If you have been a wine connoisseur since the early days of California wineries becoming popular, you probably have heard of Bonny Doon, and maybe even their infamous winemaker, Randall Grahm. Randall is best known for his pioneering work with Rhone varietals in California, and for popularizing the use of screw cap closures on premium wines. Bonny Doon (the name of the town near Santa Cruz) Winery was created by Grahm in 1982. After some attempts at creating Burgundian style wines in California, Kermit Lynch, a famous California wine importer and Rhone Champion had introduced Grahm to Rhone st ..read more

Dating back to 1692 this farm estate is rich in South African history, located about an hour north of Cape Town. One of the original Cape Dutch farms in the Drakenstein Valley has preserved farmland, vineyard and a winery. The 200 hectare estate (nearly 500 acres) has one of the most revered gardens in the world. Growing everything from fruits and vegetables, harvesting honey from bees, and using sustainable agriculture. Seized by Dutch settlers in the late 1600’s the original farm was set up by Pieter Van der Byl. It is the oldest European farm in South Africa. Van der byl became a prominent ..read more

February in Florida brings temperature spikes and drops, one day we are wrapped in blankets with the oven on enjoying a hearty, big red wine, the next day we have the AC running and are thinking about a nice crisp Rose’. The “President’s Week” vacationers are filling our restaurants and highways, and Valantine’s Day out is filled with tables for two and steak dinners. Here at Ed’s our selection of imported Italian foods is growing, so we thought we would share some recipe ideas for an easy weeknight dinner, or even a grand Italian gourmet meal, paired with some lovely wine choices, of course ..read more

The news is out! Recent trade publications have announced that the famous Italian winemaking family, Antinori is now owner of Stag’s Leap Winery of Napa. Stag’s Leap was held by the Chateau Saint Michelle company of Washington state. The new company, born out of this transaction is now called Vinattieri 1385. It all goes back six centuries ago, that’s right, in 1385 Giovanni di Piero Antinori was awarded a “Vintner’s Gold” for arts and winemaking. He was contributing and preserving the arts as well as maintaining quality vineyards in Italy. Twenty-six generations later, Patriarch Marchesi Pier ..read more

Holy Moly, we almost made it through another year- and that’s cause to celebrate! Let’s take a closer look at what’s available, and investigate why some bubbles are pricier than others- why should you celebrate with Champagne? The average bottle of French Champagne is around $50 and can climb well into the hundreds. There are almost hundreds of reasons why. Champagne is a sparkling wine that must originate from the Champagne region of France to legally say “Champagne” on the label. Champagne the province is located in the Northeastern corner of France, about an hour and a half drive from Paris ..read more

The most traditional of all American holidays usually kicks off the season with a roasted turkey or ham, and all the wonderful, flavorful side dishes. Grocery stores are stocking up on the big birds and cold boxes are filled with holiday ham, and we’re stocking our shelves, too. One of the most difficult challenges is to find a wine (or two) that pairs with all of those wonderful flavors of the Thanksgiving table. We’ve picked a few different varietals to pair with your bird, oyster or sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams and potatoes! Why not stock up and bring home a few choices for your ..read more

We’re discussing wineries that are haunted and hauntingly good wines for your Halloween pleasure. The spirit world has always been intriguing; unexplained noises, phenomenon, sightings, moving objects, often with the history of tragedy. There is an actual tour of ghostly wineries throughout the country- you can book through wineries and travel agencies. We begin our stories with the famous Beringer Winery in Napa Valley. Beringer’s Rhine House is said to be haunted by Fredreick Beringer. The estate itself was modeled after some of the magnificent Chateau in France. Beringer was one of the firs ..read more

The Foley Family winery created El Pino Club for their love of Pinot Noir- and the fact that they produce this most beautiful juice in many of the new world’s top viticultural areas. Producing brilliant Pinot Noir in a humorous and quirky way, welcome to El Pino Club! Each “member” of the El Pino Club is an homage to its terroir and the hands that produced it. Clones are artfully blended from some of the best estate vineyard blocks, and these site-specific Pinot Noirs allow you to explore the signature style of each region. The winemakers in “the club” are given poetic license to create a perf ..read more

The man, the myth, the legend! Joseph Carr came from humble beginnings and is arguably building an empire of quality brands- his own namesake wines, and a line of Josh Cellars wines inspired by his hard-working father, to a new collaboration inspired by his grit as a wrestler in school, later turned dancer! Joe Carr likes to mention he wasn’t born into a winemaking family, he didn’t even taste wine until he was 18 years old! His roots began in rural Upstate New York in the restaurant industry, from busboy, server, bar tender to Sommelier. Joe then turned to the distributor world where he becam ..read more

It’s Summer, it’s hot, and other than a cold beer after just a short time outdoors, we can only appreciate light, white, refreshing wines at this time. Let’s explore the Pinot Gris/Grigio varietal, which is virtually the same, thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir grape. Pinot Noir, you ask? Isn’t that a red wine grape? Indeed, it is, but Pinot Gris and Grigio are white wines born out of a grayish color grape, not really red, but not green, either. Researchers determined that Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir have very similar DNA, with literally the color of the grape being the only distinct ..read more