What used to be the office of Raymond Burr Vineyards, on Westside Road, just northeast of Healdsburg (CA) is now a cozy tasting room. Not much has changed. The office machines are gone, as are the journals and volumes about orchids – another of Raymond Burr’s passions. There is, however, always a potted orchid in full bloom – one of Burr’s hybrids – displayed on a small walnut table. The shelves now hold winery artifacts and the counter that divides the room serves as a bar where the current vintages of Raymond Burr wines are poured for the fortunate visitor. If proprietor Robert Benevides is on hand, the guest may even be invited to sample some of the older vintages from the winery’s library.
Read the rest of this entry »

Suncé, which is Croatian for “sun,” is owned and operated by Frané and Janae Franicevic, with one employee – tasting room manager Kimberly Harbaugh, who was a classmate of Janae’s in pre-school, and has been a friend ever since. The winery property, on Olivet Road in Santa Rosa (CA) was purchased in 1998, and when not tending vines and crushing grapes, Frané has spent his time transforming a former stable into a compact winery, and a former shed into a comfortable, light-filled tasting room.
Read the rest of this entry »

Your ordinary winery does not have its own cattle brand, nor a herd of Black Angus roaming the hillsides above the vineyards, but then, Kirkland Ranch Winery is not your ordinary winery. When the Kirkland brothers, Larry and Lonnie, purchased the 2000-acre spread that was part of General Mariano Vallejo’s original Rancho Soscol land grant in 1978 the primary crop on their Rocking LK Ranch was cattle. Grapes joined the mix in 1985 at the suggestion of Larry’s daughter, Chris, and additional vines were planted until, today, there are 138 acres of vineyard containing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Syrah, Sangiovese, and Nebbiolo.
Read the rest of this entry »

When you ask Leo Trentadue (Trentadue Winery, Geyserville, CA) how he happens to be a successful winery owner, he gives all the credit to his father, Joseph Trentadue. A native of Bari, Italy, Joseph arrived in the United States when he was 16. Two years later he enlisted in the army, but before he could be sent overseas, Armistice was declared, and he decided to go back to Italy. At the railway station, where he and his friends were waiting for the train to carry them to the docks, he saw a poster with pictures of orange groves and the magic word, “California.” He decided he might as well go look it over. He could always go back to Italy – but he never did.
Read the rest of this entry »

Sulfur is used in winemaking for its antiseptic and antioxidant. It helps stabilize the wines. At high doses, the sulfur can affect the body and tends to harden the wine. For these reasons, the best winemakers today use only the minimum amount of sulfur to provide some stability to the wine without altering qualities. In the best wines, the levels of sulfur are generally small enough to no longer pose a problem.
Read the rest of this entry »

We can broadly classify the vineyards into 4 main categories:

1. The conventional agriculture:
A product of the war boom (the years of post-war when he was growing produce to feed the largest number), conventional agriculture favors yields. The soil is regarded as a mere medium for plants. Conventional agriculture is largely the most prevalent.
=> The vines are chemically treated regularly. The soil is chemically weeded.
Read the rest of this entry »

The days when wines were seen as organic wines from small fringe of a tad enlightened long gone. It is now undeniable that among the best wines, there are more and more wines from vines grown in organic or biodynamic, and this fact is even clearer if one adds those who are not organic but declared that are very close.
Read the rest of this entry »

The literature on wine that usually does very little room for Champagne vineyards: The subject is often obscured by the description of the peculiar development of champagne but above all it must be admitted that the joints often hinder any characterization of the soil . The purpose of the Champagne houses of reaching a constant taste, they use grapes from different areas of the Champagne region to achieve the desired result.
Read the rest of this entry »

BEAUTIFUL REGION

• A few miles south of Epernay, Cramant is the first village of the quartet prestigious Côte des Blancs: Cramant – Avize – Oger – Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. It is certainly one of the finest terroirs of Champagne, with its chalky slopes facing east, often topped by a small forest, which plays a thermoregulatory role. Here is the realm of vintage Champagne Blanc de Blancs, Chardonnay which shows one of its finest expressions.
• Read the rest of this entry »

Unpretentious but a beautiful mouth, pure, crystalline fruit and nicely: The Black Stones by Jean Maupertuis in Auvergne. A true wine sausage made from Gamay Auvergne.

An animal nose, mouth and vinous lively and especially an excellent buvabilité: Almond Cuvée Domaine du Mazel in Ardeche, owned by Gerald and Jocelyne Oustric.
Read the rest of this entry »