September 2, 2008
Hot off the press: Paso Robles Wine Country has begun preparation for the highlight of the growing season: the Paso Robles Harvest Wine Tour, October 17 - 19, 2008.
This colorful, three-day celebration is a combination of individual events held at over 100 wineries throughout Paso Robles Wine Country and always held the third weekend of October. Wineries from the region open their doors for an array of activities, including culinary arts and wine pairings, traditional grape stomping and barrel tastings, to name a few.
Paso Robles Harvest Wine Tour
Paso Robles, California
October 17 – 19, 2008
www.pasowine.com
info@pasowine.com
800-549-WINE (8463)
Autumn is the most vibrant and bustling time of the year in wine country and the 2008 Harvest Wine Tour is the perfect opportunity for wine enthusiasts to see the complete grape to glass experience. Come harvest your wine country experience at the 2008 Paso Robles Harvest Wine Tour.
The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance represents wineries, growers and businesses in Paso Robles Wine Country. Centrally located between San Francisco and Los Angeles, along California’s Central Coast, Paso Robles Wine Country is California’s fastest growing wine region. It encompasses more than 26,000 vineyard acres and more than 200 wineries. For more information, visit www.pasowine.com.
August 13, 2008
Just got word that Tobin James himself (aka Toby) will be in The OC at the end of August for appearances at two noteable wine boutiques. His first stop will be on August 28 at Wine Lab Newport (2901 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach. 949-515-8466). He''l be there from 5 to 8:30 pm signing bottles of wine as the folks at Wine Lab pour his favorite Tobin James vintages. Next night, August 29, he'll be at the San Clemente Wine Shop (212 1/2 Avenida del Mar. 949-429-7067) from 5 to 8:30 pm. Reservations are recommended, and I can vouch for that disclaimer. Last time Toby was in town, I barely squeezed my way into the San Clemente Wine Shop. The fun didn't stop, however, when I was invited by Toby to join him and a couple of other James Gang wine club members for a late dinner at Morton's. Needless to say, we were the last ones out! 
August 12, 2008
Congratulations to Dr. Frank Crinella, professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and human behavior at UCI. The longtime Costa Mesa resident is the co-owner (along with his sister, Ramona) of Crinella Vineyards in Sonoma County. They've been focused on making the best Sauvignon Blanc possible, and their efforts have been rewarded with a Double Gold Medal at the 2008 San Francisco International Wine Competition, one of the top wine judging competitions in the United States. Double Gold is particularly impressive in that the accolade means every judge voted the Crinella 2006 Sauvignon Blanc a Gold Medal. 
If that's not enough, the 2006 vintage also won a Gold Medal at the most recent OC Fair, while Crinella's 2005 Sauvignon Blanc was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2008 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition. Crinella also makes a late harvest dessert wine called Glissando and a nice Pinot Noir, but the Sauvignon Blanc is making the name Crinella well known in the wine world. I've had the pleasure of dining with Dr. Crinella and sipping his wine, and it is indeed one of the best Sauvignon Blancs I have ever had. A handful of OC restaurants carry his wine, but you can also order it through the Crinella website: www.crinellawinery.com.
July 26, 2008
Last week, OC Wine editor Christopher Trela (hey--that's me!) served as gala chair for the annual OC Press Club gala awards dinner held at The Island Hotel in Newport Beach, where more than 100 editors and journalists from local newspapers and magazines gathered to listen to guest speaker Russ Stanton, editor of the LA Times. Five fantastic Temecula wineries donated wine for this event: Briar Rose, Keyways, Oak Mountain, Tesoro, and Wilson Creek. Guests raved about the wine, which is understandable since great wine is coming out of Temecula. If you have not been to Temecula, go! More than 30 wineries are now in Temecula, with more on the way. When you go, stop by one of the above-mentioned wineries and see for yourself just how good their wines really are.
