The Ojai Vineyard Hybrid Wines 2022 The Ojai Vineyard Estate White, Ventura County 2021 The Ojai Vineyard Paseante Noir, Ventura County
How can farmers and winemakers mitigate against possible disasters imposed by fire, drought, pests, weather?
The climate crisis and increased heat globally has changed weather patterns; the seemingly ceaseless and dependable summer coastal California fog is less dependable. The ever present threat of Pierce’s and other disease vectors is worse with the stress of global warming. Increased intense heat in the vineyards along with drought conditions further threaten grape vines.
One answer to these myriad problems? Hybrid grapes farmed in experimental ways like what Adam Tolmach is doing at The Ojai Vineyard with vines from UC Davis planted in 2017.
Adam and Helen Tolmach; all photos by Gwendolyn Alley
“We are the living links in a life force that moves and plays around and through us, binding the deepest soils with the farthest stars.” ― Alan Chadwick
Eclipse chasing. Like millions of people in the US on Monday April 9, I traveled to be transfixed and transformed, made giddy and tearful, by the spring 2024 solar eclipse.
As the Moon passed between the Earth and the Sun casting a shadow on us in the Texas Hill Country, the clouds parted, we sipped sparkling wine from Frey Vineyards, we experienced totality along the Rio Frio near Leakey, and we gazed at the Sun without needing protection for over four minutes.
Hello fans and family! I’m in New Mexico camping at Faywood Hot Springs with a bunch of my friends from Burning Man. We’re all headed for Texas to watch the eclipse, and for me, there’ll be wine tasting too! Did you know they grow grapes and make wine in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas? Yes! Driving the 10 you’ll see signs for various AVAs–American Viticultural If you know, got any tips? I’m going to try to visit wineries in all three states. and I’m staying with Frey winery folks organic and biodynamic pioneers from Mendocino. More on all that soon!
But first, there’s exciting news from the Wine Travel Awards in this email I received today!
4 Wine Women of the World and 4 of Their White Wines Paired with Shrimp and Chicken Penne
Since March is Women’s History Month, we took a quick roam around the cellar to find wines from women from around the world to pair with one of Sue’s and her mom’s favorite go to dinners: shrimp and chicken penne rustica, an easy dish for their weekly Wednesday night get togethers which they love to pair with red wines like Sangiovese and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The recipe to me said to try it with these four white wines where women are involved with producing them. We were pleased with the results, and you will be too!
Ventura Visit With Wildflower Winery’s Woman Winemaker Natalie Albertson
With their pastoral beauty, I love visiting vineyards surrounding wineries–don’t you?. But urban wineries and tasting rooms can be fun too– and often closer to home! Recently, my writing partner Sue Hill and I drove just a few miles from my house in Ventura to Wildflower Winery to check out the space, and to meet up with woman winemaker and winery owner Natalie Albertson to taste through a selection of her wines in bottle — plus two in barrel! Sue made a beautiful charcuterie board which we brought with us — and you can bring a picnic too on your next winery visit! Keep reading for ideas (just be sure to check if they allow outside food first).
Wildflower Winery’s Natalie Albertson getting a sample for us
Today we are celebrating both Women’s History Month and Riesling Day with a Riesling from Brooks Winery in Oregon which just named Claire Jarreau Head Winemaker after serving as Associate Winemaker and as member of the Brooks Wine team for ten years. Why is March 13 Riesling Day? Because March 13, 1345, is the first recorded date for the planting Riesling vines. The village of Hochheim, Germany is where it began, and not surprisingly, Germany has the most plantings today with 24,500 ha (about 61k acres, according to several sources). In the Alsace region of France, Riesling is on record as being planted in 1477; today 3,280 ha (8,100 acres) are planted with these vines. In the US, Washington State pioneers planted Riesling in the 1880s, and now they grow riesling on 4500 acres (happy Washington Wine Month by the way!). California’s Riesling acres has dropped to just under 3k acres (check out Smith-Madrone’s passion for Riesling).
Claire Jarreau (photo courtesy of Brooks)
Why Oregon’s Brooks Wine’s Riesling for Riesling’s Birthday and Women’s History Month?Continue reading →
Sicilian viticulture goes back 3000 years, and the island’s indigenous grapes offer an incredible legacy to winemakers today. Since 2011 the Consorzio Sicilia DOC’s has developed a compelling portrait of Sicilian native varieties, and the BI.VI.SI. project further seeks to enhance Sicilian (SI) viticultural (VI) biodiversity (BI) further in part by promoting forgotten flavors and identifying clones; so far 131 new alleged clones of the different vine varieties have been identified.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 