Amazing Wines Emerge from the Hidden Hills of L.A.

Last night we were closed in on all sides by Friday evening traffic on the 101 highway just northwest of Los Angeles. Depressing strip malls and chain restaurants were all the eye could see.

Then we took the Mulholland Drive exit and the roads suddenly became twisty, romantic lane ways hidden in the magic hills of Topanga Canyon, a million miles from Los Angeles.

The roads reminded me of the close turns and roadside thrills of driving in Greece. Dry but beautiful indigenous plants, soaring rock formations and shady grottoes perfect for coyotes to rest.

Our dinner hosts were witty and well-traveled. They had a mesmerizing view of the green hills and steep canyons from their back deck. David told me he first fell in love with wine by drinking volumes of German and French wines while he was in college in Scotland.

Topanga is surely much warmer than Germany but the steep hillsides are similar. He wistfully shared that he would love to plant some vines on his land. I encouraged him to reach out to other local wineries who might be willing to tend his vines in exchange for the resulting grapes.

That reminded of a wonderful Topanga Vineyards wine I had a few months back.

Sandy Garber and her husband, Randy Meyer first started Topanga Vineyards by growing 90 vines on their property in Topanga. Now they have expanded and buy much of their fruit from the Central Coast. It is unclear if they currently use any Topanga grown grapes but they still live there.
Sandy also runs her own Los Angeles based wine distributorship, Garber and Company.


Topanga Vineyards Grenache Blanc 2008 $18.99
was fresh and lively. Aromas of lemon and beeswax dripping with honey were matched by luscious stonefruit flavors and a nice acidity on the finish.

Clean as Air: Organic Wine from Portugal

In case you haven't heard, Portuguese wines are hot, hot, hot right now.
And for good reason. The quality is high and the prices very reasonable.

The folks at Natural Merchants have done it again.
They have imported another delicious wine made from organic grapes.
These are organic wines that you can not only feel good about drinking, additionally, the quality makes you feel absolutely decadent.

Casa de Mouraz was the first winery to practice organic farming in the famed winemaking area of Dao in Portugal. The Dao is a mountainous region in the middle of Portugal that produces some of Portugal's best wines.
Antonio Ribeiro and his partner Sara Dionisio (how awesome is that last name for a winemaker?) make the wines from 13 hectares of vineyards that coexist with pine, oak and chestnut forests.



Air red wine 2006 $14.99
Dark ruby color. Flavors of blackberries, plum tarts and dark chocolate. Spicy aromas of cinnamon and clove. Refreshing acids on the finish help lift the flavors. Amazingly rich flavors for 13.7% alcohol.
This wine is a sure crowd pleaser.
Pair it with chipotle braised short ribs or fresh grilled sausages.

So deliciously spicy, you won't believe that this wine was fermented and aged in steel tanks. I could have sworn there was some neutral barrel aging.

Air is a blend of the following grapes: Tempranillo, Alicante-Bouchet, Trincadeira, Touriga-Nacional and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Buy it here.

Green Wine Competition Leads the Way

The second International Green Wine Competition is being held in Santa Rosa this Monday, June 22nd.

The lead judge is Paul Dolan from Mendocino Wine Company and Paul Dolan Vineyards. He has been an industry leader in building successful and high quality wine brands made from organic and biodynamic grapes.


There are four Competition Classes: Certified Biodynamically Grown and Produced, Certified Organic Wines, Certified Organically Grown Grapes, and Transitional.

I am a judge this year and cannot wait to taste through all these delicious wines made without chemical pesticides and herbicides.

I chose to focus on wines made from organic and biodynamic grapes on MyDailyWine because I am a believer that high quality wine starts in the vineyards.

Later this year, I will be launching an online marketplace for organic/biodynamic wines as well.

This competition is super cool on several levels. First off it raises awareness for both consumers and wine trade about the growing interest in organic and natural wines.
This trend will not go away soon. In fact the opposite is true, since organic wines have become more widespread in the past few years.

Matter of fact, in a recent study, 31% of American consumers said they are spending more money on organics than one year ago.

More large wineries are starting to make at least one brand with organic grapes and many smaller brands are hanging their hats completely on the organic trend.

Here is a shopping list of last year's winners at the 2008 Green Wine Competition.

The same organization also presents the National Women's Wine Competition.

"The National Women's Wine Competition is the first and only U.S. based wine competition judged solely by superstar women of the wine industry.

This is the competition that answers the question, "what wines do women love?"Women make 60%+ of all the wine buying decisions in the U.S. Our annual "shopping list" that is distributed worldwide via the web tells women the wines women with great palates find medal-worthy. This helps consumers to make informed wine purchases."

