Articles by
John Tilson
BONNY DOON VINEYARD WINE AND FOOD DINNERS
Two years in the planning, two dinners featuring a wide variety of Bonny Doon Vineyard wines back to 1985 (the winery was founded in 1983) were held in September of last year. The first dinner was at our home and the second dinner was at the home of my friend Richard Banks. The wines […]
Click here to read entire article »THE ROSÉ PARADE
June is just around the corner and summer will soon be here. Although we drink rosés year round at our house, summer is the time that most American consumers join the rosé parade. And, each year the parade gathers more participants. According to Nielsen, Americans drank 67% more rosé in 2017 than they did […]
Click here to read entire article »VISIT TO AU BON CLIMAT & QUPÉ AND A GREAT UPCOMING WINE & FOOD EVENT
Mind Behind Recently I visited Jim Clendenen, the founder and owner of Au Bon Climat aka “Mind Behind,” and his crew at Au Bon Climat & Qupé winery which is also affectionately referred to as “The Shed.” Accompanying me was Craig Olson, the President and CEO of Hillside House. Founded in 1945, Hillside House is a […]
Click here to read entire article »RIDGE VINEYARDS – SPRING 2018 RELEASES & MORE
The spring releases from Ridge Vineyards are now here. There are four red wines and one white wine with four wines from the 2016 vintage and one wine from the 2015 vintage. As usual, the wines are very impressive. Notes on these spring releases are listed below and are followed by information on […]
Click here to read entire article »IS IT ROSÉ TIME?
Spring has arrived. And the new vintage 2017 rosés are starting to appear on the market. So with the normal fanfare merchants are now heralding the “It’s Rosé Time” chant. That’s all well and good. But, it was not all that many years ago that Americans paid little attention to rosé. Oh yes, […]
Click here to read entire article »DOMAINE BALLOT-MILLOT – HISTORY, OLDER WINES & THE 2015 VINTAGE, AND TASTING NOTES ON THE 2015S
HISTORY Below is what I said about this Domaine in my first article posted in February 2010: Even a lot of very serious White Burgundy fans may have never heard of this producer. I first became acquainted with the wines in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In those days, the wines were […]
Click here to read entire article »TABLAS CREEK VINEYARD – SPRING 2018 RELEASES
The Tablas Creek Vineyard Spring 2018 releases are here and, as usual, they are not to be missed. They include a delicious white wine, two beautiful rosés, and two lovely red wines. The introduction from my first article on Tablas Creek Vineyard is shown below and is followed by tasting notes on the Spring […]
Click here to read entire article »CELEBRATIONS WITH OLD WINES & GOOD FRIENDS
We were recently evacuated from our home in Montecito for nearly a month. During this time we stayed in many places including the homes of friends. Once we were back in our home we decided it was celebration time. AN ANNUAL BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION The first was the occasion of our long term great friend, […]
Click here to read entire article »BOOK ON ROBERT LAWRENCE BALZER PUBLISHED BY UNDERGROUND’S CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CHRISTINE GRAHAM
Christine Graham, a Contributing Editor to The Underground Wineletter, has just published a book on wine icon Robert Lawrence Balzer, Hollywood and Wine — A Star Studded Life, The Robert Lawrence Balzer Story. According to Christine, Balzer had been working on his autobiography for years but had only reached the decade of the 50s in […]
Click here to read entire article »A NATIONAL CONTEST TO SEE WHICH 100 POINT WINE WRITER HAS THE MOST CREATIVE WINE DESCRIPTIONS
Are you kidding me? After all I have written about Stupid Wine Descriptions (click here to read the most recent article) it seems that a well- known national publication will be setting up an annual contest to determine who can come up with the most “creative” wine descriptions. Reportedly, a $100,000 prize will go to […]
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