by Kevin Nelson
Wine labels are fascinating things. They often tell stories, although the stories can be hidden from view. So it is with the label for Grgich Hills Estate which connects, in a roundabout but interesting way, to the Napa earthquake. The 6.0 earthquake that hit Napa in August is showing, once again, what a tiny island Napa Valley really is and how wineries and winemakers—indeed, all of the valley—can band together in times of need. Their products may compete with one another on store shelves but the people behind those products willingly exchange information and cooperate and help one another when the times demand it. So it was when Mike Grgich was trying to get his new Rutherford winery up and running in the summer of 1977. Grgich founded Grgich Hills Estate; actually, that’s not true...
by Morris Lemire
This is the story of how the wine trade in South Africa is repositioning itself in a burgeoning world market using an innovative program called the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI). It is an optimistic story of courage and hope that has become a beacon for grape growers around the world. It is so often said that South Africa is reinventing itself that it is starting to sound trite. And yet, they have, and they are. This is particularly true of their wine industry. They didn’t have any choice; “The wine industry was infamous for the ‘worst working conditions” in apartheid South Africa and so it should not come as a surprise that “the wine industry encapsulates the scale of the challenge of transformation facing South Africa.” The anti-apartheid boycott (1959-1994) had a...
by Dilva Henry Scala
It's true, an entire month is dedicated to celebrating wines, specifically California wines. September marks the 10th anniversary of California Wine Month... A time to raise a glass and say 'Cheers!' to one of the state's signature agricultural products.As an homage to grape growers and vintners statewide, several Southern California restaurants and wine bars are offering great deals on glasses, flights and bottles of vino. The popular seaside restaurant, Cafe del Rey in Marina del Rey is extending a discount to diners on select bottles of California wines. A few miles away in Westwood, Napa Valley Grille is offering a special wine tasting and pairing mid-month.Interested in celebrating further away? Vintners throughout the famed Central and Northern California wine regions are offering to...
by Andrew John Chalk
by Andrew ChalkKiepersol Estates, the remarkable winery that grows some 14 vinifera grapes in the east Texas region where it is axiomatic that vinifera grapes are killed in the crib by Pierce’s disease, has done it again. They have just released Dirk’s Vodka, sourced from grape juice from their own vines. Kiepersol founder, Pierre de Wet, named the vodka in honor of his his father who, he says, “lived life well”. Making a vodka from distilled grape juice is as iconoclastic as growing those grapes in east Texas. Little wonder that they coined the slogan “Going Against The Grain” to refer to their differences from most vodka, which is sourced from corn. Last weekend they held a release party at the distillery where I got the chance to try the vodka both straight, and as part of ...
by Linda Perrins Ress Foxworth
“Nueve Messes de Invierno, Tres Messes de Inferno,” is how Javier Alfonso describes the climate of both his home of origin, Ribera del Duero, Spain and his adopted home, Woodinville, Washington. Javier is the owner of Pomum Winery in Woodinville. He serves on TAPAS, which stands for Tempranillo Advocates, Producers and Amigos Society. Their mission is to cultivate Spain’s famous grape, Tempranillo in the Great Pacific Northwest of the United States, and to educate as they go. What do the Great Pacific Northwest of the United States and North Central Spain have in common? A lot, according to the members of TAPAS. As Javier Alfonso points out in the above Spanish saying that he brought with him from home, both regions have a climate that can be described as ‘Nine Months of Winter, Th...
by John Kerr With Gina Trippi
By John Kerr with Gina TrippiSparkle and Pop! It’s a shame that we save champagne for special occasions. Many of us keep the sparkling locked up, only to let it out of the basement for weddings and New Year’s Eve. Not so in the rest of the wine producing countries where folks look for any excuse to roll out the bubbly. Is there hope for the USA? Happily, our restrictive tradition is showing a few cracks. You’ll see this in some fine restaurants, where sommeliers are serving champagne as their secret food pairing.So, what do they know that we don’t? Champagne is arguably the most versatile food wine out there. Champagne contains a high level of acidity and a small amount of sugar. These two extremes complement just about any food other than possibly steak and the sweetest of...
by Andrew John Chalk
Last year, late frosts in the Texas High Plains devastated the wine grape crop by around 90%. The event was so unusual that the U.S. Weather Service estimated that it was likely to happen less than once in every 100 years. How has the disaster affected grape growers views of the high plains as a grape growing area? Are they picking up sticks and planting other crops? I asked growers attending the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Annual Conference last week in Frisco. It may come as a surprise that, far from being deterred, growers are doubling down. Based only on the plantings that I was able to discover, and based only on plantings in the the High Plains, Texas’ grape growers will increase the state’s area under vine by over 13% this year. Specifically, they are planting at least 600 ne...
by Roman Payne
On the Creation of Wine Labels for Modern AppreciationPART ONE – THE SOUL OF THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER IN THE 21st CENTURYA word to professional graphic artists in this second decade of our 21st Century… (and likewise to you who are novices in apprenticeage to become graphic artists come the day when a patron realizes your talent and skill)… I truly hope that in reading my treatise you will come to understand, with some degree of shock, to which degree this terrain upon which you have wandered and placed your hopes of a life’s vocation, is a place both highly honorable, and highly ridiculous.The title of ‘Graphic Artist’ in this century can be looked upon as a permit to stroll unencumbered through a rather strange garden—a place that will enchant you with all the delights of Eden,...
by Jean Larsen
A visit to Bordeaux is a delightful way to spend your time and your travel dollars. Bordeaux is beautiful. If "Wine Tourism" is on your agenda, this is one of the world's top destinationsBordeaux has history, culture, art, and offers quality-of-life. Known as the culinary center of France, Bordeaux offers amazing French cuisine. Each plate is made with freshly grown local ingredients, and of course served with world-class wine - both red and white. Bordeaux sometimes called "Petite Paris", is an 18th century city full of French culture and charm. The city was deemed in 2007 as a UNESCO world heritage site. Sprawled along the banks of the Garonne river, Bordeaux is an elegant city. The city is full of architecture, palaces, and fountains, with a quietly unhurried feel. Take a relaxing day...
by Andrew John Chalk
If you work in the hospitality industry you serve humanity. You are bound to come across all types of people and accumulate some funny anecdotes over the years. I surveyed Dallas sommeliers about the soft underbelly of wine service.Anthony Martinez at The Gaylord Texan handles thousands of wine orders a week. He still remembers the time that a table asked for straws and drank their wine from a straw. Another time, a guest tasted the wine straight from the bottle. Jennifer Jaco recalls an episode when she was at Del Frisco’s “I once had a guest ask me to take his bottle of wine, decant half and put the other in a blender for 5 seconds . Then asked me to pour the wine into two glasses to see if I could tell the difference. It was a really nice bottle so I couldn’t bring myself to o...
