Hey guys, Rocking and Rolling at the winery lately so I wanted to get this video up for everyone to see.. over the next couple of days I’m going to post a bunch more and try to get us all caught up. This is probably my favorite video thus far. Read More
Making Wine – Part 1 – Processing
All right, hopefully at this point you’ve had a chance to see the harvesting of our 2010 Zinfandel from the Quartz Block in Amador County. Once we delivered the fruit we immediately moved the bins into the cold room at Paradise Ridge Winery and gave it the night to chill back down after a long drive. Read More
Harvest Day – Quartz Block Zinfandel – September 21st, 2010
All right, I know, I’m sorry it’s been way too long since my last post but without further ado here it is…
Fact: Waking up at 5AM and picking is not easy, I really want to applaud all of the vineyard crews that toil in the vineyards year in and year out.. As you will see from this video these men and women are incredible at what they do. Read More
All right… Some quick Info...
Couple Weeks back we worked in the vineyard, thinned out any extra shoot growth and clipped off all secondary clusters and primary clusters that did not meet visual inspection… All of this on two of our three rows up at the Quartz Block. Read More
Quartz Block Zinfandel – August 28th
So this is the 3rd part of the Quartz block series and if you’re still following along now or just now picking it up we’re taking everyone on an interactive tour of the winemaking process. To this point we’ve seen the development of the Quartz Block, our Zinfandel vineyard in Amador County at Story Winery. This next segment gives a quick look at the continual development of our fruit; Read More
Well, last time I posted I was discussing a few of the grape types I love and some of the reasons why. This year my company, Everybody Happy Wine Company, will be working with a few different vineyards and I begin the documentation of a grape varietal that is near and dear to my heart … Zinfandel. Now you’re going to need to bare with me a second, this might get a little sappy and I hope not too long winded.
I was raised in Salem, Oregon; known more for being where the witch trials weren’t but where everybody thought they were rather than being the capital of one of the coolest (if not the) coolest states in the Union (Go Ducks!!). As I graduated HS I was not too different than many of my peers, in that I had no freaking clue what I wanted to do with my life (side bar I was so confused I joined the National Guard briefly). Read More
Story Vineyards – Quartz Block
As we move forward with the Winemaker Series, we come to what will be a regularly visited site, the Story Vineyards in Amador County. Over the six years that I’ve been making wines commercially, I’ve had the chance to make wine from a broad spectrum of grape varietals: Read More
Grasso Vineyards – Winemaker Series
Here’s the second half of the blog entry explaining the Grasso Vineyards tour.. As always if there are any questions pass them along.
Phylloxera, ohhh phylloxera you nasty little root killer you… I’m not going to get into a big history lesson but briefly illustrating: this little aphid basically decimated both the American and European vineyard lands by feeding on root systems; this resulted in deformations as well as secondary fungal infections and gradually cutting off the flow of nutrients and water to the vine. This is the equivalent of what reality TV does to humans. Read More
If you missed it, here’s the link to the video… Grasso Vineyards – Winemaker Series
Now this is my first video documentary of the coming season, and as previously mentioned, I aim to give viewers an inside look on the entire winemaking process from grape to bottle. Note: this video was taken one month ago – sorry for the delay, I’ll get better at this I promise. Read More
Over the course of these “Inside Looks” of the winemaking process, we’re going to come across many terms that may need clarification. As in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, you’ll have the option to watch the movies first, or read the ‘books’ first (This Blog).
Our first stop on the trail is Grasso Vineyards. Some quick background information on Grasso Vineyards: Read More