Oprah’s Favorite Wine Being one of the world’s wealthiest people, Oprah can pretty much afford any wine she likes. Surprisingly, some of her favorite wines are produced by a boutique winery in Napa Valley. Blackbird Vineyards is a relative newcomer to Napa Valley – producing it’s first vintage in 2003. And, typical of the area, [...]
It’s Not Just The Weather The 2010 growing season is now being called the worst-ever harvest. Sonoma seems to have gotten the worst of it. Because the fruit was on the vine longer than normal, and the rainy season has begun, a lot of the fruit has suffered from mold. Some vineyards have suffered 100 [...]
2010 Could Turn Out to be One of the Best California Vintages in Years It was touch and go in August and September when vineyards were reporting that grapes were not ripening due to the unusually cool summer. Growers were worried that leaving the fruit on the vine until October could be disastrous if the [...]
Continue reading about The Great Late California Grape Harvest
From BBC News 30 September 2010 French thieves steal entire Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard Thieves in France have broken into a vineyard and stolen an entire crop of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, say police. They struck in Villeneuve-les-Beziers on Sunday night, taking advantage of a full moon and using a harvesting machine to seize 30 tonnes of [...]
The Summer That Wasn’t Here on the west coast of California we’ve had a cool summer. It happens every so often. I remember the summer of ’73 was cooler, yet. Anyway, we’ve been wondering how this will effect this year’s harvest. Growers will try to keep their fruit on the vine as long as possible [...]
Jack Nicklaus Wines Jack Nicklaus will partner with Terlato Wines to introduce a new line of handcrafted, limited-production wines from California’s famed Napa Valley. Terlato owns Chimney Rock and Rutherford Hill wineries. The first bottles of the inaugural vintage — the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2007 Private Reserve were released in June. 2007 Limited Production [...]
These Aren’t Mickey Mouse Wines Former professional football play and former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Ron Miller spends his time at the Silverado Winery, and his ranch in Wyoming (The Lazy M Ranch) In the early 1970s, after a day trip to Napa Valley with her mom, Diane Miller found a vineyard in [...]
Peggy Fleming San Jose native, Peggy Fleming and her husband, Dr. Greg Jenkins are serious about wine. In 1999 they planted an acre of Chardonnay in their Los Gatos backyard in the Santa Cruz mountains. Four years later, the newly formed Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery produced its first vintage – Chardonnay from their backyard [...]
2007 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles From the same winery that makes Isosocles and The Orphan (See March 2, 2010 Twisting Vines), Justin gets high scores for it’s Cabernet. Dark red color. Aromas of cherry, plum, spice and leather, with a hints of tobacco and leather. Fruit forward with layers of tart cherries and blackberries. [...]
Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 After the devastating Feb. 27 earthquake in Chile, harvesting and wine production came to a standstill. Some winemakers already had their harvest in tanks. Most of those were destroyed. But workers in Chile’s wine-producing region have now begun to return to the fields to bring in this [...]
