In case you missed issue #209 of the Wine Advocate, Robert Parker pinch hit (a change in role from his vertical revisits) and reviewed recent release Napa Valley wines during the post-Anthony Galloni transition phase. According to Parker, it is Part I of the single largest Wine Advocate Napa report ever produced in the history […]
Cooperage and Second Generation Lessons at Liparita and Hoopes
A long time ago, Jason Fisher played defense for Boston College’s legendary Division 1 hockey program. That was before he made his left turn to UC Davis Viticulture and Oenology school. Lindsay Hoopes grew up in a white country house in Oakville next to the eight acre Hoopes Vineyard that her father planted in 1989. […]
Recommending 2007 O’Shaughnessy “Howell Mountain” Cabernet Sauvignon
September 10, 2010 was a bright sunny day in Napa Valley, warm but still not hot enough for growers dealing with tensions around the slower grape maturation associated with this year’s uncharacteristically cool west coast summer. While row after row of sun bathed thinned canopies yearned for a few more degrees of heat exposure, […]
Napa Valley Wine Visit: Making It Small
I have not enjoyed my visits to Napa Valley in the same way I did in the early 1980’s. So, I have been asking myself if I am excited to be heading back to the Napa wine scene today after a purposely extended hiatus and so many years of waning interest in another visit to […]
Loomis Vineyards Achieves Early Statement of Style
I like discovering young wineries working their own infant vineyards as wine makers unveil unique styling and a reliance on their own maturing vines that are not yet naturally producing lower yields with more intense and concentrated fruit. While it can take years to release the untold treasures embodied in newly planted land, it is […]