All Blog Posts (9)

The following video has essential info for any wine connoisseur.

Climate and Weather



We look at climate and weather in terms of wind, rain, sun, fog, and humidity, but climate and weather are two different things. Climate is the characteristic weather conditions of a region considered over a long time frame. We're talking decades! Weather is what happens from day to day or over a single vintage. Mark Twain explained it very well, "Climate is what we expect; weather is what we get.”

We can look at climate and weather at… Continue

Soil. Huh, what is it good for?



As winegrowers we try to produce the best wine possible. We want vines that don’t grow excessive foliage. We want vines that produce limited amounts of flavorful fruit. We want vines where the crop and the foliage are in balance. Soil has much to do with getting us there, though some soils are better suited to do this than others.



Soil does several things for the grape vine.

1) Soil supplies water and oxygen to the… Continue

Spell check doesn’t recognize terroir. If I let it, it would substitute the words terror or terrier. French spell check, on the contrary, is happy since terroir is the word for soil. Like spell check, there are people who don’t believe terroir exists in wine. They see it as a figment of the wine seller’s imagination. “No wine drinker, no matter how knowledgeable, can taste and recognize the flavor a vineyard’s soil in its wine,” the skeptic will say. Some will liken it to voodoo… Continue

A couple nights ago it was my birthday and Valli took me to my favorite table in the Napa Valley. I’ve had meals there for three decades, though in different restaurant incarnations. The table is under a fig tree, next to a wood fired oven outside the door of Cindy’s Backstreet restaurant. We both decided to start things off with a glass of sherry and I picked a Manzanilla Fina. The distinct sea salty taste of Manzanilla brought back a memory, which I shared with… Continue

Treading Trodden Trails



Each year the Spring Mountain District hosts a four day “boot camp” for important members of the wine trade who come to the mountain and participate in the harvest. We call it Touch the Terroir because it is a rare opportunity for a few individuals to see what makes Spring Mountain unique from a vantage point that is “up-close and personal.” Soon we will again be talking about terroir and Spring Mountain, so I though it would be worthwhile to go over… Continue

Blackberries are ripe and ready to pick on Spring Mountain.



Wild blackberries like the ones that grow in the canyons, forest edges, and riparian area of Spring Mountain resemble the grapes from the appellation. They are small, naturally sweet and tart, high in pectin, black as ink, and intensely flavored. I pick them along York Creek where they grow thick and tangled with other riparian foliage amid aromas of bay, wild anise, and spice bush.



Wild berries are a… Continue

The other day I had a conversation with a prominent wine writer, columnist, and author. His views are always thought provoking and this conversation was no exception. It was about the future of his profession; a future about which he confessed serious doubts. I assured him that it was just a matter of changing technology. Sure, there was the demise of the newspaper and the magazine, but wasn’t it just a matter of adapting to new technology and broadcasting in a new medium? He… Continue

Above the Napa Valley, the Spring Mountain District is a place of individuals; more often than not, of couples, of families, of stubborn, independent people with passion, dreams and a whole lot of energy. Spring Mountain, officially established as an AVA (American Viticulture Area) in 1993, was described 25 years ago by a prominent wine writer as “probably more responsible than… Continue