Wine Producers, Growers, & Labels

The first thing I notice about Nalle Winery in Healdsburg is the row of gnarled, thick stumped Zinfandel vines lining the pathway up to the large red barn where the Nalle family makes their wine. The vines look much older than many of the other grapevines I’ve seen planted in wineries nearby, and indeed they are. These vines, planted in 1927 by Andrew Nalle’s great grandfather attest to the long lineage, hard work and love for the earth that characterizes the wines of Nalle Winery. At age 29, Andrew Nalle is working closely with his father Doug to keep the tradition alive.

Each year at 12:01 AM on the third Thursday of November, millions of bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau begin a journey from a little French village to locales across the globe. Wine stores and cafes enthusiastically greet these shipments with signs and banners proclaiming "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!" "The New Beaujolais has arrived!". With this begins the annual celebration of the arrival of the French wine Beaujolais Nouveau, a celebration steeped in tradition, frivolity, grandeur, legend, and of course, fabulous wine.

I enjoy talking wine with anyone and everyone, and as a result, have some interesting and provoking questions posed by casual wine drinkers. Beyond the varietals, regions, styles, labels and terminology is a very fundamental question asked over and over again. Why is some good wine cheap while the small lot stuff is so damn expensive? Isn't it all just fermented grapes? Is there really a perceivable qualitative difference tied to the price tag?

The California Central Coast is home to many premium wine makers. Though less renowned than their Napa and Sonoma neighbors, Central Coast wine producers are consistently turning out great niche wines and marketing them to a rapidly growing base of Central Coast oenophiles. Based about 150 miles north of Santa Barbara in San Luis Obispo, Claiborne & Churchill is a fine example of a premium Central Coast winery. IntoWine.com recently caught up with Claiborne Thompson (one half the namesake behind "Claiborne & Churchill) to discuss his winery's focused niche of "Alsatian Style" wines , the current Riesling "craze", and his transformation from academia to winemaker.

Paradise Ridge Winery is more than just another Sonoma County tasting room. The Santa Rosa winery is equal parts great wine, relaxing view, unique outdoor art garden, and family affair with a touch of local history for good measure. IntoWine.com recently caught up with Paradise's Rene Byck to chat about what makes the winery a worthy oenephile destination spot.

As the understanding and appreciation of biodynamics continues to grow, we are seeing more and more vintners converting to what has become an innovative practice. The agricultural principles established by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920's, for a time disregarded because they were rooted in mysticism, are being embraced by some of the most successful and high profile winemakers in the New World.

A blending party is one of the most enjoyable of the various events offered by wine clubs. When combined with a lobster feed, it makes for a most memorable day of hands-on play at winemaking, then hands-on work at lobster -cracking. A tasteful pairing of higher education and higher hedonism. It was just such a day at Alderbrook Winery, located just west of Healdsburg, just off US Highway 101 in California’s Sonoma County.