Vinopanion

Ward Kadel – @drXeNo: WineLog.net West Coast Ambassador & Staff Blogger

It’s time for another Twitter tasting (2/15 4-6pm PST), and I’m happy to be a part of this one, which features one of the most well-known families in all of American wine.  Steven Kent Mirassou (Tw) is the 6th generation of the family Mirassou to devote his life to wine.  He grew up working the family’s namesake winery in San Jose, but didn’t actually fully embrace his family’s vinous legacy until 1996.  It is then that he teamed with his father to create a Cabernet-driven winery, born out of his father’s previous labels and wine works, that he had moved to the Livermore Valley.  It was here that Steven Kent Winery (Tw, FB, YT, WL) was born. Later, he refined his love for Livermore Cab with the singular project Lineage (Tw, FB, YT, WL), and then complemented those efforts by the purchase of La Rochelle Winery (Tw, FB, YT, WL) from his very own cousins, with its focus on Pinot Noir.  The Steven Kent Portfolio was complete!

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I have some very exciting news to share with my happy and wine-loving Vinopanions!  While I hinted at this news earlier this year, I can now announce the official Kickstarter campaign for the fantastic new wine store and web destination, Block122 (Twitter, Facebook, WineLog).  Founded by four BOULEVARD restaurant employees, Block122 will showcase the finest, small production producers of wine from the left coast, much of which lies along the meridian 122° west of the Prime Meridian.  These boutique wineries are those that many times, only produce wines for 1-2 small stores or restaurants, have no distribution, and can’t even provide an online web store. It is these vinous finds that Block122 will revel in sharing with you on their website with stories, videos, and a retail store; all inclusive, with all snobbery excluded.

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Or rather, *I’m* back at ZAP this year!  But what is ZAP you say; what is this electric onomatopoeia?  Why, it is the annual ritual to celebrate the grape of Zinfandel; as performed by the masters of Zin, the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (Twitter, Facebook).

The ZAP organization puts on a week-long festival of Zin every year and this year’s ZAP 2013 Festival runs from January 31 until the ZAP Grand Tasting 2013 on February 2, in San Francisco. Four major events are slated for this year’s run, but many smaller events are happening across the city and the bay, in the weeks leading up to the main events.

It is for you lucky readers that I have procured a special discount for tickets to the Grand Tasting, an event that I’m excited to attend again, after a couple years away.   More info after the break!

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Oohhh, happy days are here againnn, for Pinot Days (Twitter, Facebook) is BACK again!  My imbibing readers might remember that I’m a rather large fan of this grand tasting, held each year at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, along with a few other cities around the US of A.  While it has become something of a cliché in this enlightened age of Pinot enjoyment, I truly believe that Pinot Noir is a wonderful conduit to the sense of origin that a wine can transmit to one’s happy taste buds.  As such, it is an exhilarating experience to have the chance to taste over 500 Pinot Noir wines from every major domestic growing region (and some international ones). The Pinot Days Grand Festival Public Tasting (06/16/12) provides this unparalleled comparison tasting experience along with a whole bunch mo’ coolness, each and every year. This year I can help you experience this Pinotphoria, with a handy ticket discount. More after the jump!

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Bubbly is a beautiful thing. Sparkling wine has always been considered a wine of celebration; its intriguing bubbles rising up to toss forth a froth of scented effervescence, enlivening spirits at any accompanying event. For me however, bubbly, bubbly, and more bubbly is the way that I prefer to shimmy through life. My lady Elizabeth Fontaine, the beguiling star behind the brightness of my life, would only agree, with a most sensible of nods. Bubbles are her vinous companion, and at times, her artistic muse. We go through stretches where there is a bottle of bubbly to accompany each day…the other nice thing about sparkling wine is its low percent alcohol.

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It’s not everyday that you can walk around and try wines from a bunch of countries, all in one nifty location. OK true, Walt Disney World’s Epcot World Showcase is a pretty dang good time, regardless of whether you try wines from each country. But I can’t think of another fully awesome wine experience that can compare to over 600 wines from 12+ countries, all for one single ticket price. The 5th Annual New York Wine Expo is your portal for crazy, round-the-world, like-a-G6-style wine tasting!

What does that actually translate to in actual wineries on this fine weekend of March 2-4, you might ask…how about 150+ vintners, along with tons of gourmet food booths, and numerous wine seminars with which to treat your favorite Vinopanion. Now, it’s only because I like you, but I have a special gift: type in the code VINOPANION for $15 off Friday night’s festivities!

Get the full deets after the break:

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TasteLive! (WineLog, Twitter) is back at it again, with yet another great online Twitter tasting for us wine and chocolate grubbing fools. On the night of 01/26/12 at 6pm PST, we’re taking in another seasonally appropriate wine and food pairing by pre-tasting some of the wines and chocolates that will be at Rodney Strong’s 23rd Annual Wine & Chocolate Fantasy event, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

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At this point, my regular readers should know quite well about my participation in the cra cra known as the North American Wine Bloggers’ Conferences (Twitter, WineLog). We’re coming up on the 4th in this great series, after the huge success in 2008, 2009 and 2010. This year we’re invading Charlottesville, Virginia for our very first time plundering the wine life on the right coast (and East Coast wine bloggers rejoice). The state of Virginia has been exceptionally supportive and I’m looking forward to learning a ton about 5th largest wine producing state in the Union. Between the Keynote from Jancis Robinson (Twitter), the Virginia Wine (Twitter) Reception at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for dinner on Friday, another Keynote from Eric Asimov (Twitter) and the annual Vineyard walks in the local wine country, #WBC11 looks to be just as stunning a time as years’ past.

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I have the great fortune of being invited to a number of wine events each year. All of these events have their merits and many are very cool. It is the more rare event that completely rocks my vinous world, however. The annual Garden Party at Newton Vineyard (Facebook, WineLog), 600 feet above St. Helena on Spring Mountain was one of those rare events. Standing atop the mountain, with a 360 degree view of at least 65% of the entire Valley, with some glorious weather to complement the elegantly balanced Newton wines, paired with nibbles from étoile and the Lady by your side, it’s a bit hard to *not* have a brilliant time. I decided to suck it up and a have a great time (tongue comfortably in cheek).

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I had quite a great time while moderating and tasting my way through the very cool California Pinot Noir: In Pursuit of Balance (Twitter) event, back in late March. It was there during the trade tasting at Rn74 (Twitter) that I had the great pleasure of trying two Pinots from a young winemaker by the name of Gavin Chanin, winemaker and proprietor of his relatively new, Chanin Wine Company (Twitter, WineLog). After getting to know a bit about Chanin while at the event, I resolved to find out more about this fresh winemaking personality and his myriad of fine vineyard connections and non-wine, artistic leanings.

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