What to Wear for your Crush
And we’re not talking about your hot Saturday night date! Working my first crush in California, all the interns and winery staff wore pretty much the same thing: jeans in the morning and in the cellar, shorts and a t-shirt outside. Good boots, an occasional sweater for the early mornings and late nights. When it’s […]
Why Go Dry? Dry Farming in Viticulture
Believe it or not, all of Napa Valley was dry farmed until the 1960s, when overhead irrigation systems were introduced. Just a few years later came the early stages of drip irrigation. Still, the benchmark classics of Napa Valley – BV, Inglenook, Martini and others, were farmed without irrigation for many years before then. How […]
Chasing Verasion NZ Part II: Preparing for & Getting Around
This is for all the traveling winemakers, backpackers and adventurers planning to, thinking of or about to be persuaded by to work harvest in New Zealand! It’s the middle of Kiwi vintage #NZV15 and I bet in about a month or two when harvest ends, some of you (if you haven’t already) are going to embark […]
Four Reds We Cant. Stop. Drinking.
It’s Winter, or at least, in California, we pretend like it is. We all know we need more than a couple really hard rainstorms (every day, until the end of next month) to keep the snow pack, which feeds our streams, which feed our crops and vines, not to mention us! In hoping for a cool and wet March, here are some reds we love to drink when its cold to keep us warm! Best of all they’re all around 20 bucks, so you can save while you sip.
Chasing Verasion: How to Work Wine Harvest in New Zealand
The first thing to know for Chasing New Zealand Verasion is that harvest is in the spring, or is it fall? Ok let’s keep this universal and say ‘New Zealand’s wine harvest happens in or around February-May.’
Harvest in New Zealand, or anywhere in the southern hemisphere, is another way to get great experience and a different perspective, especially if you had worked harvest in the northern hemisphere exactly prior to that. Hopefully you’ve saved up enough money to travel and get to your destination, sold your car to afford your next plane ticket and you’re off to another adventure, new land, different wines, more great friends to make.
A Nostalgic Take on the World of Pinot Noir 2015
It’s the first week of March, 2010, midnight, my 14th hour of the day and the last day in the World of Pinot Noir office before the event starts tomorrow in Shell Beach. It will be the first of four days total, hosting over 12 individual events, 220 wineries, and expecting over 2000 guests. I’m looking at the […]
A Mini Restaurant Post on Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch
Mustard: A Vineyard Friend with Benefits
Johannes and I found ourselves in the middle of Napa on my birthday last weekend bickering over whether the mustard had always been there (me, the idealist) or rather planted (Johannes, the realist, but also the one with much more experience working in vineyards). Well, after some research, we determined we were both right.
Wine’s DND (Do Not Disturb) Phase
After several years in bottle, wine can dip into a ‘dumb phase.’ This wine was probably fruit forward, round on the palate, full of minerality and expressive of all beautiful traits that define classic Riesling, but are now muted, and the wine seems uninteresting and dull. Sometimes, decanting can help bring the wine to life, but typically, this is a phase that can go on for months to a few years.
Describing Wine Aromas like a Pro in 3 Steps
The toughest part of describing the aromas in wine is first detecting the flavors, but once you have that down, the next challenge is to find a rhythm in spitting out a description that ‘wows.’ Try this flow we’ve described in this post. Check out the color. White wines should point you down one path, say white fruits, stone fruits, citrus, reds another, red fruits like cherry, blackberry. Sometimes white and red wine aromas can overlap with fruits like orange and dried fruit aromas.
Legalize It: MA’s New Direct Shipping Policy from a Hospitality View
Hypothetically… It’s a beautiful summer day in wine country. I’m coming to the end of the one o’clock tour and tasting I’m hosting and it comes time to invite these guests to purchase wine, or even better, join the our wine club membership program. This group was genuinely great. They were engaging, laughing at my […]