Hosted by Director of Winemaking Dirk Hampson, (that’s me), our blog does not aspire to particularly deep thinking, linear thinking, or even insightful thinking. (Of course, since this is about wine, we can aspire to pretensions as needed.) We are approaching this blog as an opportunity to share some of what is going on at our wineries, in our vineyards or in the area along with any fleeting thoughts that happen to get captured in these electrons to be spread across the internet like so much chaff in the wind. (It is faster than sending notes in a bottle but technically far more demanding.) We will try to post a cross section of your comments and even respond to prove that we are alive, alert, and still have a working internet connection.

Date: May 12, 2008 4:20 AM
Look at the Sunflower

After my brief discussion last week of “Biodynamic wine-writing,” it seems like a good time to look into the vineyards. We are attacking weeds, (organically).

You remember from your childhood that a weed is defined as anything that is growing in the wrong place. (For instance, I love redwood trees…I just think that they are best near the coast, well away from Oakville Cabernet vines...where I would classify them as “weeds.”) If we are attacking weeds, (more...)

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Date: April 30, 2008 1:17 AM
Oakville Wine Growers

The Oakville Wine Growers just had their annual Taste of Oakville tasting. I think it is as good a showcase of an appellation as can be found. Even though Oakville is tiny – about 2400 acres – it has remarkable variation in soils, drainage and exposure. The resulting wines reflect these differences. The vineyards and the wineries are among the most sought after producers of cabernet within Napa Valley. In short, Oakville = Cabernet. There is likely more (more...)

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Date: April 25, 2008 10:56 AM
Before and After…

What is it about “Before and After” pictures that always makes us look? Maybe it is just the “people watching” nature that lurks inside each of us. It could be our societal obsession with diets.

Since most of us don’t check out vineyards or viticulture magazines, I thought it was time to mention that we are thinning (This is not a personal weight loss statement nor is it any indication of how “folliclely challenged” I (more...)

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Date: April 22, 2008 4:29 AM
Waiting for Bloom

Winemakers love to talk about bloom. It sounds so dramatic. None of the vineyards are close to bloom yet. That starts next month…assuming we can get through this frost season which has been among the worst in 30 years. I would complain about our frost (and it has damaged this year’s shoots and crop) but Sunday I got a call from my brother in Portland and it was snowing up there. I am sure that (more...)

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Date: April 18, 2008 4:26 AM
Lost and Found...

This is the last entry this week about desserts. (Next week I may be able to get back to what is going on in the vineyards.) I thought you should see something that came out of our tasting group that includes chefs, winemakers, hospitality and even management!

Face it, when Abi said that he was going to make “French Toast”, we didn’t do back flips or say “stop the presses”. Actually, he was too cultured and (more...)

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Date: April 16, 2008 3:36 AM
Beware: Dessert Development in Progress

After mentioning Mustard’s desserts last time, I thought I should say that we spend a lot of time thinking about desserts, and even more time about what desserts go best with Dolce. (I fall into the school that sometimes Dolce is dessert enough on its own…)

While I am used to tasting wines for work, (It is part of my career and it lets me complain about how unpleasant young red wines are at 8 a.m.) (more...)

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Date: April 14, 2008 2:51 AM
Recommendations from a Sweet Tooth
Categories: General

Do you ever get a craving for dessert? I have a sweet tooth. (Since it has always been that way, it must be genetic and I can blame it on my parents.) It could explain the creation of Dolce...a good thing. Heck, as a kid, I used to sell the marbles I won at school so I could finance my after-school pastry habit. (Eclaire, Mille Feuille, Pain au Chocolat were the pastries of choice.)

My wife (more...)

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Date: April 10, 2008 1:42 AM
Your Futures…(A Baker’s Dozen)

We tend to believe that we can have but one Future and it is mercifully unknown.

Maybe I have read too much fiction, but we can prove that you can enjoy multiple Futures – at least 13 to be precise. No, you don’t have to be schizophrenic to enjoy all of them but you do have to make arrangements between now (April) and then (August 31^st). You even get to choose your own “Futures”!

Each spring we (more...)

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Date: March 31, 2008 3:16 AM
Sounds Like...
Categories: General

Do you ever think about the sounds of a particular place? How about the sounds of a particular time? I just got back from skiing (actually, FANTASTIC spring skiing in Sun Valley with six inches perfect powder on Friday night…). These two valleys, Napa and Sun Valley, sound completely different.

Gil, who started Far Niente, truly was a rocket scientist, so he understood the physics and thermodynamics of protecting a vineyard using the freezing of water. It made (more...)

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Date: March 21, 2008 3:39 AM
It's Not Broken
Categories: General

“Bud Break” What’s that? Usually when something “breaks”, it is a bad thing. In the case of buds in Napa Valley, it means only one thing; Spring is here. It means that pruning better be about done, and the frost systems better be working. (Sometimes we don’t prune until we see growth because late pruning delays the real growth by a week or two (or it means we are behind and it gives us more time (more...)

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