Grape of the Day

We arrived in Stags Leap a bit late today because one of our loyal readers caused me to explore a few too many appellations last night. Shame on that reader. But, our trip was short, just a few miles south on Silverado Trail. The Stags Leap American Viticultural Area (AVA) is small, just 3 miles by 1 mile. It's unique in that it was granted AVA status based on its distinctive soils. The soils are a mix of volcanic residue from the Vaca Mountains and loam and clay from the nearby Napa River. Sitting particularly low in elevation, Stags Leap is often thought of as a valley with the larger Napa Valley. While it did not become an AVA until 1989, the Stags Leap District first rose to prominence in 1976 when at the Judgment of Paris, the 1973 Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon was judged the best of the red wines by a panel of European experts despite being regardsd as the best by only one judge. While grapes were planted in Stags Leap as far back as the 1870s, curiously, the Cabernet for whi...

We have another easy trip today. We simply got in our wine barrels and rolled down Spring Mountain to the town and American Viticultural Area (AVA) of Saint Helena. For those who think I don't know how to alphabetize, I treated Saint Helena as St Helena, the way if frequently appears on wine bottles. Immediately after the Gold Rush, the hills around St Helena were found to be rich in cinnebar. And, in fact, the Silverado Trail was built as a way to get the ore from St. Helena down to San Pablo Bay so that it could be distributed to the rest of the country. As a wine region, unlike Spring Mountain just to its west, St. Helena is perhaps the hottest and driest of all the AVAs in Napa Valley. Boasting a record high of 115F/46C and having more frequent than we might like temperatures over 110 in Spetember, this is not just warm, this is hot. And over the period from June through September, the average number of days with measurable rain is just 2, but 0 is not an entirely infrequent nu...

Heading north and west on Highway 29 out of Rutherford, through the quaint town of Saint Helena with its little boutiques selling mostly grossly overpriced wares, we reach the unofficial entrance to the Spring Mountain American Viticultural Area (AVA) on the eastern side of the Mayacamas. Almost all of the wineries in the Spring Mountain AVA are accessible via Spring Mountain Road and not a whole lot else. Spring Mountain is unique within Napa Valley. It's cooler and wetter and almost all of the vineyards face to the east. Let's consider what that means. The grapes get morning sunlight, but are more shaded in the afternoon. Spring Mountain is cooler because of both its proximity to the Pacific Ocean (only about 30 miles away) and its accessibility to the mountain gap between two bays as the cooling air runs through the Santa Rosa Plain. Interestingly, however, and curiously to me, the same terroir results in warmer evenings than in much of the rest of Napa Valley, so unlike alm...

Yesrerday, we had a short trip from Oak Knoll to Oakville. Today, it's even shorter. In fact, the Ritherford American Viticultural Area (AVA) sits on the northern and northwestern borders of Oakville. Despite the close proximity, however, the short drive is beautiful Whether we're on Highway 29, Silverado Trail, or on one of the crossroads in between, we see sprawling vineyards to our left, sprawling vineyards to our right and because the roads tend to have at least a little bit of curve thanks to the Napa River, sprwaling vineyards up ahead. Rutherford was named for a man by the name of Thomas -- Thomas Rutherford, that is -- who found himself overwhelmed by the wheat crop of the area. From the base of the Mayacamas Mountains to the SIlverado Trail, there was wheat. Mr. Rutherford chose to be the maverick and deciding that both the soil and climate were ideal, planted grapes. And, obviously, his decision was a success as Rutherford, while not demanding the prices of its neighb...

This is likely our easiest drive of this roughly two week journey through Napa Valley. To get from the heart of Oak Knoll to the center of Oakville, we simply head north and a bit west on Highway 29 for a few miles. The top on the convertible is down, there's a breeze in our hair, the sun is shining, and we're just far enough south that the traffic that we would encounter as we get close to downtown Saint Helena is nowhere to be seen. The town of Oakville, and therefore the American Viticultural Area is named for the oak groves that once formed the bulk of the town. Initially, during days when ore was being transported from Saint Helena down to San Pablo Bay, there was the Oakville train stop. It was not one of the busy ones. In fact, writings that remain suggest that most locals found no particular purpose to it.  A notable exception was a man known as H.W. Crabb. Why H.W.? Well, there are disputes over what his name really was. Some records say Henry Walker, some say Hamilton...

