The only daughter of Kirk Yates and Marie Jeanne deForet, a Navy Seal and an environmental chemist, respectively, Autumn Yates brings total commitment and enthusiasm to whatever project she has at hand, whether it’s news reporting, cartography, or, just recently, teaching English as a foreign language overseas.
COQUELICOT (ko-klee-ko) is the name “en Français” of the striking red poppy flower that graces the French countryside, as well as all the labels on our wines. Our 58 acre vineyard is an organically farmed property in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley. Sustainable farming and gentle, meticulous winemaking techniques converge to produce hand made, limited production wines that are a true celebration of life.
Sierra Starr Vineyard and Winery is a small vineyard and winery in the Sierra Foothills AVA. Owned and operated by the Starr Family, Phil and Anne since 1995 and their son Jackson since 2005. Phil is the head honcho around here as he does just about everything. Anne operates the tasting room in downtown Grass Valley and runs the Sirius Sipper Wine Club. Jackson, joining the family business in December of 2005, is the Vineyard Manager and Assistant Winemaker. He also fills in where needed, assisting both his mother and father in day to day operations.
As manager of communications for the Wine Institute, a nonprofit advocacy association of more than 1,100 California wineries and affiliated businesses, Gladys Horiuchi spends her time thinking of ways to promote California wineries and wine (How hard can that be?) And as a communicator for the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, she also helps encourage the adoption of environmentally friendly winegrowing and winemaking practices.
“I studied to be an English and journalism teacher for junior high or high school,” says the Mill Valley resident. “And I actually taught for six months when an English teacher left on maternity leave mid-year.” But Horiuchi’s career led her down a different path instead.
Rooted in traditional German brewing practices mixed with an innovative Californian twist, Sudwerk is focused on creating the highest quality craft lagers known to man. The hybrid beer styles can best be described as West Coast craft lagers. Join us in our mission as we tirelessly work at perfecting our craft and sharing it with you.
“I’m a firm believer that great wines come from great fruit,” said Alex Szabo, whose eponymous winery offers tastes in a stylish spot on Nevada City’s strip. Unlike many of his blend-friendly neighbors, Szabo makes single varietal wines that he believes reflects his European-oriented palate. “I consider myself a purist,” explained Szabo, whose Hungarian roots, expertise in five languages, and time spent working around the Eastern Bloc countries honed his wine sense. “I just want to be amongst the best at what I do.”
Szabo calls this smoky, soy-inflected bottle his “velvet hammer,” and it doesn’t fail to arrest your senses with a serious but supple mouthfeel and perfectly pleasant flavors. $24
Sara Schneider is Sunset’s wine editor, and I was able to speak with her recently on “The Good Life” Show about the upcoming Sunset Celebration Weekend at their new Corner Stone location in Sonoma.
Sara writes a monthly wine column, as well as covering wine related travel and food. She’s a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, and edited Bay Food magazine prior to joining Sunset, where she was the food editor before being named the magazine’s first wine editor.
With so many things to do in Northern California, Sunset’s Celebration Weekend is a great opportunity to check out their new Corner Stone facility which is home to an outdoor kitchen, wine bar and exhibit area, along with outdoor test gardens.
The staff at Sunset looks forward to these events as it gives them a chance to get out of the office, and hang out with and get in touch with their readers. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s plenty of good food and wine involved as well!
Food and culinary demos will include some well know “celebrity Chefs” including Ludo Lefebvre, Nyesha Arrington, Perry Hoffman, Andy Ricker and many more. Sara has been nominated twice for James Beard Journalism Awards and holds the Academy of Wine Communication’s Certificate for Excellence in Wine Writing.
Poppies is a locally-owned boutique dedicated to bringing top quality women’s fashions and unmatched customer service to the Yuba Sutter area. Come shop brands such as Brighton, Hobo, Habitat, Nomadic Traders, CMC, FDJ, and Holly Yashi. Poppies is proud to offer a selection that is vast, appealing, and fairly patriotic - many of their brands are made in the U.S.A!
If you’re looking for a gift, ask about our Wish List program, pick up a gift certificate, or let our knowledgeable team help you choose that special something. We can't wait to see you!
I like talking to strangers, dogs with beards, hair braids, flat caps, patterns on patterns, Robyn, cheese and crisp baguettes that crumb all over your clothes. I like cider that tastes like dirty earth and wines that taste like tear drops and soft waves, purple marker and fistfulls of herbs.
I am a Toronto city girl through and through. Keep your mountains and give me urban parks & winding alleys.
After university, I fled to France (#thedream) because cheese, bread, men and wine.
I worked for a fancy negociant making labels, translating websites, learning French swears and tasting expensive things. Croissants, velour and hunting trips were fun, but what I really wanted was to stomp grapes, drive tractors, wear overalls and dress like a boy.
Dreams of the land lead me to Australia because they have so much of it. I worked a vintage in Clare Valley, a small town two hours north of Adelaide with more millipedes than people. I drove machines I had no right to drive, cleaned barrels, shovelled grapes and met hilarious grape pickers from around the world.
