Grapes

Getting Started: An Introduction to Wine Smelling

Yes, that’s wine SMELLING, not tasting.  I was fortunate enough to get interested in wine before I was actually of legal drinking age.  Why do I say fortunately, you ask?  Because this forced me to only smell wines, for the first two and a half years that I worked in the wine industry.  I really ...

Crazy Times: Notes on Blogging, Vintage 2011, Winemaking, and the MW exam…

To my returning readers, my apologies that I have been unable to get a post up for the last two weeks but my life has been insane between full-time winemaking, an on-going house renovation project, a 50 mile bike ride for Diabetes research and my MW studies.  To my new readers…Welcome to the Personalities of ...

Vintage 2011- The First Report

So here we are again, standing at the precipice of another vintage.  The next 6-7 months will shape our fruit for this year.  What the year will bring is anyone’s guess.  So far it seems to be moving along early as we had almost two lovely weeks in the upper 60’s and 70s in early ...

The First week of Harvest 2010!

First of all I must apologize for not getting this post up last week but as you can imagine the first week of grapes is always crazy.  We received Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc from California’s Central Valley as well as some Alexander Valley Gewurztraminer.  This week we’ll be seeing our first Chardonnay as well.  ...

Meandering thoughts on the vineyards this season

More than one winemaker I know has brought up the thought that at this pace we’re going to be crushing into November. Inevitably when this thought is voiced in a group of vineyard and winery folks there is a good deal of nodding, thoughtful noises made, and glances towards the sky.

What is ripeness?

Everyone knows that when you have 5 winemakers in a room you’ll have around 7 different opinions on any given topic. Ripeness is one of those topics that bring up more discussion than most because the decision when to pick is one of the most important, if not THE most important, decisions that a winemaker will make during the vintage. I’m sure you’ve heard several terms thrown around to describe ripeness.