Wine Romance Archives - Dr. Liz Thach, MW

Why Celebrating With a Magnum of Sparkling Wine is So Special

Why Celebrating With a Magnum of Sparkling Wine is So Special When selecting a special champagne or sparkling wine for a celebration, consider that there is both power and prestige in offering a magnum of celebratory bubbles, rather than the average-sized bottle. At 1.5 liters, or double the size of the traditional 750-ml bottle, a magnum is designed to serve 10 to 12 glasses and therefore is ideal for a larger gathering. Originally crafted for French royalty to serve at events, banquets and celebrations, the larger format signals elegance, luxury and magnificence. In fact the word, magnum, is based on a [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2026-01-25T12:02:40-08:00January 25, 2026|

Planning Your Wedding Bar: How to Store and Serve Wine for the Big Day

Selecting the Best Wines for your Wedding. Photo Credit: Pexels.com, E. Bauso Contributed by Kevin Fagan: Having a wedding sees the couple of the day putting in a lot of work ahead of time so the ceremony goes off without a hitch. The list of what needs to be done seems to be endless - booking venues, buying clothes, and food tasting are just a few of the tasks that need to be checked off the couple’s to-do list. One of the key parts of the wedding reception is the meals and beverages they are paired with. If you’re having [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2024-02-12T10:59:18-08:00February 12, 2024|

6 Tempting Wine Cocktails For Valentine’s Day

Tempting Wine Cocktails for Valentines Day. Photo Credit: Getty While you can never go wrong serving champagne or sparkling wine for Valentine’s Day, sometimes it is better to get a little more creative and serve a tantalizing wine cocktail. After all, wine has been used as a base for cocktails as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans, who used to add honey, spices, and different types of fruit to wine. With this in mind, we consulted six wine experts and sommeliers who provided six recipes for some of their favorite wine cocktails. These are ideal to serve as [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2023-02-12T09:14:33-08:00February 12, 2023|

Ten Tips to Choose the Best Wine for A Perfect Dinner Date

Contributed by Andrew Christian - For the ideal date, wine and a little romance go together. It warms the heart and slackens the tongue. If you're going on a hot date, you need to pick a cool wine. So how can you pick a wine that will give you the most value for your money, while at the same time, please your date? Following are 10 tips that will assist you in creating the perfect wine dinner date at a restaurant, or for a relaxing wine dinner at home. Romantic Wine Dinner. Photo Credit: Pixabay Do You Know About Your [...]

By Guest Contributor|2021-02-20T12:25:47-08:00February 20, 2021|

Wine Tetris Blocks – How I Fell In Love with Wine

(Contributed by J. Onodera) My interest in wine is like a game of tetris, as the “blocks” slowly fell in place over time. It all started during spring break of my junior high school year, when I toured different colleges in the Northwest, one of them being Sonoma State University. As our tour group walked to the Wine Spectator Learning Center on campus, our guide mentioned that the university was the only one in California offering wine degrees in business topics, rather than the traditional Viticulture and Enology degrees. The idea of becoming a player in wine business sparked a sense [...]

By Fiona Fang|2021-01-30T21:41:01-08:00June 9, 2020|

Wine Tasting in Paris and Falling in Love with Champagne

(Contributed by K. Lewis) - My favorite tasting experience I have ever had was during the Summer of 2017 in Paris, France. I went on this trip with my mom and aunt, and after exploring the city throughout the weekend, we ended our trip with a wonderful Champagne tasting on a small boat sailing down the Seine River. The tasting consisted of three different Champagnes. I knew I really liked wine at the time, but this was one of the first times I remember gaining an understanding of the fact that different types of sparkling wine actually taste very distinctive [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-30T21:44:56-08:00June 2, 2020|

Wine is My Love Potion: Adventures as a Harvest Intern

(Contributed by Alexandro Gomez) Wine is my love potion. Never before would I have thought wine could be this interesting. It all started in the summer of 2019 when I met the Robledo family, owners of Robledo Family Vineyards in Sonoma, California. They established the first tasting room in the United States that is owned by a former Mexican migrant vineyard worker and his family. After much discussion of my interest in wine, they offered me a harvest internship. Although I was very excited about this opportunity, I was also scared and nervous as I knew nothing about harvest or [...]

