Looking Forward To, and Back On, the Last Decade of Napa Cabernet
There are few types of wine writing I tend to ignore so completely as I do vintage reports. The generally pithy paragraphs that attempt to sum up a vintage in Sonoma, for instance, are about as useful as a few sentences dedicated to an attempt at chara...
Vinography Images: Mendoza Sunset
Mendoza Sunset
We had a sunset just like this tonight in San Francisco. OK, maybe without the Andes. But just as impressive. Of course, I wish that I had been in Mendoza, instead, where Matt took this picture. I've been thinking about Argentina all ...
Winemakers Howling at the Moon, and Other Follies
The esteemed Mr. Jay McInerney recently penned a blog post in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Fine Wine by Moonlight? Not So Much..." in which he related a recent occasion where all the bottles of fine wine he opened at dinner showed poorly, or at le...
Pinot Days Tasting 2010: November 11-13, Chicago
While those of us on the West Coast are still lingering in the illusion of Autumn, the chill has descended upon the shores of Lake Michigan, and Chicagoans must be sure they're drinking red wine, both to warm themselves, and to steel themselves psychol...
Book Review: Matt Kramer on Wine by Matt Kramer
Review by Tim Patterson.
In contrast to his string of useful and successful Making Sense volumes -- Making Sense of Wine, of Burgundy, of California Wine, etc. -- Matt Kramer On Wine is a collection of short articles, written over the years for Wine ...
Vinography Images: The Coming Storm
The Coming Storm
This image of a post-harvest vineyard in the face of a coming storm in Chile's Colchagua valley seemed in keeping with the waves of rain that are rolling off the Pacific here in California, making for a tricky dance for most vintners...
San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival: November 17-21, San Diego
I'm pretty sure at one point I've joked with someone that "San Diego is a pretty nice town, it's just a little too far from wine country." It's hard not to love San Diego's climate and atmosphere, but historically, it hasn't exactly been high on any ...
The Best Wines of the Year?: Taste Testing the Wine & Spirits Top 100
The difference between a good public wine tasting and a bad one can be quite dramatic. The bad ones are in crappy locations, are poorly organized, offer no food, and only mediocre wines. The good ones are, well, just the opposite -- nicely organized, w...
Vinography Images: Pruning Leaves
Pruning Leaves
Harvest involves a flurry of activity in the vineyard in preparation for the crews that move through in darkness to begin removing fruit. This image shows workers in Chile's Maule Valley removing leaves from the vines just before harv...
2007 Freestone Vineyards "Ovation" Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast
Most people aren't aware that I grew up, at least partially, in Sonoma County. My parents split up pretty early on, and I moved with my mother to Colorado. But starting at the age of five, I would come out to visit my dad during the summer in the litt...
There’s Good Wine Problems. And Bad Ones.
I'm sure most of us would love to be in the position of the Japanese government, who recently discovered that they had too much expensive wine on their hands.
Apparently entertaining with wine is serious business if you're a Japanese diplomat. At lea...
San Francisco Fall Vintners Market: November 20-21, San Francisco
Sometimes you hear an idea and wonder to yourself, exactly why it's taken someone so long to come up with it. And the really good ones make you think, "now why didn't I come up with that?"
That's exactly what I thought to myself when I first heard ab...
