More major wineries have been sold in the US. This time, unlike some of the more recent major deals in the wine biz, two conglomerates are shuffling their portfolios. Constellation brands, one of the top two largest international wine conglomerates, has announced (AP commentary) that they are selling eight wineries to a new player in the...
Category: Wineries
Syrah or Zinfandel?
One of the things that I've really tried to step up in my personal wine education is my ability to guess a blinded wine's provenance or origin. What is the grape, what is the region and if I'm super-lucky, what is the actual wine?
In this case, led by Lisa and Joe, the gOenophiles' intrepid vinous adventurers decided to try and tackle one of the most difficult cases of guessing a blinded wine's varietal...New World Syrah/Shiraz vs. Zinfandel.
A Patriarch's Passing
Californian and American wine has lost one of its greatest leaders.
Robert G. Mondavi, wine industry scion and founder of the the famous eponymous Napa winery passed away at the age of 94 on Friday, 05/16/08.
Arresting and vibrantly engaging even towards the end, Mondavi is widely regarded as the greatest influence on American wine over the last four decades and an unstoppable force that led to the international renown that Californian wine in particular, now enjoys across the globe.
He was a leader that introduced and blended New and Old World fine winemaking techniques... (more after the break) Clayton Art & Wine Festival
Beth and I have been itching to enjoy any of the Spring days lately that are actually warm and wind-free, so when we saw that not only was the weekend going to be warm, but that the Clayton Art & Wine Festival was on deck, we picked up the Pug and headed up the road to...
Wine 2.0 Spring Fling @ Crushpad
I was first initiated into the innovative world of Wine 2.0 when I attended their NRO event at Varnish last November. What I found was an extremely thriving movement of loosely knit and mainly younger wine aficionados, producers and entrepreneurs that were expanding upon the path set down by the original Wine Brats...they also tend to throw a party with a little more enthusiasm than your average wine event!
With those thoughts in mind, I geared up for some serious wine-drinking, networking and, well, partying last Thursday night. I was keenly aware of how the night would unfold and so I decided to BART and cab it to the event, held at the 3rd street warehouse of Crushpad in San Francisco. Crushpad is a custom crush facility, meaning that they provide equipment, bonded space, reagents and even fruit for boutique wineries and amateur winemakers, alike. They are one of the most well-known companies where winemakers can go to make their own wines with as much or as little hands-on participation as they might choose. I've been hearing about them for years and have been rather intrigued by their facilities, so I was quite happy to check out the space when I first arrived, just before the event opened.