By Fiona Fang|2021-01-30T21:51:09-08:00May 20, 2020|

How I Fell in Love with Wine in Montenegro

(Contributed by Makenna White) My relationship with wine is different from most Americans growing up. I have Danish family members that we would visit every couple years and my cousins, a couple years older than me, would have their own glasses of wine at dinner. After our first visit there, my parents introduced us to alcohol the same way many Europeans introduced their children to alcohol. They made it accessible for my brother and I to try, making drinking alcohol not seem forbidden and therefore “desirable.” As a kid having a sip of mom’s wine and dad’s rum and coke, [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-30T21:54:37-08:00May 12, 2020|

How I Fell in Love with Wine – A Great Role Model and Exceptional Customer Service at Gloria Ferrer Winery

(Contributed by Brenna Machek) - I fell in love with wine through two memorable experiences. The first time was with my parents, and the second time was when I landed my first big job in the wine industry. My Dad - The Role Model I remember every summer coming to Northern California for a vacation with my family. In exchange for some fun boating time with my brother, my parents would make us stop by a couple wineries so they could have their “fun adult time”. I would watch how my dad carefully eyed the wine in the glass, stuck [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-02-01T19:52:09-08:00December 25, 2017|

How I Fell in Love with Wine: Autumn Leaves and Finding Grape Buyers

Contributed by Victoria Herrera - In 1950 my great grandfather bought 75 acres of farmland outside of the town of Healdsburg in Sonoma, California in the Dry Creek Valley AVA. It was then passed down to my grandfather, who was an immigrant from Italy. Naturally he planted several acres of Zinfandel grapes that he would sell to make a little bit of cash, and also make wine for the family. Vineyard Leaves in Autumn Growing up, I always enjoyed visiting my grandfather at his Healdsburg property. I enjoyed watching him take care of his chickens, vegetable garden, walnut [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-02-01T19:52:34-08:00December 10, 2017|

How I Fell In Love with Wine in San Francisco

Contributed by Cecilia Bandalan - It was a cold winter day in San Francisco, and I had just turned twenty-one years old. I was also dating a French guy from Marseille here on a temporary visa working at a biotech company. Prior to dating him, I had very little experience with wine. After meeting him, we would drink wine at the end of our workday, but nothing he bought really lit a fire in me. He tried explaining the flavor notes; even paired some with cheese and charcuterie, but it still never excited me. Not until the day of my [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-02-01T19:53:01-08:00December 5, 2017|

How I Fell In Love with Wine: Romance and Hoppy Beer

Chris Driving Through the Vineyards (Contributed by Christopher Harrison) - Look at how happy that guy looks! That picture was taken on my 1 year Dating Anniversary to the woman that 7 months ago became my wife. I planned a romantic getaway in the heart of the California Wine Country and she never had a clue it was coming. At this point in my life I was much more a lover of beer. I had just started working for Pyramid Breweries and had become a full on Hop-Head. I wanted the biggest, baddest, hoppiest beers possible and I [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-02-01T21:57:25-08:00March 30, 2015|

How I Fell In Love with Wine: Family and the Beauty of Sonoma County

Matt Helping With Harvest (Contributed by Matt Medeiros) - I fell in love with wine when I was a teenager because we owned a family vineyard. Growing up around grapes, a vineyard located in the Russian River Valley AVA, with high quality Pinot Noir grapes was a great privilege. I got to see a lot of the work, time, and effort that goes into growing quality grapes for a well-known highly praised wine family. My dad basically managed the vineyard, and oversaw all vineyard operations, which gave a very intimate hands on opportunity to see what goes on. [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-02-01T21:57:44-08:00March 26, 2015|

Why I Love Cabernet Sauvignon

Whenever I am asked that question: "if you were stranded on an island and could only have one bottle of wine, what would it be," my answer is always the same - a great bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Cab is always satisfying - big, rich, tannic with complex fruit and a wonderful accompaniment to meats and strong cheeses. A glass of Cabernet Sauvignon on a cold night near a warm fire is almost a comfort food. But I am not alone in loving cab, because it is now the number one selling red varietal in the U.S. market (Neilsen, Nov. [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-02-01T22:44:05-08:00January 9, 2012|