Best Wines I Tasted in September 2021
In September 2021, I tasted and rated a total of 29 wines. The 4 wines I have choose to share with you are the ones that were special to me, that when I tasted them I knew they were great. They made feel something beyond just a delightful taste. They have character, depth, balance and…
Best Wines I Tasted in August 2021
In August 2021, I tasted and rated a total of 28 wines and found some real gems. This month I have 7 great wines share with y’all. None of them earned a 5 star rating this month, but 3 of them were right on the edge, rating them 4.5 stars on Vivino. My favorites this…
Best Wines I Tasted in June 2021
In June 2021, I tasted four wines that I felt were good enough to recommend. All of them I ended up rating 4 out of 5 stars on Vivino. One was a pink wine, one a white and two were red wines. Three of them happened to be of the 2017 vintage and two of…
Alan’s Favorite Books of 2019
At the end of each year I think back over all the books I read over the prior tenth of a decade and share my favorites. In 2018 I put together my list and ended up with 10 special books. In 2019 I ended up with 6 meaningful books, two of which changed my perspective…
Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail Update
I wanted to give an update on my Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail project since my original post. Short Story I am a self proclaimed wine lover who has tasted at wineries in Southern Oregon, Northern California (Napa, Sonoma, Livermore and Monterey), as well as abroad (Argentina, France, Italy and Portugal). When I moved back…
Santa Barbara Wine Tasting at Cebada
Cebada Wines is #24 on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail map. Located just off state street in downtown Santa Barbara near the Paseo, is is an easy 15 minute walk from my house. Given it was a nice and sunny Santa Barbara afternoon, I headed down for a little wine tasting last Sunday afternoon.…
Wine Tasting – Fox Wine Co. – Santa Barbara
I visited Fox Wine Co.’s funk zone location in Santa Barbara on a stormy weeknight. Walking into the large industrial building turned multi-tenet local craft fair, beer garden and wine tasting area, I was not sure what to expect. I had previously been to Fox Wine Co.’s neighbors Lama Dog (beer) and Topa Topa (also…
Pali Wine Company – Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail Tasting #14
Pali Wine Co. was my host for another great wine tasting experience in Santa Barbara’s Funkzone. Their AVA specific Pinot Noirs were quite tasty and the tasting room’s atmosphere and vibe was classy and fun. The wine flights and by the glass offerings are well priced and include a nice variety of high quality wines…
Wine Tasting at Ca’ Del Grevino
Alena and I ventured out to Los Olivos after our tasting at Kalyra to taste some olive oil and visit Ca’ Del Grevino. It was an impromptu visit that turned out to be an amazing tasting with delicious wines and an awesome host!
Happy Canyon Vineyard – Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail # 21
I had a great time drinking wine at Happy Canyon Vineyard’s downtown Santa Barbara tasting room. It is a beautiful Polo themed tasting room with a nice bar as well as a comfy lounge area to enjoy a glass or two. I basically had the place to myself while Steve guided me through a tasting…
Best Books I Read in 2018
2018 was a busy year with all my traveling, hiking, moving and career changes. Yet, I still found time to read over 30 books this year. Many of the books I read were entertaining or insightful, others were just ways to pass the time and a few were so bad that I stopped part way through.…