Three Reasons to Buy Organic Wine & Three Organic Wines to Buy

Unlike the confusing and arbitrary definition of the USDA, I include all wines made from organic grapes as organic, despite their levels of added sulfites.

Three Good Reasons to Buy Organic Wine

1)Nowadays nobody wants to eat fruit that has been sprayed with toxic chemicals. We might do it anyway occasionally out of laziness or a misguided sense of thrift, but people generally would prefer their fruit without the chemicals. Why should wine grapes be any different?

2)These winemakers have grown or purchased the most pristine grapes available. This level of attention and care will be evident in the wine.

3)No toxic chemical runoff into the surrounding soil, groundwater supply or local rivers/streams.

Three Good Organic Wines to Buy

Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc 2008 $13
Bright fresh citrus aromas, more white grapefruit and tropical fruit flavors follow. Crowd pleaser. Perfect with pan fried fish and avocado salad.

Ca del Solo Sangiovese 2006 $14
Full of dark plums and brambly berry fruit flavors. Wonderful acidity keeps it light and bright. Drink it with grilled lamb sausages and summer veggie skewers.

Grgich Hills Estates Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $60
Dark purple color. Aromas of cocoa powder and vanillan oak. Big flavors of spicy plum pudding, blackberries and dark chocolate. A winning wine with short ribs.

Why Buy Wine Online?

Why buy wine online? Or anything else for that matter?
This is a conversation I often have with friends and family.

Let's see:
1) Online wine is very price competitive
2) I do not have to fight for parking
3) I do not have to haul heavy boxes from store to car to home
4) I can browse wine reviews and wine info online to my heart's content
5) I do not have to talk to post pubescent wine store clerks who assume that female shoppers are wine morons

I understand that some people really crave the tactile experience of walking into a shop so they can touch the products and ask staff for recommendations.

Not me. I am a woman who works more than full time and happens to be the primary shopper and cook in the household. I am BUSY. I do not need another errand to run. I know what I want.
And if I don't, I look it up online in between other tasks.Then I place an online order with one of my favorite wine sites.

The order is usually delivered at my house a few days later via FedEx or UPS.
I live in California and two of my favorite online shops are Domaine547 and K&L Wines.


The regular exception I make is for the amazing little independent wine shop around the corner from me called Silver Lake Wine. They know me, they have interesting wines for all budgets and Silver Lake Wine is on my way home from the grocery store.

I suspect many female wine lovers feel the same as me based on the numbers below.
What do you think fueled Zappos amazing growth? Female shoppers with very busy lives who decided that yes, they could enjoy shoe shopping online. And that Saturday afternoon would be better spent relaxing with friends and family than at the crowded mall.

In a recent study of women's wine buying habits, 21% said they buy wine online.
And 36% of Millennials say that they research wine reviews online before purchase (this study did not ask whether the purchase was made on or offline).

These are demographics to note since online wine sales are said to equal only 1-3% of total wine sales at the moment.

They are certainly of interest to me. Both as a dedicated online wine shopper and as a wine professional who will be launching a new online wine market later this year.

Wine Guerrilla: The Revolution is Rich and Red

Wine Guerrilla makes big bruisers. Huge wines with high alcohol levels. Normally, I steer clear of this wine style.

I must confess now that I was drawn to the brand name itself because I am a child of the seventies and I dreamt of running around Europe fighting injustices in my little black beret. Such are the innocent dreams of children.

But these wines have sucked me in and asked me to toss my preconceptions to the wind.
Wine Guerrilla focuses on one grape primarily, California's own zinfandel, and they do it well. Zinfandel is believed to have evolved from a Croatian grape, Crljenak and is kissing cousins to the Italian grape, primitivo as well.

These wines are unabashedly fruit forward and are just begging to be paired with barbecued ribs or a thick, homemade angus beef burger.



As an extra bonus they have beautiful, original artwork adorning their bottles.

Wine Guerrilla Forchini Vineyards 'old vine' Russian River 2007 Zinfandel $30
Gorgeous rich red zinfandel. Bursting with jammy blackberry fruit and plenty of black pepper spice to give it dimension. Goes just as well with after dinner dark chocolates as it does with grilled meats.100 year old vines.Unfined and unfiltered. 83% zinfandel, 17% petite syrah

Wine Guerrilla Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2007 $22

Like eating ripe berries on a summer's day. Delicious spicy, peppery notes give a nice lift to all that rich fruit. Unfined and unfiltered. 86% zinfandel, 6% malbec, 4% cabernet franc, 4% petite syrah and a splash of alicante bouchet.