Oregon | San Diego Wine Guru

Favorites from 2021 — Classics and Values

by Tom Gable | Dec 31, 2021 | Bordeaux, Burgundy, California, Classics, Discoveries, France, New Zealand, Oregon, Rhone, Values | 0

It’s always memorable to go through our tasting notes for the year. We recorded the notes during a wide range of tasting experiences, from trying new wines at home, to dinner parties with friends, to trade tastings, industry...

Exploring New World Pinot Noir, $12 to $88

by Tom Gable | Jul 31, 2021 | Burgundy, California, Classics, Discoveries, France, New Zealand, Oregon, Values | 0

The following notes are from Pinot Noir wines tasted from the New World over the past six months and rated as good, very good and excellent. For background on Pinot Noir in the New World, versus its home in Burgundy, France,...

Summer Whites: Easy Sipping Party Wines, Plus a Few Complex Classics

by Tom Gable | Aug 31, 2020 | Australia, Baja California, Burgundy, California, Classics, Discoveries, France, Germany, New Zealand, Oregon, Spain, Washington | 0

The following white wines rose to the top of our tasting leaderboard the past three months, scoring for overall quality of the wines and values delivered. Most are widely available, except for classics from the cellar and...

Values in New World Pinot Noir

by Tom Gable | May 30, 2020 | Burgundy, California, Classics, Discoveries, New Zealand, Oregon, Values | 0

In seeking gastronomic relief from the high-alcohol fruit bombs attacking our palates from all over the world, we often turn to something more friendly with food – Pinot Noir. Wines from this fine red wine grape can be enjoyed...

Willamette Valley and Seven AVAs — Exploring Oregon Pinot Noir

by Tom Gable | Feb 29, 2020 | Classics, Discoveries, Oregon, Touring | 0

The seminar was titled “It’s Willamette, Damnit,” to break the pronunciation barriers, and offered...

Exploring New Worlds of Pinot Noir: California, Oregon, Chile, New Zealand

by Tom Gable | May 31, 2019 | California, Chile, New Zealand, Oregon | 0

A global array of winemakers, owners, merchants, distributors and educators convene each March for the annual World of Pinot Noir (WOPN) event at the Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, to be joined by gaggles of wine geeks...

32 Wines Under $23 for Spring Sipping, Picnic and Party Fun

by Tom Gable | Apr 30, 2019 | Argentina, Australia, Bordeaux, California, France, New Zealand, Oregon, Rhone, Values, Washington | 0

The following wines rise to the top in price and value from among several hundred wines tasted over the past few months, from individual bottles with food at home to sampling through scores at trade tastings and industry...

From Barbera to Zinfandel, Finding Values in Old and New World Red Wines

by Tom Gable | Nov 4, 2018 | Argentina, Australia, California, Discoveries, France, New Zealand, Oregon, Spain | 0

Recent tastings – foreign and domestic, remotely or in person — led us to wine discoveries from the Sonoma Coast, to the mountains of Argentina, sunny slopes of Rioja and emerging vineyards in Central Otago, New Zealand....