tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76851952009-11-25T07:23:07.081-08:00Various ruminations and observations regarding the bizarre and otherwise incomprehensible happenings in the wine industry.St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.comBlogger572125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-51996268596190207502009-10-19T07:11:00.000-07:002009-10-19T07:37:54.109-07:00

Last week's storm has brought much needed rain at the expense of the remainder of the 2009 grape crop. Mind you the rain itself -all 5 1/2" of it- was not the worst part of the storm that moved through......the worst part has been a week of high humidity, and bunch rot compounding the problem.Most growers and wineries pushed hard through the previous weekend to get as much of the crop in as

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-22960447102244166102009-10-14T09:51:00.000-07:002009-10-14T10:00:34.616-07:00

...and its not over yet, thought here are only intermittent showers. Maybe another 1/4"~1/2" will fall before the skies break open to glorious sunshine...Inside today, getting caught up on weigh tags and general cellar work order tracking. It's not the end of the month yet, but may as well get working on the drudgery of the job. I'm not going out into any vineyards for a while.U2's "All I Want is

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-19523605631641723832009-10-13T07:26:00.000-07:002009-10-13T07:26:59.372-07:00

A little over an inch by the time I got up this morning. September was a charm - 12 days had high temps in the 90's (two days it hit 100+) and 18 days with fog, avg hi was 85°, avg low was 48°, with sunny afternoons making for perfect ripening conditions. I'm one of the lucky ones - I got my last fruit in the cellar early afternoon on Saturday. (I should qualify that, I brought in the last of

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com538.5439652 -123.213851tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-74643783453968615932009-10-12T08:08:00.000-07:002009-10-12T08:08:03.570-07:00

"...The more we think we know about The greater the unknown We suspend our disbelief, And we are not alone... We sometimes catch a window, A glimpse of whats beyond Was it just imagination Stringing us along? More things than are dreamed about, Unseen and unexplained We suspend our disbelief, And we are entertained..." RUSH, Mystic Rhythms 1985 What, didn't anything front-page-worthy happen on

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com738.47244229967116 -122.95477292966098tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-85190991358721878532009-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:002009-09-08T08:09:16.098-07:00

There are many indicators that the recovery for the wine industry is NOT on the doorstep right now for some of the larger wineries. Normally, this time of year sees frantic bottling as wineries across the state try to get tanks emptied for use in the coming harvest. Not so this year....Several larger wineries have suspended bottling of their wines off and on over the past 8 months. This is due to

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com438.5439652 -123.213851tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-44022692446932214612009-08-18T07:21:00.000-07:002009-08-18T07:21:45.174-07:00

I have been doing far too much traveling for brand promotion and sales these past few months. Sales are finally starting to creep upwards again though, so hopefully the recession is on the way out. Anyway, I was looking through a list of "Top Wines form Argentina" while on a flight back to California, and was somewhat amused to see Inglenook as the #3 brand (Chablis, same wine is in the #13 spot

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com638.47244229967116 -122.93280027341098tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-38287653693723289272009-06-26T08:01:00.000-07:002009-06-26T08:01:10.227-07:00

I can't believe that City Winery is already trying to make money off of the death of Michael Jackson. To wit, I have the latest email from them (7:46 PM last night - a scant 5~6 hours after MJ's passing):Granted they want to do this tonight, and they feel they have to work fast at it...but really, do we have to do this?I suggest we rename the event "City Winery's Tasteless Tasting", and the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-61345546793341686982009-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:002009-06-25T08:33:56.075-07:00

Well, IT'S ABOUT TIME! Top wine industry insiders have labeled France (and Bordeaux in particular) as "dysfunctional".I've been saying that for years....maybe they don't read the Zinquisition? Highlights from the Vinexpo conference via Decanter.com:'Bordeaux should be selling everything,'says Tony Spawton, an associate professor for wine marketing at  University of South Australia.This is

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com238.46756808589088 -123.04550170898438tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-66379802438488579532009-06-25T07:55:00.000-07:002009-06-25T08:35:29.300-07:00

