September 8, 2008 – 4:13 pm
First, there was Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker’s Girl (I didn’t want Noe to grow up thinking she couldn’t bake because she wasn’t a man!). Then came Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Lobster Man (based on the lobstermen we met in Maine). And now that it’s harvest time and we see grapes hanging lush and ripe […]
I’m finally getting around to writing about the seasons here in the vineyards—what’s going on with the vines and buds, rather than what’s going on in my life. Thank you all for your sweet words that helped so much during the tough, tough time of letting Tally go (truth be told, the tough part isn’t […]
February 5, 2008 – 8:56 pm
There is nothing quite like winter in wine country. Harvest is a colorful bustle, spring is a riot of newness. But winter is a time of stillness, when the vines are bare and the beauty of the vineyards isn’t of lush green against a backdrop of dusty yellow, but of stark black against the bold […]
October 31, 2007 – 10:42 am
I am going to usurp an idea a friend of ours shared at a harvest party last year. He, (the one who posted the eloquent comment on What is Wine Anyway?), shaped some of his thoughts on the season around the letters for HARVEST and it got me thinking too. So over the past few days, I’ve been pondering the […]
September 11, 2007 – 3:53 pm
I was driving through Alexander Valley noodling this month’s challenge for Wine Blogging Wednesday—to write about an indigenous grape variety. At first, my thoughts went far afield to the unusual varietals I’ve discovered in foreign lands—Kekfrankos in Hungary, for example, or Assyrtiko in Greece. But as I watched the emerald carpet of vines whiz past me and […]
August 14, 2007 – 7:46 am
I got an e-mail from my friend Jason yesterday asking for advice on preserving tomatoes. Poor thing (envious sarcasm there) is going to Europe for three weeks just as his tomatoes are coming into their own. He’d gotten some great canning advice from Kalyn’s Kitchen, but I admitted to him that I’m a bit intimidated […]
Ode to Veraison
Fresh and green, translucent and newTurning red . . . and then somewhat blue.Just yesterday your berries gleamed greenNow ruby gems dangle between your leaves.
In a few short weeks you’ll be plucked from your roostAnd left to ferment; your elixir-like juice.But I know the wait ahead is longUntil I can taste the […]
When I first moved to wine country, I was appalled at the perfectly good fruit lying in between rows at various stages of the growing season (but then again, I have emotional issues with thinning). Then someone explained the concept of dropping fruit, whereby some of the fruit is pulled off so that the vine […]
In the ten years I’ve lived here in California—especially in Sonoma—I’ve learned quite a bit about vines. Or so I thought. Going over the notes from my tour of the vineyards with Keith and Erik, I found quite a few question marks in the margin. I couldn’t find a good one-stop resource online for wine […]
One of the really cool things about doing this blog in conjunction with Clos du Bois (I originally wanted to call this the Clos du Blog, but I got vetoed—which is good, I can’t imagine it being anything but swirling notions now) is having full access to all the people who shepherd the wines along, […]
