Filed under: Wine , Fruit , Pork , Newspapers , How To , America , in sixty seconds We are a little late with the San Francisco Chronicle's Wine section - their changing the section from Thursday to Friday is throwing us off! But we plunge ahead with their feature article, which explains the rigorous process of becoming a Master fo Wine. The credential comes after a four day test, years...

Filed under: Wine , West Coast , Vegetables , Cheese , Recipes , Fruit , Newspapers , America , in sixty seconds We're no strangers to blends, but we're probably far more familiar with wines that have been made from blending different grapes in the fermentation tank. However, wines made ...

Filed under: Wine , West Coast , Beef , Cheese , Raves & Reviews , Newspapers , How To , America , in sixty seconds The San Francisco Chronicle Wine section has officially moved from Thursday to Friday. Wine tasting isn't exactly a cheap pastime, but still, California wineries drew more visitors than Major League Baseball in 2003 . Because tasting rooms are a critical source of income...

Filed under: Wine , Dinner , West Coast , Beef , Cheese , Recipes , Cocktails , Rum , Spirit of Summer , Newspapers , America , Spirits , in sixty seconds This week, the feature story is not on wine, but cocktails . Rather than relying on the standard, ...

Filed under: Wine , Lunch , Dinner , West Coast , Cheese , Newspapers , New Products , America , in sixty seconds , Meat If this isn't an American dream story, I don't know what is. Ulises Valdez left the tiny village of Los Cuachalalates, Mexico, for Mexico City ...

Filed under: Wine , Lunch , Dinner , West Coast , Cheese , America , France , Meat Three old-school wineries in the Russian River Valley, Rochioli Vineyards & Winery, Williams Selyem Winery and Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery , show the rest how Pinot Noir is done . In ...

Filed under: Tastings , Wine , West Coast The annual big splash that is the Family Winemakers Tasting is coming - Sunday, August 20th to be precise. This year the venue is Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center with tickets for the general public set at $35 in advance; $45 ...

Essential? A blogger’s necessity? Total nuisance? Tacky? Read on. (To any Chronicle readers who may be reading here for the first time … welcome!)

As you might have seen one place or another, I’m changing jobs. Specifically, I left MSNBC.com last Friday after one last column, and after just 10 months back in New York, I’m headed West again. I’ll become the wine editor at the San Francisco Chronicle at the end of the month. For me...

Laura Cunningham, Thomas Keller’s life partner and the service half of the Keller Empire equation, is leaving the French Laundry and Keller’s other venues. [S.F. Chronicle] Everyone is getting into Alcoa’s glass closures, which I’m already on record as thinking are awesome. [Decanter] Dan Aykroyd gets into the wine biz. [Toronto Star]