Smelling Your Wine, an Intro

There's lots of info on wine aromas on the Internet and it can get kind of complicated. Let's keep it simple with an overview to help you figure out what you're smelling.

If You Want to Drink Alone, Now is the Time

Drinking alone is a social no-no as it's supposed to indicate a drinking problem. Though it gets labeled as a problem you may or may not see it that way. With the shelter in place thing now is the time to open that bottle of wine without the guilt!

Sustainable Vineyards and Roundup

A few years ago Sonoma County made a big deal about the county's vineyards going 100% sustainable -- the first region in the country to do so. Sustainable certification is not the same as organic. It is earth-friendly (whatever exactly that means), but also socially responsible with its neighbors and employees. It is a great step.

Looking for that cheap wine you've been hearing about?

Oversupply

You probably have read about the price of wine going down because there's an oversupply in the market right now. Yeah, that's somewhat true -- at the inexpensive end of the market. If you're a wine geek and waiting for your favorite Napa cabernets to drop from, say, $75 to $50 don't hold your breath.

When this consumer-friendly side of supply-and-demand hits what you more often find is some better quality $15 wines. This happens as high-quality grapes get sold at fire sale prices so less expensive wines can be made from them. And that's no bad thing, right?

North Coast 2019 Harvest

The North Coast includes Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties. The link below shows the crop size and grape prices for the last few years. You'll see that the harvest for 2018 was abnormally large and a reason many are saying there's a glut of wine. 

The prices for grapes will help with understanding bottle prices. For instance, look at the price of Napa cabernet compared to the others. And you can see that, in general, grapes from the lesser-known Mendocino and Lake counties are much cheaper.

Link: Northbay Business Journal, The Grape Crop

Wine Grapes: Climate Change's Canary in the Coal Mine

Premium wine gapes are very sensitive to changes in weather.

That's why you hear about good vintages and bad vintages. In California most premium wines are grown in a coastal stretch of land running from Mendocino County (about 120 miles north of San Francisco) to Santa Barbara County (about 120 NW of Los Angeles). This is where the climate works well for top quality grapes.

Smith-Madrone Winery

Stu Smith

Forbes recently gave a shout-out to Smith-Madrone Winery (who, you ask?) owned and operated by brothers Stu and Charlie Smith. The vineyards and winery are situated in the hills between Napa and Sonoma County. They've been doing this for almost 50 years and are both in their 70s.

Visiting their winery is a trip back to before Napa was the darling of the rich entrepreneur. Their wines are also a trip back in time in that they might come across as dry when young and have noticeable acid! I think their wines are phenomenal.

I had a wine class with Stu Smith at the local junior college in the 1980s. He was a riot, and opinionated, back then and apparently still is according to the article. The brothers' stubbornness is probably what's kept them going.

If you're ever in the neighborhood make an appointment to see them. You'll be glad you did.

Forbes article

Direct Wine Shipping for 2019

Direct shipping is wine shipped from the producer to your home. Luckily, most states allow this now. A report on 2019 direct-to-consumer wine shipping from ShipCompliant shows us what this market looks like.

Weird Facts With Your Sense of Smell

Your senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste are life, you could say. Smell is the most interesting of the senses and maybe the most misunderstood.