Tasting Notes

Harvest 2011 – Week 5 – Things REALLY get moving…

This week we’ve started seeing far more grapes than the previous week.  Our Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc were joined by our first Chardonnay of the season!  Fruit quality looks really nice and acids are still staying put thanks to the more moderate day time temperatures as well as the cool nights.  The Alexander Valley ...

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 ...

Wine Bloggers Conference 2011; A Winemaker’s Perspective…

Last Friday I attended the Wine Bloggers Conference 2011.  This was one of those events that really brought out why the wine industry is so amazing! So many people in one room that were all excited to learn about and discuss topics pertaining to wine.  Unfortunately I was only able to attend the Friday sessions ...

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. ...

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.

Christmas Wines at My House

Every year, I see a ton of people doing a “What to pair with your Holiday Meal” post. Therefore my blog would not be complete without a similar post to finish off its first calendar year of existence. However I’m just going to do a run down of what is being served at my house this Christmas and what I’m pairing with it. Perhaps you can glean some ideas from it.

State of the Harvest 9-27-10

We’re about 5 weeks into our harvest here at Asti Winery in Alexander Valley however we’re just really getting into the thick of things this week. Perhaps some of you read my blog post a few months ago, June to be exact, “Meandering thoughts on the vineyards this season” (http://www.novacadamatre.com/?p=79). At the very end of this blog post I took a stab at figuring out how the season would progress. Well it turns out that one end of my prediction seems to be coming true. Everything seems to be ripening at one time.

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.

It’s a tough job but someone has to do it… :)

Every now and then there are days where I get frustrated at the world in general but those are fairly rare.  There are also days where I have to pinch myself that I get paid to make wine.  I had one of those days this week where the other winemakers and I were able to ...

So you want to make a Reserve wine?

Over the past week we’ve been finalizing our reserve blends at Souverain both for the Cabernet and the Chardonnay. I’ve more than once found myself staring at 6-9 different lots thinking “anyway we put these together is going to taste awesome because they all taste awesome on their own!” However let’s review how we got to these 6-9 awesome lots.