Category: Food + Drink

Top 100 Wines: Meet & Greet Martha McClellan

Open for a little more than a year, Hamel Family Wines is one of Sonoma’s most stylish — and ambitious — wineries. Evidence of that ambition? Owners George and Pam Hamel brought in Martha McClellan, one of Napa Valley’s most accomplished winemakers, to work with their winemaker son, John B. Hamel II, and their estate-grown […]

Top 100 Wines: Joe Benziger

Cinsault , Lagrein, Mourvedre, Tannat, Teroldego … not your everyday grape varieties in Sonoma, but they’re a big part of Joe Benziger’s life. As winemaker at Imagery Estate Winery, Benziger never met a wine grape he didn’t like. Sure, he produces more recognizable wines, too, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, […]

Healdsburg Author Gives Christmas Trees Flight

To Carrie Brown, a Christmas tree is like a mannequin to a great designer — a naked shape just begging to be dressed. Every Christmas for more than 20 years, the owner of the rustic and retro Jimtown Store on the outskirts of Healdsburg “concocts new flights of fancy” with her own tree. “I love […]

Top 100 Wines: Syrah & Petite Sirah

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Francis Ford Coppola Winery 2012 Francis Coppola Reserve Wallace Creek Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Syrah $38 Its deep purple color signals the dark, luscious plum, blackberry and black raspberry aromas and flavors. This powerful, flamboyant wine gets its complexity from subtle notes of black pepper, black tea, licorice and spicy oak. (LM) Graton Ridge Cellars […]

Fernet Francisco: Sonoma is Falling in Love

Ben Flajnik has a new love, and her name is Fernet. For those out of the reality TV loop, Flajnik was the season 16 star of “The Bachelor,” which in 2012 brought national attention to Envolve Winery, the Sonoma brand he co-founded. Flajnik has since moved on from his chosen “Bachelor” mate and the winery […]

Cheaper Options for Sonoma County Wines

The holiday season is here and it’s time to bring out the big guns, to splurge on worthy bottles for both gifting and to help soothe us on the chilly nights of approaching winter, with hearty fare on the table. With football on the tube, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and more to celebrate, this is no […]

Top 100 Wines: Cabernet Sauvignon and Blends

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Amapola Creek 2010 Amapola Creek Estate Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $70 From legendary winemaker Richard Arrowood’s own certified-organic vines, this wine captures mountain Cabernet at its best, with tightly wound structure and a core of rich cassis, dark chocolate and kirsch flavors. It’s had enough time in bottle to begin to unfold, with suppleness and […]
A Mugnaini oven installed in a home’s outdoor kitchen makes a perfect centerpiece for alfresco entertaining.

Healdsburg’s Mugnaini Makes the Rolls Royce of Pizza Ovens

Lovers of Italian cooking, take note: The Rolls Royce of wood-fire pizza ovens, Mugnaini Imports, has made its home in Healdsburg. The 26-year-old company is renowned for producing ovens that heat up quickly (room temperature to 1,000 degrees in less than an hour), provide a natural convection flow of heat inside the dome, and make […]