Monthly Archives: August 2024

Grape Collective talks with Marco de Grazia about his unique wine journey and the incredible potential of the Mount Etna wine region. 

Gérard Bertrand’s 17 pristine, biodynamic vineyard estates are decades in the making, but it is his sense of purpose, commitment to the environment and his family’s long history in the Languedoc that speak volumes about what his vision and ambition truly entail.

The modern California sparkling wine industry is very young. Jack and Jamie Davies were among the pioneers when they founded Schramsberg in Napa Valley in 1965. In 1973, Moët & Chandon founded Domaine Chandon in Napa and it was such a big deal that we had a sparkling-only dinner at its onsite restaurant in Yountville on our honeymoon in 1979. Chandon led a surge of interest among foreign companies to make bubbly in the U.S. Considering that sparkling wine has been made in Champagne for hundreds of years, the development of Méthode Champenoise wines in the U.S. has happened in the blink of an eye.

Grape Collective talks to Frank Cornelissen about winemaking on Mount Etna, his philosophy of viticulture, and what makes the region so unique. 

Since we last spoke with Philippe Pascal, founder of Burgundy's Domaine du Cellier aux Moines, he and winemaker Guillaume Marko have started an exciting new venture in Beaujolais. The new project, Domaine Mont Bessay, located in the heart of the Juliénas Cru, ...

Hope Goldie, whose chemist father made wine at home in Washington, studied enology and food science at UC-Davis and worked at Opus One, Stags’ Leap and Rutherford Hill Winery before joining Darioush in 2005. She has held various winemaking jobs there, from enologist to assistant winemaker to director of winemaking and, now, vice president of winemaking. John met her earlier this year during the Wine Writers’ Symposium at Meadowood Napa Valley. She is charming, funny and deeply knowledgeable, so we were eager to catch up and ask her some questions, including the simplest: Why Viognier? While it’s widely planted around the world, especially in the Rhône Valley, where it’s especially famous in Condrieu, it’s fairly unusual in the U.S. and even more unusual in Napa Valley, especially as a stand-alone varietal. In 2023, there were 2,555 acres of Viognier in California and 88,063 acres of Chardonnay, according to the California Grape Acreage Report. And last year, the report noted, there were only 117 acres of Viognier in Napa compared to 22,945 of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Finger Lakes region of New York has a rich history of winemaking that dates back to the early 19th century. The region's winemaking journey began in 1829 when Reverend William Bostwick planted the first grapevines in Hammondsport, primarily for sacramental wine and table grapes. However, it wasn't until the mid-19th century that commercial winemaking began to take root. ...