In some ways, it’s almost embarrassing to praise my favorite wineries. I often feel as though I might be coming across as some sort of Napa Valley rah-rah, writing in unbridled hyperbole, as if for one of those degenerate Yelp reviews. For me, Yelp is the absolute lowest of the low. In fact, I resent [...]

With the harvest of 2009 quickly winding down, I’ve made this winter my time to catch up with a few winemakers. Among the folks I most wanted to meet, Matt Taylor certainly topped my list, not only as the winemaker for the cult-favorite Araujo Estate, but also as a BioDynamic vineyard manager and the proprietor [...]

You can say what you want about Napa. I happen to live there. But for me, Mendocino County is Northern California’s true paradise. I spent the better part of the day in the Anderson Valley today, driving past dozens of miles of vineyards that have all slipped into fall colors. All of Mendocino County looked [...]

As the former employee of a BioDynamic winery, I’ve had dozens of opportunities to promote the theories of BioDynamic farming. Unfortunately, the vagaries of BioDynamics are founded upon some very challenging ideas. For this reason, and despite my rhetoric on the subject, I feel that the BioDynamic movement remains largely misunderstood. At worst, BioDynamics is [...]

I went on a bit of a Cabernet bender today, my first in a while. Typically, I get a pretty decent dose of Cabernet Sauvignon just by working at a Napa Valley winery. Cabernet is the currency here, and the juice is ubiquitous. Since this varietal dominates my nine-to-five schedule, I’m usually motivated to seek [...]

“Real Wine” by Patrick Matthews details how various winemakers have returned (or held steadfast) to traditional approaches in an era when many corporate interests have driven down the bottom line with pesticides, chemical additives and increased mechanization. Matthews analyzes the steps to natural winemaking in nine chronological chapters, beginning with site selection, touching upon subsequent [...]