Welcome to Power Tasting

October 2024 Edition – Thither and Yon
There’s no particular theme this month, but we think you’ll be interested in topics from all around Wine Country.

• Places to Visit – Castles on the Loire
• Winery – Kunin Wines, Take Two
• Tasting Tips – The Wine Tasting Life Cycle
• Experiences – First Times

We invite readers to see last month’s issue, in case you missed it.

• Places to Visit – Santa Rita Hills
• Winery – Sanford Winery & Vineyards
• Tasting Tips – Discovering New Places
• Experiences – Let Us Now Praise Famous Vineyards

About Power Tasting

Power Tasting is an online magazine about the Wine Tasting Experience and contains four sections; a click on the links below will take you to them:

• Experiences – Making the most of the overall experience of wine tasting.
• Places to Visit – Descriptions of interesting corners of Wine Country.
• Wine Tasting Tips – Suggestions for how to make your visit to wineries more enjoyable.
• Wineries – Discussions of what it’s like to visit particular wineries.

Power Tasting is not about wine as such, but about visiting Wine Country (in California, Europe, Long Island and everywhere else where they make wine). Our objective is to offer suggestions to the traveler who wishes to visit wineries and taste good wine.  We are writing to the vacationer, not the connoisseur.  We want to empower the visitor to get the maximum advantage out of each visit, not to be intimidated by wine snobs on either side of the bar and to be able to taste – not drink – as much as possible within the boundaries of safety and sanity.

About Us

A few years ago, Steve Ross and Lucie Gauthier (a married couple living in New York City) set out to write a book about wine tasting.  We are avid lovers of wine from all over the world and have travelled widely to wine growing regions on four continents.  However, we don’t feel qualified to offer advice or even public opinions about wine.

[Well, that’s not exactly true.  Steve offers two rules: 1. Know what you like.  2. Remember what it’s called.]

Writing the book, to be named Power Tasting, was interrupted by the damage done to our home by Hurricane Sandy and the year and a half of clean-up and restoration after the storm.  That is all done and we haven’t finished the book.  We have come to understand how difficult it is to do that and still run a home and a business and generally enjoy life.  We’re still at it and will publish as soon as we can, but have decided in the meantime to publish an on-going magazine with interesting articles on a monthly basis.  The magazine will cover the tasting experience everywhere we have been and will go in the future.  And we’ll welcome input from anyone who is kind enough to read our e-magazine.

As mentioned, comments about wine will be incidental.  We’re focusing on the overall experience, including the architecture, artwork, service, knowledge, crowd management, and overall ambiance of the wineries we visit.  We may even mention where to have a picnic or take a walk in the garden.  And we may mention some places to eat or other things to do while on a wine tasting trip.

So come take a very pleasant trip with us to some of the prettiest places we know: Wine Country.