Dolin Malibu Estate: Vines with a View

Elliott Dolin, proprietor of Dolin Malibu Estate Vineyards, is a man for whom all the wrongs seem to turn right. Back in the day when he was a bass player, he was in the Manhattan Transfer before they had a recording contract. Then he moved to Nashville, where the jobs were, only to shortly head out to LA -- "the promised land," as he puts it, "of great weather, cars, the ocean, the Beach Boys" -- just when all the session musicians moved to Nashville. You know, where the work was.

Want to read the rest then do so at the KCET Food Blog.

Malibu Vineyard Owners Fight Proposed Land Use Plan Changes

At a recent tasting of a dozen or so Malibu-based wineries in Westlake Village, each producer generally poured no more than two wines and provided no print material. This prime property is a land, however gorgeous, beyond the niceties of modern marketing. Part of that is these wineries -- who are making some lovely syrahs and cabernets -- have so little wine to begin with; for instance Malibu Vineyards, with its 400 case annual production, claims, "We really don't serve to the public," meaning you need to be on the list or no dice. Colcanyon Estate, at a mere two acres of vines and 103 cases a year (probably not even the amount of wine drunk at Oscar after-parties), has even less wine.

Want to read the rest--and it's a long rest--do so at KCET's Food Blog.