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…
Jun 21, 2006
Just something to consider…. I was talking with a journalist in Colorado today who receives a lot of wine shipments to his home…every day. He disclosed to me that in a very consistent way wines delivered by UPS are about 15 degrees warmer than wines delivered by FED EX. How does he know this? He measures the temperatures of the outside of the boxes when they arrive at his home with a laser temperature guage. He says the difference in…
Jun 21, 2006
While California wines dominate cosumption of domestic wines, other states across the country have seen their wine industries reallly take off. A combination of high quality bottlings and the attraction of a local wine country seem to have spurred this "other state" explosion in wine production. The question is, how to get more people to try wines from "Other States". I like what Ohio did recently. They recently staged the Ohio Wine Challenge. Taking a page out of Robert Mondavi’s…
Jun 20, 2006
This past fathers day was a hoot. We had four fine fathers gathered with their wives and children and grandchildren all in our newly renovated back yard. It was all good…Until I had to explain myself. You see it was warm outside. And while a chilled rose and gewurztraminer were on the table, I wanted to drink something red. But it was just too damn hot to really appreciate it. So I did what I often do with red wine…
Jun 14, 2006
Ever wonder what the life of a barrel looks like? Annette Hoff, winemaker at Cima Collina, a client of Wark Communications, one who works in a region I’m quickly coming to conclude is on the cutting edge of all that is great about California winemaking (Monterey), and who also is a great blogger, has a post on just this subject. The fact is, Annette simply doesn’t’t blog enough…or, enough for me. Each of her posts are a delight, very personal,…