I’ve been quite amiss with reporting my wine study group ’s findings. Several co-workers and I meet up every other week or so to deepen our understanding of different wines and to keep our palates in practice. A couple months ago, we explored the Loire Valley and learned quite a ...

After you’ve had your fill of Peking Duck while in Beijing, you might want to try something else. A fabulous option is a Brazilian restaurant called Alameda, which is in Na-Li Mall, off Sanlitun Lu Street (also referred to as Bar Street due to its many drinking establishments). Once you’ve found Na-Li Mall, take...

If you love Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and the like, then am I teaching the class for you! What: Rhone Valley History and Tasting seminar When: Wednesday, August 20, from 6:30 to 8:30pm Where: Rosenblum Cellars, Alameda How: call Samantha at 510-995-4100 to reserve your spot… they’re filling up fast! How much: $40, $35 for wine club members What to expect: learn while you taste. I just...

The first Rosenblum wine club member/shareholder I met and still one of the nicest–Mark Hardwick– is really excited to help bring the Slow Food movement to Alameda. I’m excited he is, as well. My ... in Alameda wanted to participate, they had to tell some no or there would have been too much food ... , Slow Food in Alameda , Rosenblum Cellars event...

Here at Rosenblum, we’re doing our best to help others during the holiday season. It’s all about giving, after all. Therefore, we’ve got a couple of bins in the winery where you can bring in canned goods for those in need. Our friends over at the Food bank say what ...

It was the drink of choice for 19th century painters, poets and writers. Vincent van Gogh sliced off his ear while sipping it, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso painted it, French poet Paul Verlaine cursed it as he lay dying in his bed. For nearly 100 years, the...

Wine country means a lot of things in California, a state with winegrowing regions stretching most of its 800 mile length. For most residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, we tend to think of Wine Country as Napa or Sonoma. Increasingly, however, wine country must also include the East Bay. The cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda are now home to dozens of "Urban" wineries which...

Petite Sirah may very well be the Rodney Dangerfield of the varietals. Formerly, and still occasionally, known as Durif, this inky, dark, tannic monster of a wine generally takes a back seat to many other grape varieties in various blends produced by many winemakers around the state of California. There ...

Forget bucolic hills with neat rows of grapevines and breezy summer days far from traffic. To make wine, you need to buy grapes from Wine Country, but you don't have to live there. Go south from Napa County across San Pablo Bay and you leave behind the...

Happily, a Q&A I recently did with Lance Winters, master distiller over at St. George Spirits in Alameda, ran in today's food...