Grape Notes

December 19, 2006

2005 PINOT NOIR TASTING

Got an early look at the 2005 vintage of Calif Pinot Noir this past weekend. Some awfully nice wines out there ... (read on)

December 12, 2006

OLDER BURGUNDY TASTING

I had the good fortune to attend a tasting of older Burgundies. We opened 1945, 1946, 1947, 1978, 1983, and just to round out the evening, a 1990... (read on)

November 28, 2006

SHARE OUR WINE - Charity Wine Auction

I attended a charity wine auction - well, silent auction - and there was some major loot to be had... (read on)

October 30, 2006

RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY - Pinot on the River Festival

I attended the Pinot On The River festival up in the Russian River Valley this past weekend - nice intimate event... (read on)

October 11, 2006

RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY - Visits and Interviews

Brian Clark and I spent a few days up in the Russian River Valley, conducting some interviews for GrapeRadio and Williams Selyem winery... (read on)

September 25, 2006

BOOK REVIEW - The Best of Paso Robles Wineries & Tasting Rooms

I received an advance look at some chapters of a new book by Bob and Cindy Rhodes, The Grape Escapes - The Best of Paso Robles Wineries & Tasting Rooms... (read on)

September 18, 2006

BALLARD CANYON - Tour of up-and-coming wine area in SB Co.

Took a 5 hr tour of Ballard Canyon, home to Purisima Mountain Vineyard, Tierra Alta, Stolpman, and Larner vineyards... (read on)

September 10, 2006

PINOT DAYS - Pinot Noir festival

Attended the 2nd annual Pinot Days in San Francisco... (read on)

August 30, 2006

SANTA RITA HILLS - Wine & Fire weekend

Attended the inaugral Wine & Fire festival sponsored by the Sta. Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance. Amazing event... (read on)

August 28, 2006

DRY CREEK VALLEY

I came across an interesting article about Cabernet Sauvignon as grown in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley... (read on)

August 23, 2006

AUCTION NAPA VALLEY

The GrapeRadio crew attended this year's Auction Napa Valley, covering many of the auxiliary events, conducting interviews, and taking more than a few photos as well.... (read on)

August 14, 2006

CENTRAL COAST TRIP and GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEW

There'll be some good notes and photos from a 3-day visit to the Central Coast, including some interesting vineyard visits. PLUS, Jay and I interviewed Manfred Krankl for GrapeRadio, ... (read on)

August 5, 2006

GRAPE RADIO INTERVIEWS

Jay Selman and I hit the road for some on-site interviews for GrapeRadio, visiting San Francisco and spending a few days in Napa Valley... (read on)

July 26, 2006

PINOT NOIR - BLIND TASTING

Excellent tasting held here July 8th in Orange County. We tasted twenty-one bagged Pinot Noirs to see if we could determine origin... (read on)

July 17, 2006

A COUPLE OF CENTRAL COAST VISITS

While attending the 1st Annual Sta. Rita Hills Wine and Fire Celebration in June, we knew we'd have a break between events and had arranged a couple of Sunday visits in the area... (read on)

July 16, 2006

HOSPICE DU RHONE PHOTOJOURNAL

Yes, it's been two months and I still haven't finished my full 2006 Hospice du Rhone writeup. BUT, here are both photojournal and the auction report, with tasting notes and seminar reports to follow... (read on)

June 16, 2006

A VISIT WITH DOUG MARGERUM

Had the recent opportunity to visit with Doug Margerum, owner of the Wine Cask restaurants, winemaker, and - as it turns out, chef... (read on)

June 6, 2006

A VISIT TO COLGIN

While in Napa to cover the 2006 Auction Napa Valley, Jay and I got a dream tour of the Colgin winery - plus a few tastes... (read on)

May 30, 2006

A COUPLE OF CENTRAL COAST TASTING ROOM VISITS

(World of Pinot weekend - Friday, March 3rd) After finishing up from the Arcadian barrel tasting, we had some time to kill before dinner, so we headed for the Edna Valley... (read on)

May 29, 2006

FOCUS GROUP - SYRAH TASTING

Winemaker Larry Roberts had asked a few consumers, a winemaker and a retailer to participate in a blind tasting - as a focus group... (read on)

