Pinot Noir | San Diego Wine Guru

Cool Wine Country: Santa Lucia Highlands

Posted by Tom Gable | Feb 28, 2017 | California, Discoveries | 0

Robust Red Wines to Complement Your Mastery of the Grill

by Tom Gable | Apr 30, 2021 | Argentina, Baja California, California, Discoveries, Rhone, Spain, Values | 0

In getting an early start on firing up the barbie as the days get longer and the nights warmer, we’ve been sampling more robust red wines that can be a match for grilled foods. The dishes ranged from burgers and bratwurst to...

Exploring South African Red Wines

by Tom Gable | Feb 27, 2021 | Discoveries, South Africa, Touring | 0

Blind tastings help calibrate your taste preferences (if you like it, it’s good, no matter what the experts say or how much it costs). This was reinforced recently in a blind tasting of eight wines from South Africa by a...

White, Red Wine Values for Continued Hunkering in 2021

by Tom Gable | Dec 30, 2020 | Burgundy, California, Discoveries, France, Italy, New Zealand, Values | 0

Some celebrants usher in the New Year with a little bubbly and an expensive vintage wine or two. Based on requests from some friends for lower cost wines to get through the first quarter of 2021 under a pandemic budget, we took...

A Sampling of Fine Burgundy Reds from 1998 to 2011

by Tom Gable | Jun 30, 2020 | Burgundy, Classics, France | 0

In tasting some 100 Burgundy wines over the past six months and from eight vintages from 1998 to 2011, we’ve compiled our top 20. Each exhibited the wonderful characteristics of its climat, even in awkward vintages. In going...

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....