Winery

Producer: Foris Vineyards Winery Wine: Pinot Noir, Rogue Valley 2005 Vintage: 2005 Country: USA Appellation: Rogue Valley Wine Type: Red Varietal: Pinot Noir Grade: B+ Designation: Excellent Value Price: $15 Purchase: FinestWine.com The Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon doesn’t get the attention that the Willamette Valley garners. But spotlights and hype don’t necessarily help make wine. The Rog

Tuesday Tasting is a regular feature of Lyke2Drink that explores some of the best beers, wines and spirits on the market. This week we taste some wine along the northern border of New York state.No one will ever confuse Jefferson County, N.Y., with Bordeaux, France. The temperatures often dip well below zero during the winter months. The growing season is short. Dairy farms greatly out number vine

Small Califonria winery Jepson Winery north of Hopland in Mendocino County is back on the market. The Press-Deomocrat reports that the listing comes less than three years after the winery was acquired by an investment group that planned to create high-end estates on the 1,200-acre property. Facing a softening real estate market and tough building restrictions, the investment group opted to sell r

Ben Riggs is the winemaker at Australia’s acclaimed Penny’s Hill in the McLaren Vale. He works double duty producing the The Black Chook for Woop Woop Wines, sourcing Shiraz and Viognier from Langhorne Creek and the McClaren Vale to produce this gritty outback Shiraz cleverly balanced with Viognier to add stone fruit perfumes and velvet [...]

A Staple Icon At Geneva On The Lake This classic fire truck has been at Geneva On The Lake since the early 1960’s. I used to play on it when we came to Geneva as a young lad. I used to climb on the back, hang onto the sides with my feet on the running boards, [...]

Vintage 2006 Type White - Sweet/Dessert Producer Pacific Rim Winemakers Variety Riesling Designation Vin de Glacière Vineyard n/a Country USA Region Washington SubRegion n/a Appellation Washington Purchase FinestWine.com Tasting Notes: Tasted by the drops of god on 5/27/2008 & rated 86 points: good wine but nothing special bit too sweet I put two ice cube and drank it

The word that Ivy League Cornell University plans to have a student winery up and running in the fall almost makes me want to head back to school.Cornell University says the 2,400 square foot winery on the Ithaca campus will teach students each step in the winemaking process, from selecting grapes to bottling. The school currently has 40 students majoring in oenology and viticulture.Cornell says t

San Antonio Winery is the only producing winery in Los Angeles. At one time more than 90 wineries thrived amid the hundreds of acres of vineyards in what is now downtown Los Angeles. Most were shuttered by Prohibition, but San Antonio acquired an exclusion to provide sacramental wines for Catholic masses, a tradition it carries on today. The winery remains in its original location on Lamar Street

Just when you think you may have tried every beer style comes word that a Finger Lakes brewery and winery are getting together to make a brew using riesling grapes.Three Brothers Winery, located just south of Geneva, N.Y., has contracted with Custom BrewCrafters in Honeoye Falls to make five beers under the Barley Yards Brewing label. Contract brewing is not unique and at least one Finger Lakes wi

“The food here is so tasteless you could eat a meal of it and belch and it wouldn't remind you of anything.” Redd Foxx (American Comedian best known for his starring role on the television situation comedy Sanford and Son. 1922-1991) What is it about dining in picturesque places? Why do the meals in rustic venues invariably not triumph over the surrounds? In the Melbourne pantheon of

Peasley: Couple ‘fulfilling a dream’ by working to establish winery - Northwest HeraldJeff Pankow rounded up 50 family members and friends last weekend to help with his first major step toward realizing a dream. When they gathered on his 30-acre Vanderkarr Road farm north of Woodstock to plant 750 vines, it was the start of [...]

UB is the latest entrant here, but it is well prepared with a winery at Baramati and another one being set up at Nashik.Click here for the entire news itemsThis post is sponsored India Dictionary . If you wish to sponsor posts or place advertisements on this blog please visit this post

UB is the latest entrant here, but it is well prepared with a winery at Baramati and another one being set up at Nashik. Click here for the entire news items This post is sponsored India Dictionary . If you wish to sponsor posts or place advertisements on this blog please visit this post

Last Thursday night at the Wine 2.0 Spring Fling at Crushpad in San Francisco (photos here), I chanced to meet Linzi Gay, Marketing Director of Clif Bar Family Winery. I was glad to meet her and get an advance taste of the Clif Bar wines she was about to pour. After all, I had just [...]