June 29, 2008
Santa Rita Hills is a wine appelation located north of Santa Barbara between Buelton and Lompoc. Known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the dozens of vintners of Santa Rita Hills got together recently for a weekend of primo Pinot tasting. Naturally, I had to check out this - for me - unfamiliar area. What a weekend it was! Temps peaked at over 100 degrees, but the pinots were terrific. What fun to try various wines made from grapes of different vineyards, and compare the often distinct tastes. We'll have an article soon on this very topic, but if you're curious to discover a bucolic breath of fresh air and sample some fun (and often elegant) wines at their source, visit the area! Go to http://www.staritahills.com for a complete list of wineries.
September 24, 2007
So many events, so little time! Had dinner with Tobin James 2 weeks ago at Morton's in Costa Mesa. He was in town for a tasting of his wines, and I was invited to join him for dinner. We closed the place!
I am writing this blog post while sitting in my room at Paso Robles Inn. I am here for a media event called SIP Paso Robles. which includes winery and vineyard tours, wine seminars, and lots of food and wine! Look for photos here soon.
Also hosted another Trela Tasting, plus a wine tasting fund raiser (with all Tobin James wines) for Overture Young Professionals of the Pacific Symphony, held at French 75 in Laguna Beach. Had a great turnout, raised several thousand dollars for the Pacific Symphony's Arts-X-press education program.
More soon. -- CT
August 28, 2007
Crinella wines. Onotria restaurant. A match made in culinary heaven.
Just got back from a wine dinner at Onotria Restaurant in Costa Mesa. The wine was from Crinella Vineyards in Sonoma, which I wrote about several months ago (Frank Crinella is a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at UCI). Crinella makes a killer Sauvignon Blanc and a sinful Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, and as of today, an impressive Pinot Noir. The pinot, and the 2005 vintage Late Harvest, were introduced at a sensational wine dinner at Onotria. Chef and owner Massimo Navarretta paired the Crinella wines with some amazing dishes, starting with the 2004 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc "Glissando" matched with sformatino of eggplant & provoletta in a raisin-tomato coulee. This was followed by cal-rose rice with scallops, rock shrimp & lupe de mer in a saffron & zucchini blossom sauce, paired with the 2005 Marino Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. Next was Brandywine tomato with Maui onions, kalamata olives and micro-greens in red wine vinaigrette followed by pecorino tartufato with Pinot Noir poached pair. Both courses were paired with the Crinella 2005 Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir. Finally, we had seasonal berries folded in a late harvest zabaglione (a dessert akin to creme brulee without the scorched topping) accompanied by 2005 late harvest Sauvignon Blanc "Glissando."
As you can imagine, this was an evening of countless culinary concoctions carefully crafted to elicit an awe-inspiring reaction from all who attended this event. Guess what--it worked! Massimo - a passionate advocate of pairing the correct wine with the corect food - perfectly matched the Crinella wines with the distinct and creative Onotria cuisine. The Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song "Oh What a Night" could have served as a theme song. Great wines and great food--isn't that what life is all about?
For more info, check out Crinella wines at www.crinella.com, and www.onotria.com. -- CT
August 14, 2007
Wine Styles in Costa Mesa is one of my favorite places to taste wine, mainly because proprieters Jeff and Jen are so much fun and know a lot about wine, and because the theme tastings are always interesting and informative. Last week featured PGA Tour wines, a brand unknown to me and many others, but not for long. PGA wines are sanction by Pro Golf Association and are made by master vintners using grapes that come from Sonoma, Napa, Monterey and other notable appellations throughout California. I sampled a handful of wines at this tasting, and liked everything I tried, which is not usually the case when you're tasting eight wines. Most impressive were the Zinfandel, Syrah and Cab--although the Pinot Noir was pretty tasty, too. Wine Styles is the exclusive seller of PGA Tour wines. They make great gifts for golfers, for wine drinkers, or wine drinking golfers! -- CT
August 9, 2007
The fall issue of OC Wine is done--all 10 pages of it! Publication date (as part of OC Menus) is August 16. OC Menus will be inserted into 80,000 copies of OC Metro, to be distributed throughout Orange County. It will also be added to the all-new OC Menus website (www.ocmenus.com), where I have a separate food & wine blog that's updated weekly (something I'm striving to do with this blog). The two previous issues of OC Wine are also on the OC Menus website.
