Winemaker’s Corner

Alcohol has been around for thousands of years. The discovery of the late Stone Age jugs of alcoholic beverages is a vivid proof that intentionally fermented beverages existed since at least 10,000 BC. It is interesting that human beings are still groping with how to...

Changing IdentityThere used to be a time when Napa was trying very hard to imitate Bordeaux wines.In a wine competition in 1976, Napa wines succeeded so well that they were able tofool a group of 9 French judges, all wine aficionados with credentials representing...

Syrah has always been one of my favorite varieties of wine. I discovered Syrah in the early 1980’s while travelling in European countries, especially France. The Mecca for Syrah in France is in Northern Rhone. This wine region runs along the Rhone River, North to...

What’s going on with the weather,is this a part of the curse known as “Global Warming”? Whatever it is I don’t like it. First, the season started with unusually cooler weather with occasional rains which are very rare in May in this region. And now we have the longest...

Recently I participated in a panel with six other winemakers to discuss our views on the different styles of wine. One of the winemakers in the panel, representing a well-known, high-end winery, specializing in producing Zinfandels stated that their style of wine is...

In my mind the aging of wine is definitely a culture. Just think about it. Is it so obvious that a wine will improve with aging? Quite the contrary. If you consider wine to be a food, like you should, the quality of all foods, without exception, will decline with...

I have some great plans for 2020.  I am putting together a workshop to teach you how to make blends.  But first listen to this: The tradition of making blends from different wine varieties, practiced mainly in the old-world wine regions, dates back to at...

Have you ever run across the term “noble grapes” and wondered what it means? I have, many times. And to be truthful I wasn’t so sure what it really meant until I investigated. I did not expect to find out that “noble grapes” is a term used to describe the grape...

I analyzed this subject very carefully and arrived at the conclusion that there are three kinds of wine snobs: The Regular Wine Snob, the Fake Wine Snob and the Wannabe Wine Snob.  In this article I will describe each one of them at length.The Regular Wine Snob...