The Story of Sulfites and “Natural” Winemaking
As I sit in my office/dining room on a typical rainy Portland day in March, I am clearly reminded that weather has a huge impact on wine making. As everyone knows, Portland has a reputation for rain, which I can confirm in my short time here. It seems 3 out of every 4 days has…
March 2, 2022
Wine Faults and Wine Storage
How do you know if a wine is bad and what to do? You are in a restaurant and the waiter pours you a taste of the wine you chose. You take a sniff and recoil at the odor. What do you do? a) Pretend it’s fine. It must be me b) Look quizzically at…
February 23, 2022
Components of Wine— and How to Begin Tasting Them
So what exactly is in that glass of wine? Simple answer: water and ethanol make up approximately 98% of what’s in your glass. Let’s begin there. The Big Picture Ethanol is one of many types of alcohol (from a chemistry angle) which includes methanol (wood alcohol) and isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)….
February 16, 2022
Wine History in a Hazelnutshell (Part 2)
Just tuning in? Check out Part 1 of this story here. California Dreamin’ Although the earliest winemaking was recorded in Florida in the 1560’s and the oldest winery in the USwas established in 1839 in New York, California is the center of the US wine universe. The Golden State claims over 80% of US…
February 9, 2022
Wine History in a Hazelnut Shell (Part 1)
Forgive the Willamette Valley reference but I am a proud supporter! For those in the know, the valley floor of the Willamette River is full of hazelnut trees, where 99.9% of the US’s hazelnuts are grown.1 What does that have to do with wine history? Glad you asked! The #1 rule of growing grapes is…
February 2, 2022
Cabernet Sauvignon and Chianti and Merlot Oh My! On Grape Varietals and Wine Regions
What do Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir and Merlot have in common? They are types of wine grapes. What do Chianti and Rioja and Bordeaux have in common? They are regions that describe types of wine. If you have ever confused the two categories, you’re not alone. Though there are over 10,000 wine grape…
January 26, 2022
Phylloxera: The Scourge of the Wine World
Leaf grapes phylloxera Phylloxera: The Scourge of the Wine World or How a Louse Almost Killed Wine “Scourge: a person or thing that causes great trouble or suffering” (Oxford Languages) So maybe you are reading this post as a result of the teaser from my post on AVAs? If so thank you, science is fun…
January 21, 2022
What is an AVA and Why Do I Care?
Do you want to become an educated consumer of wine? Then knowing your AVAs is a great first step: AVA stands for American Viticultural Area and defines the geographic region where a specific vineyard is planted. Geek out on the details below, so you can make sense of the hundreds of wines on the store…
January 11, 2022
Where Does Wine Start? In the Earth!
The Dirt on Oregon Wine “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care…
January 3, 2022
Let’s Talk Terroir
Wine is an expression of a place and time, and when combined with the natural aspects of the vineyard such as water, sunlight, soil, and climate, we begin to understand a wine’s terroir. To understand terroir we have to go beyond the grape variety or the viticulture (farming) practice and recognize the unique environmental conditions…
August 2, 2019