It's another short trip as the crow flies, but a long drive by car. Perhaps 6 miles by direct route, there is just no easy way to drive from Mount Veeder to the heart of the Oak Knoll American Viticultural Area (AVA). And, in keeping with significant changes in scenery over the course of the drive as we head down the ridiculously steep hillsides of Mount Veeder to the valley floor of Oak Knoll, so are the wines quite different. Oak Knoll was awarded AVA status in 2004. The winemaker sought AVA status for the area to recognize its unique terroir -- relatively cool climate thanks to the breezes from San Pablo Bay, long growing season, and the largest alluvial fan in Napa Valley created by the flow of water off the mountains to the west. The alluvial fan results in a particularly granular soil starved of water and nutrients near the surface and causing the grapevines to dig particularly deep below the surface for water and nutrients. The resultant grapes are thus quite small and have ...

Bordering Los Carneros and almost directly to the north, what a difference a few miles makes. Today, we are in the Mount Veeder American Viticultural Area (AVA). The ride here takes only 15 minutes and if there were a raod that would take us directly, it might be only 5, but the terrain. climate, soil, and virtually everything else about Mount Veeder makes it unique. Likely the single most unique thing about Mount Veeder AVA among the Napa Valley appelations is the slope of the hillsides. When we visit the other mountain AVAs within the broader Napa Valley AVA, we see some pretty steep slopes that grapes are growing on -- 10 degree grades, 15 degree grades. In the Mount Veeder AVA, that would be looked at as perfectly flat. And, that is what makes Mount Veeder different. The typical 30 degree grades make access difficult. When we think about what a 30 degree slope really means, consider what it is like to get mechanical equipment into the vineyards. For the most part, it's just not...

It's tough to have a much longer trip, at least by distance as compared to time in Napa Valley than from Howell Mountain to the Los Carneros American Viticultural Area (AVA). In fact, this morning we are going from near the far northeast corner of Napa Valley to the AVA that is so far in the southwest corner that is actually the only AVA that sits in both Napa and Sonoma Counties. Once we get down the mountain though, the ride is actually pretty easy. Head west to Highway 29, go mostly south for nearly 20 miles until we almost run into San Pablo Bay and then go west on Highway 12 until we find our destination.  We bring up San Pablo Bay for a reason. From a wine standpoint, it serves the purpose of cooling the Los Carneros AVA. Unlike most of the Napa Valley AVAs near it, Los Carneros does not have hot summers. If there is a day when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees, even during the last few summers, that is unusually hot. And, with the cooling morning fog coming off the bay, the...

From a driving standpoint, we've not been planning these trips well. But, today, we are leaving Diamond Mountain District to go to the Howell Mountain American Viticultural Area (AVA). It's basically a trip back out to Silverado Trail and then heading north on our choice of Howell Mountain Road or Glass Mountain Road. In either case, these areas were ravaged by the Glass Fire in the summer of 2020. Howell Mountain was the original "sub-appelation: within Napa Valley earning that status in 1983. Many of the vineyards there have been around since the late 19th and early 20th century and were heavily planted to Zinfandel. In recent times, and certainly since the establishment of Howell Mountain as an AVA, it's been an area where Cabernet is undoubtedly king. And, it has historically been the home of some of the biggest, highest alcohol content Cabernet you will find anywhere. In fact, one of the most famous wines produced in Howell Mountain is from Dunn Vineyards. Once kn...

\Our trip today is fairly long, but quite easy. Heading slightly to the west to Highway 29 (the westerly as compared to Silverado Trail of the two primarily north-south main thoroughfares theough Napa Valley), we head to the north and slightly west for a little more than 20 miles. We go through a number of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) that we'll be visiting in the coming days and venture in and out of one that we've already been through (Calistoga) before heading due west to Diamond Mountain. Just to preview, we traverse Oak Knoll, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, Saint Helena, perhaps just a tiny bit of Spring Mountain, and Calistoga. That's a lot of scenery to see. Along most of our drive, we see vineyards to our left and vineyards to our right, some unknown and some world famous. We pass Gott's Roadside, better known to locals as Taylor's Automatic Refresher, the home of garlic fries that your body will remember for days and your palate might remember fore...

