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COLUMNS - Current and Past Issues - Postmodern Winemaking
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Article: Grape Prices Flat in Finger Lakes »
 
It’s important to furnish growers and wineries with grape prices in time for them to...
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NEWSBRIEFS
  • San Diego approves tasting rooms
    The San Diego Board of Supervisors approved a new ordinance making it easier for grapegrowers to open tasting rooms and establish small wineries. The ordinance sets up a system allowing property owners in agriculture-zoned areas to establish one of four operations, from growing and producing wine and selling off-site to full wineries. The county now has 58 wineries, many concentrated in Ramona and Fallbrook.
     
  • Stone rolls to Oregon
    Larry Stone, managing director of Francis Ford Coppola’s 20,000-case Rubicon Estate, Rutherford, was named general manager of Evening Land, which makes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, California’s Sonoma Coast and Santa Rita Hills and in Burgundy. He’ll continue making his own label, 1,000-case Sirita.
     
  • Miller leaves St. Julian
    David Miller, long-time winemaker at 150,000-case St. Julian Winery, Paw Paw, Mich., has left to serve as visiting professor at Michigan State University and start his own winery, White Pine, in Lawton, with his wife, Sandy. Former associate winemaker Nancie Corum was promoted to winemaker at St. Julian.
     
  • Dr. Frank opens re-built tasting room
    Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars, Hammondsport, N.Y., held a grand re-opening party in July for the auxiliary tasting room that was destroyed by an electrical fire in April 2009. The rebuilt tasting room is larger and has more bar space than the original.
     
  • Encore! For Elledge
    Melinda Elledge joined Encore! Glass, Benicia, Calif., bottle supplier, as account manager for Napa and Sonoma counties. Previously, she was with Saverglass.
     
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    Sonoma Wine Country Weekend
     
  • September 5
     
    Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon
     
  • September 5-6
     
    Harvest Wine Celebration
     
  • September 10-11
     
    Winesong! Wine auction and tasting
     
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A compilation of wines reviewed each week by leading wire service and major daily newspaper wine columnists
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

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Postmodern Winemaking

 
September 2010
 

Astringency And Harmony In Tannins

 
Just as the heart of rock and roll is the beat, the foundation of the soul of wine is texture. In this column, we have often discussed the connection between fine colloidal structure and the aromatic integration that leads to soulfulness. Beyond this physical feature, great wines are tuned in to harmony, a human preference that we hold in common. For the postmodern winemaker to work in this medium requires both technical expertise and artistic sensibility.
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
August 2010
 

New World Identity: Terroir Reformation

 
We’ve all seen it coming. European wines are sold based on place, New World wines on varietal. As a result, Europe’s designations are more consumer-friendly, while those from the Americas remain a confusing science project. The time is approaching to convert our industry into a real business by identifying and promoting just what our regions offer.
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
July 2010
 

New Power Tools for Winemaking  Access to this article requires a subsciption.

 
“When the water of a place is bad, it is safest to drink none that has not been filtered through the berry of a grape or the tub of a malt. These are the most reliable filters yet invented.”
—Wendell Phillips, English novelist, 1835-1902
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
June 2010
 

Vineyard Enology: The Power of Showing Up  Access to this article requires a subsciption.

 
While winemakers will typically mouth the platitude that wine quality happens in the vineyard, Kay Bogart has actually walked the walk. After 15 years on the winemaking side, she approached her boss, talented winemaker Mark Lyon of Sebastiani, with a request to focus herself in the field—but not as a viticulturalist. “Vineyard enology” (VE), as she termed it, focuses not on growing grapes but on making sure they contain the right ingredients to make the intended wine. What follows is largely what Kay and I worked out while she directed the vineyard enology program at Vinovation from 2000 to 2005.
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
May 2010
 

Grahm's Prophecies Come to Fruition  Access to this article requires a subsciption.

 
Søren Kierkegaard famously remarked that life must be lived forwards but can only be understood backwards.
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
April 2010
 

Oak Reconsidered: Its Seven Functions

 
My postmodern definition of winemaking is: “the practical art of touching the human soul with the soul of a place by rendering its grapes into liquid music.” If grape flavors of origin are primary, what is the role of oak?
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
March 2010
 

Building Structure: The Tool Kit

 
So now we’re pregnant. In our first two columns about Postmodern Winemaking, we touched on its history, its general tenets and its usefulness in growing and making age-worthy wines. I explored the role of good colloidal structure in aromatic integration, soulfulness and longevity, and stated the principles necessary for obtaining the ideal building blocks for stable colloidal structure.
 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
February 2010
 

Creating Conditions For Graceful Aging  Access to this article requires a subsciption.

 

Every wine has one of three purposes: to delight, to impress or to intrigue. Generous, pleasant wines make us smile (the “yummy” style). Big, impactful wines with aggressive tannins and high alcohol are designed to blow us away (the “wow!” style). The rise of these styles in recent years parallels the growth in popularity of comedy and action/adventure films over dramas.

 
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Postmodern Winemaking

 
January 2010
 

The Solution Problem: Overcoming Enology

 
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