Fantesca Estate & Winery is rich with history, having originally been in the dowry of Caroline Bale when she married Charles Krug in 1860. Even then, the property was recognized as prime mountain vineyard land and the perfect place for a Spring Mountain winery. In 1889, a Cabernet made by Hannah Weinberger, one of the [...]

Producer: Lurgashall Winery Wine: Christmas Mead Country: United Kingdom Wine: Mead Grade: B Dating back some 8,000 years, mead is argued to be the oldest alcoholic beverage known to man. A substance made from the fermentation of honey, it spans the legends of history claiming to be everything from the favorite drink of the Norse Gods to the wine referred [...]

“The Fantesca story is as much a history of our experiences, our property and the people who have produced our wine as it is a story of the alluring and fun-loving Fantesca character that personifies it,” say Susan and Duane Hoff. If you love Napa Valley wines but haven’t followed the history of winemaking in Napa [...]

Just a short drive, 45 miles from downtown Atlanta, nestled in the north Georgia foothills, there is a fantastic place called Chateau Elan Winery & Resort. This beautiful resort sits on 3,500 acres of the most beautiful land in Georgia. The Inn itself resembles the beautiful chateaus one sees in the French countryside. All the details were captured in the authentic architecture of the 275 room inn. There is also an 1,832 square foot presidential suite; though I never got to see it! The beautiful resort features eight restaurants to choose from with menu options ranging from All-American to French cuisine. The 1,600 square foot Culinary Studio even offers cooking classes; you don't even have to be a guest at the Inn to take these classes! In addition to the fine and casual dinning options a

Wineries in the East Bay, you ask? But of course! And more than you probably think. Of course, there’s Rosenblum Cellars, JC Cellars and Dashe Cellars. And maybe you’ve heard of Lost Canyon Winery as well. However, it doesn’t stop there. Throughout Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville, there are over [...]

South Coast Winery Resort and Spa is located in in the heart of Southern California's wine county. As Temecula Wine Country's only four star resort destination, you will find the best of everything. With close proximity to Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, South Coast Winery Resort & Spa is worlds away from the everyday and the perfect get-away for the day, the weekend or an entire vacation. Located about an hour drive from San Diego or two hours from Los Angeles. Wine tasting room open 10 am to 6 pm daily. South Coast Winery Resort and Spa 34843 Rancho California Road Temecula, CA 92591 View Larger Map

I haven’t been writing much on the winery as of late, so I thought I’d provide a quick update. The Use Permit process is running its course, which is what you must get out of the way before you can even get a construction permit. We’re currently hiring all sorts of consultants to provide the county [...]

Spending the weekend in Santa Barbara I decided to go to the Alma Rosa wine tasting at East Beach Wine Company last night. Stepping into the shop the place was packed and it took a minute before we reached the counter and could pay for two tastings and get our glasses. To our delight the owners, Thekla and Richard Sanford was there themselves, with their daughter Blakeney, to pour and talk to the customers. Nothing beats the opportunity to talk to either the owners or wine maker as you taste a winery's wine. Both Thekla and Richard where very nice and pleasant, and spent quite a bit of time with us. It was a true pleasure to talk to them, and you could tell how passionate and excited they are about their wines.A short bio: Richard Sanford was the first to plant Pinot Noir in Santa Rita Hil

Another half bottle from my local grocery store that I had to try... The 375 ml bottles are convenient and perfect when you just want a glass of wine and don't want to pop open a whole, 750 ml, bottle.The Amador Foothill Winery 2005 Shenandoah Valley Sauvignon Blanc is made from 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon.It has a golden, light, straw color in the glass, and the nose shows prominently apple, but also citrus and green pear.The wine has a round mouth feel with apple, citrus, slight spice, and touch of minerals. The finish is long and carries good acidity.The very round mouth feel made this wine feel slightly to rich for my preference, considering it is a Sauvignon Blanc. I prefer a more lighter and crisper style. However if this is not the case for you I would deem this to be a goo

