Fall Has Arrived...Time to Prep Barrels

Posted 09/02/2008 at 03:07 AM by Dirk

I tend to remember years from Fall to Fall. (My Fifth grade teacher, Miss Wells (don't ask me how I remember that- I don't know) or harvesting the 1991 Far Niente Cabernet while a hot wind torched too much of Oakland. Lots of different activities define "Fall." School busses, (back to school sales...everywhere), soccer schedules, cool mornings, yellow leaves, political conventions and their surprises (not going there), Labor Day, and especially HARVEST!!! We will start picking ...  
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Free Samples in the Vineyard

Posted 08/29/2008 at 03:09 AM by Dirk

What is it about those "Free Samples" at Costco that get people to load up their super-sized carts? Face it, Americans like sampling. Winemakers like sampling grapes. Of course, winemakers have to sample grapes in the vineyard (they have already decided to buy the crop). We just sample to determine the best moment to pick for making the best wine possible. A Grape Berry Since sampling grapes is a bit more involved than the free ...  
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Wine on Rails

Posted 08/25/2008 at 10:08 AM by Dirk

Sometimes I have seen special wine tank containers which are used for shipping wine on trains (and ships). "Wine on Rails" (think of it as a gigantic bottle). I have just participated in a modest but exciting and innovative pilot program. "Single Vineyard wines on Rails". I brought a bottle of 2005 John C. Sullenger Cabernet from the cellars of Nickel & Nickel. (yep...this whole program, which could become a trend, maybe even an entire ...  
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Far Niente Icebergs Vanish...'til next year

Posted 08/20/2008 at 02:08 AM by Dirk

What comes to mind when you think of icebergs? Practical: They are best to avoid when in a boat. (Titanic) Philosophical/Physics: Ninety percent of it is out of sight. Environmental: Global warming: Pretty soon the North Pole is going to be underwater if all that ice keeps melting. Wine: That wine is really cold! Ice melting events aren't normally associated with wineries, but ice happens. Actually, it happens at bottling for a very good reason. It ...  
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Jean Luc Trapet

Posted 08/15/2008 at 03:54 AM by Dirk

I wrote about visiting Jean-Luc Trapet in Burgundy (see July 8th blog). You can see them at www.domaine-trapet.com. Last week he gave us a wonderful surprise when he and his family unexpectedly dropped in to visit both Far Niente as well as Nickel & Nickel. The wine world is small. We always value the friendships that have formed here and abroad. It is part of what makes the wine world so special. While we didn't ...  
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Waiting for Dessert Would be a Sin

Posted 08/14/2008 at 09:32 AM by Dirk

Do you have certain images that come to mind when you think of a particular wine? If you are into wine, try this: -Dom Perignon.... Bubbles? Monk Drinking the stars? James Bond? -Y'Quem...Tsars? One glass per vine? -White Zinfandel...Sutter Home? -Chateau Montelena/Stags Leap Wine Cellars...French tasting winners 1976 -Dolce... (It's the best...and no one really knows about it...hmmm) (Makes it sound like a stealth wine...you know where this is going.) Tell A Secret... Dolce (Of course, once you tell "it"...It ...  
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Shocking...

Posted 08/12/2008 at 08:38 AM by Dirk

All sorts of people are talking about "Bottle Shock." I used to think that it was the illness a wine showed right after bottling (before it recovers) but this year, it is a movie. Larry and I saw a preview copy ? he knows movies...I don't. It is a good thing that I am not qualified to be a movie critic. Wine lingo is too snooty to translate well for the screen. And, how often am ...  
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V Day Oakville

Posted 08/07/2008 at 11:02 AM by Dirk

The V Foundation took over Nickel & Nickel on Saturday. It was a peaceful take-over...but loud, raucous and fun. What would you expect with several hundred people enjoying the wines, food, auction, and dancing. If you don't know the V Foundation, you should. It was started by Jimmy Valvano (hence, the "V" without having to buy all those pesky vowels.) He was one of the greats in coaching (especially if you are into college basketball). All ...  
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The Color of Grapes

Posted 07/28/2008 at 03:48 AM by Dirk

The grapes are changing color in the vineyards. This is not some sort of light wave-length phenomenon. There aren't special lenses involved. There aren't any recreational aids. They really are changing color and it happens every year about this time. When they go from hard green berries to softening and turning red (if it is a red variety), it is called verasion. Since the French already had a fancy sounding word for it, we used ...  
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Secret Fizz Recipe Revealed...

