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Ready for Halloween with 31 after my stop at Cheers Wine and Spirits

Duclaw 31 Pumpkin Spiced lager | Baltimore, MD This review is a two-fer. It’s two reviews in one. The first is about Cheers Wine & Spirits which opened today in lovely Martinez at the corner of Evans-to-Lock and Fury’s Ferry next to Columbia County Fire House 3. I’ve watched this location for the past months as I either rode by on my bike or taking Mr. Ben to school. I had wondered what was being built and found a story on the inter-web that three different groups applied for a liquor license at this intersection at the same time. One was diagonally across from this location and the other next to Walgreens. The Columbia County commissioners said they could only grant one permit because state law restricts liquor stores from being less than 1,500 feet apart. These guys won. So I stopped in because I saw the “We’re Open” sign…

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Dennis Sodomka

Elegant Frank Family Cab Full Of Bright Fruit, Spices

Frank Family Zinfandel 2019, Napa Valley Cost: $44-46 What: I admire vineyard owners in the Napa Valley who resist the temptation to rip out their Zinfandel vines and plant Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa is a great place for Zin, but growers can get so much more money for Cabernet that the pressure is enormous to forget about everything else except the Cab. One of the few who have resisted the pressure is Frank Family, known for producing a variety of great wines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and sparkling wines. Those wines are so good, we often forget about the great Zinfandel they produce. The wine is a true Napa Valley blend from the finest vineyards across the region. Some of the vines date back to the 1950s. The backbone for this wine comes from Frank Family’s sustainably-farmed S&J Vineyard in Napa’s Capell Valley and the Benjamin Vineyard located on the Rutherford…

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Dennis Sodomka

TILIA Chardonnay, Malbec From Argentina Are Great Bargains At $12

TILIA Chardonnay 2020, Argentina TILIA Malbec 2020, Argentina Cost: $11-13 What: As climate change and conservation move to center stage of our awareness, sustainability has become a key component of wine producers. TILIA Wines has made sustainability the centerpiece of its operations. From soil conservation to social sustainability, they work to make sure future generations will be able to enjoy the same fine wine we do today. Their Chardonnay is a terrific wine, and an even better bargain. The grapes come from two sustainable vineyards in Mendoza, with elevations ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level. The mountain climate intensifies the flavors and allows the grapes to ripen slowly. It pays off with wonderful flavors of tropical fruit, peach and toasted bread. It is a gorgeous pale gold in the glass with pleasant aromas of tropical fruit and flowers. It has an intense mouthfeel with a long finish…

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Dennis Sodomka

Kathy Joseph Makes Beautiful Vineyard Driven Wines With Fiddlehead Cellars

Fiddlehead Cellars One of the things I admire in winemakers is their ability to step away from the crowd and do things their own way. Of course, the thing I most admire in a winemaker is the ability to make great wine especially if he or she can do it and keep the price of the wine down. Kathy Joseph has succeeded on all counts. She is the founder and winemaker of Fiddlehead Cellars in Santa Barbara County, CA, and a pioneer in the industry. She describes herself as winemaker and farmer, artist and scientist, number cruncher and marketer. “Thinking outside the box is kind of my middle name,” she said during a recent virtual tasting. She has been working with Sauvignon Blanc for more than 40 years. By diligent work in the vineyard she is able to pull flavors from the grape that other vintners have missed. I got…

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Dennis Sodomka

Old Friends Welcome Ketcham Back To Lively Calvert’s Wine Dinner

Ketcham Estate As we emerge from the cloud of COVID many people are finally enjoying more or less getting back to normal. One of those activities many of us have missed is a wine dinner. Calvert’s brought back one of its highly popular wine dinners last Thursday night, and you could tell many people were overjoyed to be there. Aside from sampling tasty wines paired with incredible food, it was great to see old friends. All over the room you could hear pleasant conversation and warm laughter. The featured wines were from Ketcham Estate in Sonoma introduced by proprietor Allie Ketcham. She has been at Calvert’s wine dinners before and you could tell she was a crowd favorite. “Sonoma makes wine, Napa makes auto parts,” said Allie, setting the tone for the evening. She was her usual lively self. In between describing the six wines we tasted, she moved from…