I moved back to Toronto and spent 3 years selling badass wine to badass people, while completing my French Wine Scholar certification, finishing my WSET Diploma (so close) and traveling most places they make great wine.
Work asked me to move to Vancouver and I said yes, because beauty and weather and adventure and fear.
Lucero Vineyards & Winery is owned by Dan and Marian Lucero on family owned property dating back to 1906. We are located in Dobbins, California; 72 miles northeast of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada Foothills.
Years prior to the vineyards being planted, our family ran cattle and farmed these gentle slopes amongst the Ponderosa Pine trees. Since then, we have looked for other uses of our land.
After his retirement as a teacher, Dan & Marian decided to start a vineyard. They and their children took many viniculture classes at U.C. Davis and with their four daughters and their families, hand planted the first vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay rootstock in 1993. The Merlot field followed in 1997 hand planted with potted bench grafts.
These estate vineyards produce small crops of intensely flavored grapes. The combination of warm days, cool nights and rich red clay soil contributes to our deep color, elegant flavors and full-bodied wines.
Our emphasis is on growing and making limited production, ultra premium wines. We take pride in our wines and look forward to you experiencing our variety of wines.
Before founding Grey Fox Vineyards in 1996, the Arrigoni and Cecchi families spent much of their free time pursuing their passion for flying small planes. It was on these getaways that conversations turned to dreams of planting a vineyard and building a winery. Bruce's family had a tradition of making wine at home and Gary had a good chemistry background. A seed was planted and it began to take hold.
They all sought out viticulture courses at U.C. Davis and committed themselves to a new passion--winegrowing. While Bruce, Gary and Jeanne are involved in the vineyard and winery operations, Pat is busy handling sales and wine tasting events. Their goal is to create high quality wine by constantly overseeing and improving their vineyard to produce great fruit.
Come visit Grey Fox and share in the fulfillment and pride of this incredible endeavor. Taste the premium wines and you'll understand why winemaking has become their ultimate passion.
Alison Kero grew up with 2 different organizational styles being modeled to her. One parent was precision neat while the other was a pack rat. Through her teenage and college years Alison lived more like her pack rat parent but when she became an adult and started living on her own, she searched for systems that allowed her to easily get and stay organized.
When Alison became a decluttering expert in 2004, she continued her search for the best productivity and organizational practices. However, it wasn't until 2015 while recovering from an illness that she discovered what the process was trying to show her. Clutter wasn't just physical, it was emotional and spiritual as well. However, by starting with the physical clutter and using the 5 Main Organizational Steps, she was able to start transforming her life in a truly meaningful way and she also found that as the physical clutter left her life, the emotional and spiritual clutter were easier to identify and remove as well. Suddenly she felt she was living an easier, happier, more authentic life. In fact, Alison found that her health, happiness and productivity levels were all rising when she stuck to the Main 5 and that they were particularly helpful during times of stress or when she could feel herself wanting to self-sabotage the positive changes she was making. She has continued working the process ever since and is now happily sharing her methods with her clients.
Jeff Hansen, owner and winemaker for Lula Cellars, brings nearly 30 years of grape growing and winemaking experience to the brand. Jeff’s handcrafted, limited production Mendocino Coast Pinot Noir, along with Zinfandel, Dry Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Rosato (Rosé of Pinot Noir) reveal the passion he has for producing world class wines.
Hansen got into the winemaking world after working 14 years as a commercial product photographer for advertising agencies in southern California. In 1985 Hansen decided, “life is only so long.” He’d lived well and enjoyed every minute but was ready to do something different. A long time wine aficionado, he moved to Northern California for a slower pace.
He soon landed a job working at a vineyard and winery in Napa Valley. “We made high end Cabernet Sauvignon,” says Hansen. For the next seven years he immersed himself into learning every part of the industry from grape growing to winemaking to sales. “I used to travel six months a year, going between a dozen states dealing with a multitude of distributors,” he says.
Alyssa Ramos is a solo traveler with an extreme sense of adventure and sarcasm! She likes hanging her feet over cliffs and chasing waterfalls, and takes her GoPro everywhere with her to prove it! Her goal is to help and inspire you to travel, so if you have any questions, send 'em over to her! She does tons of Snapchat tutorials so be sure to add her, and she also writes for The Huffington Post and Matador Network, and lives in LA when she's not wandering around the world!
Peter Velleno was born and raised in San Francisco where he and his two older brothers were the fifth generation of their family to be born in the city. He attended the University of California at Davis. He took one class in the University’s renowned Food Science department and quickly changed his major from Chemical Engineering to Fermentation Science. After intensive study in winemaking, brewing science, microbiology and food engineering, he earned a BS in Fermentation Science; the only student in the 2003 UC Davis graduation ceremony to receive such a degree.
