Dashe to the Tasting Room
Dashe Cellars, based in Oakland, has finally opened a tasting room. Michael and Anne Dashe have been building the tasting area for most of the year, and I plan to visit as soon as possible.
The Dashes make some of my favorite Zinfandels, keeping the alcohol to a "low" 15% or so. If you like California Zinfandels, often with high alcohol and jammy fruit, the Dashes tend to make well-balanced versions.
From the announcement: "Beginning October 28 (yes, that's next Saturday!), the Dashe Cellars Tasting Room will be open to the public 12pm to 5pm, Thursdays through Mondays."
I imagine the new tasting room will also pour wines from JC Cellars, another great producer in the same building. Jeff Cohn, the wine maker and owner, produces wines more akin to the Rosenblum style (where he served as the wine maker until recently). Jeff's Ventana Vineyards Syrah won the Syrah Shoot-Out at the Hospices du Rhône two years in a row.
Here are some tasting notes that I wrote when I researched the two wineries for my "Legacy of Rosenblum" article.
- These Silly Tastings
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The USDA impressed ethical eaters with recent proposals to tighten the "grass-fed" label. Officials wanted to require beef labeled as grass-fed to be, well, grass-fed: cows that only ate grasses from a pasture. But the industry has pushed back,...
- Epicurious Milk Tasting
The folks at epicurious sent me the results of a milk tasting they did with children. I love some of the comments. Of organic soy milk: "It tastes like hamster food." Of a rice drink: "It tastes like white water." The surprise winner...
- Rosenblum Article Sidebar (and Correction)
Photo by Melissa Schneider. My sidebar didn't make it into my Edible East Bay, Issue 2, article about Rosenblum, so I decided to run the text here. The tasting notes cover wines that stood out as I researched the piece. I've also added the...