Last night we opened a bottle with dinner that I had very high expectations of. I have had several vintages of the Pisoni Vineyards and Winery Estate Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir before, and they have always been great. I assumed and hoped that the 2004 wouldn't let me down either.The color in the glass is a vivid deep garnet. The nose exudes black cherry, dark raspberry, notes of blackberry, sweet violet, and a touch of tobacco (?).On the palate big, broad fruit and berries with ripe cherry, dark raspberry, vanilla, an earthy touch, and slight tart fruit at the finish. The acidity is plentiful and the tannins integrated with a young edge to them. This wine has a great backbone and complexity, and I wish I had another bottle to open up in a year or two to see how it develops.As you und

Some vineyards use the leftover skins, seeds and stems from wine grapes to make grappa. At Inniskillin the plan is to use these winemaking leftovers to create renewable energy. Inniskillin, Canada's largest winery, is working with StormFisher Biogas to take grape pomace that would have been sent to a landfills and use it power homes along the Niagara peninsula. StormFisher's system captures methane gas produced by the decomposing waste and the gas is burned to generate electricity.

Stag's Leap Winery is located in the heart of Stags' Leap District, Napa Valley, on a 240 acre estate. Founded in 1893 it has a rich history. Read more about it at the winery's web site.The grapes for Stags' Leap 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was handpicked and fermented in small lots in a combination of open and closed top frementers. During frementation it received frequent punch downs. Thereafter it was aged in 50% new and 50% used French oak for 24 months. 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Merlot was added for structure and depth.In the glass this wine has a dark, dense ruby color.The nose is heavy and earthy with dark plum, cherry, and coffee. Notes of cloves and vanilla enters at the end.The palate displays dusty fruit of plum, dark cherry, and black currant, with earth, spice and a hint of coffee. The tannins are course and firm in moderate amount, and the acidity plentiful.This wine showed the heavy and earthy qualities Cabernet Sauvignon can display. We enjoyed it although I

At Shafer Vineyards, it takes a team to make one of Napa Valley's top Cabs. The team, which balances hard work with fun and learning, includes CEO John Shafer, president Doug Shafer (his son) and winemaker Elias Fernandez.

This meritage consists of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Cabernet Franc, and 18% Merlot. Each lot was aged separately in French oak for 30 months, then blended and bottled unfined.The color in the glass is a very dark, clear, ruby red, whispering of intense fruit. Dark floral and tons of black liquorice greets you on the nose with black tea, blackberry and black currant. On the palate, more blackberry, black currant, cherry, oak, and semi firm, well integrated tannins that balances out the intense fruit well. I thought this was a great full bodied blend that is big and intense but still well balanced and never goes out of hand on the fruit. Will age well for many years to come. I got it in a wine club shipment a while back at the cost of $65. You can find it at the wineries website at that price, or at Wine-Searcher.com from $39.99.Vote for my blog here and help me stay in top 10 on The Blog Top! No longer any need to help me stay in top 10. I need your help to reach top 10 again! Been bu

I've been a terribly negligent blogger this summer, a reflection of the busy and successful summer. But it is now time to do more sharing.Last weekend some old friends, Bill and Claudia Hanna, honored us by celebrating their 40th anniversary at the Whitegate. Bill is the great grandson of the famous naturalist John Muir and they own a winery aptly named Muir Hanna Winery.Bill treated us to a tasting of their wonderful wines. The current releases include a Pinot, Chardonnay, Merlot, a surprising fresh blush and Legacy, a mostly Cab. blend which is incredibly complex and elegant and a gold metal winner. They are a small production facility but if anyone is interested in finding more about the wines check out their web site or contact me. www.muir-hanna.com.

