While Malbec is a wine to enjoy all year around and is grown all around the world, Malbec World Day on April 17 is THE DAY of the year to take a moment to appreciate Malbec, and specifically, Malbec from Argentina. To celebrate Malbec World Day, eight members of the Ventucky Wine Tribe gathered at Drummer Diane’s to pair Argentinean inspired cuisine with eight Malbec from Argentina: six red still wines and two rose sparkling wines! We started off with one rose sparkler and closed the evening with the other with dessert.
This post is about the two bottles of bubbles, and the next is about the six bottles of still red wine, plus five fun facts about Malbec from Argentina.Continue reading →
There was a lot Steiner and his compatriots did not know in 1924. What they did know was that the new chemical farming strategies that were taking over the world were destroying the land and our food. They may not have known why, but they knew something was wrong. At least they had the courage to seek a solution.
Our job as biodynamic farmers is to continue the experiments as he requested until we find why biodynamics works, which it does.
There is something clearly working here and in the face of climate change we better figure out what works.
Striving for Demeter certification is like a jazz musician practicing scales over and over again. It is only after they master their instrument that they can improvise and truly create something new.
Sampling Montinore’s biodynamic bubbles in their Oregon estate tasting room near Portland
Monday April 22 is Earth Day, and the whole month of April is Earth Month.
So what should you be drinking to celebrate? How about biodynamic wine? We’ve got a bottle of biodynamic bubbles from one of the world leaders in biodynamics, Oregon’s Montinore Estate, that we recommend you toast with (see below).
Most people know that Sicily is the ball at the tip of the toe of the boot of Italy. While only three miles separates the island of Sicily from the mainland of Italy, Sicily has long had its own separate culture — and
Sicily has 68% indigenous vines that thrive along the coasts and on the slopes of the most active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna, which set off a plume of ash on February 18, 2019:
As I learned during from Vinitaly’s Italian Wine Ambassadors course in Los Angeles this February, Continue reading →
Today, March 31, is the birthday of labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez. Long commemorated in California, where Chavez did much of his important work, in 2014 President Barack Obama named March 31 as a federal holiday honoring him for his service. Because this year March 31 is a Sunday, tomorrow Monday April 1 will be a holiday with some schools, federal offices, and other sites closed for the day.
mixed media portrait of Cesar Chavez by Dianne Bennet
Among his many accomplishments, Chavez founded the United Farm Workers, and he led marches and boycotts to bring national attention to the plight of the farm workers which led to protective legislation across the United States. The leadership, strength, and sacrifices by Chavez made people pay attention to farm workers who eventually gained many rights that otherwise they may not have achieved.
These three wines from Matsu pay homage to those working in the vineyards. The labels use real-life photos of the viticulturists to showcase and represent the essential character of the wines. While not certified biodynamic or organic on the label, these practices are prevalent in these 80-100 year old vineyards and Bodega Matsu chose these vineyards in the D. O. Toro for their age but also for
Winter in the vineyard means pruning — it has to be done while the vines are dormant and before the buds break.
So now that the pruning is done and it’s spring, what’s next?
There’s much important work to be done in the winery as well as in the vineyard.
On a beautiful early spring day during the midst of an amazing wildflower season, friends gathered at the South Mountain Winery above Santa Paula, California, to help Clos des Amis winemaker Bruce Freeman and his partner Gretel Meys Compton bottle the 2018 rose Continue reading →
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 