Forbes Magazine recommends our Blue Ridge Chardonnay

..Fifteen Can't-Miss Wines for $15 Or Less

2004 Boyar Estates Blue Ridge Chardonnay, Bulgaria ($12)

"Nothing makes wine cheapskates like me happier than brushing my hands over bottles of Bulgarian wine. I know I'm going to pay half the price of wines from many other countries but still get good quality. Boyar Estates is an innovative and irreverent producer of tasty wines. This barrel-aged chardonnay has all the usual ripe tree fruit and buttery goodness that makes it dance with roast chicken and, thankfully, my son's Kraft Dinner."

--Natalie Maclean

VINI – Best Eastern European Red - 2008 World Value Wine Challenge

The 2008 World Value Wine Challenge (WVWC) is the nation’s most comprehensive competition for wines $20 and under. Since these wines represent over 90% of the wine sold in the country, this is what matters most to today’s consumers.

88 • VINI (Bulgaria) 2006 Merlot, Thracian Valley. $7.99 Silver Medal : 2008 WVWC – Best Eastern European Red

86 • VINI (Bulgaria) 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Thracian Valley. $7.99 Silver Medal

Beverage Testing Institute offers trusted, professional reviews that include a 100pt. scale score, corresponding medal, and detailed tasting notes, and a diverse marketing package. Tastings.com. WVWC best performers will be featured in Restaurant Hospitality Magazine (the nation’s TOP restaurant magazine), the Tribune Company (includes print and online features nationally) and a homepage feature on our popular and free website, Tastings.com!

Visit to Jack London's Beauty Ranch with friends

We did it again. Vesko and Kalinka from Orange County with friends from Germany, France and England (Penka, Reni and Penyo) were my guests for the weekend and did they get the Sonoma experience. We wined and dined, I cooked and served Miro's best wines - the famous Petite Sirah and La Storia Cuvee 32 and Zinfandel.

Sunday morning we toured the Beauty Ranch, the Pig Palace and the Wolf's House, where nobody lived since it burned a day or two before Jack London and Charmian were to move in. In the museum there was the "Iron Hill" translated in Bulgarian.