Congrats to Mary Baker at Dover Canyon on a great write-up in BusinessWeek. Mary is, hands down, the best winery writer out there. Her posts are detailed, authentic and beautifully written. In other words she has real talent. Like her other readers I just wish she had more time to write. As far as the article goes, it seems the print media have finally gotten themselves a pretty good understanding of blogging and its benefits. The quote in the article by Debbie Weil is exactly on the money (see below). Nobody does care about our “widgets” - that is unless we make our widgets their widgets - and blogs can help winery writers do just that. The link is here, and the portion of the article dealing with Mary and her blog is reproduced below. Good times for all winery bloggers. In 10 years since starting the Dover Canyon Winery, Mary Baker and Dan Panico have learned to expect surprises. But last March, when Baker heard someone yelling from her driveway at 3:30 a.m., her heart p

I just got off the phone with a winery in Santa Ynez, CA. They are looking for an event coordinator. This would be someone who has hands on experience managing special events. Responsibilities would include coordinating weddings on the winery property and special winery events. Computer skills also required. If...

Here’s another winery blog for your list Mike! I met Morgan Twain-Peterson almost exactly a year ago at the OIV Wine Marketing course at Davis, just before my son was born. We hit it off immediately. We sat in the very back of the class and talked about the industry almost as much as we listened to the presentations. I remember Jim Lapsley (the program coordinator) making a comment that in his experience there was a direct relationship between the grades he gave students and how close they sat to the front. Burn! I also recall Jim (who’s a great guy BTW) looking at me like I was a complete mouth-breather when I told him I was there to learn about the “old way” to market wine. Jim hadn’t heard of The Cluetrain Manifesto and he quickly ended our conversation when I mentioned it and then excused himself. Looking back Jim probably thought I was a communist. But really, because the internets have done such a good job disseminating information, the real benefi

Morgan winery has opened up a tasting room in Carmel, California. Based in the Santa Lucia Highlands, Dan and Donna Lee's property is 65 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Their vines are farmed organically, all the grapes are hand picked to up hold the "quality not quantity" standards the couple strives for. Gianni Abate, the wine maker, comes to Morgan with an impressive background, Delicato, Woodbridge and a few years working for the Robert Mondavi Corporation in Napa Valley. A true Italian with a passion for great wine, Gianni is boasted to have an incredible palate. The tasting room in Carmel is huge, having only opened a month ago, issues like furniture, rugs and a bar are still being worked out. Wines are poured on a dining room table in the center of the room giving you a feeling of being in someone cavernous living room. It's almost cozy, but not quite there yet. The walls have been treated in warm neutrals, creamy yellow accent walls, and whimsical thirties e

As you may know from reading this blog, I do a lot of business with wineries. So today I am posting a case study from one of my clients so you can all see how I am able to assist wineries and any other business that takes credit cards for...

By Gregg Hall More and more wineries around the country are offering tours of their facilities and tastings of their products. These tastings are fun for novices and experts alike. You don’t have to travel to Europe to experience world class wine and wine-making facilities. Vintners throughout the United States are producing wines which can compete with any wine from anywhere in the world. The most widely-acclaimed and successful wine-making region in the United States is California’s Napa Valley. The Napa Valley is just 30 miles long, only a few miles wide, and nestled in Northern California. A number of world famous wineries are located in this region. One such winery which will appeal to race fans and wine fans alike, is the Andretti Winery in Napa, CA. The Andretti Winery was founded by legendary Indianapolis 500 champ, Mario Andretti. Perhaps the most famous and most successful Napa winery is the Robert Mondavi Winery located in Oakville, CA. Mondavi offers tours yea

So, as promised, here are the results of a survey of 8 wineries and their sanitation levels presented by Dr. Worobo at a seminar last week. (Click picture to enlarge) The main takeaway is that no winery is perfect. Floors and drains are the most likely places to find bugs. Bung holes also tend to be pretty filthy, which I guess is to be expected. Still it’s an area that goes overlooked in a bunch of wineries and looks to be a pretty easily removed vector for spoilage orgs. I’ll definitely make sure bung hole cleaning is SOP at Capozzi. Every winery’s bottling line was impeccable, as were their stainless steel tanks after a good cleaning. Hooray! Checking Sanitation The best way to check the cleanliness of your stuff is to do a quick measurement using a pricey but oh-so-convenient luminometer. I uploaded a video of Randy giving a demonstration on one of Rodney Strong’s tanks that had just been cleaned. (I apologize that you’ll have to crane your head to vi