After graduation, he went to work for William Hill Winery in their laboratory. He quickly worked his way up to the Assistant Winemaker position where he specialized in Chardonnay production. He then worked for the ultra-premium small winery Hartwell Vineyards, where he worked hands-on to help craft some of the most highly regarded Cabernets in the Valley.
Peter’s career path took a sharp turn in 2008 when he joined Dario Sattui’s Castello di Amorosa as the Associate Winemaker. He was promoted to Winemaker in 2014, managing the production of Castello’s wines. He would tell you that making wine in a Castle is even more fun than it sounds.
Peter and his wife Lauren have lived in Napa since 2003. They enjoy playing tennis, biking, cooking, and spending time outdoors with their dog Nora. Peter and Lauren were blessed with their first child in mid-2009. Her name is Claire, and she is cute as can be! Their son, Tyler was born in 2012.
My name is Nadine Hays Pisani, the author of the best-selling series Happier Than A Billionaire. I used to be a chiropractor but decided that working ten hours in an office was not a whole lot of fun.
Where, when and why did you move abroad?
"Two plane tickets, no plan, one dream," is often what I tell people. My husband and I really took a risk and sold everything (rather quickly) and moved to Costa Rica in 2007 with just a few suitcases and two pets. When I look back on that, I realize that doing it that way was probably the smartest thing we did. If we thought too much about it, we would probably have talked ourselves out of it!
The reasons we moved were simple: we wanted a happier life. Our life consisted of work, and more work, and sometimes even more work positioned on top of that. As a healthcare provider, I treated people in pain all day and it was very apparent to me that you can't bank time. Time is a thief and it will rob you of your healthy back and good knees. I didn't want to make this move when I was too old to enjoy it, so we bolted at thirty-seven years of age. My parents really let me have it. It was brutal.
My name is Nadine Hays Pisani, the author of the best-selling series Happier Than A Billionaire. I used to be a chiropractor but decided that working ten hours in an office was not a whole lot of fun.
Where, when and why did you move abroad?
"Two plane tickets, no plan, one dream," is often what I tell people. My husband and I really took a risk and sold everything (rather quickly) and moved to Costa Rica in 2007 with just a few suitcases and two pets. When I look back on that, I realize that doing it that way was probably the smartest thing we did. If we thought too much about it, we would probably have talked ourselves out of it!
The reasons we moved were simple: we wanted a happier life. Our life consisted of work, and more work, and sometimes even more work positioned on top of that. As a healthcare provider, I treated people in pain all day and it was very apparent to me that you can't bank time. Time is a thief and it will rob you of your healthy back and good knees. I didn't want to make this move when I was too old to enjoy it, so we bolted at thirty-seven years of age. My parents really let me have it. It was brutal.
Mitch and Tracey took over the daily operations of the ranch in 1999 and began to plan the vineyard. The vines were planted in 2001 and the first release, the 2004, was met with an International Gold Medal. It was important to the family that they maintain the original feel of the property. Lake County is still Cowboy country and Hawk and Horse Vineyards takes advantage of a local work force of young men and women – true cowboys and girls - who understand the value of a good day’s work.
The rustic elegance of El Roble Grande has been maintained in the development of Hawk and Horse Vineyards. The tasting room is in a part of the former horse trainer’s residence and is kept as a tack room with antique saddles, tack and memorabilia from the property’s storied past. The horse pastures now house a handful of American Saddlebred and American Quarter Horses which the family uses to ride the fence line and for play at amateur rodeo events. Some of the pasture land is also home to Scottish Highlander Cattle which provide the necessary elements of the biodynamic farming used in the growing of Hawk and Horse Vineyards wine.
The majority of vineyard preparations are made on site – compost and manure are vital ingredients. The vineyard is also home to a large number of Red-Tail Hawks who help keep rodent populations in check. A visit to Hawk and Horse Vineyards is a step back to the gracious ranching life and family-based hospitality of a bygone era.
Mitch and Tracey took over the daily operations of the ranch in 1999 and began to plan the vineyard. The vines were planted in 2001 and the first release, the 2004, was met with an International Gold Medal. It was important to the family that they maintain the original feel of the property. Lake County is still Cowboy country and Hawk and Horse Vineyards takes advantage of a local work force of young men and women – true cowboys and girls - who understand the value of a good day’s work.
The rustic elegance of El Roble Grande has been maintained in the development of Hawk and Horse Vineyards. The tasting room is in a part of the former horse trainer’s residence and is kept as a tack room with antique saddles, tack and memorabilia from the property’s storied past. The horse pastures now house a handful of American Saddlebred and American Quarter Horses which the family uses to ride the fence line and for play at amateur rodeo events. Some of the pasture land is also home to Scottish Highlander Cattle which provide the necessary elements of the biodynamic farming used in the growing of Hawk and Horse Vineyards wine.
The majority of vineyard preparations are made on site – compost and manure are vital ingredients. The vineyard is also home to a large number of Red-Tail Hawks who help keep rodent populations in check. A visit to Hawk and Horse Vineyards is a step back to the gracious ranching life and family-based hospitality of a bygone era.