Food and Wine Pairing: Sonoma Whites & Pinots at AOC

Ross Halleck and Caroline Styne

The Los Angeles Wine Writers’ Group recently attended a special food and wine pairing at AOC, the restaurant featured in Condé Nast Traveler’s “50 hot tables” and on Food & Wine Magazine’s “Best New Wine List.” It’s credited with pioneering the small-plate tapas dining experience on the west coast. A.O.C. is helmed by Caroline Styne,…

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7 Best Small Wineries in Sonoma 

small wineries, wine tasting, wine experience, red wine, white wine

The best small wineries in Sonoma are boutique wineries – those which make less than 5000 cases annually – are more high touch than high-tech. These places are labors of love. Wines are hand-crafted with exceeding attention and care. There’s freedom to experiment here with different styles and varietals. An approach that looks to expand your palette instead of stultifying it.It’s less about the glitz and glam….

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Impact of Climate Change on the Petaluma Gap AVA

Catapult Vineyards at sunrise in the Petaluma Gap AVA

Petaluma Gap AVA wines are said to have a bit more balance and refinement because the wind hardens and thickens the grape skins producing more tannins, which render the feeling of texture in your mouth. The microclimate produces wine with a combination of freshness, refinement and elegance with more intensity from the tannins. 

But like the rest of the Bay Area,…

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Wine Tasting Near Bodega Bay: Top 8 Tasting Rooms

Docks at Bodega Bay

It’s now the perfect time of the year for wine tasting near Bodega Bay. This amazing area lies on a San Andreas Fault line, roughly 20 miles as the crow flies from Petaluma, about 30 minutes on the highway from downtown Petaluma to The Links Golf Club at Bodega Harbor, which rests at the southern opening of the bay….

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Wine Festivals: 2022-2023 Calendar

Wine Festivals Reopening Post Lockdown

After a two-year lockdown, life is finally opening up again. So we scoured the web to put together this endemic 2022-2023 Wine Festival Calendar. It features 11 California Wine Festivals, including 4 in Sonoma and Napa, and 2 in Santa Barbara. Plus Nantucket, Oregon, and Colorado wine festivals, and a wine festival reopening in France. The Dana Point Wine Festival is happening too close to our publication date,…

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Sebastopol Wine Tasting Experience at Halleck Vineyard

For more than 20 years, we’ve been hosting Sebastopol wine tasting experiences at our estate. We’re just inland from the majestic Sonoma Coast about 20 minutes from Bodega Bay or 15 minutes from the Barlow. Our Sebastopol wine tastings aren’t held in a traditional visitors center or hospitality tasting room. Rather, we welcome you and your dog if you have one,…

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This blog is sponsored by Halleck Vineyard but we also write about Sonoma wineries, wine tasting rooms and wines. If you buy anything through links on our site, in some cases we may earn a commission.