May 3, 2006
It appears the feds have approved new rules that will allow a winery to now only need 85% of a wine to come from a particular vintage in order for it to put that vintage date on its bottle. The rule had been 95% from a single vintage with up to 5% coming from other vintages. However, it appear the new 85-15 rule does not apply to wines with an American Viticultural Area designation on the label. This means that…
May 2, 2006
You see a lot of events in Wine Country that seem utterly the same. The reason they seem that way is because they probably are. But, before we get our panties in a bunch about sameness, it’s important to realize that some formats for celebrations and events just work. And they work well. The Charitable Wine Auction is a perfect example. It works like this: 1. There is an organization that needs to raise funds to operate2. One or two…
May 2, 2006
I just get downright excited when I see something like this. Andrew Lane Wines has released a 2004 Napa Valley Gamay Noir. Do you know how rare this wine is? Charles Sullivan, the California wine industry’s unofficial historian, notes that there are no more than two acres of this grape reportedly planted in California…both in Napa Valley. Gamay Noir, also known as "Gamay Noir a jus blanc" is the grape responsible for that potentially very yummy, very refreshing very summerish…
May 1, 2006
Millions of people have taken to the streets today, left their place of work, and raised their voices in support of the notion that all immigrants are and have been a fundamental building block of the greatness and identity of the United States. I wanted to write about the impact of immigrants, documented and undocumented, to the California wine industry. Instead, I think I’ll point my reader to a post that I wrote for Wine Sediments that deals with this…
Apr 28, 2006
I think it’s simple: A designated growing area, an appellation or, as they are called in the United States, American Viticultural Areas, are only useful if they are able to deliver expectation to the drinker. If I can’t have a pretty good idea of what I’ll experience in the bottle if it says "Anderson Valley" or ‘Oakville" or "Russian River Valley" on the label, then what’s the point of putting the appellation on the bottle at all? This is also…