April 2006
Posted: Apr 28, 2006 5:23pm ET
How does a wine get priced at $265 a bottle? One way is to pay $26,500 a ton for the grapes. Paul Hobbs stopped by my office in Napa today to taste two of his 2003 Cabernets. He’s going to be on my Expressions of Napa Valley Cabernet panel at this year’s California Wine Experience, and we wanted to taste two wines he was considering pouring.
Read More
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 1:26pm ET
Mayacamas Vineyards released its 1970 Napa Valley Zinfandel this month for $100 a bottle, and no, that’s not a typo on the vintage date. “Even more amazing,” says owner Bob Travers, “this is not a re-release, for we have never sold this wine before.
Read More
Posted: Apr 24, 2006 2:01pm ET
Two items have risen to the top of today’s to-do list. No. 1 is work-related -- wrapping up our annual Chardonnay report. It is by far the easier of the two assignments. Each year, I taste roughly 400 new Chardonnays.
Read More
Posted: Apr 21, 2006 1:54pm ET
President Bush is arriving in Napa Valley today, and this appears to be the first visit to the area by a sitting president. (Our research didn’t turn up any other solid leads.) The president is scheduled for a sleepover at Meadowood, the resort near St.
Read More
Posted: Apr 20, 2006 1:30pm ET
“It’s gonna be a great year for cutworms and botrytis,” my friend C.J., a Rutherford-based vineyard manager said, tongue in cheek. And that was last week, before it rained again over the weekend.
Read More
Posted: Apr 18, 2006 2:10pm ET
I paid my first visit to Blankiet Estate last week, on one of the rare days this spring when the sun was shining brightly in Northern California. This is the ambitious new vineyard and winery owned by Claude and Katherine Blankiet, with the viticulture and winemaking being overseen by Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer.
Read More
