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Kings Hill Cellars, A Members Only Winery

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Services, Wine

The trend for wine lovers seems to increasingly be to offer winemaking experiences. As people learn more about wine they become curious about taking then next step and having a turn at actually creating wine. Kings Hill Cellars in Santa Rosa, California is a "members only" winery that offers grapes, winemaking and storage facilities and the guidance of a winemaker to help when needed. Members invest in either half or full barrels of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel or Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes come from North Coast vineyards, including Mountain View Ranch, Herbert's, Le Vois and Trew in Dry Creek Valley; Fowler in Knights Valley and Volckhardt in Green Valley. Members choose their varietal and then are part of all the decision making as the wines are created. The winery is also available to vineyard owners who are interested in producing wine from their own grapes. They have 17 members thus far producing a total of nine barrels last year. Membership prices range from $2,450 for a half barrel of Sauvignon Blanc to $5,950 for a full barrel of Pinot Noir.

Tags: california, grapes, santa rosa, wine, winemaking

True Earth Organic Wine

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Just in time for Earth Day, the wine brand The Three Thieves have launched a new organic brand called True Earth. The wine is made from organic grapes. There are two True Earth wines, a red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah, and a varietal Chardonnay. Both are made from California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) vineyards in Mendocino County, using no pesticides, herbicides, or conventional synthetic fertilizers. The wines contain minimal amounts of sulfites which are used in the winemaking process to preserve freshness. The first release is 5,000 cases of each type and the wines sell for $12.99.

Tags: california, chardonnay, grapes, mendocino, organic, red wine, true earth, TrueEarth, white wine, wine

The ZAP Experience

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Events

I had been told the ZAP festival in San Francisco is a wine event like no other, a raucous and intense experience. I was eager to have the chance to see 237 Zinfandel producers showing off their best wines in two pavillions. I wasn't alone. The picture above captures the line at around 9:45 am Saturday morning. Nothing like starting off the day with a glass or two or twenty of Zinfandel. I'll be listing the Zins I tasted later but first here's a quick tour around the event.

Tags: grapes, san francisco, wine, wine tasting, zinfandel

Continue reading “The ZAP Experience”

Reporting From The Unifed Wine & Grape Symposium: Climate Change and Wine

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Although I have fretted quietly (and sometimes not so quietly my friends can report) about climate change for some time, I've never actually been in a room with a climatologist before. It's one thing to hear Al Gore or scientists on the Discovery Channel talk about it but it is another thing altogether to hear it live from people who studied it and to hear it related specifically to one of my favorite subjects, wine.

The consensus among the Climate Change panel members at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium was that change is imminent, indeed it is already happening. How that change will continue to manifest remains uncertain. The one constant that I took from the panel is that temperatures will continue to rise over the next few years and this will directly affect at least some of the wines we love. If you have been following the tribulations of ice wine producers during this season, you may already be aware that some wines are changing. Without question, the future of winemaking will be different than it is today.

Tags: climate change, global warming, grapes, wine

Continue reading “Reporting From The Unifed Wine & Grape Symposium: Climate Change and Wine”

Storms Devastate Port Wine Crops

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

It looks like 2006 is not going to be a good year for port wine or that the 2006 vintage could be pricey. The AP reports that storms have damaged up to 80 percent of Portugal's port grapes in some areas. The storms, which included hail the size of quail eggs, devastated thousands of acres in the most important port-producing regions. The loss could be equivalent to more than 580,000 gallons of wine. Could this be part of the overall effect of global warming on wine?

Tags: grapes, port, portugal, wine

Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Events

If you are a fan of the Pinot Noir grape, you can't go wrong headed to the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival in Boonville, California May 19-21. The fussy varietal lauded by Miles in "Sideways" as being "haunting and brilliant" has been riding high on public approval the last few years.

The festival offers a variety of events from the Technical Conference, which tells you how to grow and produce the grape to the more freewheeling social barbecue at the Goldeneye Winery. The grand tasting will be held at Scharffenberger Cellars in Philo and costs $85. On Saturday, May 20, there are six winemaker dinners being held. Each one costs $150 a ticket (the Roederer and Goldeneye dinners are already sold out) and include a decadent assortment of wine and food pairings.

Tags: anderson valley, AndersonValley, grapes, pinot noir, wine, wine festival, winery

Reality TV Show For Winemakers Holds Casting Call

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

I wrote about this a while back for Slashfood, a public television show that will have contestants compete to launch their own wine label. The program, "The Wine Makers" is now casting and and will be filmed this September on the Central Coast. Want in? A casting call is scheduled for the Hospice du Rhone wine celebration in Paso Robles on May 12. Applicants don't have to attend the Hospice du Rhone, there will be a separate entrance and there is no charge to audition. Other casting calls will be held in major cities in the U.S. so if you've ever dreamed of life as a winemaker this is your chance.

Tags: grapes, paso robles, reality television, wine, wine making

Grape Growers in Australia Ditch Their Harvest

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

More bad news for the Australian wine industries, they are experiencing a major grape glut. Grape growers located in South Australia's Riverland may lose millions of dollars in direct income which could amount in several hundred million dollars of loss for the local economy. The wine growers are dumping their grapes on the ground because they cannot sell them for a decent return.The prices offered are below the cost of production. Wine growers are upset and the Winegrape Growers Association is staging a rally later this month. The situation mirrors one that we heard about occurring in Chile last month.

