Nova Cadamatre

Merlot: The Red Delicious Apple of the Wine World

As I was perusing the produce section of my local Safeway this weekend I was trying to decide which fruit to get for the week.  I love apples so I decided to go that direction.  For the first time in quite a while I did not reach for the Pink Ladies or the Galas.  I ...

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The 2012 Master of Wine Napa Seminar: Year 4 of my pursuit of the MW.

In just two days time close to 70 MW students will converge on Yountville, CA all with the same goal of one day becoming a Master of Wine.  This will be my fourth seminar and my last as a full program student.  As this is my 3rd shot at the exam this year there are ...

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The Quirks of Quercus: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Oak but were Afraid to Ask!

This is one of those posts that I put out there not only to educate but to get some discussion going around one of the most interesting but often misunderstood aspects of winemaking.  I think when most people in vision a winery oak barrels almost always show up in their mind’s eye. First off there ...

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My Musings on Wine Scores

Hello all! First of all let me apologize for going AWOL the last two months.  Work, Home, and MW studies have all been crazy busy as it is for anyone during the holidays.  I hope in this new year I will be able to put up more weekly posts. As always if you have any ...

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Harvest 2011: How California became Italy

This year has had it all.  We started with heavy frost on the Central Coast, rain during bloom and spring hail.  The craziness continued with a long temperate summer which was punctuated by few heat spikes (if you can call mid 90s a heat spike out here).  Growers fought Powdery Mildew and numerous invasive insect ...

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Harvest 2011 – Week 11 – The Grape Landslide…

Right now, things are crazy! People are rushing to pick fruit.  We’re working 24/7 to get all the fruit in and we’re running out of tank space.  I haven’t really had time to put all my thoughts from this week into words because I’ve been frantically trying to make the best wine we possibly can ...

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Harvest 2011 – Week 10 – It Rains… so I make Soup!

Well, we all knew it would get to this.  What we didn’t know is how much it would rain. Asti topped out at almost 2 1/2 inches of rain over last week.  We’re getting more today as well.  Rain during this time of year is challenging for several reasons.  1) When it’s raining there is no ...

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Harvest 2011 – Week 9 – The Beginning of the End.

In case you haven’t heard we’re going to have a weather event this next week.  Now, being from the south, I love the way the western weathermen talk about precipitation.  I hear “weather event”, “Major trough”, and my personal favorite “heavy drizzle”.  In the south, weathermen would usually say “It’s going to rain!” and then ...

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Harvest 2011 – Week 8 – Harvest Halfway and MW preparations

At this point we’re halfway through the harvest season.  In another 8 weeks it will all be wrapped up.  Wine will be tucked away in barrels or tanks either going through ML, extended maceration, and sur lee aging.  Between now and then is the most complex time during the harvest.  This is when the bulk ...

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Harvest 2011 – Week 7 – The Waiting Game

This past week brought cooler temperatures to the regions around Asti Winery.  We saw a noticeable slowdown in sugar accumulation and thus a drop in tons being delivered as growers waited to see movement again.  This week is forecasted to be warmer and hopefully this will kick ripening back into gear.  Chardonnay is coming in ...

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