Nova Cadamatre

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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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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What is a Dessert Wine?

My, off the cuff, answer to this question is a dessert wine is one which has enough sweetness to pair well with the final course of a meal, usually dessert, or be served as the dessert. Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine also notes that in America this qualification is based on Alcohol content between 14-24 %. Funny enough this would put a large number of dry red wines in to the dessert wine category as well.

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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.

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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 ...

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The “Pirate’s Code” of Wine and Food Pairings

One of the most common questions I am asked when speaking to consumers (other than “What’s your favorite wine?” which is #1) is what food would go with this wine. The very basic “white wines with white meats and red wines with red meats” has served its purpose as a simple and easy way for the beginning wine consumer to learn about wine. It is also generally (VERY generally) correct. However at some point, people want to break outside the lines of the basic food pairing and experiment a bit.

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