Tasting Blind...with the Goddess of Wine!

We sure had some fun tasting those "little-known" wines from Spain and Portugal, but now we're going to put your palate to the test!

Have you always wanted to taste wine like the pros? Here's your chance!

Join the Goddess of Wine, Denise Lowe, for an evening of "blind" wine tasting to test your senses of sight, smell, and taste! We'll taste through several wines as you learn tips and tricks to WOW your friends!

Light munchies will be provided by #JDBakes.

Must be 21 years or more to attend.

Limited seating, so reservations are required. 
$35 per person

Wednesday, October 17th, 2018, at the Morro Bay Wine Seller
601 Embarcadero #5, Morro Bay, CA 93442

Click HERE to purchase your tickets!

Oh, and don't worry...we won't actually blindfold you!

Cheers!

Tasting Little-Known Wines of Spain & Portugal...

We're back from summer vacation, and it's back to school! 

Wine school, that is!

Join us for a voyage through some of the little-known wines of Spain and Portugal that the Goddess of Wine and JD discovered on their recent trip to the Med!

Wednesday, September 12th, 7 PM, at the Morro Bay Wine Seller!

$35 per person includes tastes of several delicious wines, #tasty snacks from #JDBakes, and tasting notes to take home.

Click here to buy your tix.

Hope to see you!

Wining in the Med...

Pena Castle, Sintra, Portugal

JD and I traveled to Europe in June. It was the first time we had been overseas since 2004. We traveled with a group from Zaca Mesa Winery, on the beautiful Oceania Riviera cruise ship. All travel was facilitated by Food & Wine Trails. We spent two days, precruise, in Lisbon, a city I would like to revisit very much. The cruise stopped in ports along the Mediterranean coast, ending in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.

In the light of the current political situation, I was afraid we were going to have to apologize for being American. Amazingly, all the folks we met - Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Indonesians, etc. - were friendly, kind, interested and interesting. We were able to learn about the history of the cities and towns we visited, sparking our imagination and memories of what we had learned in school so many years ago. We ate delicious local food, drank beautiful local wines. Visited historic sites. Talked to people.

More after the jump...

Name That Wine! A Blind Tasting Experience!

DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL, 

WE HAVE TO CANCEL THIS CLASS. 

STAY TUNED FOR FUTURE EVENTS!

Have you always wanted to taste wine like the pros? Here's your chance!


Join the Goddess of Wine, Denise Lowe, for an evening of "blind" wine tasting to test your senses of sight, smell, and taste! We'll taste through several wines as you learn tips and tricks to WOW your friends!

Light munchies will be provided by #JDBakes.




Must be 21 years or more to attend.

Don't wait to reserve your glass!  
$45/Public or $35/MBWS Member or Wine Trade

Wednesday, May 16th, 2018, at the Morro Bay Wine Seller
601 Embarcadero #5, Morro Bay, CA 93442
805-772-8388

Tasting Santa Barbara County Wines with the Goddess of Wine...

From the Sta Rita Hills in the west, to Happy Canyon in the east, and to the Santa Maria Valley in the north, the diversity of winemaking and grape varieties in Santa Barbara County is astonishing! 

Did you know that there are more than 70 varieties of grapes currently being grown and made into wine in Santa Barbara County? From the coolest Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs to the warmest Cabernets and Syrahs, there is something for everyone!

Join Goddess of Wine, Denise Lowe, for tasty trip through Santa Barbara County!

As a special treat, the Goddess will be pulling bottles from her own cellar for this #tasty evening! 

Wednesday, April 18th, 7PM, at the Morro Bay Wine Seller, 601 Embarcadero Ste. 5, Morro Bay, California 93442 - Tel: (805) 772-8388

Click here to purchase your tickets! Must be 21 or older to attend. 
$45/per person / $35/MBWS Club Members (or wine trade)

Includes wines, snacks, handouts, and fun!

