What an interesting year in wine. Legal battles, political battles, movements rising, technology, new markets, and changes in the media led the news. Here are my top wine stories for 2011 A SMALL CRACK IN THE WALL: Initiative 1183 Takes Washington Out of the Booze Business and Into the 21st CenturyIt has been a long time since a state abandoned its control of the alcohol marketplace and turned it over to the private sector. Initiative 1183 in Washington State did…
By this coming Wednesday, the vast majority of fruit still hanging on the vines here in Napa Valley (and in Sonoma County) will have been picked. There is a forecast for possible rain on Thursday and again on Sunday. Rather than risk more rot, growers are likely going to throw in the towel on the prospects of getting their grapes riper in 2011. All in all the past few weeks have been VERY good for North Coast growers who feared…
Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noirs are really very pretty wines. They tend toward the elegant rather than bold, mineral over leafy, cherry over berry. These wines, based on my tasting of a selection primarily from the 2008 and 2009 vintage, possess a forward acid structure, evident but not overwhelming tannins and are capable of carrying a broad and complex set of flavors from the front to back of the palate. But most of all, they are Pinot Noir. This last…
I don't want to tell you how much time I've spent playing with GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps. It's one of the most amazing timesucks on the Internet. However, I'm pretty sure I've not spent as much time with this enormous source of geo-information as Daniel Opalacz, the creator of Vinosum.com Suppose you wanted to know what vineyards Siduri uses to source grapes for their single vineyards wines. Vinosum. Suppose you wanted a mapped out display of Syrah vineyards in Santa Barbara…
We are on the verge of a discussion that could turn out to be of some import. As the California grape harvest begins to move into its final phases, it appears that this could be a year when grape sugars come in significantly lower, particularly for late ripening grapes like Cabernet. This in turn means we may be in for 2011 Cabs with lower alcohols. If this does occur, look for an industry-wide discussion asking, "Is this harvest good for…
