wine book club

Viansa Winery & Marketplace

Viansa Winery & Marketplace
25200 Arnold Dr. (HWY 121)
Sonoma, CA 95476
Phone: 707-935-2710

Less than an hour north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in Sonoma County you will find Viansa Winery & Italian Market Place perched up on a hill. The name Viansa stands for Vicki and Sam Sebastiani and the winery’s tagline is A Taste of Tuscany in Sonoma Valley.

This wonderful winery overlooking its own vineyards and wetlands (look for the Ducks Unlimited labeled bottles of Viansa Riserva Anatra Bianco and Rosso commemorating the Viansa Wetlands) that Viansa preserved has great character, beautiful grounds, excellent wine, and fantastic food outside at the Viansa Tuscan Grill. A perfect place for a wedding or a business meeting this is also the perfect place for just relaxing outside with you and yours.
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Mortons of Chicago

Mortons of Chicago
300 S. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
tel: 410-547-8255
fax: 410-547-8244

In our quest to raise our cholesterol, keep our high calorie intake on pace, and find the perfect beef and wine joint during a trade show in Baltimore, Maryland, fellow friends and finely aged carnivores Jim Diamond and Bill Marshall, along with myself, came across Morton’s, The Steakhouse. This was the same weekend we ate at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

At first entrance, Morton’s is more down to business, more open, one level, and louder than Ruth’s. Nevertheless, when Jim and I dug into the large prime ribs we ordered, rare to medium rare of course, we realized we were at a place that knew how to cook prime rib. While we were mowing through the ribs, Bill had the New York Strip Sirloin. Communication at our table was stopped as we focused on getting a few good pieces digested… Then we all smiled and some level of conversation resumed! That’s a good sign.
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Ruth Chris Steak House

Ruth Chris Steak House
600 Water Street
Balitmore, MD 21202
410-783-0033

If you like thick, juicy, perfectly seared steaks served in a warm, comfortable atmosphere, accompanied by some of the best red wine in the world, you’ve come to the right place. I thought I was the only one who was able to sear a steak at 1800° Fahrenheit with the use of my Turbo grill – but guess what, Ruth’s Chris broils their corn-fed US Prime Midwestern beef at that same temperature to lock in the natural flavor. As a 6’2”, 290-lb carnivore, I know when I have found a great steak and here I found it.
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Decanting wine

Just recently Holly and I were opening gifts at our engagement party back in Massachusetts and came across a wine decanter as a gift from her parents. Hmmm… “A wine decanter” I thought to myself – can’t be all bad. I love wine. It’s related to wine. Should be good. But, what the heck do I do with it? When do I use it? Is it just a showpiece? Will it make the wine taste better? Should I use it for good draft beer too? Well, here’s what I learned about decanting wine.

First of all, there appears to be three reasons you may want to decant wine:

• In older bottles, specifically red wines, using the decanter will allow you to separate some of the sediment from the wine that is inevitable during the aging process.

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February 4th, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Eating in The Basin

14572 Big Basin Way
Saratoga, CA 95070
(408) 867-1906

You enter the front door off Big Basin Way, immediately greeted by a host. The light is dim, kind of romantic, yet there’s some upbeat music at just the right volume in the background. Looking out over the 15 – 20 tables in the open room, some seating four, some seating two, or up at the bar a couple steps higher - you see smiling, laughing, happy people – maybe because of the company they are with, the rockin’ martini they just finished, the big red wine they’re getting more of, or the food they’re eating. Or maybe they are talking about the faucet design or the martini glasses tiled into the floor in the lavatory.
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