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Dennis Sodomka

Frank Family Carneros Chardonnay Makes Every Celebration Better

Frank Family Chardonnay Carneros 2019 Cost: $37-39 What: I am a firm believer in celebrating holidays, even the made-up ones like Valentine’s Day. I call it amateur night for romantics. Teri and I celebrated it anyway, with a great dinner at home. And nothing makes a dinner special like a great bottle of wine. We had lobster tails and crab cakes, and my wife loves Chardonnay, so the choice was easy: Frank Family. They consistently make some of the best wine in Napa Valley, which is saying a lot because Napa is the Mecca for wine lovers. They produce a broad range of great wine, but winemaker Todd Graff is at the top of his game with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and sparkling wines. It helps that he has great fruit to work with. Graff works with 380 acres of prime Napa Valley estate vineyards and trusted grower-partners. Named after Rich…

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Daily Pour

Having Some Local Gold….er.. Green

Wild Leap Local Gold Blonde Ale I’ve been trying to review Wild Leap’s Local Gold for almost 2 years. I have been enjoying their brews for years but I had only had their darker brews like Caramel Cake Stout or Cookies & Cream. I remember having this beer for the first time at a wedding in Newnan, GA in July 2020. They were serving this at the rehearsal dinner and was taken back when I say the buffalo on the label. I had never seen it in Augusta. The bartender said she would be at the reception/ dinner the next day and would make sure there would be some. I even stopped in Jackson, GA on the way home on Sunday and found a six. It took me about 4 months to drink that 6. I caught Covid at the wedding and 3 days later was suffering from Covid pneumonia.…

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Dennis Sodomka

Martini & Rossi Rosé Sparkler Is A Perfect Valentine’s Day Surprise

Martini & Rossi Sparkling Rosé, Italy Cost: $14-16 What: If you have put off planning for Valentine’s Day, your time is about up, But don’t despair, there is still time to impress that special someone. Jewelry, flowers and candy are nice, but you can’t go wrong with a good bottle of wine. And what’s better than a bottle of rosé sparkling wine. We all have our favorites, but it is nice to try something new once in a while. So this year my wife Teri and I opened a bottle of Martini & Rossi Sparkling Rosé. I had never had it before. We were both glad we discovered it. In the glass it is a beautiful bright pink with lots of never-ending bubbles. Aromas of soft wild rose float up out of the glass with hints of red fruit and green apple. On the palate I picked up red fruit…

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Daily Pour

99 Bottles of Beer in the Fridge, take one out….

Bell's Special Double Cream Stout

Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout | Comstock MI Well I don’t really have 99 bottles of beer but when you are trying to empty your collection of onesies and twosies it seems like 99. I continue my quest to get rid of all my standing beer before I can buy anymore. I’ve already established that some of the heavier barrel-aged beers can stay because they will “cellar” quite well. But all the others gotta go. In the past I’d just pawn them off on the Beer Brothers during a burn pot gathering but we haven’t had a lodge meeting in forever. So like the Noom commercial where they say “you’ve been conditioned to clean your plate.” I’ve been conditioned to finish my beer. I have no clue to exactly where the Double Cream Stout came from but I suspect Beer Brother Mark gave it to me for Christmas…. or my…

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Dennis Sodomka

Broadside Produces Silky, Vibrant Merlot From Paso Robles

Broadside Merlot 2019, Paso Robles Cost: $16 What: People often want to know what my favorite wine or favorite region is. My response is I’m glad we don’t have to pick one wine or one region. We can enjoy them all. But one of my favorite regions is Paso Robles, which lies about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Because of climate and a diverse soil mix, the wineries of Paso Robles produce just about any kind of wine you would want. The area produces some wonderful Bordeaux varietals, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. I recently tried the 2019 Broadside Merlot and loved it. It’s full of fresh, vibrant fruit balanced by crisp acidity, which makes it a great wine with a meal. This is a good wine any time of year, but it is especially good on those warm grilling days of summer. Of course, in Augusta…

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