Nov 7, 2008
In the San Francisco Chronicle today I was reading about the trio of gentleman who have started “Terroir”, a wine bar and wine shop in a warehouse on Folsom Street in San Francisco. “Terroir” is focused on “Natural wines” that are described by writer Wolfgang Weber as “a sort of catchall term for organic, biodynamic and minimal intervention” wines. You have to love a trio of guys like this, with so much passion for wine that they’d invest in opening…
Nov 3, 2008
It's not unreasonable to ask if John Haeger is finally tired of Pinot Noir. In the course of just four years he has produced not just the most current volume on Pinot Noir in North America ("North American PinotNoir)", but has now updated that terrific survey of the continent's engagement with the the grape with the publication of "Pacific Pinot Noir". The new volume is indeed an update as well as an expansion upon "North American Pinot". The fact that…
Oct 26, 2008
Alice Feirng is an anti-establishmentarian that believes beauty is extracted from order. This puts her at odds with American wine and probably modernity too. And yet this strange and compelling perspective also gave her open entry directly into the hearts of the audience I watched her address yesterday. Last night, in the grand, old tank room of Sonoma's venerable Sebastiani Vineyards, with lights dimmed and candles lit, Ms. Feiring held court in front of a crowd that was decidedly modern:…
Oct 25, 2008
13 Things I learned at the first day of the American Wine Bloggers Conference 1. Amy Atwood of Cleanskins & My Daily Wine blog is a fascinating lovely woman whose two websites don't completely scratch the surface of her potential or involvement in the wine industry. She's one of the folks from the Wine Blogger's Conference who I immediately liked and immediately knew was meant for much greater things. Nice handbag too. 2. Quivira Winery in Dry Creek Valley's one…
Sep 12, 2008
The Feds are proposing to expand the Russian River Valley Appellation by 350 acres to the south, which will include Gallo’s acreage there. Why the hell not! It’s not as thought there is any real viticultural meaning the Russian River Valley AVA. The number of different climates, soils and rainfall totals you can find in this unwieldy appellation are probably too many to count on two hands. As it is currently configured, I don’t believe the Russian River Valley AVA…