Stone and Chalk

NovaCadamatre August 26th, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Harvest 2011 – Week 4 – Grapes, Pigs, and Fun Varieties at Asti Winery

Week 4 has come to a rather quiet close as we only processed a few hundred tons this week atAsti.  It’s a drop in the bucket for what is to come this season.  We were led by Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris from the Lodi area which both had perfect Brix, crisp acids, and really ...

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NovaCadamatre May 21st, 2011 . . . . . . .

One Last Post Before the End of the World! A Week in Atlanta.

Apparently the world is going to end this evening so I figured I’d better get a post up before everything broke loose.  I’ve been in Atlanta, GA this week promoting Emma Pearl as well as attending the women’s blogger conference BlogHer-Food.  One of the seminars I’ve enjoyed the most was on using social media (i.e. ...

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NovaCadamatre February 16th, 2011 . . . . . .

The Best Bang for Your Buck!!!: Finding Value in Wine

One of the questions I was asked to answer a short time ago is how does one tell which wine brands offer the best values for my money? This is a particularly challenging question because the answer often is “it depends”. The perception of value highly depends on the end consumer…of course this means you! You, the consumer, give the wine a value, whether you realize it or not, depending on how it makes you feel when you enjoy it (or don’t enjoy it), when you talk about it with your friends, or how it makes you feel to purchase it.

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NovaCadamatre August 20th, 2010 . . . . . .

An Awesome Chablis Tasting…

One of the highlights of this week was a Chablis tasting that some of the winemaker’s and I did.  I personally LOVE Chablis because it is a great pure expression of what the Chardonnay grape can be without the oak and butter that is so prevalent in more modern styles.  Anytime I can taste the ...

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NovaCadamatre July 26th, 2010 . . . . . . . . .

Cellar No. 8 Brand Tasting

Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting the Cellar No. 8 marketing team and tasting through the current releases along with brand winemaker, Paul Rydquist. After a great lunch at Catelli’s in Geyserville (awesome heirloom tomato salad!) we settled down to business which included the tastings.

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NovaCadamatre April 27th, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . .

Vinitaly and Verona

I was recently invited on a supplier trip to go to Italy and France to visit their production sites as well as local wineries. One of the main highlights of the trip was a visit to Vinitaly, an Italian focused trade show highlighting the wines from all over Italy. I came armed with a half empty tasting journal, two notepads, and my favorite pen plus ink refills in order to capture the day in tasting notes.

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