and organic snacks recently announced the expansion of their coffee and tea selections, to include over 346 teas, including many herbal and organic teas, and over 150 premium & specialty coffee choices...more