This morning, we are off to the newest American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa Valley, Coombsville. We could take another trip south on Silverado Trail to get there, but let's try a little bit of new scenery. So, we head to the east on Highway 128 to the east of Atlas Peak before veering to the south and then slightly to the west. Where should we go? While a relatively small, by area, AVA, Coombsville's elevation runs from essentially sea level at the banks of the Napa River to nearly 2000 feet high up in the Vaca Mountains. Regardless, the soils here are gravelly with scattered rocks sitting on a large alluvial fan primarily from the deposits of Mount George. What makes Coombsville somewhat unique is its proximity to San Pablo Bay. The breezes coming off the bay provide for a cooling effect as well as a significant morning fog. So, while the weather is warm enough to produce extremely high-quality Cabernet, the cool nights and typical lack of extreme heat allow for the produc...

We're staying in Napa Valley, but we are moving from hte generally low elevation of Calistoga to the Chiles Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA), one of the smallest within the broader Napa Valley AVA. First given its status just before 2000, Chiles Valley is one of the smallest AVAs within what is considered Napa Valley AS the crow flies, the trip from Calistoga to Chiles Valley is not far at all. But, our car doesn't go as the crow flies. So, it's going to take us nearly 40 minutes to make the otherwise short trip to the Vaca Mountains roughly 1000 feet above the northeast corner of Napa Valley. Coming back out of Calistoga, we head south on Silverado Trail, back to Highway 128 that we took into the valley coming from Sacramento Airport. But, this time, just after we pass Lake Hennessey, we make a sharp left hand turn and head up the hills on Chiles Pope Valley Road overlooking the larger Lake Berryessa to our east. While this AVA is relatively new, many of the winerie...

Our car went down the steep slope of Atlas Peak down Soda Canyon road making the sharp right onto Silverado Trail and headed mostly to the north. We're going past some of the most storied vineyards in the US and based on recent history only, in the world.  Silverado Trail was built in the 1850s. It was a way to get ores mined in Saint Helena (we'll be there in a couple of days) down to San Pablo Bay where it could be loaded on boats to get out to the country. In the 1880s, Black Bart made his living robbing wagons bringing silver up and down the trail. At around the same time, some of the early wineries of what is now Napa Valley popped up, but many were hit hard by phylloxera and had to be re-planted. We see many of those re-plantings today as we look at the windows on either side. As the Trail heads more westerly bending along with the bends in the Napa River, we pass Glass Mountain, the origin of the Glass Fire that ravaged Napa Valley in 2020. The remnants of that fire rema...

Today, we are headed to one of the least accessible American Viticultural Areas (AVA) in Napa Valley, that of Atlas Peak. Coming in from Sacramento, we passed Lake Berryessa to our north, continuing on to Silverado Trail, one of the two main north-south (mostly) thoroughfares in the valley where we headed south and slightly east before making the sharp left turn onto Soda Canyon road. Rising above to the north is the highest peak in Napa County, Atlas Peak, the namesake of this AVA. At its high elevation, Atlas Peak has among the coolest nights of all parts of Napa Valley, but particularly for the south and southwesterly facing slopes of the Peak, summer days can be quite hot often reaching summer temperatures that would make winemakers in much of the world cringe. These temperature differences create wines with frequently racy acidity making them quite ageworthy, and sadly, often quite expensive. Once an active volcano, the mountain spewed layers and layers of what is now volcanic ash...

Let's go to Napa today. Why not? And, while we're there, let's learn about why Americans in particular like wine from Napa. But, first we have to get there. From the bulk of the ountry, we have a choice of three commercial airports to fly through. The most common is San Francisco, but San Francisco International Airport is down on the south of the city and Napa is up to the north. When there is traffic, this drive is not easy. We can fly into Oakland. It's closer. But, I am not a fan of the trip out of Oakland. When I am headed for a pleasure trip, if I have a choice, I like nice eye-catching, in a good way, sights on my way to my destination.  Our third and final choice is Sacramento International Airport. Off mostly to the east far to the east of the bay and at least in terms of mileage leaves us the longest trip to Napa. But, traffic is usually light and as we're going to see, the ride in, especially as we approach wine country, is quite scenic. We have a choice ...

