2006 harvest update

The 2006 harvest is now underway and we're knee- and arms-deep in gooey grape goodness. We're too busy to provide much of an update, but plan on providing full disclosure of all our adventures once the craziness subsides. In the meantime, keep an eye on our Photos section as we'll be posting pictures we take along the way.

Rhone Varietal Focus course at UC Davis

On May 25th, UC Davis Extension program hosted its second annual Varietal Focus course, this time on Rhone Varietals. After last year's amazing Varietal Focus on Pinot, I couldn't miss this one. The seminar included the origins of the Rhone varieties; their role in the regional wines of the area; their history in both France and the new world; the importance, development and selection of clones; and the role of terroir in the performance of the vines.

How many grapes in a bottle?

A popular question is how much fruit is needed to a barrel or more tangiblely, a bottle. The short answer is one bottle = ~2.75lbs of grapes. The long answer is provided below. First off,...

Attended Excellent UC Davis Course

Today I went to UC Davis' course, Successful Smallscale Winemaking. Reknowned winemakers share winemaking techniques and lessons learned about specific varietals. The speakers are well respected within the industry. Scott Harvey, the founder and winemaker,...

Visit to Chalone and Central Coast

Kiara, my wife, and I took a quick day trip to the Pinnacles State Park, near Soledad. We stopped at Chalone on the way in, and then drove down Foothill and then River Road which...

What is more important- the vineyard or the winemaker?

Every couple of weeks, a fascinating topic surfaces on the West Coast Wine Network (WCWN) message boards. The WCWN is an active community for wine enthusiasts including posts from several respected winemakers (Mike Officer of...

The Importance of Soil

One of my Zinfandel grape growers, Ray Teldeschi has always told me that its his Dry Creek soil that makes the grapes; he often says, "You can taste the soil". A recent post on the...

Winemaking Flaws: Brett

Janet Fletcher's article, "Does this smell funny? A pesky yeast causes a stink" in SF Gate is an excellent article on Brettanomyces, the funky smelling yeast residue. Overview of Brettanomyces A trade-off of California winemakers...

Winemaking Trend: Unoaked Chardonnay's

As witnessed by two articles on the same day, a very popular topic is oaking strategies for Chardonnay. Linda Murphy's article, "When oak gets in the way" in SF Gate about the growing winemaking trend...

Red Wine Headaches

While giving wine tastings, people occasionally mention that red wines give them a headache. When I told my land land, I made wine, she said that she suffers from red wine headaches (RWH). She tried...

Current Winemaking Activity: Bottling

As I've mentioned, I regularly David Coffaro's Winemaking Journal. Today, his entry today explains that he is busy bottling his 2001 Wines. When I visited his Home Page this morning, I saw this picture on...

Tasting my Mentor's Wine

Tom Leaf, my friend, mentor, and winemaker at Grape Leaf, came over this weekend. We tasted his wines: 2000 Grape Leaf Chardonnay: Devil's Gulch (Marin) 2000 Grape Leaf Chardonnay: Nicholson Ranch (Sonoma) 2000 Grape Leaf...

The Importance of Barrels

Janice Fuhrman's article, Over a barrel: The art of making the containers for aging wine is expanding from France to Napa, Sonoma in SFGate explains the current trends in barrel making. Many consumers are unaware...

Urban Wineries Increase in Washington

An article in today's SF Gate describes the increase in urban wineries in Washington. Rebecca Cooks' article, Fine wines in funky places: Wineries sprout in cities, follows 3 urban wineries who are creative homes-- garages,...

Differentiating oak and lees, especially in Chardonnay

An article on West Coast Wine Network by Greg La Follette on the differientiation between oaking and lees....