Buying Wine

A Visit to Rivers-Marie

In early August we visited Rivers-Marie Winery in Calistoga. This was my first visit to the new facility. We were greeted in the parking lot by Thomas Rivers Brown which was a complete surprise and super cool. After chatting with TRB briefly, Frank Ingriselli, the Hospitality Director showed us into the winery where we would do a sit down tasting.…

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Bottle Notes, Buying Wine

A visit with Max Reichwage at Mancini Ranch Vineyard

Reichwage Winery was founded in 2014 by Max Reichwage to fulfill a dream of producing small quantities of classically made Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. Max is the owner and winemaker. Before starting the winery Max studied chemistry at the University of Michigan, and viticulture and enology at University California Davis. Reichwage has two estate vineyards in Sonoma County: Twin Hills and…

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Buying Wine

A Visit with Will Hamilton of Violin Wine

Violin Wine was founded in 2013 by Will Hamilton and specializes in Pinot noir and Chardonnay from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The name Violin is a reference to Vino and Will’s son Olin. Will strives to make wines that are elegant and a true expression of the vineyard and region. Violin has a tasting room in Amity but I visited with…

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Buying Wine

Killer Deals on Wine.com

I had never shopped on Wine.com but some killer discount codes were brought to my attention that were too good for me to pass up. The codes WINEABR1 and WINEKB1 both give the buyer $100 off on a $300 purchase. The wine itself must total $300 as opposed to the total order amount after shipping and handling. I used one…

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Buying Wine

Exciting Changes at Kosta Browne

Kosta Browne was founded in the late nineties by Dan Kosta and Michael Browne. In 2009 controlling interest was sold to Vincraft for close to $40 million. In 2015 J.W. Childs Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm, bought out Vincraft. With these investments have come numerous changes including a new Winery (Gallery) in Sebastopol and the purchase of Keefer and Cerise Vineyards.…

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Bottle Notes, Buying Wine, Zinfandel

New Releases from Bruce Patch Wines

Bruce Patch cut his teeth in the music industry — having once met the Beatles and helped to discover the famous 80’s band, The Cars. Bruce moved to the Russian River Valley in the late 1990’s, and transitioned his sales and marketing background into a successful distribution business representing small independent wineries in Sonoma County. Bruce Patch Wines sources grapes from throughout Sonoma County, including…

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