Featured Reviews+Interviews

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elevating elegance

reviews : wine producers

Interview with Robert Craig Winery

Expression. Location. Distinction. These, we might argue, are the core elements of a finely made wine - one that conveys a message from a particular place with a unique identity. With its wide variation of climate, soil, and topography, the north coast of California affords vintners a nearly limitless collection of stories to tell in the making of their wines…

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merrymaking with merryvale

reviews : wine producers

Merryvale Vineyards Winemaker Interview

A visit to the grounds of Merryvale Vineyards reveals everything we've come to expect of a Napa Valley winery: graceful design, serene landscaping, warm hospitality, and, of course, quality-driven wines. On scratching the surface, though, we discover something that doesn't…

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mountain majesty

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the talent behind Spring Mountain Vineyard

Grace and Complexity. Power and Intensity. These are the discrete expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon that we tend to associate respectively with the Old and New World. Yet one Napa Valley winery, in tapping the fullest potential of its mountainside grapevines, seems to have succeeded in articulating both. In doing so, Spring Mountain Vineyard…

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taking pride

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Pride Mountain Vineyards

One striking fact with which visitors to Pride Mountain Vineyards are immediately met is that the 235-acre estate actually straddles the line between the two otherwise distinct wine producing areas of Napa and Sonoma. But while having its grapevines and facilities located on either side of that border might present a logistical challenge or two, its position at the very top of Spring Mountain allows the winery…

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vertical vineyard

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Talent of Hidden Ridge Vineyard

With vine rows reaching gradiant slopes as steep as 55%, Hidden Ridge Vineyard is, without a doubt, an anomaly among grapegrowing properties in the United States. The creative scheme and audacious endeavor of owners Lynn Hofacket and Casidy Ward, it also boasts some of the densest planting of grapevines found on any hillside…

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chalking it up

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Chalk Hill Estate

Very few premium wineries in Northern California can boast of vineyards that lie on a single estate of nearly 1,400 contiguous acres. Even fewer enjoy the advantage to their wine production afforded by an expansive landholding that features widely diverse vineyard soils and sharply varying topography. Chalk Hill Estate, however, proudly claims both. Situated within a small appellation…

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a diamond is forever

reviews : wine producers

Diamond Creek Vineyards Interview

In the epic tale behind California's wine industry, Diamond Creek Vineyards is a legend in itself. Yet little did its founder, the late Al Brounstein, know at the time he bought his land in 1968 that he would later be making lasting history with the methods he chose to craft his quality driven Cabernet Sauvignon. With a combination of keen…

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words with winemakers

reviews : wine producers

Interview with Five California Vintners

Any enthusiast will agree that wine has the potential to inspire our minds, fulfill our hearts, and arouse our souls like few other things in life do.  But in experiencing the magic of wine at its best, it's not very often that we stop to think about the very people whose talent and skill are essential in making it all happen.  Curious to learn firsthand about the personal…

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the magic of montemaggiore

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Monte- maggiore Winery

Biodynamics. Based in a holistic and largely spiritual world view, it seeks to balance the interrelationship of land with the plants and animals thriving on it as a tightly integrated and self-nourishing system. While a great deal of biodynamic principles remain unexplained and in many cases even questionable, increasingly more grape growers in the wine industry are…

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super in sonoma

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Super Sonoman

Many in Sonoma County would take issue with being told that their winemaking region suffers from what might be called a bit of a varietal void. But arguably, much of its reputation has been built on the quality-driven production of Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah. Can the same thing be said of Cabernet Sauvignon? In asserting the…

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an uncommon consultant

reviews : wine producers

Interview with a Biodynamic Expert

Biodynamic viticulture is something with which I'd already been vaguely familiar when I learned of the work of wine consultant Philippe Armenier.  It was during an interview I conducted some time ago with one of his clients, who enthusiastically lauded the consultant and his practices, when I began to suspect that this once-obscure approach to winegrowing…

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duke & duchess of dutcher

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Dutcher Crossing Winery

"When you step foot on it, you know you are home." With these simple words Debra Mathy, proprietor of Sonoma's Dutcher Crossing Winery, describes not only the experience she seeks for visitors to her Dry Creek Valley estate but also the very essence of her role in the wine…

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keen on keenan

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaking Owner of Keenan Winery

It was with his hillside Napa Merlot that Robert Keenan's eponymous winery was planted squarely on the world's wine map twenty years ago. Since then, a new generation of ownership under his son has resulted in significant changes in vineyard practices, varietal choices, and overall business philosophy that have propelled the producer well into…