Been spending time at St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach/Dana Point. Modern Gypsy guitarist Emilio and his band play there every Friday and Saturday night. I also have a favorite wine there: Rosenblum Syrah. Takes about half an hour to open up, but once it does, it's damn good. I took some friends there last weekend and brought some Sprinkles cupcakes to have with the wine. Talk about a decadent evening! -- CT
July 20, 2007
Noelle and I are hard at work on the fall OC Wine issue that will appear in OC Menus...is that enough of an excuse to not have updated this blog in several weeks? Maybe not, but we have truly been busy.
Went to Wine Styles tonight for a Tobin James tasting, which is ironic in that I recently interviewed Tobin James and co-owner Lance Silver about their crush, which occurs this fall. The tasting at Wine Styles featured seven Tobin James wines, all of which were terrific (yes, I am a Tobin James fan, but what's not to like about this premier Paso winery).
Tobin James (left) and Lance Silver of Tobin James Cellars
I'll be pouring Tobin James Chardonnay and Syrah at a special event for Laguna Playhouse this Sunday, and will be doing a Tobin James tasting for the Pacific Symphony's young professionals group, Overture, in September.
I have some terrific quotes from Lance on their crush, including how they know when to harvest the grapes, and the process they go thru to obtain their yummy wines. Look for those quotes in the fall issue of OC Wine. By the way, Tobin James recently released a Blue Moon Cabernet Sauvignon, and like their Blue Moon Syrah and Blue Moon Zinfandel, is an amazing expression of what a Paso cab is, and should be.
Also made a trip to Temecula to pick up some wine club shipments at Stuart Cellars (great reds), and to visit Wiens Family Cellars, which is quickly becoming another favorite.
Still to come--my lunch with a fourth generation Italian winemaker (Gaya wines) and how the OC Fair wine competition is judged. --CT
June 23, 2007
Starting a blog is easy. Keeping it updated is hard, even when you have a passion for wine as I do. Time has a funny way of slipping away when you're not looking :)
So many great wine events to talk about, which I will do over the next few days, and blogs. I do want to admit that I went to a blind tasting at Wine Styles in Costa Mesa a few weeks ago, and walking in I had a feeling my palate was off. I was tired, and had a feeling I might miss more than usual. I was right. Out of seven wines (2 white, 1 rose, 4 reds), I went zero for seven. Of course, they did throw in a few tough selections (Marsanne, a white from Burgundy, and Petite Rousse). Still, it was fun to try to identify the scents and tastes that came out of each sip of wine.
