Four Top Wine Regions Aside from Napa and Sonoma

 

A freelance production accountant in California, Kelli Gillam is a long-time wine enthusiast. For several years, Kelli Gillam led Terranova Fine Wines, a wine shop in Monterey, California, which offered samples of some of the best wines from the area.

California’s Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are both well known for wine, but they are far from the only regions that produce great products. Below are a few top wine regions in the state aside from Sonoma and Napa:

Livermore Valley

The easternmost part of the Bay Area, Livermore is a small wine area compared to Napa and Sonoma, but this helps it maintain a laid-back vibe and enjoy smaller crowds. The region is home to more than 40 wineries and has been involved in the winery business for more than 130 years.

Mendocino

Tucked away just north of Sonoma County is Mendocino County. Complete with rocky coastlines, green hills, and small villages, it’s one of the state’s most scenic regions. It also features acres of vineyards, so visitors can enjoy the region’s blend of wine and nature destinations.

Monterey County

Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur, and Salinas are all included in Monterey County. Seeing all of these towns, along with their great ocean views, can take several days, but guests can easily explore the region’s scenery while enjoying wine at such places as Chateau Sinnet and Pessagno Winery.

Temecula

Temecula is the primary wine region in Southern California. Wine making in the area dates back to the 1800s, and the city is home to over 40 wineries. Merlot, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, and zinfandel grapes all grow beautifully in the area.

Tips to Maximize the Wine-Tasting Experience

California resident Kelli Gillam is a production accountant who has worked on several projects. Outside of her profession, Kelli Gillam’s interests include wine and tasting, which culminated in her owning her venture a few years ago-Terranova Fine Wines based in downtown Monterey.

Wine-tasting in California’s wine country can be an experience that introduces a person to diverse wines of varying textures and flavors. For better appreciation, do not pour too much wine no matter how good it tastes. When touring a few wineries in a day, the amount of alcohol that is ingested adds up, especially when the standard tasting is between one and three ounces. Plus, drinking too much can detract from the entire experience which involves tasting the wine for flavor, body, tannins, and astringency.

Another tip for great wine tasting is to avoid heavier wines until the end. Heavier wines tend to mask the flavor of lighter wines, so starting with white wines and ending with reds makes sense. After drinking several samples, compounds from the wine linger on the tongue and interfere with other tastings. To reset the palate, consider drinking water or eating neutral foods like bread or crackers.

Finally, technique is everything when tasting the wine. Slowly swirl the glass while smelling the bouquet as opposed to aggressively swirling the wine around the glass. When tasting the wine, roll the wine around the tongue while paying attention to earthy or fruity flavors.

Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove - Fishing in Treacherous Oregon Waters

Based in Southern California, Kelli Gillam is a freelance production accountant who has worked on a variety of film and television. Some of the productions that Kelli Gillam of Culver City, California has assisted with were Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch: Bering Sea Gold and the spinoff Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove.

Premiering in early 2016, the latter series highlighted Newport, Oregon’s family fishing industry and their race to harvest the sought-after Dungeness crab. Running parallel to the original Deadliest Catch series, then in its 12th year, the program brought focus to operations that do not work within a quota system, as in Alaska. Instead, boats set out to harvest the maximum number of crabs and fish possible during the season.

With the Pacific Northwest coast notoriously treacherous, this requires navigating complex, potentially deadly currents, sandbars, inclement weather, and large waves. The dangerousness of this environment was highlighted when one Newport fisherman featured in the first season suffered a serious injury operating a line on a boat the following year. In early 2019, a commercial Newport vessel capsized when crossing the Yaquina Bay Bar, which led to the loss of three fishermen’s lives.

The Illusionist - A Glimpse of Magic in Turn-of-the-Century Vienna

A seasoned freelance production accountant, Kelli Gillam has worked on several high profile film productions. Crash, The Matador, and The Illusionist are among the movies with which Kelli Gillam has been involved as a tax incentive accountant.

Released in 2006, the latter movie creates a believable early 20th-century milieu for the fabulist tale of Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician who astounds Viennese audiences with feats involving the summoning of supernatural forces.

Filmed in Prague by Neil Burger, the movie features a main character whom The New York Times called a model of “disturbing inscrutability.” Rather than try to astound the viewer with larger-than-life tricks, the director focuses on “aesthetic elegance” and does not rely on the obvious digital embellishments of many Hollywood movies on the theme of magic.

Featuring old-fashioned storytelling and a haunted romantic spark between the characters played by Edward Norton and Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti augments the intensity in his role as Chief Inspector Uhl. An official in the pay of the violent and jealous Crown Prince Leopold, the officer has been commanded to discover the secret of Eisenheim, who has declared in public that he can make the Prince disappear.

Monterey County’s Varied, Temperate Climate Wines

A seasoned California-based accountant, Kelli Gillam, CPA, has informed tax incentive strategies for various entertainment productions, including feature films. Passionate about wine, Kelli Gillam has also sold quality wines from around the world as the erstwhile owner of Terranova Fine Wines in Monterey.

Less well known than Napa Valley farther north, the Central Coast offers several exceptional wines, with 40,000 acres of vineyards planted across Monterey County. The highlight of the region is the Santa Lucia Highlands, which includes top-tier vineyards such as Mer Soleil, Morgan, Pisoni, and ROAR.

The Monterey AVA also encompasses the Carmel Valley and Salinas Valley, which are rich in loamy soils and enjoy a relatively cool climate, thanks to their proximity to the coast. The climate is typically in the 65-degree range and avoids the extremes of daytime heat and nighttime cold of areas farther inland. This makes the region ideal for pinot noir and other grapes with thin, delicate skins susceptible to wilting.

Notable Academy Award Wins for Crash in 2006

Kelli Gillam holds degrees in accounting and business taxation from Pepperdine University and the University of Southern California, respectively. Since 1993, she has worked as a freelance production accountant in Culver City, California. In that time, Kelli Gillam has functioned in an accounting role for various Hollywood productions, including Crash.

Crash is a 2004 film directed by Paul Haggis and written by Haggis and Bobby Moresco. The film, which chronicles the interweaving lives of a diverse cast of characters in a socially tense Los Angeles, received a number of award nominations and victories, most notably at the 78th Academy Awards. Haggis and Moresco won the award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, while Hughes Winborne was recognized with the award for Best Achievement in Film Editing. Furthermore, Crash beat out the likes of Brokeback Mountain and Capote for the ceremony’s most prestigious award, Best Picture.

Additional nominations included Matt Dillon for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and Haggis for Best Achievement in Directing. Crash also received a nomination in the Original Song category for “In the Deep” by Michael Becker and Kathleen York.

Terranova Fine Wines

A freelance production accountant in Culver City, California, Kelli Gillam has more than two decades of accounting experience in multiple fields. From 2010 to 2014, Kelli Gillam owned Terranova Fine Wines, a wine shop in Monterey, California. 

With 30 wines distributed through a state-of-the-art self-service pouring system, Terranova Fine Wines sold wine in amounts of 1, 3, and 5 ounces. The shop also offered wine tastings for a minimal charge that the bar subsequently waived with purchase of any bottle. 

Terranova’s wine selection, chosen by manager Jeff Alexander, emphasized boutique brands from California. Beer drinkers could choose from bottled beers that included popular imports such as Chimay and domestic favorites such as Shock Top.

Terranova featured three flat screen televisions and comfortable padded chairs for customers to spend time and relax. Through a partnership with the neighboring restaurant Lallapalooza, patrons could also order food that ranged from seared ahi to pizza.