Why Getting Old Isn’t That Bad There aren’t many things in life that get better with age. Cars lose thousands in value once they drive off the lot. Houses get termites. And food? It eventually gets moldy. Wine, in this regard, is almost in a class by itself. The history behind wine and its aging […]
Blanc Follows on the Heels of Noir The sheer number of wine grape varietals must be overwhelming for most wine drinkers to contemplate. Even an experienced winemaker can be stumped when you ask them about Italian varietals, which in some regions can number in the hundreds of obscure clones that are only known regionally. And […]
Introducing California’s First Pinot Alternative Grenache is a very interesting and challenging grape. A wine made from 100% Grenache can have the weight of a Pinot Noir: a medium to light bodied red. I t doesn’t normally lend itself to making big, tannic wines. (Side note: a lot of the Grenache that you see in stores […]
Why Smaller Can Sometimes Be Better The quality of a wine is not always dictated by the sweetness of the juice. Many winemakers make decisions on when to pick by simply measuring the degrees brix (percentage of sugar) in their grapes, and generally pick when the sugars are at their highest possible level. Lane and […]
Lumen Crush is On! The first fruit of the season came roiling into the winery on August 19, when we picked Chardonnay Wente Clone 15 from Sierra Madre Vineyard in Santa Maria. Following it this week were both Dijon clones of Pinot Noir, 667 and 777, also from Sierra Madre – marking one of our […]
SMV is Ripe on the Vine When Lane puts on her magic yellow boot, we know it’s almost time for harvest. Lane has donned this fine piece of footwear ever since 1982, early in her wine career, and damn near the infancy of Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir. “I lost the other boot somewhere along […]
The first glass of wine that I liked was a White Zinfandel. As hard as that is to admit, many people come to love this beverage (and yes, it is just a beverage) by starting at the bottom. That glass of White Zinfandel appealed to me at a young age because it was sweet and […]
One of my father’s favorite sayings is that most wines are consumed on the way home from the liquor store. He is saying that tongue-in-cheek, of course, but says it to make a point: while many wines are meant to be aged, few are actually consumed more than a year after they are bottled, and […]
Cool Climate Wines Make for Better Companions The above shot was taken in September at the Eastern edge of the Santa Ynez Valley, while I was driving up to the winery in Santa Maria during crush. I live in Santa Barbara and have to drive over “The Pass” on the 154 to get up to […]