I hear rumors flying about layoffs at Foster's Wine Estates...Two I can confirm, but the number & locations of the others are still amorphous...some reports are saying there may have been many more, but until I can get my sources to confirm where and when they are happening I don't have concrete info to pass along. I will update as soon as I can....It is interesting to note that Foster's was

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-70917027405340713162009-06-23T07:26:00.000-07:002009-06-23T07:26:21.417-07:00

“Our mission is fairly simple: we are essentially leading an effort to reopen Copia for the benefit of the community and preserve as many of Mondavi’s goals as we can, but in [a] sustainable way,” said John Salmon, a member of the Coalition to Preserve Copia, created about four months after the December bankruptcy announcement. [link to article here]So in this context I take it "sustainable" is

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com138.47616943274547 -123.05099487304688tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-56730634691702222642009-06-08T06:46:00.000-07:002009-06-08T06:46:00.933-07:00

Have you noticed how nobody "makes" anything anymore?Take a look at the picture of Heinz Ketchup, and pay particular attention to the "Grown Not Made*" slogan  below the tomato:Compare these two statements:      "Wine is made in the vineyard"      "Ketchup is grown, not made"Say, where in either of those statements is there room for the person who takes the ripe fruit and processes it into the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-91376734912385055152009-06-04T07:35:00.000-07:002009-06-04T07:35:00.886-07:00

I had the misfortune recently of having to sit through a few presentations on how wineries can use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. to further their own marketing ends. Maybe it was the sheer lack of data in the presentations, but frankly I don’t buy it and my read from the other attendees suggested that they felt the same way. I just don’t think that wineries will

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com538.571933315980225 -123.1398924998939tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-75262252647216940962009-05-29T07:01:00.000-07:002009-05-29T07:01:25.066-07:00

After a few weeks of traveling to visit several key account markets (Sonoma County, San Diego, Phoenix), I have compiled some notes regarding what actual servers in restaurants have been experiencing. Note that none of this is scientific data or taken from scanner data reported by retail stores, rather from first-hand reports of day-to-day observations by servers.Overall, the concerns of the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com538.49229419236133 -123.013916015625tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-65776260330351315742009-04-30T09:46:00.000-07:002009-04-30T09:46:46.070-07:00

Three Cheers for Steve Test, who joins the list of acclaimed winemakers to publicly renounce witchcraft, superstition, and other unproven practices on this site!I'll reprint his comment here, as it bears repetition well:"Stuart Smith recently wrote a great letter to the editor (of the Chronicle?) responding to the Dolan-Benziger school of non-stop BD promotion, practiced with nothing but

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com338.51113766260408 -122.99871824216098tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-29894606946851948602009-04-28T09:48:00.000-07:002009-04-28T09:48:20.021-07:00

Well, I did go to the "Why Biodynamic?" conversation at the Sonoma County Day School last Friday eve. Mrs Johnson and I both went, and though the proceeds were to benefit the Sonoma County Wine Library, I'm glad we each saved $5 by buying our tickets beforehand.I'll post some highlights in a moment, but I must say I was disappointed the Q&A section was so short that it only allowed for 3

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-91546188881811202492009-04-22T07:04:00.000-07:002009-04-22T07:05:34.986-07:00

From Eric Asimov's The Pour (New York Times):...[f]or Mr. Grahm, that means owning a vineyard, embracing biodynamic viticulture and farming without irrigation, as the best Old World vineyards are farmed. “Dry farming is absolutely crucial,” he said. “It’s more important than anything — biodynamics, schmiodynamics.”And... “I actively resorted to all manner of marketing tricks,” [Randall Graham]

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-18716309850987372142009-04-17T09:38:00.000-07:002009-04-17T09:38:00.595-07:00

 Huzzah! for Stuart Smith of Smith-Madrone Winery! I just got through reading his letter to the editors of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, somewhat taking them to task for the nonsensical video of Mike Benziger on the PD site touting his Biodynamic philosophy. I've clipped the letter he wrote here, as well as provide the link for the PD letters for Fri April 17th...The best lines have to be..."...