Yesterday, I began to discuss where grapes are grown. And, I did hit pretty hard on vineyardmasters, winemakers, and winery oweners who might do this ramdomly. But, what right do I have to do this? Is it based on my extensive study of grapes and their planting techniques? Is it based on my previous and current successes growing great grapes? None of those. Frankly, I've never even tried to grow a grape. And, when I try to grow most anything, except perhaps my own body in ways that it should not grow, I've never been very successful. So, who am I to be writing this and educating and criticizing? I write this blog, that's what makes me the right person. And, honestly, what I do have that works well, even if I have the world's ultimate black thumbs, are my senses. I can see (and read), I can hear (and listen), I can taste, I can feel (sensations on my palate), and I can smell (most days anyway). And, perhaps most importantly since I write all this stuff off the top of my h...

Over the months, we've explored lots of different topics here. We've traveled around the world virtually visiting lots of countries and all 7 continents. We've tried different wines made of different grapes, pairing them with foods and getting to know some of the best the world has to offer. But, we're about to start down a different path, largely because I need a new type of topic. What makes a vineyard special? Why are grapes from one vineyard so much better and more expensive than another? What makes a winery or just a grower choose a particular piece of land? And, once chosen, why do they plant it the way they do? We've touched on this over the months, but we are going to explore it in a bit more detail. Is it a passion for a particular grape? Is it the love of a particular style? Can you tell something about a particular vigneron  by the way the vines are planted? Just for startes, I'll explain a little about the vineyards near me. In Georgia, that is the S...

Your favorite restaurant sends you an email or posts on Facebook or Instagram or some other social media outlet although those seem to be the two favorties for this purpose -- they are having a wine dinner. And, that wine dinner will be a [insert an integer usually in the range of 3 to 6] paired dinner supposedly featuring the wines of XYZ Winery or the wines of ABC region. Hmm, you said supposedly. What's going on there? And, that is why I ask the question: is the restaurant pairing food with wine or wine with food? And, for that matter, which should they do? Ultimately, it's obviously the restaurant's decision. But, then again, you as the potential customer do have a vote in the matter. How's that? You get to vote with your feet and your wallet. That is, you can choose to walk into the restaurant for that dinner and choose to pull out your credit card (I suppose some people pay cash, but that is pretty darn rare these days).  Obvisously, your thoughts about this might...

Okay, I've lost my mind. This is a wine blog and I am writing about the United States Supreme Court. Yes, that Supreme Court, the one that sits in Washington DC, just to the east of the Capitol Building. What's up with that? I digress, but I promise I'll bring you back.  So much depends on where you live. But, if you live in one of those wine-isolated states, have you ever tried to get wine shipped to you? Or, have you even ever tried to find deals on wine? It's tough to get things shipped to you. Often, wineries can't get licenses and it might be flat out illegal for out-of-state stores to ship to you. And, in some states, you can only buy at state-controlled prices at state-sanctioned "package goods" stores. What a racket! Well, some enterprising folks from the lovely , not entirely wine-focused state of Michigan  decided to challenge this nonsense (and it is nonsense that somehow wine sales should be regulated at the state level according to the whims ...

How much should you or I pay for a good or great bottle of wine? I wish I knew the answer. But, even though I don't, I think I can tell you how to think about it. But, before I do that, answer a few other questions for me. How much would you pay for front-row seats at Hamilton? Or a private concert at your vacation home from the Rolling Stones? Or a sideline pass with your favorite team in the Super Bowl? Or for a vintage Ferrari or Rolls Royce? Obviously, the answer to any of those depends on a lot of factors. How passionate is your passion? How much money do you have and, by implication, how much can you afford to spend? Is the experience worth it? Will your life change for the better or worse because of your decision? Dream with me for a second. You're in Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates territory. You're worth $100 billion or more. Price does not matter. If you really want the experience, you can buy the experience. And, on the other side, you are in unfortunate ti...

