Jul 10, 2006
Do I need to worry about THIS? Don’t get me wrong, I’m as fearful of the next person of rising ocean levels, skin cancer, melting ice caps and the like. But I’m having a problem getting worried about Sonoma and Napa Valleys being too hot in 100 years to produce good wine. Let’s face it, unless I really cut back on some of my vices and medical technology leaps forward I’m not going to have to worry about Global Warming’s…
Jul 7, 2006
I recall, a year or so ago, sitting in a public hearing of the Sonoma County General Plan Committee. Under discussion was the proposed regulation to be incuded in the new general plan that any winery in Sonoma County must buy 70% of its grapes from Sonoma County vineyards. The proposed rule was meant to keep large "industrial" (as they called them) wineries that import grapes from across the state from sullying our county. The proposed ruled also was a…
Jul 5, 2006
Jason Walsh is a UK writer who, according to his blog "Design of the Nation", takes on issues of design, culture, politics and technology. I think that just about covers everything. Included in this bag of issues Mr. Walsh covers is, apparently, wine. In a post today, Walsh offers an interesting notion: That including varietal information on a wine label (Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, etc) as most of the New World wines do, equates to dumbing down wine and allows consumers…
Jun 28, 2006
If you have an interest in "Terroir American Style" then you probably, or should, have an interest in Diamond Creek wines. The vineyard designated wines of Diamond Creek made off of a relatively small parcel of land on Diamond Mountain in Napa Valley were among the first to give concrete recognition to the notion in America that different pieces of land create different tasting wines. The man who committed to this idea, Al Brounstein, died Monday after a long battle…
Jun 22, 2006
It is 5:45pm on June 22 as I write this and the temperature in the shade reads 103. This is down from an earlier temperature of 106. Earlier today I was with a client who was visiting with a wine writer. We walked out into the vineyard. Talked for about 10 minutes. Then we all sort of collectively, but silently, acknowledged that shade was needed…Now! We simply turned together, headed back to the cars and quickly found ourselves at the…