I recently began hosting biweekly blind tastings at my home as a series of small-group learning experiences. Five of us got together last Thursday evening to taste Gewürztraminer wines.
Gewürztraminers, with their floral, spicy aromatics and slightly sweet lychee-nut taste, are an excellent match for fresh fruit and cheeses and a good complement to many simple […]

Every day, people come and go in and out of our lives, often only for brief encounters. Yet when those brief encounters are approached without pretense or condition and are instead met with levity, compassion, and a relaxed good nature, everybody wins, and brief moments linger in our memories much longer than we could have […]

My friend Tami joined me yesterday evening for a hike at popular Rancho San Antonio OSP in the low hills above Cupertino, in the western portion of the Santa Clara Valley. The temperature was a bit warm in Rancho’s lower meadows – only about 93 degrees – in effect keeping the usual crowds away but […]

Rebecca came from the Midwest to discover winehiking, though she didn’t know it at the time.  The following is an illuminating record of our recent correspondence. 
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Hi Russ,
I’ve really been enjoying the hikes I’ve been doing lately, and I have discovered that I like hiking a lot more than I thought I did.  That all means that it’s […]