Winter in Wine Country

 

Winter in Sonoma County, CA is Green. We get a lot of rain in the Winter!  Forty-two inches in Healdsburg. 
As I write this post it's raining. Which is a good excuse to share the Atmosphere of Winter among the vines.  All this rain means Green hillsides and lawns. It's really quit lovely and stands in stark contrast to the brown countryside in Summer when the vines that provide the Green! 

Winter is actually full of color.  The best known is the Yellow Mustard that grows between the vines. It's grown there for specific reasons.  

The magic happens when Mustard is tilled under before it goes to seed. As a mulch it helps suppress the growth of weeds. It adds micronutrients (like Selenium, Calcium, Manganese) and nitrogen to the soil, improving soil biology. Plus, specific varieties release natural gases (isothiocyanates) when crushed, suppressing soil-borne pests and diseases.
All that from a common plant that grows well here in this damp Winter weather.

This year it's sad to report that many vines where not picked. Their shriveled grapes hang forlornly on the vine. The Wine Industry is adjusting to market trends. You will also see big burn piles of uprooted vines as you drive along the country roads. (Be sure to watch out for flooded roads)!

Wine: A Contact Sport

 

Yes, wine is Beautiful to look at. However, the Real Appeal of Wine is in the mouth, from there down to the stomach. That may sound a bit crude, but without this final step wine is purely academic. 
The French say " En Bouche", we Californians say: "The Palate".  Ultimately, it's what shows up on the palate that gives a wine the attention it seeks to produce. 
So we see that wine gives us the Pleasure that Nature intended in a series of experiences. That's the Contact part of the equation. Using all your senses to discover what the wine is trying to tell us.
The Sport is the Passion to pull apart the process of winemaking and understand all the intricacies that go into the bottle and, you got it, En Bouche!
 Cheers,
The Wine Explorer

The Allure of Wine Country

 

Maybe it was growing up in Northern Minnesota, but grape vines have always meant warm and sunny weather to me. There's something very soothing about seeing the rows of vines in the otherwise barren landscape. 

Here, in Sonoma County California, USA, I can ride my bike for miles along roads bordered on both sides with acres of vines. It's like a huge well attended garden. Peaceful.

As a wine tourist, I get to enjoy the tranquil vineyards purely as an observer. I am not a part of the myriad chores that are required to maintain a healthy vineyard. This puts me in a Romantic mood of shady afternoons sipping wine and conversation on some deck overlooking the vineyard.

The best part of being a wine tourist is that I get to sample the fruits of all that labor at the very location of the vine that produced the wine.  In a very real sense, I get to taste the earth of those vineyards. Keep in mind that wine is all about place. And if you know the source of the grapes, you can build a profile of the "goodies" that the vine has brought up from deep inside the soil.  Every vine produces its own flavors. 

Now when I am tasting that wine, my mind makes the connection between the place and the end result in my mouth. In essence, the wine literally connects me with the earth. There's nothing better for the wine tourist to be able to visually follow the story of the wine they're enjoying at the vineyard.

This is the experience I wish to share with my wine tourist clients on my wine tours.  We will get out in the vines and get our boots on the ground.  The wine will make a lasting impression on your wine journey. Then when, back home, you open a bottle from one of the wineries we will visit, your mind and heart can take you right back there!! Close your eyes, take a sip, and you're in France!!

Winter in Wine Country.

Winter in the Umpqua Valley AVA wine country! 

There are good reasons to find oneself here in February. Mostly because it's warm enough outside to BE OUTSIDE.  For this wine explorer,  it is being close to the vineyards that creates that connection between wine and vine.  


On my past wine tours it was always my goal to get my clients to the source.  Where the wine is "created", that is of course, the vineyard.  My fellow wine geeks will tell you that the wine is made in the vineyard.  The winemakers job is to allow the fruit to "express" itself in the wine.  

You can't make good wine from poor grapes, but you can make poor wine with good grapes.  There in lies the talent of a good winemaker.  This time of the year it's their job, along with the vineyard manager to get ready for the vines to re-awake from their Winter's Rest.  The major work in this season is to prune back the vines and set the stage for the next growing season.

It's comforting to see the workers in the vineyard now.  Good care means good grapes.
Around here you can walk or even bike (on mild days) past the vineyards and maybe shout out a few words of encouragement! 
 

Beware the Wine Snob!

What is a wine snob?  What are the telltale signs that you've encountered an actual wine snob and not just a wine enthusiast? And why should you care?

Come back soon to read my take on the subject.  For now, I'm off to enjoy a splash of Cab Franc.

Cheers!

World Wide Wine Visa

Wine is an expression of the particular land it grows on.  The French call this "terroir."   You can say wine is of a place.


That place is some vineyard in some country.  Wine grows all over the Earth in many places you wouldn't expect.  It even grows in Central Oregon!

If you understand this, then when you come across a nice Chianti in the store and take it home, you have just purchased a trip to Italy.  Or should we say that Italy has come to you inside that bottle.

Now if you've been to Tuscany then you can play a little mind game and as you taste the wine send yourself back to that Sunny day you had sat outside in the vineyard with a good friend to enjoy that same wine. 

Imagination is key to enjoying wine.  You can relive pleasant memories you've had with a favorite grape varietal in your own backyard!

Oh yea,. well take this Tax!

"Effective October 18, 2019, the US Trade Representative's Office imposed a new 25% value-added tax (i.e., import tariffs) on a wide range of European products (including French wine, Italian cheese and single malt Scotch whisky) to penalize EU subsidies for Airbus.  EU has made counter-claims against the US subsidies for Boeing.  A ruling by WTO on EU's counter-claims is expected in the spring of 2020."

When children run the White House, then you get schoolyard retaliation against the French in particular and their wine exports.  What punishing the American wine industry that is linked to its survival to the World Wine Market  and the French has to do with Airplanes I do not know.

If you'd like to do more than sit back and watch the likes of D. Trump rack havoc with the wine industry,  while no doubt helping some of his Boeing buddies with a good belly laugh, then write to hopefully somewhat more sane congress members and suggest that this tax fiasco will harm not only France but the many American wine distributors that will be put out of business while the White House is flexing its muscle.

Here is a list of the Congress:
https://www.house.gov/representatives