 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
Grapes that will suit you to a T: "T-Budding",
or grafting to change varietal type at the
Los Amigos Ranch.
Not grapes yet: grape flowers before bloom. They will only flower for a few days, then a grape will take the place of each tiny bloom, forming a cluster.
Columns to Savor
Michael De Loach
Are Any Wine Books Worth Reading?, Of Points, Pundits and Profiteers, and What Wine Beginners Really Want to Know, But "Experts" Never Tell You.
Wine Experts?, Wines for Spring, and Wine
Hunting 104
More Wine Myth Busting, To Cork or Not to Cork, and Romatic Wines for Valentines
New Stuff for the New Year, and Shut Up and Drink
Champagne and Sparkling Wine, Starbucks—The REAL Reason Americans Have Switched to Wine, The Annual Holiday Wine Gift Hot List
Sweet Relief, Another Wine Myth Bites the Dust, and The Basic Types of Wine Shoppers
Reading Wine Labels, The Real Meaning of "Sideways", Picnic Essentials for Harvest
The Truth about Sulfites and Headaches,
The Mystery of the Disappearing Sommelier,
and Wine Cocktails
Proliferation of Brands, Picking for a Party, Pink Prejudice, and Follow your Bliss
The Home Wine Tasting Myth, and Why Most Wine Rating Systems are Basically Worthless
Wine Tasting Season Survival, Standards, Darlings and Trendy Wines, and A Quick Planning Guide to Visiting the Wine Country
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Wine Expert
Michael De Loach
What’s the Newest in
“Green” Wine Designations?
Just Think SNOB
Okay, okay. I know what you’re thinking: here goes De Loach on another anti-establishment diatribe. Well, you’d probably be right most of the time, but not now. SNOB is merely an easy acronym to remember the four major “green” wine designations: Sustainable, Natural, Organic, and Biodynamic. In the next few paragraphs, I will define each of these terms (as clearly as they can be defined at this moment), and attempt to spell out what they might mean to you. |
| |
|
|
| |
Wine Consumption is
Up in the US:
Are Marketers to
Be Congratulated
or Blamed?
Wine marketers would like to take full credit for the three-fold rise in US wine consumption over the last two decades. Up from about a gallon per adult per year to just over three, today’s rate sets new records. There are now 2,000 wineries in California, where there used to be only 200, and wine is made in all 50 states now—all good progress. But when we compare this to Europe’s epic winemaking tradition and average annual consumption of 10 gallons per person, current US stats seem far less impressive. In fact, it’s my view that US wine marketers haven’t just done a bad job of drawing consumers in; they’re actually driving them away.
|
| |
|
|
| |
Wines for Summer
The hot weather is here and it’s time for cool, refreshing beverages, wine included. Wine sales typically plummet during the months of June, July and August because most folks stop drinking red wine altogether and start pounding more beer out-of-doors (wine bottles don’t make for utmost portability). Let’s see if we can break the mold this year! I will be recommending general categories of white wines, a couple of reds and some new packaging ideas to free you from the six-pack doldrums when imbibing on the go.
|
| |
|
|
| |
Created for
Barbara Adams Beyond Wonerful by
Wine Expert, Michael De Loach.
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
New from old: tender new shoots grow from last year's hardened pruned canes. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Vines for the long haul: sustainably grown Sangiovese grapes at Hook & Ladder's Los Amigos Ranch, Healdsburg, California.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Tanks for the memories: modern open-top fermenting tanks used for ultra-premium red production stand next to old-world hand-made Burgundy barrels at
Hook & Ladder Winery. |
|
|
