Wine Archive

Sommelier at Your Fingertips

Finding a specific wine in your collection, selecting the ideal pairing for dinner without having to look at every bottle in your cellar, keeping track of which wines should be consumed before they pass the peak of perfection, and knowing the up-to-date value of a wine before you donate it.

By Janice Kleinschmidt

Detours - Temecula

Could you be in Napa? Perhaps, but you’re in Southern California’s stature-gaining wine country: Temecula

Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan

BY JANICE KLEINSCHMIDT

Savoir-Vivre on El Paseo

After Fashion Week El Paseo’s runway show on Friday night, the Big White Tent transformed overnight into a showcase for another element of sophistication: fine wine and food. Instead of models strutting down a catwalk for a seated audience, winemakers conversed with guests roaming from one table to the next — wine glass in hand.

BY JANICE KLEINSCHMIDT

The Year of A Thousand Wines

With little effort, you could taste a thousand wines over the next 365 days. Trust me. I’ve done the math.

BY JANICE KLEINSCHMIDT

PSST - Cameo

Coachella Valley’s certified sake sommelier surprises -—- not only because at only 26 years of age and Turkish he is the head sushi chef at Renaissance Esmeralda Resort in Indian Wells, but also because he’ll tell you the worst thing you can do to quality sake is serve it hot.

Janice Kleinschmidt

PSST - Barrels of Fun

D’Agostini has been photographing wine caves since 1996 — sometimes documenting their construction. At Ironstone Vineyards in the Sierra Foothills, he came upon cave doors made from staves of barrels once full of his family’s wine.

Janice Kleinschmidt

Pairing Ports

Each Port house has a distinct style as to the level of sweetness, fruit, and acidity in its wines. However, in general terms, Paul Mugnier of Premium Port Wines in San Francisco says reserve-level Ports go well with a rich devil’s food cake, while a 20-year tawny pairs best with a black forest cake.

BY JANICE KLEINSCHMIDT

Demystifying Port

Port — wine fortified with brandy — typically conjures up an image of a debonair Alastair Cooke wearing a smoking jacket and holding a pipe while introducing Masterpiece Theatre from the seat of a wing chair. It conveys an air of sophistication — and a bit of mystery.

BY JANICE KLEINSCHMIDT

Coming to Fruition

When Fresno State Winery posted photos on its Web site of 5,800 clusters of grapes hanging from the ceiling of its barrel and storage room, e-mails came in from as far away as Armenia and Uzbekistan. “It was like being in a rain forest of grapes,” says Winemaster Ken Fogelsang.

By Janice Kleinschmidt