wine Archives | Golden Country Cowgirl

Your Go-To Guide for Pairing Wine with Food

I recently attended a wine and food pairing event at The 83 Winery. The main thing this class really brought home is that one of the best things about wine is how it can transform a meal. The right pairing not only brings out the best in your dish but also enhances the wine’s flavors. Over the years, I’ve learned a thing or two about what works well together—sometimes through research, but more often through trial and error. Although the old adage of white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat often works, it is a bit simplistic. Here’s my guide to pairing wine with food, complete with tips to help you feel like a pro the next time you’re uncorking a…

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Small Town Wine Bar in California’s Smallest Incorporated City

Updated 11/4/23, original post published 1/30/18 Whenever I hear about someone closing their business, it always makes me a little sad. Such was the case when I saw the following post on Instagram from Ginger at Small Town Food and Wine, formerly Small Town Wine Bar. The last few years have been tough for many businesses. Some were closed down for months and never reopened and recovered. Those who have been lucky enough to reopen have struggled with lack of help (people don’t want to work!), fewer customers and rising prices. These challenges have forced many business owners to reevaluate what is important. Ginger came to the decision that she no longer has “the desire to fight to stay open.” The good thing to…

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Boondocking at Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery

Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery in Rogers, TX, may be a little off the beaten path but well worth a visit for amazing raw honey and honey wine.

I joined Harvest Hosts RV membership program to find some unique and interesting places to stay on my RV trip from northern California to southern Texas. I picked at least one intriguing place in each state and built my RV park stays around them. When I found Walker Honey Farm in Texas, I knew I needed to add it to my stops. Why Walker Honey Farm? First, they were the only honey farm I came across, but more importantly, they make mead. My former significant other and I made mead for several years and I still remember how much I enjoyed it. Part of the attraction of mead, I think, is that it is pretty hard to find*. There used to be a winery in…

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Casa Rondeña Winery – I Finally Get Some New Mexico Wine

Casa Rondeña Winery has been chosen “Best Winery” seven years in a row by Albuquerque the Magazine readers.Read on to learn why.

Although I had cases of amazing Gold Country wine in my wine fridge when I was getting ready to leave northern California, I didn’t bring much with me. I shipped a couple of cases and gave the rest away. Turns out, that was a bit of a mistake. My plan was to stop at wineries along the way and buy wine to drink as I traveled. That worked for the first week or two when I stopped in Lodi and Paso Robles. After that, discovering new wineries and wine remained an elusive longing. Once I left Paso Robles, wineries were either not located near my route or closed. Such was the case with a winery in Arizona. I had planned to boondock at Stetson Winery…

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Notes from an RV Newbie’s First Weekend on the Road

If my first weekend on the road as an RV newbie is any indication of how things are going to go for the next few weeks, I’m truly going to love this life.

If you have been following my blog, you know that just before my birthday I made a life changing decision to downsize, buy a travel trailer and do some long-term traveling while moving in the general direction of southern Texas. Preparing to be an RV newbie has been a monumental chore with not much to write about so it has been a while since I posted. I’m back now and plan to share the whole adventure with you. If my first weekend on the road as an RV newbie is any indication of how things are going to go for the next few weeks, I’m truly going to love this life. Day one, Friday, October 12 I finally pulled out from Pine Grove at about…

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Oldest Documented Old Vine Zinfandel Vineyard in the Americas

I've been researching Zinfandel for some time now, learning what is so special about old vine Zinfandel. When I saw an opportunity to visit the oldest documented Zinfandel vineyard in the Americas, planted in the 1860s, I knew I had to go.

You may have read elsewhere on the blog that I’ve been working on a post about old vine Zinfandel for some time. When I saw an opportunity to visit the oldest documented Zinfandel vineyard in the Americas, planted in the 1860s, I knew I had to go. The 3-day OGP Zinfandel Weekend event included an optional tour of the Original Grandpère Vineyard on Saturday and Sunday. I joined the tour on Saturday which was led by Rusty Folena, winemaker at Vino Noceto. OGP Zinfandel Weekend, Shenandoah Valley, Plymouth, CA Only four wineries are privileged to produce wine from grapes grown in the Original Grandpère Vineyard (OGP), also called Vineyard 1869. The OGP Weekend is put on by the three wineries located in the…

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Wine Bloggers Conference 2017 Recap — Part 1 #wbc17

Observations on the wine country fires and Zinfandels Old and New from the 10th annual 2017 Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, CA.

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know that I just returned from the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, CA. I attended my first International Food Blogger Conference in Sacramento a few weeks ago and this was also my first wine bloggers conference. It was a great conference and I hope to be able to attend next year. I can tell you now that it will be in Walla Walla, Washington, but we didn’t get to find out until the final minutes of the closing remarks. The Wine Bloggers Conference and Wine Country Fires I didn’t write a recap of the Food Blogger Conference, which I should have, so I didn’t want to miss sharing the Wine Bloggers Conference with you —…

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Wilderotter Vineyard and Winery: From Small Beginnings

Jay and Maggie Wilderotter, owners of Wilderotter Vineyard, want you to feel as welcome in their tasting room as you would in their home.

Jay Wilderotter is one of the lucky ones. He found his passion a long time ago and lives it every day. He told me, “I never feel like I’m going to work.” Jay and his wife, Maggie, own Wilderotter Vineyard and Winery in the Shenandoah Valley in Plymouth, California. Jay says, “My business is threefold: vineyard, winery and hospitality [referring to the Grand Reserve Inn which I’ll tell you about in another post] and every day is different.” Wilderotter Vineyard and Winery Jay has been in the wine business for 27 years. For the first 15 of that, he was a grower and sold to other wine producers. He participated in the production of the wines made from his grapes and, with the help of…

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Mobile Bottling Truck: Indispensable for Many Small Wineries

What do you do if you are a small, family-owned winery and don't have the room or don't want to invest in a bottling line? You hire a mobile bottling truck.

What do you do if you are a small, family-owned winery and don’t have the room or don’t want to invest in a bottling line? You could hire a mobile bottling truck. During a recent visit to Jeff Runquist Wines, the mobile bottling truck happened to be there and I got to take a look inside. The process was fascinating and mind bogglingly fast! Click play on the video to see just how fast. How the Line Worked in this Mobile Bottling Truck The boxes of bottles are emptied on a table. The bottles are put in the sparger which turns the bottles upside down and injects them with nitrogen. This removes all the air from the bottle so that the wine is not exposed…

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Dobra Zemlja Celebrates 22 Years in Shenandoah Valley

The beautiful grounds with a lake; delicious, robust wines and super friendly staff make Dobra Zemlja Winery a great place to visit in Shenandoah Valley.

When I learned that Dobra Zemlja was having an event to celebrate 22 years in Shenandoah Valley, I decided it would be a good time to pop in. I had visited once before during Spring Fling and loved the grounds but I wasn’t able to photograph them. It was cold and raining that day, in stark contrast to the clear skies and 102 degree heat the day of the celebration. I also thought it would be good to taste their wines when they weren’t my fifth stop for the day, like during Spring Fling! I had a great time visiting with General Manager, Laura Irmer; Tasting Room Manager, Mary Jo Pingree and my pourer, Carol. They gave me the low down on the winery and…

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