I always thought that the best way to cut down my alcohol bill, without reducing my intake, was to make it myself. From homemade Sloe Gin to beer, it does work, although you get fat really, really quickly. So, when I heard about a home winery kit, I thought: “Cool, finally a way to reduce my crippling monthly investment in Lindemans and Yellow Tail”. The inevitable snag though, is that the Oenophile's Personal Winery costs £3,000. Still, it’s a nice gadget to dream about. This is a home winery, capable of making up to four cases of your own plonk inside the futuristic steel chamber. We’re talking cold soaking, pressing, and fermenting the grapes, and aging the wine for 6 to 12 months [or less depending on your taste buds and addiction]. You can even follow just how your wine is coming along on your computer. Find out more here.-Martin Lynch wine technology food home

Yesterday I drove down the road to attend a 2 hour winery sanitation seminar put on at Rodney Strong winery by Vinquiry. It was pretty informative and I thought I’d share the main takeaways here for anyone interested in keeping their cellar a bit more clean. And just so I don’t keep you in suspense, the answer is that your bung holes are filthy. Just filthy. And to save any uninterested wine consumers from having to read this whole thing to get any value, here’s the take away for you: it really does matter if the winery you are visiting or buying wine from is clean or not. They don’t scrub-a-dub just to show off to tour groups. If you visit a winery with less than stellar sanitary conditions, you can be assured that you’ll most likely find the foul stench of Brett lurking in their wines at some point. The seminar started with a presentation of some research on Brett by Neil Brown, a researcher working at Vinquiry. He went over the results of some tests h

This Chardonnay from Byron was aged 10 months in 25% new and 75%older French oak. 93% of the grapes are from Nielson Vineyard and 7% from Sierra Madre, vines being between 29-39 years old. The growing season here is one of the longest in California.The color in the glass is a golden, medium yellow, straw. Sticking my nose in the glass citrus, ripe Golden Delicious apple, tropical fruit, and white floral meets me with oak notes. Tasting, it shows a pretty heavy texture with, again, the citrus, tropical fruit, and oak. Medium acidity and medium length finish. This is a slightly more heavy white then I expected and I suspect it might be due to it being past prime. I have had the Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay from Byron several times in the past of different vintages and it never seemed this heavy to me. It has always been more refreshing with great acidity and more light fruit. I suspect that was what the 2003 had to offer a year or more ago...I do not recommend buying the 2003 vintage, a

Lyke2Drink is in danger of turning into People magazine or E! Entertainment Television, thanks to all of the celebrities who have recently decided to get into the drinks business.The latest addition to the group is country music star Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn fame. This past weekend Arrington Vineyards opened in Tennessee. Brooks is a partner with Fred Mindermann and Kip Summers in the vineyard. Arrington is Williamson County’s first commercial winery. Eleven different wines available for tasting and purchase at the winery. So far, the winery is the only place you can purchase the Arrington label.

It seems like the wine architecture is the new IT. The winery building can be central to the quality of the wine produced as well as the winemaker’s marketing image. The Faustino Group, a family-run company in its fourth generation, decided to take the step and ask Foster + Partners to design the new Faustino Winery II. (more…)

This weekend we have been fortunate to have some wonderful guests. Mary Ann Sabastiani Cuneo has chosen to spend her special birthday at our properties. She brought her immediate family and some dear friends and spent the weekend with us. It's been a delight to host such friendly and easy going people and we hope this is the beginning of a long relationship. The bonus of course is the opportunity to partake of some wonderful wines.

Last year comedic actor Dan Aykroyd announced his name would appear on some selected bottles of Ontario ice wine. Now the former Saturday Night Live and Blues Brother star is going beyond the label and into the winery business.Aykroyd, 54, is a partner with Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits of Toronto in building the Dan Aykroyd Winery in Lincoln. The $11.2 million winery will include a 125-seat restaurant and a tasting room.Aykroyd movie memorabilia will be displayed at the winery. Aykroyd invested $1 million in Diamond Estates in 2005, the company that is also turning out his wine line.Diamond Estate estimates the winery could attract 40,000 visitors annually. The Grape Growers of Ontario said the news about Aykroyd's winery is already helping to get additional attention for Ontario wines. The winery is expected to open in 2008.