Tags: australia, chile, grapes, vineyard, wine glut, wine harvest, winemaking, winery

Covenant Kosher Wine

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Covenant Wines are said to be some of the world's finest kosher wines and possibly the best made in the United States. The wines are all Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley, California. The 2003 vintage has received a rating of 92 points from Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate awarded it with 93 points and the 2004 vintage with a 90-92. The deep red wines boast a richly fruity array of flavors, with notes of black currant and blackberry, while scents of vanilla and hints of oak hit the nose. Price: $74.95.

Tags: cabernet, cabernet sauvignon, california, grapes, kosher, napa valley, passover, wine, wine advocate, wine spectator, wines

Merlot Fights Back

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

As I've said before, the Sideways merlot bashing was an unfair swipe at a perfectly decent grape. Choose your wine well and merlot can be a delightful experinece. Swanson Vineyards isn't going to let people kick merlot around anymore. They are taking their merlot seminar on the road this spring to educate the trade and the media on a grape they say has been misunderstood and maligned. Their Merlot Fights Back website has information on why the wine is important including the fact that the ’61 Cheval Blanc Miles opened on his birthday in Sideways is a 50/50 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The Merlot Fights Back seminar features two flights of merlot. One from 2002 merlots from around the world, and one on just merlots from Northern California. Lastly they offer a flight of Swanson barrel samples from 2004 that show off the differences between the various treatments of the grape. Swanson's 2002 Merlot sells for $32 for those of us not in a city where the seminar is being held.

Tags: california wine, grapes, merlot, sideways, wine

Winemakers Protest in Chile

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

In the last few years, French winemakers have protested in the streets seeking government help for the floundering wine industry. Now, wine protests are breaking out in one of the world's fastest growing wine regions, Chile. Decanter reports that Chilean winemakers are angry over low grape prices offered by the country's big wineries. The growers took their dissent to the annual harvest festival in the town of Curicó last weekend. The protest was a bit smaller than many of the French protests, only around 50 people were part of the group of disgruntled winemakers. The Chilean grape harvest is currently underway and some growers aren't signing contracts, preferring to let the fruit rot on the vine. According to the article the problem is currency fluctuations as the Chilean peso's value in relation to the dollar (which is used for the export-focused wine industry) has risen.

Tags: chile, grapes, vineyard, wine, wine industry, wine protest

Will The Wine of the Future Be Rich in Vitamin C?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Are genetically-modified wine grapes in our future? Researchers at UC Davis and the University of Adelaide, Australia have found an enzyme that help turn vitamin C into tartaric acid which plays an important role in winemaking. Wine won't be replacing orange juice for your Vitamin C needs any time soon but it is an interesting step as the art of winemaking and science begin to inform each other. Tartaric acid has an effect on the taste of the grape and therefore the flavor of wine. In the future it may be possible to manipulate the genes of the grapes in order to create Vitamin C rich grapes.

Tags: grapes, science, vitamin c, wine

Sauvignon Republic Wine

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

We've seen California wineries that specialize in just Red Zinfandel, now let's take a look at a group of guys who focus only on Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauvignon Republic chose this particular grape because they say it expresses the "terroir" of its growing place. Their goal is to produce a wine in each of the areas that it grows best ( California, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and France). This month they are releasing their first South African Sauvignon. There are 800 cases of this wine, the third Sauvignon Blanc they have created. The 2005 Sauvignon Republic Cellars Stellenbosch Sauvignon Blanc sells for $18 and has citrus and tropical fruit notes with a hint of nettles. This month they are also releasing the 2005 Sauvignon Republic Cellars Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and the 2005 Sauvignon Republic Cellars Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc which both also sell for $18.

Tags: grapes, liquor, sauvignon blanc, south african wine, SouthAfricanWine, terroir, wine

Bug-sniffing dogs to work in California vineyards

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

I've heard of bomb-sniffing and drug-sniffing dogs before but now Decanter reports that bug-sniffing dogs are being used by California winemakers. Golden retrievers are being trained to sniff out the vine mealybug which causes massive grape vine destruction. Vinters have raised $33,000 to train puppies at the Assistance Dog Institute. The dogs will bark where they detect the mealybug sex pheromone.

Tags: california, grapes, helper dogs, vinters, wine, winemakers

WinePod

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Wine

When I saw the words WinePod, my first thought that it was some sort of wine/iPod fusion. But no, it's actually a winemaking device that lets you soak, crush, and press grapes and ferment and age the wine. The maker's website calls it "a real winery scaled down to a personal-use size." It has a wireless on-board computer that teaches you how to make wine as it goes along. Whatever your taste preference, the WinePod will teach you how to create a wine that matches. It has a 100 liter tank which makes around six cases of wine, and the company will even ship you the grapes to get started. According to the Fermentation blog, a limited number of the WinePods are being produced this year and each unit costs around $2000. It is available with optional oak barrels. How fun would it be to play with this thing?

Tags: fermentation, grapes, wine, winemaking

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