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-73072914459244350072009-04-17T06:54:00.000-07:002009-04-17T06:54:17.701-07:00

"Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue."  - Francis Bacon"A penny saved is a penny earned."   - Benjamin Franklin Ok, so this is more about saving money than the economy in general. Actually, I'm still dumbfounded that it's taken an economic crisis of this magnitude to really put the brakes on sales of top end tier wines. Were we as a society really all that

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com038.46301612034104 -123.03515624022111tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-55482687213647252032009-04-14T07:33:00.000-07:002009-04-14T07:38:13.009-07:00

I had a conversation this past weekend with a few guests about the popularity of sweet white wines, and heard comments about how California is responsible for the sad world-wide trend towards producing "sweet" (off-dry) white wines. Californian chardonnay in particular was vilified...I should lay a little background for this topic before I go into it.Most people in the industry consider a wine "

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com438.6592772853011 -123.24041746091098tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-27530004091468806102009-04-10T09:08:00.000-07:002009-04-10T09:17:59.690-07:00

I found this on the web while looking up a few points for this post:"You do not 'believe' in science. Science is not a BELIEF SYSTEM. Science is a method of inquiry. If you do not know what deduction and induction are you need to LOOK THEM UP. Don't try to burn Galileo, you villianous Heathen!"          - Angry Pontiff All the same, put this on your calendar: Friday April 24th, 7 PM @ the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com041.902916 12.453389tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-72890816740926907432009-04-06T07:23:00.000-07:002009-04-06T07:35:09.376-07:00

Saturday and Sunday morning's temperatures both dropped below freezing, causing me to get up at 2:30 Sat morn, and 3:30 AM yesterday. The problem with this time of year is the vulnerability of the young shoots to frost damage. Last year, I had the sad fate of having to use much of my irrigation pond water for frost protection. Since our rainfall was so short, I really didn't have that much water

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com338.61472442637688 -123.046875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-22815513006946458932009-04-03T05:28:00.000-07:002009-04-03T05:28:01.598-07:00

Well......do you?Is it really all that important to shell out hard earned cash for a "Certified Master of Wine" [CMoW] to produce wines at the $1.99 price point?  TESCO is doing just this, though the winemaker will be in charge of wines in the range of  $2~$40/btl.But really, I mean how many people would return a wine that was $1.99 if they found it a bit "off" or "different" from a previous

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com438.47153737547786 -123.03124236816075tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-91814854042849332352009-04-02T05:04:00.000-07:002009-04-02T07:09:05.488-07:00

Much has been made of "dynamization" of water by Rudolph Steiner and his biodynamic followers. The theory is that water as we see it today is disorganized and somehow "unnatural", needing to be corrected by applying dynamism (forcing a vortex to occur in the water by mixing it rapidly in one direction, then reversing the flow by stirring in the opposite direction)At the site below you'll see yet

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-73921040615342642312009-04-01T10:27:00.000-07:002009-04-02T07:06:59.355-07:00

I was reading an article this morning by Dan Berger and I thought it was a little vague on the point of cold stabilizing red wines. (The article is carried by the Press Demo from Creators Syndicate, so I don't have a link to post...) What Dan reports is that on a recent trip to the Paso Robles area to taste wines from Justin Winery, the winemaker there (Fred Holloway) stated "I don't cold

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-61998921615612741772009-04-01T05:25:00.000-07:002009-04-01T05:25:05.155-07:00

OK....it's April Fool's Day. But you have to give a shout out to the wit, sweat and inspiration that went into this fake headline page! The Dregs Report 2009 I love the visual of California separating from the Union to become its own "Wine Nation" as the headline states...drifting off towards Hawaii wouldn't be half bad, now would it? Also, there's this gem of Governor Palin pimping for the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416saint_vini@yahoo.com1