     Ontario native Actor Dan Aykroyd opened a new $12-million dollar winery is his name.The huge facility,is located near the town of Lincoln, Ont. "This is really a dream," Aykroyd said during a news conference Wednesday. Aykroyd is a wicked ass actor from Canadian and famous for his roles in "Ghostbusters", "My Girl" and "Blues Brothers"Yummmmm I want some wine! emm I could totally sip on some right now... CrispAds Blog Ads

The grapes for this wine comes from Lafond Vineyard and Arita Hills Vineyard, located in Santa Rita Hills. It was aged in French and Hungarian oak, 18% new oak. The dark ruby red color with a hint of purple, has a touch of cloudiness in the glass. It expresses a meaty, toasty nose with red cherry and raspberry. On the palate the red cherry returns with black raspberry, cranberry, and a hint of oak. This wine is a little bit thin on the palate, and is made in a slightly elegant style, with decent acidity and medium firm tannins. The finish is medium long with fruit and berries, and the lingering impact of the tannins.Considering the price this is a pretty ok bottle, but nothing outstanding. I paid $19 at sale at my local grocery store. You can find it at Wine-Searcher.com from $15.99, and the winery sells it at its web site for $22. Worth a try but do not expect anything extra ordinary.Vote for my blog here and help me reach top 10 on The Blog TopI am now in top 11!

California is still the undisputed king of the American wine world, but Washington State hit a milestone recently when Sweet Valley Wines in Walla Walla registered as the 500th licensed commercial winery in the state. Here's a run down of the top United States when it comes to the number of wineries:1. California -- 2,2752. Washington -- 5003. Oregon -- 3034. New York -- 210

The Summerland Winery 2006 Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc has a very pale, brilliant, straw color in the glass. Stick your nose in the glass and discover tropical fruit, white peach and citrus. On the palate a milder citrus with sweet pear and the tropical fruit again. The finish is clean and fresh with uplifting, crisp acidity. A not to shabby Sauvignon Blanc.I got this at BevMo's 5 cent sale, which means that you buy one bottle for full price and get the second for 5 cents. So, I basically got this bottle for $ 8 ($15.99/bottle when not on sale). I say that is a very attractive price for a decent bottle. This would be a great crowd pleaser for that big summer BBQ, when you want to serve something good that won't brake the bank.Find it online at Wine-Searcher.com from $12.60.Vote for my blog here and help me reach top 10 on The Blog TopI am now in top 12!

No history on the winery to be found on the Summerland Winery web site. However it tells me that the majority of the grapes for this wine comes from Bien Nacido Vineyard, and the rest from nearby vineyards in Santa Maria Valley.The 2005 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir has good clarity with a ruby red color in the glass. On the nose, oaky black cherry with almond and vanilla notes. It also suggests a high level of alcohol. You know the feeling in your nostrils that kind of detects the alcohol. The funny thing is that when I look at the bottle its "only" 14.1%, while many Pinots can be up towards 15% or more. But the impression is never the less there... The palate has not quite ripe dark cherries, plum, and the oak. Good levels of acidity and pungent, but still round, tannins.Hmmm... This is a tricky one. It's good, by slightly over oaked? In any case a pretty descent Pinot for the price. You'll be the judge.I found this wine at BevMo for $ 17.99. The winery sells this wine at it's w

We went down to Santa Barbara for relaxation and wine tasting last weekend with friends. Saturday, we visited four wineries, one of them being Sanford Winery.Sanford Winery and Vineyard was founded in 1971 when the first Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County was planted at Sanford and Benedict vineyard, Santa Rita Hills. In 1976 the first wine was released to the public and received great reviews.A lot of things have changed over the years, and the winery now makes Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and produces over 40,000 cases per year. The current winery facility is a huge handmade adobe construction, located at La Rinconada Vineyard, containing state of the art wine making equipment. Since 2005 the Terlato Family has the majority of ownership interest (they also own, among other wineries, Alderbrook, Chimney Rock and Rutherford Hill + other wineries around the world). Winemaker Steve Ferrell joined Sanford in 2006 after working at Trefethen Vineyards and Voss V

After a little over 5 months of development, our Second Life Winery is getting pretty close to being finished. As you can see in the photo above, the entry area (the covered building on the right) and the first three winemaking stages are complete. At each stage you’ll procees grapes that you’ve harvested from the vineyard. The goal will be to manage tannins, acid, alcohol and fruitiness so that you create a balanced wine that will receive a 90-plus point “Farker” score. It should be a fun and a pretty cool way to learn a bit about winemaking. Stage 4 is the actual cellar and bottling area. You’ll need to work through each area to finish your wine and receive your Farker score. There is still some texturing that needs to be completed on the barrels, tanks and the bottling line, but we’re getting close. Next up will be the virtual tasting room. For more pics check out SimVineyard.com.