You love wine. Of course, you do. But, your spouse, significant other, life partner, or your best friends don't like wine. That means they fail to have proper taste, but they can be fixed, at least they can be if they are willing to try. But, how exactly can you do that? In order to that, you need to introduce them to wine. And, when you introduce them, it's more likely than not that you want to introduce them with what some people might call easy-drinking wines. So, medium bodied, not too acidic, not too tannic, probably a little bit of sweetness to the taste even if it really doesn't come from anything other than the natural sweetness of the fruit. Most of those things that I mentioned tend to be turn-offs for novice wine drinkers. Most don't like tannins, they don't like really dry  wines or really crisp wines. They like fruit, particularly sweet fruit and a nice soft feeling in the mouth. And, while most have not thought about, they probably do not like their wi...

Sometimes you are serving wine and you really want to impress your guests, but you don't want to spend much money in doing so. Here are a few hints. Buy Kirkland wines (Costco's house brand) or recommended wines at Trader Joe's (not 2 or 3 Buck Chuck) Serve your red wines somewhat chilled. They will taste better, particularly the more tannic red wines. Cooling them down will both serve to make the tanniss more palatable to people who don't particularly like tannins and will calm the acidity. You say that you don't have a good way to cool your wines properly. Here is something most anyone can do. Take your bottle of red wine and wrap it in a wet paper towel. Leave it in the refrigerator, not the freezer, for about 10-12 minutes. Remove the wine from the refirgerator and throw out the paper towel. Voila. Serve foods that go with the wines. You've read enough about that here in the last nearly 10 months. Tannic reds -- fatty and salty. Acidic vegetables -- Sauvigno...

Yesterday, while lamenting that I didn't have a topic for today, I asked a friend about doing more pairing pieces. She replied that they usually don't interest her because she only eats plants. Okay, shoulder slump, chin drop. Still no topic for today.  Until just now.  Apparently, and since I am not a vegetarian and don't expect I ever will be, although I do eat a lot of vegetables, my pairings and pairing posts have not been particularly vegetarian friendly. Let's try to fix that, at least a little but. But, let's start with the problems. Some vegetables are really difficult to pair with. Case in point: asparagus. Asparagus is high in asparagusic acid (that's what gives your urine a horrible odor after eating asparagus). Asparagus is also high in tannins. As a result, you don't want big, bold wines. And, you don't want rich wines. Both tend to clash with asparagus. But, think about what does taste good with asparagus -- fresh herbs, citrus (particularl...

The White House, the home of the US President since John Adams moved in in 1800 prior to its completion, has quite a history with wine. That history started with Thomas Jefferson and since then, state dinners have routinely included fine wine. Today, we look at a bit of that. The tradition of fine wine at the White House began with our 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had spent a number of years in France and spent considerable time visiting and enjoying some of the finest wineries in Burgundy and Bordeaux. During his Presidency, both became traditional wines at the White House.  The next President, James Madison, was also a wine lover, but his taste actually ran more toward Champagne than the still, dry red wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux. But, it was under James Monroe that the first wine-related scandal of a sort occurred. Monroe had similar tastes in wine to Jefferson, but either did not have the funds or was not willing to spend them to purchase wine for the White Hou...

I was exhausted yesterday. I bet you were too. January 6 shook me to my core. I found myself nauseous. I write about wine because I like it and I want you to like it and to understand why you do in order that you might enjoy it more. I drink it because it relaxes me while at the same time exciting my senses. I drink it because chosen properly it enhances my food and in turn, my food enhances my wine. I drink it to celebrate a day when something good has happened. Yesterday, there was some good, but not enough. Not enough to make up for the evil. Not enough to make me want to celebrate anything.  In Third World countries, they don't blog about their wine experiences. They don't write about travels, even fictitious ones to experience wine on all seven continents, in the middle eastern depths near the Dead Sea, or high in the Andes Mountains. They don't write about tasting wine at 55 degrees north or 75 degrees south.  Yesterday, the United States was a Third World country. I...

When you go to a winery, do you go to drink or taste? The answer to that question should significantly influence where you choose to go and it will significantly influence your experience. What do I mean? If you are going to drink, it means that you are perfectly happy being given several pours of wine to take to a table likely sitting outside and getting to admire the scenery. You might be given some finger food to go with it or you might have the opportunity to buy food with it. This can make for a lovely day, but don't confuse it with tasting wine.  Why do I say that? When you go on one of these wine drinking adventures, you're not learning about the wine. Unless there are vast differences in the wine, you don't really remember what you've had. By the time you leave, you might have consumed the wine and you might have thoroughly enjoyed the wine, but it's unlikely you have really tasted the wine. What's the difference? When you visit a winery to do tasting , ...

