Le Chanceux’s Tale of Inspiration, Courage & a Little Luck.
At Napa Barrel Care “there were stories of wine coming out of the warehouse into the parking lot.”
Sue McNerney was hoping to turn her passion for wine into a profitable business when the Napa earthquake struck on the morning of August 24th. “I was standing in the kitchen when I saw the pictures on my I-pad and I walked over to the door and I said ‘Oh my God. It’s gone. It’s gone!’ ”
In 1999 Sue and her husband Bob bought property in the Coombsville region of Napa Valley with the dream of producing estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon. They converted a one-acre horse pasture on their property into a vineyard and named it Belles Filles in honor of their three daughters.
Read MoreThe Topsy-Turvy Vineyards Of Babcock Winery.
Bryan Babcock & WineSnark tour Babcock Vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills appellation of the Central Coast.
From the back seat of Bryan Babcock’s Volkswagen I noticed something unusual about his vineyards. The grapes were experiencing an unusually early onset of veraison (when grapes soften and change color) but it wasn’t the patch-quilt appearance of the clusters that caught my attention. Babcock’s Pinot Noir vines appeared to be growing upside-down.
Babcock, a born innovator, explained, “I’ve worked out a system that allows the vines to grow more naturally. I’ve taken the starting point of my growing higher off the ground so that my shoots can grow down naturally … as opposed to working against gravity.” The visual effect can be startling
Read MoreThe (Rutherford) Dust Settles After The Napa Earthquake.
When natural disaster strikes we find ourselves ogling the harsh images on TV. Whether it’s the collapsed façade of a stately building in downtown Napa or the half-submerged skeleton of a landmark rollercoaster at the Jersey shore, these images become the icons of our tenuous hold on life. They remind us of what is truly important – the people we share our lives with.
Aaron Pott pours 2009 Pott Wine “The Oligarch” for Wine Snark in his lab at Quixote Winery.
A week has passed since the earthquake rumbled through Napa and as the dust settles we’re getting a better picture of its effect on the people and wineries of the valley.
I took a quick poll of some winemaker friends and discovered that many fared better than originally thought. Aaron Pott, Food & Wine Magazine’s “2012 Winemaker of the Year” voiced a popular sentiment heard around the valley when he stated, “We are shaken, not stirred”.
Pott – whose current winemaking duties include Pott Wine, Bello Family, Blackbird, Fisher, Jericho Canyon, Perliss, V22, Quixote, Seven Stones and St. Helena Estate – went on to report, “All Pott’s and Pott Wine is well! Our hearts go out to many that didn’t share our luck.” He then added, “We are busy preparing for harvest.”
This was the first earthquake for New Jersey native Bob Van Dyk of Van Dyk Family Wines.
Read MoreNapa Earthquake Delivers Bruising Punch.
Lee Nordlund is sporting a colorful new bruise on his left eye courtesy of the 6.0 earthquake that rumbled through Napa early Sunday morning.
“In the dark of the wee hours our house suddenly pitched to and fro.” said Lee. “I leapt from bed to get Bridget out; I went north, the bed post went south, and I ended up with a shiner. The bed post seems to be fine.”
Lee is the driving force behind Punch Vineyards, a winery with two diametrically opposed goals; 1. Produce outstanding Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 2. Produce affordable Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. He has succeeded at both.
Read MoreThe Monthly Wine Writing Challenge; My Best Friend Wine.
“Writing is a lonely job, unless you’re a drinker, in which case you always have a friend within reach.” Emilio Estevez
If you’re a wine aficionado, at one time or another you’ve probably said, “We can’t open the good wine when they come over.” Sure you love your friends but you rationalize your decision with sentiments like “they couldn’t possibly appreciate the wine we drink”.
Obviously these wine locusts are three rungs beneath you on the evolutionary ladder and the only thing they have in common with you is opposable thumbs – which they’ll use to drink all your expensive wine.
Read MoreThe Wine Review Review #1.
WineSnark recently turned four months old and as I looked over the results I found a few surprises. I learned that my favorite posts are not always your favorite posts. Where I like the snarcastic posts such as “Wine Gladdens The Heart Of Man” or the creative posts like “The History Of Wine And Food Pairing” many of you preferred posts that featured wine reviews – like “Spot The Frog“.
Oddly enough I’ve often been told “I didn’t know WineSnark reviewed wines” and those who did read the reviews often remarked “Maybe WineSnark shouldn’t review wines.”
For those readers who never get to the bottom of the page where the wine reviews are usually located I’ve decided to create a new feature called “The Wine Review Review.” Every few months I’m going to present the best wine descriptions from recent WineSnark reviews, but rather than bore you with the same redundant language found in every other blog or wine magazine I’ve distilled these down to their snarky core.
Without further ado here are,
30 Wine Descriptions You’ll Never Read In The Wine Spectator
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