Proprietor and Winemaker John Benedetti has hit his stride at Sante Arcangeli after years of dedication and a period of personal hardship. The 2024s I tasted for this report are far and away the best wines I’ve ever tasted from this project. Sourced primarily from vineyards in coastal-influenced Corralitos, the wines show more depth, finesse…
I’ve already received quite a few questions about a comment I made in my last email. No, not the admittedly too-crass Valentine’s stuff… I’m talking about the “containers full of additives and sugar” remark. I recognize that sometimes my crass sense of humor can undermine my intensely serious approach to my craft, and that this…
We were recently approached by the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association and Expedia Cruises about hosting a food & wine cruise on a luxury cruise line through Burgundy. My co-hosts are Ryan Beauregard (Beauregard Vineyards) and Nathan Kandler (winemaker for Fogarty). Uh… OK! Please join us for this once-in-a-lifetime event in the summer of 2027….
Matthew Luczy from Wine Advocate (now owned by the Michelin Guide) recently wrapped up his annual visit to the Santa Cruz Mountains. Here’s what he had to say… The cool temperatures and long hang times of 2023 played beautifully into the hands of John Benedetti, who presented a superb lineup of vibrant, transparent Sante Arcangeli…
Tariffs are in the news, to say the least. So much so that, if you’re like me, you’re getting sick of it all… the ups and downs, the pivots, the animosity, the crashing stock market… it’s enough to make anyone feel as if they’ve just shotgunned a box of wine and chased it with some…
We recently submitted wine to Virginie Boone, the Central Coast reviewer for Jeb Dunnuck’s publication, for the first time. The reviews caught us by surprise, and we couldn’t be happier! See the chart below for a summary.
Last summer, I had the good fortune to get to spend a day with Ray Isle of Food & Wine Magazine, showing him around Split Rail Vineyard and then having dinner at my favorite local restaurant, HOME. Ray is quite possibly the nicest guy in the food & wine industry, and we immediately hit it…
Recently I had the honor of being selected by Ray Isle of Food & Wine Magazine to be one of the California representatives in a White Burgundy seminar at World of Pinot Noir. My co-panelists included representatives from Louis Latour, Albert Bichot, Louis Jadot, Evening Lands, Ramey, Talley and Alma Rosa. The wines were stellar….
As bottling of the 2024 Rosé of Pinot Noir and the 2023 Chrysanthemum and Syrah approaches, I thought this would be a good time to revisit the subject of wine closures. A year or so ago I posted here to explain my reasoning to try out screw caps on the 2022 Chardonnay, as a means…
Excerpted from “Santa Cruz Mountains – The Chameleon” by Billy Norris: “The strongest asset here is a core of capable, scrappy, adaptable, quality-minded producers who utilize the region’s diversity to succeed in spite of adversity. They change colors as necessary to blend in with their environment—like chameleons—churning out wines of precision, transparency and value year…