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angels & thieves

reviews : wine writers & publishers

Interview with Wine Poet Joseph Mills

As an avid city dweller who was born and raised in the urban jungle, I'm not fond of the outdoors.  I don't take much of an interest in nature, barely noticing the myriad of greenery prevalent here in Northern California. But my passion for wine has compelled me a number of times to hike the sometimes steep slopes of dusty vineyards, peering…

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bjørn and bred

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Bjornstad Cellars

Greg Bjornstad wasn't raised to be a wine lover. Yet judging from his early internship with a prestigious First Growth producer, eventual colloboration with several renowned Napa and Sonoma trailblazers, and current devotion to exploring and manifesting the utmost potential of the Burgundian grape varieties, one would think he'd been born among…

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peak performer

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Atlas Peak Winery

Throughout the 1990s, Atlas Peak Winery built and enjoyed renown in the marketplace for the Sangiovese varietal wine it produced from the elevation after which it was named. But with the new Millennium came broad changes to Napa's wine industry, not the least of which was an upsurge in the production of super-premium Cabernet…

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a garden in geyserville

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Garden Creek Vineyards

When we think of a garden, we're likely to imagine a small plot of land that's meticulously tended to and lovingly cared for — a testament, really, to the connection between plant and gardener. Albeit on a slightly larger scale, it's with similar attention to detail and devotion to nurturing that Karin and Justin Miller look after their own garden…

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the glow of rubissow

reviews : wine producers

The Hearts & Minds of Rubissow Wines

Steeped in tradition, yet focused on the future. Reverent of the land, yet driven to pushing its potential. Seasoned in experience, yet vibrant with ardor and enthusiasm. Such is the balance struck at the house of Rubissow, the Napa Valley family estate winery that runs on the disciplined vineyard management, erudite winemaking, and savvy…

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budbreak of a brand

reviews : wine producers

Benovia Winery of Russian River Valley

The business of wine production is frought with considerable challenges. Beyond these, launching a premium brand is a monumental undertaking requiring a tremendous amount of resources, talent, experience, planning, and above all, a clear vision for how that brand will position itself among the seemingly countless others vying for consumer attention…

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the kenefick effect

reviews : wine producers

Interview w/ Napa's Kenefick Ranch

When Tom Kenefick first got into the business of growing grapes over three decades ago, he had no idea he would end up raising vines for some of Napa Valley's finest wine brands.  In fact, tending the vineyard land had been a weekend endeavor for many years while he juggled a full time schedule as a neurosurgeon with the University of California…

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eastern exposure

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Founding Owner of Napa's Oakville East

The American consumer is one who heavily identifies with brands. And while super-premium wine is an agricultural product whose quality is heavily predicated on the geographical origin of its grapes, branding is nevertheless front and center in the sales strategies of most produced in this country. Yet where does the concept of terroir…

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roc solid

reviews : wine producers

Interview of VinRoc Wine Caves

Between the rocky soil of its hillside vineyard and the granite encountered during the excavation of its wine cave, VinRoc has had quite the solid theme of rock running through its story. I had initially met its proprietors, Kiky and Michael Parmenter, during the 2008 Family Winemakers event, whereupon I tasted wines from their small but super-premium portfolio…

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soil of serpentine

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Entrepreneur behind Blue Rock Vineyard

The surface of Alexander Valley's utmost potential as a wine region has barely been scratched. At least that's the belief of a small cadre of local producers dedicated to crafting premium Bordeaux varietal wines - of whom one is particularly adamant in his determination to help realize that promise. Kenneth Kahn, proprietor of Blue Rock Vineyard…

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vested interest

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Napa's Salvestrin

The face of the Napa Valley has changed dramatically over the last generation. During that time, scores of new wineries have been established and the resulting growth in commerce and tourism has been staggering. But in the midst of all this bustle and boom, there persists a number of small, family owned and operated vineyards whose history…

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seven, eight, vine

reviews : wine producers

Interview with Owner & Winemaker of Vineyard 7 & 8

Vineyard 7 & 8 is a Napa Valley winery with a mission as straightforward as its name: to produce wines of exquisite quality that accurately manifest the small vineyards from which they hail at the top of Spring Mountain.  But the simplicity ends there.  For as any quality-driven producer knows, turning a vision into reality…

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the grace of a swan

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Napa's Swanson Vineyards

From its vantage point at the very center of the Napa Valley, Swanson Vineyards has laid witness to considerable change in the region's wine industry during its nearly twenty five years of quality-driven wine production. Having first established its reputation during the heydey of California Merlot, a grape variety that has long since fallen out of favor…

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