Regular readers should find this easy. Well, maybe not easy, but they might recall having read enough to know that we did cover these topics. But, here are ten tidbits to warm your winter day (cool your summer day if you are on the other side of the equator) while I go to vote (yes, I live there ). So, without further ado: What are the 18 noble grapes? Which 1 of the 18 have I never covered in a separate post? True or false: there are no wineries in Antarctica? True or false: in addition to red wine and white wine, there is orange wine, made of grapes, not oranges? What is phylloxera? Isn't it true that synthetic corks are better for wine than real cork, but that we continue to use real cork because it's traditional? What four factors contribute most to a wine's ageworthiness? How many half-twists should you give the cage or muselet  on a bottle of champagne to free it from the bottle? In the US, in order to label a wine as a particular single varietal, it must contain at l...

In recent years, especially in 2020, imbibers of wine thought that they had found a new therapy. With the growth of the social media meme, wine has become the internet therapy for ... well, almost everything.  Alright people, did you know this is not new? The internet part is, but the therapy part is not. In fact, wine as therapy in 2020 or now 2021 can't hold a candle to the Middle Ages. This, despite my favorite wine line of 2020: "Wine -- the glue holding the shitshow known as 2020 together." But, to understand the therapeutic uses of wine, we need to understand the progression of medicine. It's only been in the last 100 years or so that the process to become a medical doctor has evolved anywhere near its current state. As recently as early in the 20th century, a man (women were generally excluded) who wanted to become a doctor simply found a school that we would now call a medical school to train him. And, then he would set up shop and he was a doctor. There was n...

Back a few days before the New Year, I wrote about what to eat on New Year's Day with a southern style New Year's Day meal.  We followed my advice. Understand that this is not the first time we have followed my pairing advice. We usually do. But, this was different. I was telling us to drink an oaky California Chardonnay that had gone through full lalolactic fermentation. That's not something we drink very often. Oaky and buttery and full-bodied and often not so clean, this is just not typically our style of white wine although it is an exceptionally popular style in American households. And, then there was the food. Ham. We almost always drink Pinot Noir with a ham. It's a pinkish meat, certainly not white. We never consider Chardonnay with ham. Collard greens. Okay, this is a food that should not be consumed by human beings. Correction. This is a substance that should not be considered food by human beings. But, it's acidic. And, we have learned Chardonnay and aci...

People do strange things involving wine. For whatever reason, some involve weddings in ways that would not occur to me, but then again, my imagination doesn't extend to the places that some other people's do. Here are a few of the more curious. In Korea, both North and South, it is customary for elders to be treated with respect when it comes to beverages including wine. The proper way is to have your wine poured while you are sitting, but when it is poured, either stand up or kneel and take your glass with both hands from the person pouring it for you. This is said to indicate having accepted the respect given you. In Rioja in northern Spain, there is a day in late June -- perhaps June 29 -- during the local wine festival in which everyone wears white. Guests then fight each other with red wine and festival organizers throw buckets of red wine on guests to turn their clothes red and purple. Then, the guests compete in wine drinking competitions. In Nigeria, at large weddings, ...

A bit over 9 months ago, I started this blog. My intention was to do to blog about a new grape every day through the brief COVID hiatus from life. Back then, the experts. and clearly they don't qualify as Nostradamus, were saying to give it 3 to 5 weeks and all would be back to normal. Even at 5 weeks, that's 35 grapes. I've certainly tasted single vairietal wines from 35 different grapes that I could write about, so that would be easy and then after 5 weeks of abmormal life, things would return to normal and this blog would be retired along with many others that have gone to blogging purgatory. Something happened. I don't need to tell you the story. But, 3 weeks went by and then it was 5 weeks and it was clear that this was not ending any time soon. So, I had to think of more grapes and more topics and some grapes I wrote about multimple times because they are so well-known, but so different depending on where they come from.  The next revelation was when a loyal follo...