7.5 winehiker points*
Every once in a while, we wine lovers find that promise does not deliver what expectation anticipates. You can read all the words that are written to describe a wine; most of us want to believe them enough to reach into our wallets if we are at all tantalized by the copywriter’s scribblings. […]

Sustainable Links
A list of websites promoting sustainability from Chef Stu Stein’s soon-to-be-open Terroir Restaurant & Wine Bar.
(tags: sustainability sustainable food practices organic earth terroir portland wine bar winehiker winehiking californiawinehikes.com)

They could have been featured in ‘Mavericks at work’ (the book, not Marc Cuban’s team).
Creative cooking, a nice place and 40% off the Wine List on Monday nights. Who can ask for more?
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So here’s the deal: Da Coach of Da Super Bowl Bears, Mike Ditka, is releasing a new wine called “Kick Ass Red.” It’s a premium blend of Zinfandel and Syrah from the Parducci Winery in Mendocino, California and it will retail for about $49.
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Blind Wine Tasting Notes: 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau
Group tasting notes and analysis of six 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau wines.
(tags: blind wine tasting notes 2006 beaujolais nouveau review winehiker winehiking http://www.californiawinehikes.com)

Editor’s Note, November 15th, 2007: If you’re searching for a review of Beaujolais Nouveau wines from the 2007 vintage and wound up here, I must admit that I haven’t yet reviewed the new vintage. But what I’d like to know is, Should I?
Many wine buffs the world over participated last week in a yearly ritual — […]

A Thanksgiving Day assault
A handful of the South Bay Hiking Elite met before dawn for a Thanksgiving Day climb up the steep and windswept slopes of Fremont’s Mission Peak.
(tags: Thanksgiving Day 2006 Mission Peak hike hiking blog winehiker winehiking californiawinehikes.com)

A handful of the South Bay Hiking Elite, as Tom Mangan dubs them, met before dawn this morning to climb the steep and windswept slopes of Mission Peak, which crowns the hills east of Fremont, California. I would have been there with that crew, laboring up that @#$&! hill, if I hadn’t woken up coughing, […]

Getting Naked with 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau, and more
Referencing a post about the tradition of Beaujolais Nouveau plus a review of two of this year’s labels, Georges DuBeouf and Joseph Drouhin.
(tags: 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau wine naked vine blogger californiawinehikes.com winehiker winehiking witiculture)

A little less than 72 hours ago, the Wine Spectator announced its 2006 Top 100 List. Since then, prices have fluctuated for some of the list’s top ten wines, though not all of them. Most of these wines are still available as of this writing, though possibly in limited supply; two are not available online or from […]