All posts tagged: Napa Valley
UV Tank Sanitation a Viable Conservation Strategy
A new method for sanitizing stainless steel tanks and barrels using ultraviolet light is finding a receptive audience in California. The BlueMorph technology has been in development for four years and is coming to market at an opportune time. According to founding partner Alex Farren, a biochemist and toxicologist, the method known as Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) uses little or no water, no chemicals and only takes 30 seconds to install. Depending upon size, tanks can be sanitized in less than 30 minutes.
Journey to the west
San Francisco has long been a destination for travelers. Some, like Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, arrive and spend a lifetime realizing their dreams, while others cross the globe for the purpose of sharing their dreams. Croatian-born Mike Ggrich made his way west in 1958 and set the wheels of his destiny in motion when he began making wine at Souverain Cellars. Mike’s legacy is a familiar one, and now, at age 91, the man whose hands made the Chardonnay that helped put California on the map when it won the Paris Tasting in 1976, is a bona fide and well-deserved bon vivant. At a recent retrospective tasting hosted in the newly-renovated Ranch House at his Napa estate, Mike, his nephew and winemaker for Grgich Hills Ivo Jeramaz and daughter Violet seemed as much a part of the terroir as the wines themselves. Together they presented a vertical of Grgich Hills Yountville Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 1991, 1994, 1997, 2004, 2007 and the just-released 2010 for almost 20 years of perspective on the vineyard. Grgich Hills Yountville Selection …
High Marks for Community Colleges
Pursuing a four-year degree in enology or viticulture has been, for many students, the most direct way to gain entry into the wine industry. But that path isn’t the sole option for individuals making a career transition or those whose primary interest is acquiring the skills necessary for wine production. New certificate programs and two-year “associate of applied science” (AAS) degrees in viticulture and enology (V&E) have sprung up across the country at community colleges and state universities in New York, North Carolina, Texas, Missouri, Michigan and Ohio. Many are the direct result of the Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA), a dynamic collaboration among universities and as many as 18 community colleges, state agricultural agencies and industry partners created to bring much-needed training to under-served winegrowing regions. Read full article High Marks for Community Colleges here.
Blind Wine Review: Premiere Napa Valley’s 2013 Multi-Vintage Perspective Tasting
While it’s possible to barrel taste recent vintages at many of the preview parties that take place around Premiere, the Napa Valley Vintners’ annual tasting and live barrel auction, a three-vintage, blind perspective tasting of ’08, ’09 and ’10 Cabernet Sauvignons and ’09, ’10 and ’11Chardonnays from 24 Napa Valley wineries was made to order for this column. Designed to demonstrate how Napa Valley vintages unfold over the short term, the multi-vintage tasting of 72 wines was held at the CIA’s Rudd Center on Friday, February 22. The wines presented were whittled down from more than 90 submissions in each category by a jury of local winemakers, buyers and educators including the CIA’s own Traci Dutton and Bob Bath, MS. Release dates are still in the works for many of the ’11 Chardonnays and the majority of ’09 and ’10 Cabernets. It’s worth noting that all of the wines were decanted into hourglass-shaped carafes which tended to work against the Chardonnays when they were poured through the necks of decanters being gripped by warm hands. …
A roadmap to Family Winemakers of California
If you’re a regular at the annual Family Winemakers of California tasting being held on September 9th from 3:00 to 6:00 PM at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion then you probably have a game plan for navigating a tasting of this size. If you’re new to the game or if you’re a bit overwhelmed just by the idea, take heart, help is on the way. I spend a big chunk of my time attending wine tastings. Each year I taste about 5,000 different producers from every winegrowing region in the world. Here in California, I not only spend time visiting wineries, I jury several regional wine competitions which helps familiarize me with smaller producers including many of those pouring at Family Winemakers whom only sell their wine directly to consumers. Like any good quarterback, I always have a game plan lined up before heading out onto the field. I invite you to piggyback on my research and use this list as a guideline to some not-to-be-missed wines by California’s best and brightest. The real beauty …
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