After having spent a month in the forever busy and bustling Los Angeles, we decided it was time for a little R & R and headed up to Northern California, to Napa and Sonoma County. Everything was so different there, so beautiful, there is this feeling of calmness and serenity that pervades all. Spring is already in the air and pruned vines stand ready and waiting for nature to give its signal. Flowers are all abloom between the vineyard rows and birds are busy twittering away.
We drove down quaint little country roads, amazed at the scenery, looking for a winery to grab our eye, so we could sit down and, with a glass of wine in our hand, talk about our plans and about how great it will be once we finally settle down here. On the left-hand side of the road we spotted an interesting crescent-shaped building with an impressive limestone edifice. Above this building stands another, smaller structure surrounded by rows and rows of vineyards next to the entrance of which reads a sign: Quintessa.Thanks to a newly acquired, very useful gadget ours—our iPhone—we quickly researched this winery right outside the gate finding out whether it was worth the trip in. Using my Wine Ph.D application, I looked up the winery andfound two wines listed, and 92 and 93 pointer with an average price of $116 a bottle. So, I thought, okay, let’s go! Soon we were on a tour of the winery, walking through the beautiful vineyards, listening to its interesting history. …
At one point in the beginning of the 90s, a few Croatians came together and figured: let’s plant some Malvazia grapes, revive our winemaking industry, make some olive oil too while we’re at it, put a strong marketing campaign behind the whole thing and tie all this together with tourism and great programs. Their plan seems to be working. Today, the Malvazia grape is as much a part of Istria as its beautiful beaches. It is a white grape variety originally from Cyprus or Crete. Before the philoxera crisis, supposedly 30,000 hectares of this grape were planted here. Over the past ten years, more and more of this grape has been planted, encouraged by grants and other forms of support. Apart from this, olive production has also received momentum and the glistening leaves of the olive trees can be seen throughout Istria. It’s obvious Croatians are on the right track and I give it only a few years, maybe a decade, before Istria will become synonymous with this wonderful grape variety. ...
In Pécs, everyone knows, if you want a good fish soup, go across the border to Csúza, Croatia. There at Kovács Csárda, they make the best fish soup anywhere. It is approximately fifty kilometers from Pécs, south of Mohács, not far from the banks of the river Danube. You can tell from its name that Csúza was once a part of Hungary. Their frish soup is always made to order
—you say for how many and you pick the type of fish. They also make their noodels fresh; their recipe starts like this: 4 kilograms of flour, 50 eggs, salt. In these parts, they serve noddles with the fish soup, not just with bread like elsewhere. So we had mildly hot fish soup with homemade noodles and a good Olaszrizling (Welschriesling) spritzer to go with it. It was on one of the these gastro tours that we discovered they make pretty good wine here in Croatia too! ...
As you are leaving Napa, hugging the turns on the mountain road passing over into Sonoma county, a feeling of wistfulness comes over you. Beautifully kept vineyards, neat rows of vines, and in many places, traditionally cultivated rows of grapes. The vines, like a witch's hands, reach out from the ground up towards the sky. Colorful wild flowers carpet the ground between the rows; the vista is hilly and serene. Sonoma is family-run wineries, tasting rooms converted from old barns, heart-warming hospitality and excellent wine. Its seems almost odd that New World wine should come from such a traditional setting. The sight of its fifty and hundred year old vines is so alluring that I frequently pull over to the side of the road so I can take a closer look. …
Napa is a unique unparalleled part of the world where great wines are made. Their biggest strength is their Cabernet Sauvignon, but many other superb wines are made here as well. Located near the west coast, about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco is Napa Valley, North America’s biggest and most famous wine region. We drove up from Los Angeles, about a six-hour drive, 600 kilometers. Napa Valley lies between two mountains—most of the vineyards are found here, but there are a couple on the mountainside as well. The valley floor, an old riverbed, is full of sediments, while higher up the mountain, the earth has volcanic qualities. The differing soil is the reason why many of the wines from this area differ so greatly from one another though the vineyards perhaps lie only a few hundred meters apart. The wineries are found mostly in the northern part of Napa and can be approached from one of two roads, the 29 and the Silverado Trail. There are about 400 wineries in Napa; it would take quite a few months to visit every one of them. We succeeded in visiting twenty wineries in four days. At five wineries a day, that was an impressive feat. We tasted 118 wines in total...
Detestable Hungarian wines on the store shelves in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, we checked out the local wine shelves to see what kinds of Hungarian wines were being sold. Almost needless to say, most stores didn’t carry any Hungarian wine. About 60% of the wines on the shelves of big grocery stores and wine stores come California, but of course there are international wines available as well. Almost everywhere you can find wines from Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Israel. In addition, there are a couple of stores in California that focus on the eastern European customer (ex. Jons), where you can find a few Hungarian specialties too. Here you’ll find paprika, paprika paste, farmer’s cheese, kolozsvári bacon, and a few bottles of Hungarian wine. Here we found two bottles of Tokaji Aszú, a three puttony bottle for $16 and a five puttony bottle for $23. Also there was an Egri Bull’s Blood wine for $5. ...
Unified Wine & Grape Symposium January 25 th- 28th 2009
Every year in January the city of Sacramento hosts the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium where everyone who is anyone in the wine-making industry attends. Aimed at grape growers and wine makers, at the conference you will find the newest technology being used out in vineyards and down at the winery, also present are industry suppliers including coopers and bottle, cork, and label producers, to mention just a few. At the tradeshow there were a handful of barrel washing systems, wine-making utensils and lab equipment, and all kinds of oak chips, planks, and oak pieces used to enhance the aroma experience…
About 100 kilometers east of New York City, in Long Island, at its furthest tip, is the third most well-known wine region in the United States. The island is 160 kilometers long and branches out at the east end. The northern half is called North Fork and the lower half South Fork. They have been growing grapes in this area since 1973. This region doesn't have very big wineries, moreso are small family wineries farming on about 20-30 hectares. Why I was especially eager to get to know this wine region, was because I believe it has many similarities to certain Hungarian wine regions. ...
Wine tours 
