WINE

The Gonzales family established the Gonzales Byass Winery in 1835 in the town of Jerez. Today, the company's Board of Directors is made up of...

The highly anticipated Orsa & Winston, Josef Centeno's return to fine dining, lives up to all expectations. Open only a couple weeks, the simple room, located next door to his bustling restaurant Bar Ama, is quiet and minimally decorated. The ambiance is sophisticated and casual. And the highlight of the room, and where most of the action takes place, is the open kitchen with Chef Centeno standing calmly in the center.   Orsa & Winston offers a tasting-menu format, which Centeno describes as Japanese/Italian omakase. You can chose a 5-course tasting menu, a 9-course tasting menu, 4-course family style or the 20-course tasting menu. Ranging from $50 to $195 per person, depending on the menu you choose, your palates will be in the hands of the chef (the staff will inquire about food allergies).
While on a recent trip to visit family in Sonoma Valley, I headed to the historic Sonoma Plaza as usual to check out local boutiques, bakeries and antique stores. Of course, Sonoma is also known for their quaint wine and cheese shops and various tasting rooms that can be found throughout the square. For this visit, I tried something new when I pleasantly stumbled across the Ledson Hotel & Centre du Vin.

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With so much commotion during the holiday season we think its important to take a moment to celebrate each other, and of course, a good meal. This year, Please the Palate had much to celebrate, starting with our first company holiday lunch! For this special outing, we decided to wine and dine at A.O.C. Wine Bar and Restaurant, located in the heart of 3rd street in West Hollywood.
Located 40 minutes south of Milan, the capital of the Lombardy region, is the town of Pavia, home to one of the oldest universities in Europe (1361). And, just across the river from Pavia sits the region of Oltrepò Pavese, which means just that. It is “on the other side of the Po River from Pavia”. Because of its rolling hills, it is frequently called the “Tuscany of the North” but although the Oltrepò Pavese is one of the largest wine producing regions in all of Italy, it is still fairly unknown, which makes it a great "off-the-beaten" path place to visit.
20131027_125832 Just east of State Street and sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and Highway 101, near the AmTrak station in Santa Barbara, the Funk Zone has popped up. Home to artisan shops, wine tasting rooms, microbreweries and eateries, this is Santa Barbara's hottest destination. The newest addition to the area is the McTavish Family's Santa Barbara Art Foundry. And, while there, stop for a wine tasting at the Fox Wine Company tasting room inside the Foundry. 20131027_141130 The Foundry offers free tours to see how bronze sculptures are created. Featuring the artist Tim Cotterill, otherwise known as The FROGman, visitors can watch the entire process firsthand while artisans work on the "lost wax" method and create his original frog sculptures.
In September, 66 Pinot Noir producers from the Willamette Valley Wineries Association came to Los Angeles for the first time to demonstrate what make this cool cool climate region one of the nation’s top producers of Pinot Noir. The Willamette Valley is located just outside the super-cool city of Portland, between Oregon's Cascade Mountain Range and the Coast Range, more than 100 miles long and spanning 60 miles.  Due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean (50 miles), Willamette averages 52-78 degrees in the summer and 35-47 degrees in the winter. It actually sits at the same latitude as the Burgundy region of France and has a similar climate in which the finicky Pinot noir grapes thrive.

Located 40 minutes south of Milan in the Lombardy region of Italy and across the river from Pavia sits the region of Oltrepò Pavese, which means “on...

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