Posted 07/23/2008 at 12:45 PM by Dirk

I know I am supposed to talk about wine but sometimes other beverages fit the time and place too perfectly to ignore. Don't leap to conclusions and assume that I am a lush but... last weekend a bunch of friends and I conducted some research into "morning drinks." While some love Champagne in the a.m., I am not one of them. It seems too acidic and the bubbles tickle. On top of that, some hotels and ...  
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Panini...That's Italian for Sandwich

Posted 07/17/2008 at 02:14 AM by Dirk

My kids are comfortable asking for a panini. At their age, I hadn't ever heard of a panini...let alone tried one. Hey, I grew up in Oregon where we may have missed some things but we knew beer! (I also missed out on cappuccino, latte, and all the other things that make Starbucks a universal source of caffeine. I still like the scene from You've Got Mail...no, not the Meg's food scene in Harry Met ...  
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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes...

Posted 07/15/2008 at 04:29 AM by Dirk

Lately, we have been having magnificent sunsets in Napa Valley. The days have been ending with a surreal display of orange and red that seems to have been lifted out of one of the Star Wars movies (...before they introduced all those annoying characters). Why red? Simple, it's smoky. A physicist can explain wave lengths, absorbance, reflection and refraction...but I can tell when it is smoky (because it has been on the news and I can SEE ...  
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Winemakers go on wine tours...in France

Posted 07/08/2008 at 09:07 AM by Dirk

I admit it; I have been avoiding this blog because I was travelling. I tried...really...but was unable to overcome the complexities of a French keyboard. Try one. They moved the letters and added all sorts of accents. (Just who needs a cedille anyway?!) These problems lead to the dreaded "bloggus interuptus." I have heard that it can take a while to really get going afterwards. France was great...the dollar wasn't. Internet cafes in Paris have computers ...  
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Slow Aging - Red Wine - 100 bottles a day...

Posted 06/06/2008 at 09:33 AM by Dirk

The New York Times got our attention with a recent story that "red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan." Actually, I first noticed the story while I was on the internet admiring the wave of interest in our "Floatovoltaic" solar system, (see last week's blog). There was a short intro to a story being covered by the New York Times. They are reputable, so I clicked on it. Wouldn't ...  
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What floats?

Posted 05/30/2008 at 03:50 AM by Dirk

"Ducks" and "rocks...little rocks" were the right answers to that question...if you know the proper scene in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. It turns out that electricity can float, too. At least it can float on top of our pond. Ever since James Bond zapped the bad guy by tossing an appliance into the tub, surveyed the scene and uttered his classic line, "shocking," I have understood that voltage and water were a bad combination. But, ...  
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Bob

Posted 05/20/2008 at 08:53 AM by Dirk

Sometimes it feels as if everything has already been said or written about Robert Mondavi. Understand, he was already an icon when I was trying to get into the wine industry 25 years ago. To read about him while I was at UC Davis was to be presented with a personality that was wine royalty; as far away and mythical as Baron Philippe de Rothschild. It would be easy to talk about what a tireless and ...  
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Hot Update...

Posted 05/16/2008 at 04:08 AM by Dirk

Farmers like to talk about the weather. Actually, we prefer to complain about it. Some of us aren't into discussing sports...the weather is easier, it's always changing, and we know that steroids aren't involved in all those weather records. A few weeks ago, we were protecting our vineyards from frost. Aaron and crew proudly wear their " Battle for Barrow ?Frost 2008" hats (in reference to a vineyard that needed particularly vigilant care.) "Weather...Wait a few minutes and ...  
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Look at the Sunflower

Posted 05/12/2008 at 04:20 AM by Dirk

After my brief discussion last week of "Biodynamic wine-writing," it seems like a good time to look into the vineyards. We are attacking weeds, (organically). You remember from your childhood that a weed is defined as anything that is growing in the wrong place. (For instance, I love redwood trees...I just think that they are best near the coast, well away from Oakville Cabernet vines...where I would classify them as "weeds.") If we are attacking weeds, ...  
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Sustainable Writing...Improved

Posted 05/06/2008 at 09:54 AM by Dirk

It's here and it isn't easy. Only the most dedicated writers are practicing it. Of course, I am referring to the latest improvement in our industry: Biodynamic wine-writing. Biodynamic wine-writing is far more involved and difficult than the more common or "standard" writing associated with the industrialized production of wine descriptions. Biodynamic wine-writing shares obvious similarities with organic wine-writing. Both are sustainable and neither allows the use of man made scores. After all, a score such ...  
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Oakville Wine Growers

Posted 04/30/2008 at 01:17 AM by Dirk

The Oakville Wine Growers just had their annual Taste of Oakville tasting. I think it is as good a showcase of an appellation as can be found. Even though Oakville is tiny ? about 2400 acres ? it has remarkable variation in soils, drainage and exposure. The resulting wines reflect these differences. The vineyards and the wineries are among the most sought after producers of cabernet within Napa Valley. In short, Oakville = Cabernet. There is likely more ...  
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