What do you get when you gather five young, “next-generation” Napa vintners around a table and talk shop? Besides “buzzed on some really good juice,” I mean? Essentially, that’s the question I was hoping to answer when I worked with the Napa Valley Vintner’s Association to set-up a round-table discussion with some of Napa’s best…
Category: on the road
1WineDude TV Episode 15: Underground Wine Road at Benziger
Although the term terroir gets tossed around like confetti at an Italian wedding these days, there are several (mostly family-owned and –operated) wine properties in Napa and Sonoma that are taking the idea seriously. One such property is Benziger, who biodynamically farm grapes and make wine in a beautiful section of Sonoma County. So much…
Endangered Species: Santorini Wine Fights For Its Survival
“All this was green – from here until the sea.” George Koutsoyannopoulos has a round, friendly face that belies the seriousness of what he is telling me, one arm on the steering wheel of his “Volcan Wines mobile,” the other gesturing over me towards the passenger side window as we ride up the twisting, winding…
Terroir At The Edge Of The World (In The Vineyards of Santorini)
Peering out across the ancient caldera into the Agean from just about any spot on top of the beautiful Greek island of Santorini, you could be forgiven for mistaking the place for the edge of the world. And when I say “beautiful” I don’t mean beautiful in the “my backyard garden is beautiful” sense of…