Santa Ynez Valley

Making Wine on Catalina Island: The Rusack Family's Santa Catalina Island Vineyards

Wine as an expression of a specific locale or terroir is what countless skilled winemakers strive to achieve. A noble goal to be sure, but one winery has taken the task a step further, specifically 22 miles further, offshore on Santa Catalina Island. Buffeted by salty ocean air, the island makes for ... More >>

5 Reasons to Drive to Santa Barbara for Film Feast

This week, movie folk -- both celebrities and cinephiles -- will flock 95 miles north to the 28th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Running in conjunction with the festival is Film Feast. In its third year, Film Feast is not your ordinary restaurant week. There's a catch: All of th ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Jeff Goldblum as a Writing Teacher

Starting this week, we will now include our listings of all ongoing shows, below the new reviews, to help make it easier for you to decide which shows to see this week.The writing of neurologist Oliver Sacks has inspired a new work at Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena -- Kathryn Walat's Creation. S ... More >>

Sideways the Play

Fluffy Bunnies, Santa Ynez Wine Country in Sideways: The Play and More New Theater Reviews

Rex Pickett's stage adaptation, Sideways: the Play (over at Ruskin Theatre Group) of his own novel about life in the Santa Inez Valley wine country, gets this week's Pick. Also admired is Matt Chafee's comedy, Fluffy Bunnies in a Field of Daisies, over at Hollywood's Arena Stage.Click here for this ... More >>

Rhone Rangers Wine Tasting at Vibiana This Sunday

Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir are the beloved trinity of most wine drinkers. There are many more varietals out there and this Sunday's (June 3) fifth annual Rhone Rangers Tasting at Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles showcases wines grown from 22 American Rhone grape varietals. Chief a ... More >>

5 Dog-Friendly Winery Tasting Rooms

A love for wine and dogs can co-exist. People take their pets everywhere these days--dining and drinking out, no exception. Although Los Angeles has approved pets on restaurant patios (per the recent Squid Ink post), rules prohibit them inside. Nor are they welcome at bars or in the tasting rooms at ... More >>

10 California Summer Wine Events

Summer is a wine-drinking marathon in California, and up and down the coast, each weekend brings pleasant opportunities to imbibe outside. The diversity of events reflects the state's varied wine-growing regions. Those on hotel grounds come with a room night package -- a smart way to go. Because i ... More >>

Top 5 SoCal Pantry Essentials To Pretend It's Really Fall

Those lazy burger grilling summer days may officially be over, but in L.A., that notorious September sun and surf is still going strong. And so if you're not quite ready to retire those local burger condiments for cassoulet beans, these Top Five SoCal Pantry Essentials To Pretend It's Really Fall wi ... More >>

Wine Shop Report: The Food Is "Fresh & Easy" But How's The Wine?

JGarbee​ For this month's Wine Shop Report, we hit another grocery store chain, Fresh & Easy. Not because we are particularly fond of shopping for wine under fluorescent lights, but because that income tax check is still a little too fresh in our mind. And so we gathered up our recycled wine b ... More >>

Taste at the Wine House

Ben CalderwoodWine in a box​ It can be a strange, solitary exercise, consuming wine dispensed by a computer. Purchase your access card from the order desk at the rear of the shop, steal a glance at the Wine House's Old & Rare cellars where magnum prices climb into the five figures, and make y ... More >>

American Flatbread: The Anti-Steak of California's Central Coast Wine Country

In the meat-intensive land of Sideways tourism, a fresh phenomenon in Los Alamos

LA’s Underground Power Broker

The name Vignali receded into L.A. history after the “Pardongate” scandal of 2001, but questions remain about drug-dealing son Carlos and his real estate magnate father, Horacio, who just might be pulling the strings in the remaking of downtown L.A.

Rare Vintage

Sideways is good to the last gulp

Zaca Magic