by Anna Ferguson-sparks
-- The Buzzed-About Santa Rita Hills Wine Producer, Liquid Farm, Grows into New Winery Space, Joined by Friend and Winemaker, James Sparks -- Nikki and Jeff Nelson, owners of Liquid Farm, the small production wine project focused on Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay and Happy Canyon AVA Rosé, plowed through this year's early harvest in a boutique winery space within the newly-established, local coop facility, the Buellton Wine Center, with the help of friend and winemaker, James Sparks. Located just half of a mile north of Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Taproom Restaurant, Liquid Farm joins seven other Santa Barbara County wine producers in the Coop, including Bonaccorsi Wine Company, Larner Winery, Casa Dumetz Wines and Municipal Winemakers. Michael Larner, the visionary behind the new Co...
by Andrew John Chalk
It is eight thirty AM on warm, and warming, Saturday morning in McKinney, Texas. I am sitting in my car in a parking lot alongside more than twenty other cars awaiting a 50-seater coach to take us on a tour of four Texas vineyards in Collin and Grayson Counties. The tour, organized by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is for potential grape growers, wine makers or persons just interested in viticulture and enology. The map below shows our route. From the parking lot we have a short drive to Celina to visit the Hornbaker Family at their Eden Hill Farm & Vineyard (A). Then a short spurt down the road to the oddly-named Square Cloud Winery (B) in Gunter. After that we trek all the way north to Grayson College Viticulture and Enology Department next to the Grayson County Airport...
by Catherine Fallis, Ms For The San Francisco Wine School
For many, the trip up Highway 29 ends at Calistoga. Yet if you continue about another 20 minutes up and over the grade, traversing Mt. St. Helena, you’ll end up in Middletown, at the base of Clear Lake. Due East of Middletown is one of Lake County’s far reaching AVA’s, Guenoc Valley, with only one winery, Langtry Estate, and a long track record of outstanding Petite Sirah amongst other things. There is another far reaching AVA at the opposite end of Clear Lake, Benmore Valley, which is basically defunct. The heart of wine country in Lake County is the Clear Lake AVA and its nested AVAs, the high elevation vineyards on the volcanic ridges at Red Hills and across the lake at High Valley, both of which enjoy cooling breezes and iron rich soil. These regions are joined by the newly procl...
by Andrew John Chalk
by Andrew ChalkI first encountered Zinfandel as a student when I tasted Ridge Vineyards ‘California Coast Range’ Zinfandel for what was, for an impoverished graduate student, a king’s ransom of $6.99. It is no longer made, but that wine engaged me to hunt out Zinfandel: a fruity, forward, red wines that offered a (usually) lower-priced alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. I did not know at the time that Zinfandel was an almost universally scorned blending grape that was the backbone of such headache-inducing abominations as Gallo Hearty Burgundy. Because my first Zinfandel was made by one of California’s best wineries I had (through good advice as it happens) walked into Zinfandel wine making at its best. I immediately gave the grape ‘first class’ varietal status in my...
by Ron Kapon
In mid-September, I and 4 other New York-based journalists were invited to spend 6 days in the Catalan region of Spain on a Wine, Culture & Festival trip. While I was there I saw no Spanish flags but lots of Catalunya (Catalonia in Spanish) pride. Catalan is a separate language and not a dialect of Spanish, and the people consider themselves Catalan, not Spanish. There has even been much talk of becoming a separate country. But this is not a political story but one about wine. Catalonia lies at the northeast of Spain, bordering the Pyrenees Mountains and France in the north. The Mediterranean Sea is to the east, Valencia to the south, and Aragon to the west. The winters are not too severe and summer is uniformly sunny and hot, with cooling breezes from the Mediterranean. It is an ideal ...
by Andrew John Chalk
I remember when Chilean wine first hit the U.S. market in the 1980s. This South American spindle of a country came to the game with a winemaking climate as perfect as any in the world, low land and labor costs, and a small domestic market that meant there was an export-driven culture.They took what sold: Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Chardonnay and Napa Sauvignon and just re-did it down in Chile. Even with the costs of shipping through the Panama Canal, Chilean wines were cheap and cheerful when they arrived in stores and on restaurant wine lists in the eastern and central U.S. It was a case of “anything you can do, I can do cheaper”. This strategy was effective at attaining a foothold in the U.S. market, the country’s primary export destination, but over time the Chilean wine indu...
by Mike Meisner
One of my biggest gripes about wine clubs is the lack of benefits they offer. Sure, you can expect a modest discount, invitations to wine dinners, and your regular shipments, but that's about all. With so many wineries out there, it's really hard to pick one or two clubs to join. However, after a recent trip to Chappellet, I learned about the GEMS of Napa Valley. This is a sort of partnership between Chappellet and eight other wineries in the area.The partnership is exactly the sort of thing I'd like to see more of in the Valley. Most wineries operate in a secular state, without much care for the world outside theirs, including neighboring wineries. Sure, they often refer guests to a nearby favorite; a sort of scratch my back, I'll scratch yours mentality, but that's about it. I've always ...
by Jamie Smith
7 most important wants of a distributor in a product they pick - and why it is important for you as a supplier? The article is written to help you better understand the wants of wine distributors, beer distributors, liquor distributors and beverage distributors.1)Margins: For small and medium sized distributors, margins of 40% and above are a must. And we agree. They need to be in business for you to grow your business and get paid.So structure your pricing to ensure that they can make around 40% margins. You will have the owner's motivation to sell your brand from the hundreds of brands they sell.2)Support:This includes support for sampling, point of sale, marketing, advertising support, market work support 3)Payment Terms:Distributors would like better payment terms than they provide to ...
by Andrew John Chalk
In my college days I once had to read a book called “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” by this man named Lenin who had the seriously trimmed beard and bald head of a sommelier in a high-priced steak house. To co-opt his phrase for a more plausible contention, Brunello di Montalcino is the highest stage of the marvelous but capricious Sangiovese grape. Italy is usually regarded as a red wine country. Of the dozens of red grape varieties in this, the most varietally entropic country on the planet, the two that usually get the most votes as “the best” are Nebbiolo and Sangiovese. The latter of these is the backbone of wines like Chianti and the proprietary “Super Tuscans” from various parts of Tuscany, but it is generally regarded as reaching its highest form of expr...
by Vin Marottoli
Having just returned from Croatia, it seems amazing how this country- and Slovenia- have remained under the wine lovers radar screen. All the wines we tried- and we visited 14 wineries- were good to outstanding. Most of the wineries would be classified as boutique to moderate size; none produced over 500,000 bottles and most are in the under 50,000 bottle category. By and large, the facilities are state of the art, with some more rustic than others. But the final result is what counts and I am happy to list what I consider the top 5 of the wineries we visited. One caveat: don’t expect to find these wines soon on your local retailers’ shelves; many of the wineries don’t export and the ones that do have limited distribution. Nonetheless if you’re fortunate to have the opportunity to ...