In a closed and largely privately held industry like Wine it can be hard to find solid financial numbers to judge your performance against. One of the very best sources of information on the profit picture for northern CA wineries comes from Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division. SVB has been lending to Sonoma and Napa Valley Wineries since 1994 and has amassed a tremendous amount of financial data in the process. One of the very cool things they do for clients is to break out average industry numbers specifically for your size and niche, so that you can evaluate your projections or performace against that of your peers. In a recent presentation at Sonoma State’s Wine Entrepreneurship seminar, a representative from SVP shared some aggregate data with the class. Behold: Winery Financials By Size (2005 data) Winery Size <3K 3K-10K 20-50K 50-120K Revenue $640,000 $1,805,000 $5,854,000 $12,003,000 Cases Sold 1,993 6,123 31,046 80,126 Avg $/Case $321 $29

I’m proud to report that Pinotblogger took away the Best Winery Blog award in the first American Wine Blog Awards over at Tom Wark’s Fermentation. Thanks to all my friends, family, readers and industry friends for Voting for Pedro. Good times indeed. Here are the other winners, I suggest you check them out as they are all worthy of being a daily read and warrant an RSS subscription if you’re into that kind of thing. 2007 American Wine Blog Awards Winners BEST SINGLE SUBJECT BLOG: The Wine Collector Blog BEST WINE PODCAST OR VIDEOBLOG Wine Library TV BEST WINE BLOG GRAPHICS The Good Grape BEST WINE REVIEWING BLOG Vinography BEST WRITING ON A WINE BLOG Dr. Vino’s Wine Blog BEST WINE BLOG Dr. Vino’s Wine Blog And a special shout out to The Grape Nuts for their very kind write up. Thanks for your continued support guys!

My job provided an unexpected perk last night. What started out as a passing whim in conversation a couple of months ago actually and thankfully came to fruition. And we owe it all to a ghost… With several loyal readers (ok, so maybe they’re also good friends), I spent the night in the Hill House at Thomas Fogarty Winery. At the end of my tasting room workday, I was met by a co-worker/friend and the teacher. We carted our supplies over to the events area, and I got to it at once in the kitchen I’ve had my mind set to cook in. While the spaghetti sauce simmered on the stove, we sipped on 2000 TF Blanc de Blancs and planned, waiting for the others. The story goes that there is a ghost who haunts the events area. I knew of the man who died during a wedding reception (heart attack, I believe), but Dr. Fogarty also told us about a bootlegger who used to live in a little shack up on the mountain and make his whiskey back in the day. Tales abound about the sounds of doo

This is obviously a self congratulatory note so I’ll keep it (mercifully) brief. Pinotblogger has been nominated for Best Winery blog over at Tom Wark’s Fermentation. This is one of those situations where getting nominated really is almost as good as winning. I’m especially thrilled after looking at the judges panel: Judd Wallenbrock, President of Humanitas Wines and GM of Michel-Schlumberger Winery Michael De Loach, VP Sales and Marketing at Hook & Ladder Winery Sarah Donnelly, Direct Sales and Wine Club at Williams Selyem (Congrats on your 25th vintage!) Eric Quanstrom, Director of Marketing at Appellation America Cyril Penn, Editor of Wine Business Monthly (of which I’m of course a subscriber) Greg Walter, Editor of Pinot Report (of which I’m also a subscriber) and Jo Diaz, Owner Diaz-Communications Thank you to each of the judges, to everyone who nominated pinotblogger, and of course to Tom for spotlighting so many fantastic bloggers. Now g

We Portofino World Site, the official tourist site for Portofino in Italy, one of the eight wonders of the world, were a few nights ago for dinner from Three Merli, one of the most ancient Inns of Gen