Denise Lowe, the Goddess of Wine, provides wine education in an informal, fun atmosphere. We’ll talk about regional history, how and where wines are made, and what foods to pair with them, all in a casual and interactive setting. The more questions you ask, the more we all learn! Basic tasting notes will be provided for you to take home, and best of all, there’s no test!

Happy New Year!

Can't believe another year has gone by! 

It's always a wild ride, and luckily there's wine!

Cheers to all! 

Join the #GoddessofWine and the #FirstAcolyte in 2018 

as we continue to learn about wine!

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Upcoming classes in 2018:

All Wednesdays at 7:00 PM

at the Morro Bay Wine Seller

1/17/2018 What's That Smell? Expand Your Palate!

2/21/2018 Sherry and Port

3/14/2018 Australia/New Zealand

4/18/2018 Santa Barbara County

5/16/2018 Oregon/Washington

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

10 years after...

November 25, 2017

10 years ago this weekend, I got sick. It seemed like flu. Body aches, headache, mild fever. I went to bed.

Monday morning, went to the doctor. She thought it was flu. Prescribed some meds. I went back to bed. Felt worse.

A few days later, I went back to the doctor. My eyes were bright red and scary looking. The doctor thought it was conjunctivitis. I said, I’ve been home for the last week; where would I pick up pink eye? She prescribed an antibiotic eye treatment after taking a culture. I went back to bed, feeling even worse.

7th Annual Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles!

This year marks  the seventh year of the Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles. The Festival, which also brings Central Coast wineries to Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Solvang, has its home in Paso where the first festival was held in 2011.  

Dubbed “one of the most exuberant wine festivals because of the thrill of discovery," and "Wine-tasting Nirvana” by the LA Times, the festival takes place in  Paso from November 10th to 12th 2017, at the Ponderosa Pavilion at the Paso Robles Fairgrounds and other area locations.  Over 60 local commercial garagiste winemakers will be pouring over 200 handcrafted, micro-production wines. 

Now a local institution because it benefits a special scholarship fund for the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program, it is the first and only festival dedicated to undiscovered and under-recognized American garagiste winemakers who are making some of the best, most exciting wines in the world. 

This year's festival includes a Grand Tasting, a Winemaker mixer featuring “Rare and Reserve" wines, intimate and educational tasting seminars, a Rocking After-Party, a Paso Passport Day and more.  And, like all Garagiste Events, the Paso Robles Festival offers attendees a low-crowd experience, high-quality wines, first-time and ‘soon-to-break-out’ discoveries, personal winemaker interaction, diverse grape varieties and a renegade and fun-loving spirit. 

Tickets:

info@garagistefestival.com / 805-769-8211 

Website: http://garagistefestival.com

Tasting Wine and Chocolate...

Wine & Chocolate

The Goddess of Wine™ often finds herself in conversations about pairing wine with food, and occasionally that food is chocolate. Ask most folks about pairing wine with chocolate and you'll most likely hear about dessert wines. Lovely wines like Sauternes or Port or Madeira. But, I rarely drink dessert wines, and when I do, I generally pair them with cheese, but that's a story for another day.

So, the Morro Bay Wine Seller, Ley Vaughn, and I put together a class to pair table wines - all available in the USA, and specifically at the MBWS, to pair with dark, bittersweet chocolate. All these chocolates are available at Mama Ganache Artisan Chocolates in San Luis Obispo, and are sourced via Fair Trade cooperatives.

Our lively group of tasters found the following (after the jump):

This Post is Not About Wine...

Not that folks have noticed, but the Goddess of Wine hasn't been writing much. Oh, I keep Tweeting and Facebooking and Instagramming, which keeps me alive in the social network world, but I've been so overwhelmed with the changes JD and I made in the last year that it's been hard to focus.

However, the events of the past few weeks have stirred up memories, anger, and disgust, so I thought I'd exorcise of few of my demons. Spoiler alert: This post is not about wine. And it's long. Deal with it.