Vineyards

For river cruise fans (and wine fans and flamenco fans), the 108-passenger AmaVida offers a tour of villages and vineyards along Portugal's Douro River that highlights wine tasting, dancing and other cultural activities. The 11-day trip from Kensington Tours starts with two days in Lisbon to explore the capital and then moves on by train to Porto, where the cruise begins. The cruise itinerary includes Barca D'Alva for a show of traditional flamenco dancing, wine tasting in Pinhao, a visit to a 16th-century castle in Alijo and the palace and gardens of Mateus in Regua.

If, like me, you're holding yourself back from snatching up Tom and Ruth Jones' 16-acre Moraga Vineyards estate in Bel Air, you might want to stop into the Redd Collection in Culver City Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a vertical tasting of wines from the estate. A flight is $50, which is a little steep but certainly a lot more affordable than the property, which is listed at about $29.5 million. (See a slide show here .) The tasting, which is free with a store purchase of $250 or more, consists of three vintages (1999, 2005 and 2010)

My mother was cleaning out some drawers and found a family letter written from “somewhere in France ” in 1918. Addressed “Dear Folks,” Russell C. Jones, a farm boy from Nebraska, writes home. The war is over, he guesses, as the Armistice has just been signed. “I hope I get home in time to help with the spring work,” he writes, “but a fellow can't tell when he will get back.” True today, too, sadly. I'm struck by his lovely, careful handwriting. It's brown ink, or has it faded?

Jasmine Hirsch is officially director of sales and marketing at Hirsch Vineyards , the Sonoma Coast winery founded by her father, David, who bought the property in 1978. "I was born in 1979, so I've been around the vineyard my whole life," she said. She didn't run off to UC Davis to study winemaking, though. She went to the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in Asian Studies with a concentration in Japanese. Eventually, she came back to wine. When I asked her what had caught her attention lately, she couldn't confine her enthusiasm to just one wine, but wanted to talk about two she tried recently.

Rabbit Ridge Vineyards of Healdsburg, Calif., has agreed to pay $810,000 to resolve federal charges that it misled consumers with its wine bottle labels. The settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was the largest ever for a California winery, ATF spokeswoman Marti McKee said. . It came after a six-month investigation in which ATF agents found "significant violations" at the winery from 1994 to 2000, McKee said.

April was a cruel month for California winemakers, bringing a series of unusually late frosts to vineyards sprouting the tender green shoots of spring. The damage still is being assessed -- it could be June before growers know the full extent -- but most expect smaller-than-average harvests this year. "It was cold in lots of places," said Karen Ross, president of the California Assn. of Winegrape Growers. "There's lots of misery to be shared." The cold snap's immediate effects can be seen in some vineyards, where leaves that normally would be fluttering pale green in spring breezes are curled up brittle as December leaves.

Two vineyard workers in Santa Barbara County apparently drowned in an irrigation pond, officials said Thursday. The men, employees of Clos Pepe Vineyards outside Lompoc, were identified as Ramon Cisneros Acosta, 42, and Rogelio Ruiz Reyez, 29. Investigators said one of the men evidently had tried to rescue the other when he ran into trouble repairing the pond's filtration system. The bodies were found by divers after the men were reported missing Wednesday night.

About 170 years ago, a mountain man named George Yount settled in central Napa Valley on a large tract of land granted by the Mexican government. Between hunting grizzly bears and fighting the native Wappo and La Jota tribes, he established a farm that included a small vineyard -- Napa Valley's first grapevines. Today three Yountville-area landowners claim that Yount's vineyard site is on their land. Alas, the vines are long gone.

After devastating the Temecula wine region, the dreaded vineyard scourge of Pierce's disease appears to be spreading across the southern half of the state's second-largest grape growing area, Kern County. In one corner east of Bakersfield alone, the vine-shriveling disease has been confirmed in a dozen vineyards, and farmers and government officials are pulling out more than 600 infected vines, according to UC farm advisor Jennifer Hashim.

Malibu vineyards: An article in Tuesday's Food section about Malibu vineyards said Jim Palmer's vineyard is in Trancas Canyon. It is in Decker Canyon.

David Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards has produced some renowned Pinot Noirs from his sprawling Sonoma Coast estate. They're very good. And very expensive. But the estate also makes a second label called "The Bohan-Dillon," which is much more affordable. About one-third of the fruit comes from Hirsch Vineyards, mostly younger vines, and the remainder from neighboring estates. The Bohan-Dillon is made exactly the same way as Hirsch Vineyards' higher-priced Pinots. The 2010 is selling for about $28 if you can still find it; the 2011 is a little more expensive.

How did Jeff Morgan morph from a nice Jewish boy from New York into a sax player and bandleader in sequined tuxedo, then into one of the leading wine journalists in the United States, and finally into a kosher wine maker in the Napa Valley? And one who makes not just any kosher wines but a Cabernet Sauvignon that garners big points and can easily hold its own against the big boys' Napa Valley Cabs? It's a long story filled with digressions. As a young musician, Morgan went to France to study flute, then got a job as sax player and eventually bandleader at the Grand Casinoin Monte Carlo, developing a love of food and wine.

I'm always looking to make new friends, which is the way I approach a youth baseball draft - new coaches, new buddies. Twenty guys in a community room of the local church, in creaky chairs the preschoolers usually use. Someone jokes, "Who brought the beer?" but there is no alcohol here, just good dads with good intentions. What a pile of sweethearts these guys turn out to be. I ask one of these poker-faced idiots his opinion of one 9-year-old prospect, and he blurts, "HEY, I WAS GOING TO TAKE HIM!"

For river cruise fans (and wine fans and flamenco fans), the 108-passenger AmaVida offers a tour of villages and vineyards along Portugal's Douro River that highlights wine tasting, dancing and other cultural activities. The 11-day trip from Kensington Tours starts with two days in Lisbon to explore the capital and then moves on by train to Porto, where the cruise begins. The cruise itinerary includes Barca D'Alva for a show of traditional flamenco dancing, wine tasting in Pinhao, a visit to a 16th-century castle in Alijo and the palace and gardens of Mateus in Regua.

If I had a spare $29.5 million or so lying around, I'd definitely be in the market for the Moraga Vineyards estate in Bel Air, which is now up for sale. You know those rows of vines you see across the 405 as you ride the tram up to the Getty Museum ? That's it. According to the winery's website, Moraga is the first commercial winery to be bonded in the city of Los Angeles since Prohibition ended in 1933. I was there once, and it really is Shangri-La, the vineyards as meticulously groomed as the romantic Provençal-style garden.

Syrah doesn't exactly leap to mind when thinking about Oregon reds. But here's a wonderful example from the tiny Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden in Applegate Valley (that's in southern Oregon). One sip and I was ready to buy a case. Why? Because it's tremendously food-friendly, not overly extracted, a Syrah that's graceful and poised, bright with flavors of cherry and cassis and sporting a snazzy bit of acidity. I don't know what it is about the valley where the grapes are grown, but this wine is reminiscent of Syrah from the northern Rhone.

"Tours and Cruises," Oct. 6, was accompanied by a photo of a chateau and vineyards captioned, "Bordeaux vineyards and chateaux will be the focus of a trip to France." But the photo is of the Chateau du Clos-de-Vougeot and vineyards in the Cote d'Or of Burgundy. THOMAS BURKE Los Angeles Editor's note: The French Government Tourist Office provided incorrect caption information for the photograph. The letter writer is correct.

My mother was cleaning out some drawers and found a family letter written from “somewhere in France ” in 1918. Addressed “Dear Folks,” Russell C. Jones, a farm boy from Nebraska, writes home. The war is over, he guesses, as the Armistice has just been signed. “I hope I get home in time to help with the spring work,” he writes, “but a fellow can't tell when he will get back.” True today, too, sadly. I'm struck by his lovely, careful handwriting. It's brown ink, or has it faded?

  This is an alluring Pinot Noir from Talbott Vineyards' "Sleepy Hollow Vineyard" in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The fruit is dark and sweet, with a perfume of wild strawberries and black cherries. The 2010 Pinot has beautiful balance and texture. It's a wonderful match with bold flavors - roast duck, pork vindaloo or Hungarian goulash. Region: Santa Lucia Highlands Price: $30 to $40 Style: Opulent What it g oes w ith: Roast duck, goulash, pot roast Where to f ind it: BestWinesOnline.com (888)