Whether it’s for a gift, a party or your own festive meal, wine can be an excellent holiday complement, and wine expert Laurie Love helps you keep it budget-friendly with 10 bottles from Santa Cruz County and regional producers for less than $30.
Laurie Love
Laurie Love is a professional wine educator and writer based in Santa Cruz, where she has lived for 34 years. She shares her wine passion, knowledge and experience with Lookout readers as Lookout’s wine correspondent. Laurie specializes in French wine and the Santa Cruz Mountains American Viticultural Area (AVA), our local appellation that has been making world-class wines for more than 140 years.Laurie’s background is wide-reaching. She teaches wine classes at the Cabrillo College Wine Program and for Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Global. Laurie also wrote the course content for online wine education website,wine-ed.com, a companion to the Cabrillo College Wine Program. She teaches private wine classes and leads private tastings. For the past several years, she’s been a Santa Cruz Mountains AVA contributing writer for the Slow Wine Guide USA, featuring wineries that are sourcing from sustainable vineyards. In addition, she works locally in wine production with Bottle Jack Wines in Santa Cruz.Laurie holds several professional wine certifications: WSET Level 3 with Distinction, French Wine Scholar with Highest Honors (FWS), Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) and sommelier, in addition to earning three Cabrillo College wine certificates. She is currently a candidate for the Bourgogne master-level certification through the Wine Scholar Guild. You can follow her wine blog, laurieloveswine.wordpress.com, and on Instagram at @LaurieLoveOnWine.Laurie is thrilled to join the Lookout team and to share the bounty of our local wine region with Lookout readers.
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Laurie Love on Wine: A fond farewell and supporting Santa Cruz County winemakers
Wine expert Laurie Love bids readers adieu in her final regular column for Lookout, with a look back at highlights of her coverage of the Santa Cruz County region’s wine industry. She also urges readers to support that industry in a challenging time and looks ahead to upcoming local wine events.
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Laurie Love on Wine: High on the ’24 harvest, Equinox update, Rosscienda grand opening
In her biweekly column, Lookout wine expert Laurie Love talks to local viticulturists about how this year’s wine grape harvest is shaping up, reports on next steps for Equinox Wine after the death of owner Barry Jackson and previews a new Aptos winery.
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Santa Cruz Mountains harvest 2024 wraps up ‘fabulous vintage’
Unlike last year, when the growing season stretched well into November with one of the longest hang times for wine grapes in recent memory, this year the Santa Cruz region is seeing a more normal harvest in terms of timing, local viticulturists tell Laurie Love.
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Laurie Love on Wine: Death of Equinox’s Barry Jackson leaves gaping hole in local wine community
Lookout’s wine expert returns with a farewell to Santa Cruz wine legend Barry Jackson, the founder of Equinox Wines who died earlier this month at age 72.
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Laurie Love on Wine: Locals’ big presence in Slow Wine Guide and a ‘sensuous’ harvest taking shape
In her biweekly column, Lookout’s wine expert has news on Santa Cruz Mountains wineries recognized for sustainability practices, checks in on the wine grape harvest with viticulturist Prudy Foxx and picks out events you’ll want to check out.
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Slow Wine Guide features Santa Cruz wineries embracing sustainability
The 2025 edition of Slow Wine Guide USA, which highlights wineries and winegrowers that are using sustainable and ecologically sound practices both in the vineyard and in the winery, will have plenty of representation from Santa Cruz Mountains wineries.
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Harvest watch 2024: A ‘sensuous year’
Local viticulturist Prudy Foxx gives an overview of the Santa Cruz Mountains wine grape harvest, predicting a “blockbuster” cabernet sauvignon vintage but also noting that some winemakers are opting out of making wine this year, so they are not buying grapes.
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Laurie Love on Wine: Lester Estate’s home-run wine dinner, new Aptos vineyard and Big Sur Food & Wine on the horizon
Lookout’s wine expert details a memorable Taste of Terroir event, checks in on the local wine grape harvest as it draws ever closer and compiles news, notes and events from around Santa Cruz County’s wine scene in her latest column.
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Memorable Midsummer Night wine dinner at Lester Estate
With Santa Cruz Mountains wines paired with food from Soquel chef Brad Briske, the penultimate Taste of Terroir event of the season was a smash hit, Laurie Love reports.