Fruit wines: Gateway Drug or Back Exit shove?

Victoria Hayes | Sales Manager for Cruise

Why has it taken so long to solve the cork taint problem?

You know you're slowly turning into a sad old buffer when you start getting excited about advancements in Cork Technology.

#ANV14: Private Dinner at Vineyard 7 & 8

We were guests at this very intimate dinner party for just 20 guests in honor of the 34th annual Napa Valley wine auction. It was a great opportunity to meet the owners, Mr. & Mrs. Steffens of New York, as well as Wesley who lives here in Napa with his wife Jessica and oversees operations. The curious name of the winery is associated with the birthdays of Wesley and his father.

#ANV14: Napa Valley Auction Kicks Off: Wines of Pritchard Hill

Bob Long, proprietor of Montagna, was hosting the Thursday June 5th #ANV14 event auction event titled "An Evening on Pritchard Hill at Montagna Napa Valley" which featured the proprietors and/or winemakers of other Pritchard Hill regions wineries including BRAND Napa Valley, Chappellet, Continuum, and David Arthur Vineyards.

Wine Investors, how about some fishing?

I had some fun this week baiting the wine investment community, an activity that always seems to brighten up my otherwise dull week -- in fact, I am hoping one day it becomes an Olympic sport! Another poor unsuspecting sole with undeclared vested interests in selling wine investment took the bait -- hook, line and sinker!

Montecucco: The New Face of Italy

So right now I have a secret to reveal - Montecucco is one of the newest DOCG regions in Tuscany, valued for the excellence of its Sangiovese (any wine carrying the DOCG designation must be at least 90% Sangiovese and also aged in oak one year and six months in bottle).

Meeting Simone Toninelli of Amiata winery in Montecucco

First off, it was so much fun to meet Simone Toninelli - a really energetic guy who started off in life as a lawyer, and with his father bought a gorgeous piece of mountainside land right under an extinct volcano!

Visiting Casale Pozzuolo in Montecucco

Casale Pozzuolo, a stunning castle that has been lovingly refurbished by its winemaker owners, was the designated "dinner spot" where I would meet many of the winemakers of the area, each with its own story to tell.

Meeting the Pieri family of Podere Stenti

Though Eleonora never went to wine school, she learned how to make wine from her father and grandfather, and now makes wine for the family's range of wines with the help of some workers who also care for the animals on the farm.

Tasting wines of Montecucco, Italy

The Consortium recently had a tasting of several wines from its fifty-five members, with brief notes listed below.

HARPERS CHOICE

Schloss Neuweier Goldenes Loch Grosses Gewächs 2012, Baden, Heitlinger Königsbecher Spätburgunder 2009, Baden and Jean-Luc Colombo Les Abeilles Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2013

More wine tastings please!

Wine tasting events, why the taboo?

Jerry Lockspeiser is enthralled by the wine business insights of Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth is an unusual academic. Professor emeritus of international political economy at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and an economist who studies global wine markets, he writes about wine business issues with a down to earth populist ease that Nigel Farage would be proud of. His enthusiastic, chatty style resembles a conversation over a glass of Merlot in a wine bar. He makes his subject highly accessible and clearly loves this world.

Visiting Produttori del Barbaresco

My guide today is the energetic and determined Aldo Vacca, who was born in this village yet worked in various areas of the world in a variety of wine-related positions, including handling exports in the United States. Together we walk through the winery, viewing the gleaming new silver fermentation tanks (the maturation happens in the 'old' winery down the street), and I hear the history of this space.

Visiting Marchesi di Gresy

So the first thing you notice when you step inside the ancient doors of Marchesi di Gresy and see the tall fair-haired man with his welcoming outstanding hand is the New Zealand accent - and upfront friendliness - of cellar master Jeffrey Chilcott. He came to Italy years ago, having bitten the wine but when he worked as a bar man in several restaurants and gradually learned the wine tade.

Meeting Emma J. Swain of St. Supery

By "improving" Emma is referring to working with the team at St. Supery to continuously make the signature estate wines better and better. Today Emma and I met over Sauvignon Blanc (the winery grows more than 10% of all the Sauvignon Blanc produced in the Napa Valley) and Cabernet Sauvignon to talk about the wines and her responsibilities at St. Supery, which entail everything from working with the winemakers to overseeing the marketing and public relations.

A visit to the Elio Grasso winery

Though the home looks quite glamorous today and given the stature of Elio Grasso wine in the world of fine wine, one would think life was always easy, a Latin verse carved into the wood of an ancient cabinet in the tasting room suggests that this was not the case. According to the verse, in 1885 a hailstorm decimated the vineyard and "not a leaf was hanging."

Visiting Massolino winery in Piedmont

Founded in 1896 by Giovanni Massolino, this winery has remain dedicated through four generations to producing soe of the best high quality wines in the region.The family cultivate 23 hectares including many prized cru vineyards. Some of the best include the Crus Margheria and Parafada which were purchases made by the family in the 1970s. Today Franco Massolino is in charge, the first vigneron in his family to have attended wine school.

A visit to Pietro Ratti in Barolo

"My father was fresh from Brazil," Pietro explains, giving the reason why his father bought this particular piece of land. "My father knew that monks had a long tradition of finding the best land for winemaking. So he sought this out and it was the first piece of land he bought."