In the course of trying to find Heibel Ranch in Pope Valley a couple of weeks ago, we came upon a small winery with an interesting history. The Pope Valley Winery is a small winery that was originally founded in 1897 as the Burgundy Winery & Olive Factory. After being abandoned twice, it finally became The Pope Valley Winery in 1998 when it was purchased by a group of longtime Pope Valley residents.

I had the opportunity to taste my way through the Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival this past weekend. This was my first time at this event and I am happy to report that I was very impressed! It was a relaxing and fun atmosphere of food and wine on St. Petersburg Beach at the Loews Don Cesar Resort and reminded me very much in style of the much larger South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

Yesterday, I began a story about an event Jose and I attended in San Francisco. It was for vintners who belong to the San Francisco Wine Association, entitled Crash Course at Crushpad with the San Francisco Wine Association,where each member showcased his or her wine.

Sorry for the hiatus, I actually spent all of last week at Syracuse University where I gave a guest lecture and held a wine tasting for Due Cani and I had trouble finding time to write. The experience made me realize how romantic the notion of wine and the wine business is. I was there to share my experiences in entrepreneurship with a group of MBA students, and I was really surprised by how many people are intrigued by the wine business, not because they love wine, but because it has this aura of romance that surrounds it.

For most people, a decanter is something that they are given as a gift or purchase because it is attractive and they believe that it makes serving their wine more sophisticated. But, a decanter is more than a thing of beauty, it is functional and serves two important purposes in serving wine, and when it is used properly it will improve your wine experience.

"a little citrus, maybe some strawberry… passionfruit…  and, oh, there's just like the faintest soupçon of like asparagus and just a flutter of a, like a, nutty Edam cheese... " Miles in “Sideways.

 ”When you read a review of a wine or see a comment like Miles’ above, are you left wondering what the wine writer/critic means by “cigar box,” “pencil shavings,” “leather,” “asphalt,” “tobacco,” “hedonistic” “soupcon” and “saddle?”  Or other terms such as “pungent,” “bretty,” “herbal,” “wet-dog,” “barnyard,” “band-aid” (1) and “briary?”  Numerous articles and even scientific studies have been written on the relationship of wine descriptive terms and the actual taste of wine (2) but they lack a real explanation of “what does that mean?”