UNCORKED WINE TRAVELS

Musings Along The Wine Trails

Cannabis in Wine Country? NIMBY.

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Courtesy of ehn.org

Oddly, the hot topic of discussion in wine country nowadays seems to be all about cannabis.  While legal for recreational and medicinal use for the most part in California, like it or not, cannabis farming has become a $4.4 billion booming business and is still growing.  No pun intended.

While somewhat reluctant to broach the subject while wine tasting in Sonoma County a few days ago, the banter was always lively and engaging, no matter who you asked.  In a short time, I learned that the majority of cannabis was grown in Humboldt County, processed in Mendocino County and distributed widely in Sonoma County, and that Napa County was not at all amused.

Courtesy of The Press Democrat

While Driving along Highway 116, I caught several wafts of fresh cannabis on alternating days, which caught me slightly off-guard.  A fun fact – Santa Rosa Jr. College offers an agricultural hemp program to teach students about the hemp industry, focusing on plant science, soil and plant nutrition and cultivation as well as marketing hemp products to consumers.

Another fun fact – apparently, there is a specialty market called Solful in Sebastopol where “soccer moms” reportedly line up for cannabis infused products.  I’m not sure why this surprised me, but it did.  All this may be the makings of a good Netflix series.

Last photo of my favorite old barn in Russian River Valley

Like anything controversial,  there are several train of thoughts about whether cannabis should be melded with California’s $42 billion retail wine empire.  A random sampling of tasting room hosts, winemakers and cannabis and wine enthusiasts along my travels, all felt very strongly about their reasons for keeping the two industries separate.   Speaking on behalf of the wine purists and those not interested in having cannabis farms near their homes, schools or place of business, this collective group was opposed to the pungent aromas permeating the air, even detectable with indoor growing operations. [Read more…]

Book Review: Sonoma Wine And The Story Of Buena Vista

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For the discerning wine geek on your holiday list, Sonoma Wine And The Story of Buena Vista would be a most welcome read.   Modern California wine historian Charles L. Sullivan offers a fascinating detailed perspective on the state’s 200+ year viticulture history complete with vintage photos and colorful anecdotes.

Sullivan engages readers with in-depth tales of the ginormous entrepreneurial wine pioneers and overwhelming financial hardships encountered in Alta California’s La Frontera del Norte in the 1800’s. 

Many Italian immigrant farmers found their way first to the “promised land” and successfully planted the vineyards with their native grape varietals, many of which remain today.  Others with “deep pockets” and little farming skills became large winery owners or shipping magnates.

By far, the most intriguing chapters of Sonoma Wine trace the tumultuous early years at Buena Vista, California’s oldest premium winery, through the acts of brillant, yet quixotic founder Agoston Haraszthy in 1857.  Add the aftermath of the Gold Rush, the devastating plague of phylloxera and the dry years of Prohibition to the mix and it becomes a novel worthy of historical fact and reflection.

Etude Winery Artfully Handcrafts World Class Pinot Noir With Old World Elegance

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On a recent jaunt to Napa Valley, I stumbled upon Etude Winery on the very outskirts of the Napa city limits.  Tucked off a sleepy two lane country road, I thought I’d stop in and check out the old Remy Martin Brandy Distillery site which is now home to Etude Winery.  Out with the Cognac and in with the Pinot Noir.

For a better appreciation of the wines, it’s key to understand the terroir.  Carneros AVA is shared by Sonoma County and Napa County and is revered for its cool growing climate, replete with fog and maritime breezes off the Pacific Ocean and San Pablo Bay. The combination of  low daytime temperatures, an array of volcanic, coarse sand and gravel soils and the influence of the Petaluma Wind Gap,  make for ideal growing conditions for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Etude‘s flagship Grace Benoit Ranch is planted to seven clones of Pinot Noir, nine+ clones of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and two clones of Merlot and Malbec.

Nothing prepared me for what I was about the discover inside the old distillery.

Not only was Etude‘s tasting room a show-stopping masterpiece, but the wine tasting experience was one of the best I’ve encountered in a long time, thanks to Greg Sweval, Hospitality Sales Manager and the amicable and knowledgeable Wine Club Ambassador, Angel Aguirre-Benites. [Read more…]

NEW BOOK RELEASE: A Perfect Score ~ The Art, Soul and Business of a 21st Century Winery

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unknown-3A Perfect Score ~ The Art, Soul and Business of a 21st Century Winery is an interesting read for wine aficionados everywhere.  Written and narrated by Craig and Kathryn Hall of Napa Valley’s Hall Wines, the book takes readers on an arduous journey from the vine to the glass.

Kathryn was rooted in the family wine business in Mendocino County long before meeting Craig in 1991.  Circumstances drew Kathryn away from her beloved vineyards and into a political career in Dallas, Texas where she met Craig by happenstance.

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While Kathryn had winemaking in her ancestral blood, Craig had the business acumen to financially launch their dream of making world-class Cabernet Sauvignon in the then-sleepy Napa Valley.

Together they forged ahead and purchased a neglected vineyard with a fixer-upper house and began custom crushing wine.  The rest, per se, was history.  And what a great history it was!

The Perfect Score narratives between Craig and Kathryn painted the colorful, yet often heart-wrenching tale of building a wine business from the vineyard to the bottle.  Intimate details of the toil in the fields, marketing snafus and disappointing crop failures resonated throughout the book, yet the will to succeed was tantamount. Emotions ran raw as the losses mounted  Yet, the Halls prevailed. [Read more…]