And if you have not seen the summer issue of OC Wine, check out the all-new http://www.ocmenus.com/ -- CT
ARCHIVED BLOGS
March 30, 2007:
Had dinner Wednesday night at Onotria restaurant in Costa Mesa with Frank Crinella, co-owner of Crinella Wines. He's a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at UCI, and an avid wine fan. He and his sister own vineyards in Sonoma County and have started producing Sauvignon Blanc and late harvest Sauvignon Blanc, with a Pinot Noir to come later this summer. I am a red wine fan, but have been rediscovering whites lately. Good thing, because this Savignon Blanc is fantastic! We sipped the regular and the late harvest as the chef at Onotria brought out plate after plate of the most amazing food that paired perfectly with the wines. I had some friends try the late harvest, and they all wanted a bottle, which shows how good this wine is. Check out the winery at www.crinellawinery.com. -- CT
March 27, 2007:
Noelle and I are planning an excursion to Temecula this Sunday to research the June issue's cover story on Temecula wine country. Many fine wine fans turn their noses up at the mere mention of Temecula, but anyone who's been there lately knows that there is some great wine coming out of Temecula. There is mediocre wine there too, but I think Temecula is all about the experience of wine tasting. Thousands of people from OC make the trek to Temecula every month, and they're enjoying their experience, which means they're going to buy more wine. I'm a fan of Stuart Cellars, Hart Winery, and other like them who do make some top quality wines, particularly reds. Others like South Coast Winery and Ponte have become party places with packed tasting rooms serving wine that by all appearances is pleasing the masses. But with nearly 30 wineries now in Temecula, there's no denyng that the town has become a magnet for wine tasting in So Cal. Our story will cover the history of Temecula, the various tasting room, where to eat and stay, and also offer two Temecula wine tasting experiences--one via limo to high-end wineries, the other with a group to the "fun" wine spots. I think you'll find that no matter your taste or level of wine knowledge, you'll find something to like about Temecula. -- CT
March 25, 2007:
Been a busy wine week. On Thursday, I went to a lunch meeting at Antonello restaurant to discuss a wine tasting auction to benefit the Pacific Symphony's music education programs, and in the evening I volunteered to pour wine at a charity wine tasting event for Saint Joseph Ballet (six premium Pinot Noirs and five high end Chardonnays). This, to me, is yet another indication of the popularity of wine and how wine can be used as an enhancement to other activities. Friday evening I went to Wine Styles for their weekly tasting (blended wines) and met a few first timers who said they'd like to see OC Wine Magazine hold weekly get togethers at various wine boutiques and send out emails about these events. Great idea! So...stay tuned for us to start OC Wine Nights soon. We'll be launching a weekly email newsletter that will highlight various wine tasting events that week, and we'll pick one of them to host an OC Wine Magazine night. We'll hold free drawings for wine at each event we attend. Sounds like fun? It does to me. In fact, send us an email at ocwine@aol.com and we'll add you to our email list. As Noelle says, "Good Times!"
March 21, 2007:
I had written what I thought was a fun and witty summary of my trip to Paso, and before I could send it live my computer froze and I lost the entire entry! Oh well, let me relive it again for you...
Saturday: Rented a red Mustang convertible and Jen and I drove up the coast to Los Olivos, a tiny town with a lot of wineries compacted into one block. Sampled a few wines, bought a few wines, then continued on to Foxen Canyon Road, where I stopped at Fess Parker and Foxen. Fess Parker is a busy winery made all the more popular by the movie Sideways. Foxen is little more than a large shack with some pretty tasty reds, but they too have benefited from the Sideways association. Bought some wines, then drove the back roads up to San Luis Obispo, where we stopped at a tasting room called, appropriately enough, Taste. They have a unique system--buy a wine credit card in any denomination, walk up to one of several large round metal display cases with wine bottles attached to a delivery system, insert the card, select a wine, push a button, and a one ounce pour is placed in your glass. Taste range from $1.95 to around $3.50 depending on the wine. Great concept, fun store--and yes, I bought a bottle of Zin. Continued up to Paso, where I met a friend at Eberle and bought another bottle of Zin. Finished the evening at Tobin James, which held a Zin party for its wine club members and friends. The flyer boasted 20 restaurants, 4 live bands, and Wine, Wine, Wine! They delivered on all counts. The food was fantastic, the bands were fun, and the wine was incredible. Available to taste and retaste were Blue Moon Zinfandel, Dusi Vineyard Zin (which has quickly become my favorite Zin), Fat Boy, Reserve, and Ballistic, plus an assortment of other wines. As Tobin James says, "It's all good!"
Sunday: Made the rounds of a handful of wineries--Pipestone, Midnight, Opolo, Justin, Silverstone, Minassian-Young, and Tobin James. Bought Zins (and other goodies) everywhere. Came back with 30 bottles of wine. So did we have fun or what? Check out my photos below and see for yourself. -- CT 
