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March 31, 2008
Bigger the price tag, better the wine?
I always assumed that wine had to be expensive in order to be good. I figured this was a safe assumption considering cheap hard liquor tastes exactly like what it is- cheap hard liquor. And the cheap stuff is never good, no matter what you mix it with! It's not that way with wine with the exception being: cheap or expensive, because nothing really mixes good with wine.
(I don't care what my mom says about the 1970's and home made wine coolers.) To my surprise what I have found is that while a more expensive bottle of wine will often times taste better, you don't have to drop a ton in order for the wine to be a good-quality bottle. One thing that I must say for all the newbie's out there, don't go out and buy a bottle of wine just because of the costly price tag. Do some homework and by homework I mean taste some wine. Best kind of research involves drinking right? Sigh... reminds me of college. (Sorry Mom) So go out wine tasting with your friends. Mix it up a little. Instead of going bar hopping Friday night, like you always do, go out wine tasting. There are many local wine bars with staffs that are more often than not incredibly friendly and very helpful. I promise you you will have some fun and you might even learn something about wine too. In all seriousness, what I have learned is that price is the lease accurate barometer for quality but it's a place to start. But if you're looking to buy a bottle tonight and don't have time to do any research generally a mid-range bottle is a safe buy.
For those that live in the East Bay there is a wonderful establishment in Walnut Creek, the Artisan Wine Lounge & Cafe. The feeling of the lounge is very laid back yet with a chic and modern influence. For directions and further information visit them at http://artisanwl.com/index.html.
Posted by WLW at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 24, 2008
Rolling Right Along
Having an office at a working construction site sure has its hindrances. I am just about used to the periodic earthquakes. But our Office Manager is tired of the constant shaking and thinks it loosened a couple of fillings. There's also the afternoon jack hammering, the buzzing and rumbling of equipment stirring about forcing me to yell into the phone. And of course the irresistible distraction of "Hmm... what they doing now?" All and all it's rather entertaining to watch the equipment moving dirt, destroying concrete, digging trenches, and demolishing walls. Check out our new crush pad! Things are rolling along nicely.
Posted by WLW at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 21, 2008
This Buds for you WLW!
And no I'm not talking about the so-called King of Beers. After one short winemaking lesson with our winemaker, Dean Sylvester, I learned more about the wine making process than I could by taking a class at Davis. I'm exaggerating a tad here, but my pen and notepad could barely keep up. And by the way, we have the best winemaker in the whole Napa Valley hands down!
The vines are starting to grow. I am told this is called bud break. The agriculture and farming aspect of the biz is very interesting to me. The vines are just beginning to grow and its fascinating how they look more like mothballs than anything reminiscent of a grape right now. They will continue to grow until around the 1st of May and by April the vines will be about 2 feet long. Dean says that that we are heading into the potential frost time of the year. If the temperatures drop to 28°F- 30°F the vines are at risk.
There are a few different ways to prevent frost. One way is to plant the vines on the side of a hill, another way is to use overhead sprinklers. I thought this was extremely odd but evidently the ice, that forms on the little buds from the sprinklers, act as an insulator and protect the vines. A different way to prevent frost is to use Wind Fan Machines. The fans circulate the air and keep frost from developing. And apparently turning on the wind fans at 3am or whenever the frost alarm sounds is part of my job description. Who knew that a Marketing Assistant would be responsible for circulating the air with the Wind Fan Machines? My boss said it's easy since I already blow a lot of hot air around here. Thanks Mike. :-) Hey it sounds like a learning experience to me so if you see a little bundled up figure moseying around the vineyards, yelling at a giant fan, don't be alarmed it's just little old me taking care of my buds.
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Posted by WLW at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 17, 2008
I'll leave the heavy lifting to the pros
On an unusual sunny and gorgeous day in February, a towering crane was reaching into our busted open courtyard and plucking out some of our stainless steel fermenting tanks. The tanks ranged from 1800 gallons to 5600 gallons and they were being removed only temporarily to allow the jackhammers to go to work on the courtyard pad. (Come to think of it, I should upload the sounds of jackhammers and figure out a way to get some virtual concrete dust on all your cars too.)
I thought it would have been really cool if they were moving full tanks. Dean, our winemaker, didn't think so, but suggested I could get a ride inside one! He said it would be an "E-ticket ride" whatever that means. I opted to steer clear and watch is all like a Cal-Trans supervisor. Wendy took the photos, so really, I was there only to watch and of course report.
Posted by WLW at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 10, 2008
Vacant Land + Mud Puddles = Time to Play
Now that the Merlot vines are gone and the rains have started the 'little kid' in us all has been awaken, especially in Tom Jr. The giant dirt hills and shallow mud puddles are ever so enticing. Dirt bikes and ATV's are considered work, right? Just trying to compact the dirt for the new foundation!
Posted by WLW at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 5, 2008
The "New Girl"
It's not just the baby boomers drinking wine anymore. Today more and more of the 20-30 year old crowd are enjoying a glass. Thus steadily becoming recognized as wine lovers. Being in my twenties, I am pleased to say I have entered the wine world with an open mind and a curious palate. Being in a brand new industry along with my relatively limited prior wine knowledge, I am the bonafide "new girl" and have even been introduced as such. The goal of this blog is to discover, share, and ultimately enjoy this new experience. And with any luck uncover the tasteful world of wine. I'm looking to create an informative blog to share what I learn. I also want to be your source for questions relating to wine. I may not know the answer but I have wonderful sources! Please post your experiences, thoughts, likes, dislikes, misconceptions seeing that you will be hearing mine as I walk through the new and unknown.
Posted by WLW at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 3, 2008
Bring down the house... so to speak
One of the best things about construction, besides all the big kid toys, is demolition! In order to connect our current home with our future building, we (and by we, I mean a heavy-duty excavator) had to bring down the outside courtyard wall. And bring it down it did.
It's times like this that make you want to put on a pink hard hat and fire up one of those bad boys. Well, not really but it's sure fun to watch.
Check it out and if you have a computer newer than our GM's "throw back" computer, you even get sound! Wall coming down CRASH.ppt
**For those not familiar with PowerPoint you must play the presentation as a slideshow. After presentation downloads go to Slideshow on top of screen then View Show . **
Posted by WLW at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)