I had the pleasure of being hosted by Joel Peterson, the founder and current President/CEO of Ravenswood, at the 2013 ZAP Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner. He started his winemaking career in the mid 1970’s by buying, harvesting and vinting zinfandel grapes. Since then, he has been one of the leaders in the renaissance of zinfandel wine...

Castello di Amorosa, (http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/) which translates to Castle of Love (though I preferred to translate it to “Love Shack”) is hidden from the road by the trees and slope of the hill. When you pass through the lovely iron gates at the entrance and start up the drive, you only see the neatly pruned lines of grapes planted on all sides...

For me, one of the mandatory stops on any Napa Valley wine trip is the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (http://www.cask23.com). Given its legendary reputation and importance of the development of California wines, it is hard to provide any new or even objective review of this winery. First a little history. The winery itself was founded in 1970...

Maryland wine has a reputation, not wholly undeserved, that is less than stellar. It is considered both unrefined and unfocused. There are several wineries with as many as 30 different wines and the focus seems to be on playful wine rather than “good” wine, especially as it relates to red wines. I believe this is the result of more than one factor.

The first is the relative age of Maryland winerie...