May 28, 2006

FAMILY WINEMAKERS OF CALIFORNIA

Tasting notes on the 2006 Family Winemakers of California trade tasting, held in Padadena, CA. Reviews of 87 wines... (read on)

May 21, 2006

NEW CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AT GRAPE-NUTZ

GrapeNutz is pleased to announce the addition of Tom Hill and Ken Zinns as contributing writers. We will now host the Tom Hill archive of tasting notes, and Ken Zinns will provide additional wine touring coverage.... (read on)

May 20, 2006

WINE SPECTATOR GRAND TOUR

The GrapeRadio crew was invited to cover the 2006 Wine Spectator Grand Tour in Las Vegas, an annual opportunity to taste some of the world's best wines in one setting.... (read on)

May 6, 2006

ARCADIAN BARREL TASTING

I recently had the opportunity to taste through several different barrels of Arcadian wines, with the goal of discovering the differences in clones as well as cooperage.... (read on)

April 30, 2006

TENSLEY TASTING

It's really nice to cruise through a producer's wines to see similarities - as well as differences, and this is what we had with these syrahs.... (read on)

April 22, 2006

SINE QUA NON TASTING

Tasting notes from a small dinner, where we tried a few SQN wines. Beginning with a '96 Champagne... (read on)

April 17, 2006

CURRENT RELEASES FROM ENO

Tasting notes on three recent releases from Eno Wines: Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Syrah... (read on)

April 15, 2006

2006 WORLD OF PINOT NOIR TASTING

Tasting notes from the March 04 tasting at the World of of Pinot Noir, held at Shell Beach. Review covers 58 wines from 28 producers... (read on)

April 3, 2006

2006 SANTA BARBARA FUTURES TASTING

Tasting notes from the March 11 tasting of Santa Barbara Futures. Review covers 51 wines from 26 producers... (read on)

April 2, 2006

PISONI VINEYARD OFFLINE

About 25 people gathered locally (in Orange County, CA) to try several vintages of Pisoni Vineyard wines made by many of their producers - about 35 wines in all... (read on)

March 28, 2006

2003 BORDEAUX TASTING

Tasting notes from a 2003 Bordeaux tasting. This was my 2nd look at the 2003 vintage, a flight of mostly lesser cru wines, with a few grand cru thrown in for good measure. Generally, there were some nice wine here - at some very affordable pricing... (read on)

March 20, 2006

CARLISLE OFFLINE, WITH MIKE OFFICER

Carlisle winery owner/winemaker Mike Officer took the long drive down from Santa Rosa to San Juan Capo to answer in-person for the outrageous quality of his wines....... (read on)

KATHRYN KENNEDY TASTING

A look at some of the wines from Kathryn Kennedy Winery, a Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet, Syrah and Tempranillo.... (read on)

March 15, 2006

STA. RITA HILLS ROUNDTABLE

With what we hope will be the first of several "spotlight" interviews on AVAs, Jay Selman and I sat in on a Sta. Rita Hills roundtable discussion on March 5th. We had asked Rick Longoria, Peter Cargasacchi, and Wes Hagen if they would be willing to be interviewed in a discussion setting, with no particular agenda, other than talking about the Sta. Rita Hills - its history and its current popularity as a special place for growing Pinot Noir...... (read on)

March 8, 2006

WORLD OF PINOT NOIR - AUTHOR, JOHN HAEGER

The author of North American Pinot Noir, John Winthrop Haeger spoke at the opening of 2006 World of Pinot Noir, an annual symposium held March 3-4 in Shell Beach, California. Titled "Pinot Noir 102," John's talked along with his Powerpoint presentation of why and how Pinot Noir - especially New World, is gaining in popularity, despite its relatively small acreage..... (read on)

February 26, 2006

2003 BURGUNDY TASTING

First look at the 2003 red Burgundies. Bargains? Well... yes... even though this is Burgundy, there were some very nice wines at "reasonable" prices. First off, there was a sleeper of a white Burg.... (read on)

February 19, 2006

2003 BORDEAUX TASTING

Tasting notes from a 2003 Bordeaux tasting. This was my first look at the 2003 vintage, a flight of mostly lesser cru wines, with a few grand cru thrown in for good measure. Generally, there were some nice wine here - at some very affordable pricing... (read on)