San Francisco native Justin Chin possesses an almost stubborn optimism
about the future of hospitality. As general manager and wine director of The Happy Crane in his hometown’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, he’s quietly shaping one of the city’s most innovative dining experiences.
Thanks to new research about quercetin, the list of culprits in wine falls into three primary categories: tannins, biogenic amines (BAs), and alcohol.
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Humans may use their sense of sight more,
but through smell, we can determine such things as the quality and consistency of foods and beverages.
Calls for optimism are the theme of new year missives from wine industry colleagues near and far. One in particular came from a Northern California winemaker who is puzzling over the lack of adoption by Gen Z consumers, an increasingly fragmented and dispirite domestic market and included a request for insights that might inspire hope.
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The message my students are sending to the makers of the world’s historic sweet wines amounts to a love letter. My passion for these historic wines can only be described as a love affair.
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The University of California, Davis, has a long history of groundbreaking research that has significantly impacted the global wine industry.[…]
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In 2021, The prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB) wine competition began using artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Winespace, a Bordeaux-based firm founded by Sylvain Thibaud and Julian Laithier in 2015, as part of its judging protocol as a valueadded feedback mechanism for producers.
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Bubbles are the hallmark of all sparkling wines, and they play a significant role in the cachet that surrounds this category. Even the terms “bubbles,” “mousse,” and “Champagne” elicit a pleasurable response in expert and novice consumers alike.
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Fog over the Pelletti Vineyard in Laguna Hills, Russian River Valley.
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Of the more than 1,000 compounds that make up wine’s aromatic profile, desirable aromas are represented by a combination of 82 different volatile compounds, only some of which are detectable when present above threshold.
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If studying Chianti Classico has not made your list of New Year’s resolutions, the Consorzi Vini e Olio Classico has just handed you an incentive; a free, online training program – Mooc Chianti Classico.
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Morrow, who received MICHELIN’s California Sommelier Award in 2022, oversees the wine cellar at PRESS, which houses the largest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world and is focused on library wines. When adding a new bottling to the list, he looks for winemakers who have worked their way up at acclaimed producers and then started their own labels.
Read moreAI-generated podcast summarizes four recent articles With advances in artificial intelligence (AI) making huge strides, podcasters look to be on[…]
Read moreA group of professional palates recently gathered for dinner at Auro, the one-Michelin-starred restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley in Calistoga, California, for a tasting hosted by Clos de los Siete founder Michel Rolland and managing director Ramiro Barrios to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the estate, located in Argentina’s Uco Valley.
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A wine’s scent is one of the best indications of its quality. The hedonic effects of wine are influenced by hundreds of volatile aroma compounds, making it one of the most complex of food and
beverage products.
Interest in lower-acohol wines is growing among consumers putting producers like Jordan back in the limelight. “Our Bordeaux-style Cabernet and Burgundy-style Chardonnay wines . . . range between 12.6% and 13.8% [alcohol], compared to the California average of 14.5%,” says Jordan winemaker Maggie Kruse. “This represents far more than numbers; lower-alcohol wines have a more balanced flavor profile.”
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Elizabeth Spencer’s Sarah Vandendriessche guides the Napa Valley Vintners’ environmental stewardship committee.
Read moreVisit Sacramento and Slow Food International will host Terra Madre Americas, the American version of the internationally acclaimed Terra Madre Salone del Gusto[…]
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Biodiversity equals stability was the key message at Siclia’s second international SOStain symposium.
Read moreResearchers have identified compounds responsible for coconut and dried fruit aromas in red grape must and new wine.
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Our sense of smell is based on two delivery pathways, orthonasal and retronasal; that makes it the only “dual sense modality” we possess, one that provides information about things both external and internal to the body.
Read moreIron Age wineries tamed the ancestor of the indigenous Bobal vines of Utiel-Requena.
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There’s little doubt this disruptive reinvention of the beverage category will impact wine and beverage alcohol consumption for a host of reasons. Among them is alcohol moderation or abstinence by younger consumers whose lifestyles already include frequent consumption of functional products. While beer and spirits producers have already found purchase in the category through brand extensions and acquisitions, wine producers don’t seem in any hurry to participate.
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If you’re keeping tabs on wine quality in Southern Italy with its myriad indigenous grape varieties and oftentimes limited access to distribution, this update on the Sannio DOC should prove to be useful. Through a combination of research trips to Campania and the opportunity to judge the Radici del Sud “Roots of the South” wine competition which has been held in different venues in the town of Bari, Puglia since 2006, it provides a look at the key factors for the region and a snapshot of wine quality.
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Pyrazines—too much of a good thing and they’re a fault; absent in varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and they leave something[…]
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Minerality — Without question the most controversial and elusive of wine descriptors. This comes as no surprise given that the[…]
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There’s no question that glassware can alter our perceptions of wine. It’s a phenomenon experienced by every resourceful consumer who[…]
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A focus on sustainability
drives progress as Bronco
Wine Company hits a
1 billion bottle milestone.
Visits by two winemakers who work on either side of the Andes provided some perspective on the terroirs being targeted in Chile and Argentina for ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and cooler-climate varieties, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
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Wine is, for the most part, water and ethanol which in turn become vehicles for the minor components that are[…]
Read more. 40 years of dedication to a craft is a life’s work and a milestone that demands to be celebrated. That’s exactly how[…]
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The gentle, rolling terrain and southern shores of Italy’s Lake Garda are home to a unique indigenous white grape variety—Turbiana. Mistakenly referred to as Trebbiano di Lugana, the Turbiana grape is a relative of both Verdicchio and Trebbiano, but it’s genetically different from both, and the wines
produced from it differ as well.
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.
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If everyone on your winegrowing and winemaking teams shares a common language, there’s less risk involved when it comes to[…]
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A Cornell University study suggests that including sensory descriptors on tasting sheets can reduce sales in the tasting room. Contrary[…]
Read moreStory and photos by Deborah Parker Wong
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For wine, as with most consumer goods, packaging is an obsession, and rightly so; its role in the commercial success[…]
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Consumer acceptance of wine packaging other than glass is growing, but fine glassware remains the undisputed tool of choice for[…]
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Many Anderson Valley Pinot Noir producers time the commercial release of their wines around the annual Pinot Noir Festival and[…]
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We’re kicking up the dust once again with the 2010 vintage presented by the Rutherford Dust Society at a blind[…]
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It’s alive! Unlike its Left Bank counterpart, the Saint Émilion classification is indeed a living thing. The promotion of 17[…]
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Early responses to the California Farm Bureau Federation’s 2013 agricultural workforce survey point to labor shortages in excess of 30%[…]
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A virtual tidal wave of data is fueling the race toward accurately predicting consumer preferences and buying behavior. With intelligent[…]
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On the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, a cold, dry Zonda or rain shadow wind swept down[…]
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Dirt. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the influence of terroir and its contribution[…]
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Wine quality has been on the rise in Lake County and winegrowers there have their sights set determinedly on the[…]
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Visually, Burgundy isn’t a particularly mysterious place; the low-growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines hunker over the earth in their[…]
Read moreIf you’re a regular at the annual Family Winemakers of California tasting being held on September 9th from 3:00 to[…]
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