Live from Sonoma, California

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If your timing is right you'll see one of my sons walking to work  :)

Wine Varietals: Out With the Old, In With the New

Napa and Sonoma don't seem to have a lot of variety in what they grow. Napa means Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay; Sonoma means Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the cooler areas and Cabernet and some Zinfandel in the warmer regions. There are sizable plantings of Merlot, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, too.

Mechanical Harvesting in Sonoma/Napa

Part of the romance of the Wine Country has to do with the amount of manual labor put into making your wine. People out in the hot sun pulling individual leaves; people out in the vineyard at 3 am to cut each grape cluster lovingly off the vine; young maidens stomping the grapes ...

In the future most of the vineyard work may be done by machine.

Winemakers Drinking Beer

A new Podcast features various winemakers drinking some of their favorite beers. The first one is the winemaker from Kokomo Winery in Dry Creek Valley at the Bear Republic Brewery in Healdsburg. 

After a lot of intro stuff the fun begins about seven minutes in.

Winemakers Drinking Beer – podcast
 

Thanksgiving Wines from Sonoma County

That Great American Holiday of overeating is here. The good news is wine aids conversation and digestion. In fact, it's been found that one kind of fat found in dark turkey meat, malonaldehydes, when combined with a glass of Cabernet or Syrah, was eliminated from the blood stream! (I always believe the good news studies).

So here we go with a list of wines you might look for to pair with that turkey dinner. The traditional turkey dinner calls for white wines and lighter reds.

Assumptions Made by Wine Drinkers

This isn't about the person who buys an occasional bottle at the supermarket, but about the more regular wine drinker--the person who considers themselves a bit of an expert. We've all made these mistakes. We've all bought one wine over another because we liked the label better.

November photos

November 9, 2016 in Bennett Valley and Sonoma Valley.

Bennett Valley isn't a well-known grape-growing area. It is primarily about Chardonnay, Merlot, and Syrah. The first wine grapes were planted here during the Civil War.

Sonoma Valley is much larger and established in the minds of wine drinkers. It is a 17 mile long valley with over 75 winery tasting rooms. Bennett Valley has one tasting room open to the public (Matanzas Creek).

Wine Tasting Tip #14 -- Miscellaneous Stuff

A series of posts on visiting winery tasting rooms.
 
This one contains a few basic items to make your trip more enjoyable.

Sonoma Restaurants with Views

Sonoma County is full of excellent restaurants. It's also full of great views of mountains, valleys, vineyards, and the Pacific Coast. Where can you put the two together?

Sonoma County's Growing Beer Scene

In the last couple decades Sonoma County's booming wine tourism business has become an integral part of the area's economy. We're actually finding people coming for the beer, too, and that's expected to grow significantly in the next few years.

Areas like San Diego, Portland, OR, and Denver/Ft. Collins, CO are destinations for beer drinkers as they have concentrations of 50 or more breweries in a small area. Sonoma County isn't at that scale, but is rapidly increasing the number of craft breweries.

Another Reason Sonoma County is Special for Wine Grapes

An interesting article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat on what makes one little patch of Sonoma County a special place for wine grapes from a man who knows the area like the back of his hand.

It's all about the geology according to Brian Shepard of the Jack London Ranch. Sonoma County had a violent past and that's why we make premium wines now.

Article
 

Wine Tasting Tip #13 - Going wine tasting for the first time

Visiting winery tasting rooms for the first (or second) time? What should you expect? How should you act? There's nothing to fear -- it's really easy!