Posts tagged: Santa Rita Hills

96 Point Chardonnay Stunner!

I met Greg Brewer in the late 1990s when he was the assistant winemaker at Santa Barbara winery. He had just made his (own) first two barrels of wine and was very excited about it – I didn’t disagree!  He immediately received great accolades, and 20 years later he’s still at it.  His latest “3D” […]

Friday December 6th, 2019 in , , , , , | No Comments »

Screaming Eagle’s under $60 Chardonnay

Stan Kroenke, owner of Screaming Eagle (etal) loves Santa Ynez and The Santa Rita Hills where he created Jonata and The Hilt.  Initially Andy Erickson who was the long time winemaker at Screaming Eagle was in charge, eventually turning over the reigns to Matt Dees.   Today Matt has totally transformed both wineries and it […]

Tuesday April 9th, 2019 in , , , , , | No Comments »

No April Fools Joke – Frank’s own Rose is here (and ace winemaker Paul Lato made it)

When I first got into the wine industry a few decades ago, rosé was anything but cool. White Zinfandel from California made the public think that all rosé was sweet, and unfortunately, imports such as Royal Lancers from Portugal and wines such as Sutter Home White Zin confirmed this notion. Today, however, rosé is the […]

Monday April 1st, 2019 in , , , , , | No Comments »

California’s Liquid Gold under $40!

  This small winery in the Santa Rita Hills is the brain child of Jeff and Nikki Nelson.  Their wine maker is Brandon Sparks-Gillis (the “man” behind the Dragonette success).  Their wine-style is based and named in honor of the chalky white hills of Chablis and diatomaceous earth of the  Santa Rita Hills.Liquid Farm “White […]

Friday October 12th, 2018 in , , , , , , | No Comments »

Top Notch Chardonnay that will dazzle your palate, but not hurt your wallet!

A childhood dream, let’s hook up when we are all grown up and start a winery tighter.  That is the story of two brothers (John & Steve Dragonette) and their good buddy Brandon Sparks-Gillis.  They teamed up to pursue their live-long dream to make wine. While working at wineries like Sine Qua Non, Torbreck, Fiddlehead […]

Friday July 20th, 2018 in , , , , | No Comments »

6 Barrel 95 Point White Gem = FREE SHIPPING

    In 1995, Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton met while working on a committee meeting for the Santa Barbara Vintners’ Association. At the time both held production jobs at Sunstone and Beckmen, respectively, and forged an immediate friendship that would ultimately germinate in the creation of Brewer-Clifton just one year later. This bottling is […]

Tuesday October 10th, 2017 in , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

WHITE BURGUNDY MEETS CALIFORNIA = FREE SHIPPING

  This small winery in the Santa Rita Hills is the brain child of Jeff and Nikki Nelson.  Their wine maker is Brandon Sparks-Gillis (the “man” behind the Dragonette success).  Their wine-style is based and named in honor of the chalky white hills of Chablis and diatomaceous earth of the  Santa Rita Hills. Liquid Farm […]

Thursday March 2nd, 2017 in , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

200 case Pinot Envy

    Bill and Cindy Wenzlau purchased 100 acres, but only planted 12 ½ of them (8 ½ to Pinot 4 to Chardonnay). For 2 decades they fantasized about owning their own vineyard. But it was not until their sommelier son Tommy came back from a trip to France that he persuaded his family to […]

Thursday September 8th, 2016 in , , , , , , | No Comments »

100 POINT WINEMAKER’S KILLER NEW PINOT NOIR

  Back in 1995 Russell and Victoria were dating and their favorite game was “guess the wine”.  After that they started taking regular trips to California’s wine country meeting some of the best winemakers.  Soon they were searching for property in California. It was Kal Showket (Heidi Barrett was his winemaker) who helped develop their […]

Thursday April 28th, 2016 in , , , , , | No Comments »

Tiny producer wins blind tasting

Our Tasting Group lined up an amazing lineup of hard-to-find Grenaches: Carlisle (Rossi) 93 WS Keplinger 93 WS Saxum (James Berry) 93 WS Outpost 93 Galloni Alban 94 Galloni Sanguis (Verve) 93 Galloni Limerick Lane 94 Galloni Samsara 93 Galloni A Tribute to Grace 93 Galloni Draognette (Sebastiano) The Winner DRAGONETTE! Two brothers (John & […]

Monday January 11th, 2016 in , , , , , , , | No Comments »