Articles by Laura Ness

About Laura Ness
Laura Ness is an accomplished freelance writer offering travel tips and commentary on the California wine industry.

Winery opens for service

If you miss relaxing with wine in the vines, head to Fortino, where they’ve begun table service on the Redwood Terrace, by reservation, Friday through Sunday, from 11am-5pm. Guests can enjoy wine by the glass and by the bottle; no wine tastings as of yet.  Regulations [...]

Santa Clara Valley wineries await reopening

Tasting rooms are starting to reopen in California, but it’s a county-by-county situation. Initially, wineries were required to serve a “full meal” in order to reopen, but that was fortunately scrapped. According to Geoff Mace, president of the Wineries of Santa Clara [...]

Local winemaker spotlighted

When reading the May issue of Wine Business Monthly, I smiled when I saw Dan Martin of Martin Ranch featured as part of their “Winemaker of the Month” series. His story of how he transitioned from grocer to winemaker is worth a read. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake had [...]

A virtual visit to wine country

We can all agree that “Wine Country” in California pretty much applies to nearly everywhere that grapes are grown. No matter where you live in this great state, many wine tasting rooms are within easy reach, except right now.  This pandemic has certainly put the kibosh [...]

Cooking with a Michelin star

You may not be able to book a table at one of San Francisco’s famed eateries, but Carolyn and John Aver are making it possible for you to take cooking lessons from the renowned chef at one of them, right in your own home.  On Sunday, May 3, at 4pm, the public is invited [...]

Monterey Wine Competition winners

We gotta look for some good news here. Let’s celebrate the good results for local wineries that entered the Monterey International Wine Competition, held March 14 in King City.  Alara Cellars scored Gold for the 2017 Cabernet Pfeffer, and silvers for the 2017 Barbera, [...]

Now, that’s Italian: Tasting at Guglielmo Winery

Everyone knows Guglielmo Winery, perhaps for its estate Zinfandel or Petite Sirah, the latter soon to be on local Trader Joe’s shelves.  Assistant winemaker Niklas (Nik) Zorn is not just about making old world style wines from Santa Clara fruit, though. He looks far and [...]

For the love of apricots

Have you noticed? The apricot trees are a-bloom. For local apricot lover and author, Lisa Newman, who grew up among the once bountiful blossoms of the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, apricots are the center of the fruit universe. Sadly, while grapevine acreage is going up, [...]

Tasting travel at Lightpost

What could be better than a great Pinot Noir? How about four of them?  Hailing from as far away as San Luis Obispo and Russian River, and as near as the Santa Cruz Mountains, these wines really speak of place, and of winemaker Christian Roguenant’s eagerness to make them [...]

Year-round passport

The Wineries of Santa Clara Valley have decided to discontinue their Spring and Fall Passport program in favor of a year-round Wine Trail Pass, which allows visitors a lot more flexibility to plan their visits. Instead of just two months out of the year, the Wine Trail Pass, [...]
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