Richard Jennings

This month I toured some of California's oldest vineyards with a group of winemakers who make wines from these vineyards. The vineyard tour and the dinner that followed were organized to raise...

Santa Cruz Mountains produces some excellent, minerally, ageworthy Chardonnay with vibrant acidity.

I've previously written here about the long lived, complex Chardonnays of Mount Eden, and about the great Chards from Rhys and Ridge. The other Chardonnays from...

I've been tasting and studying wine seriously for over 10 years now. I take notes, read about it, attend seminars, write about it, and taste over 6,000 wines a year. What still so fascinates me, though, is not the...

Nonetheless, a few driven...

The only way to find out whether you like a particular wine or wine style is to taste it. Through tasting, you can start to develop a style profile of wines you prefer.

Here in the...

The wine world includes a lot of small, family-owned producers. Many produce good wines, and a multitude don't. Occasionally, however, the results are outstanding -- truly among...

The annual San Francisco Rhône Rangers grand tasting, which was held March 25, got me reflecting on the state of Rhône varieties in California. I've been to this and other Rhône-themed tastings for many years, and there are clear trends in what Rhône...

In Pursuit of Balance Tasting in San Francisco

It's an exciting time to be following the wine industry in California. Things are changing. The dominance of big, fruit-forward, super-ripe wines is starting to fade. The diversity of wine styles available to the consumer is growing.

There...

Mount Eden produces some of the most admirable, consistent and ageworthy expressions of terroir to be found anywhere in California. Their wines -- Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate vineyard at the top of Table Mountain, 2,000 feet above the Silicon Valley town of Saratoga -- have...

Italian wines are really hot today. Italy became the world's biggest wine producing country in 2010, surpassing longtime world leader France. Meanwhile, Italian wine imports to important markets like the U.S., Britain and China have risen...

Americans are drinking an increasing amount of sparkling wine. U.S. sparkling wine sales continued to increase at a higher rate than table wine brands for the third straight year in 2011 and now amount to about 5 percent of the U.S. wine market.

Imports...

Most San Francisco Bay Area fine wine aficionados are fans of Burgundy. Dinners and tastings featuring the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs of Burgundy, known respectively as white and red Burgundy, tend to be the most popular fine wine events in the area. That includes the weekend of festivities known as...

Petite Sirah is, along with Zinfandel, one of California's heritage and most distinctive grapes. It can produce wonderfully complex, rich, black fruited wines, often with floral, blueberry, tar, licorice and peppery dimensions....

What white wine goes well with a wide range of foods, from salads and vegetable dishes, to seafood dishes, lemon chicken and many cheeses? Sauvignon Blanc. And what's one of the best values you can find on...

America's in the midst of a much bigger wine phenomenon than the sudden upswing in Pinot Noir sales following the 2004 release of the movie Sideways. Sales of slightly sparkling sweet wines with underlying acidity made from the Muscat...

I attended the 21st annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, or ZAP, Festival Grand Tasting in San Francisco this past weekend. There I tasted over 200 current release Zins. I was vividly reminded that this historically significant California grape comes in a remarkable variety...

Syrah is a black grape that, unlike Pinot Noir, is relatively easy to grow and to make great wines from. Unfortunately, while it is a grape that is popular with winemakers, and there are many very well made and...

The greatest, most pleasurable aspect of wine tends to be hidden from most consumers. You can buy wine from the store, purchase a glass or bottle at a restaurant, or attend a tasting at most wine stores or consumer tasting events and be...