Like many industries, the wine industry is dominated by males. That presents challenges to women in wine, whether they are owners, winemakers, vineyard workers, or in other roles. As more and more females join the industry, it becomes easier. Often these women come from the wine industry– it’s the family business as pointed out in “#ClinkDifferent: 4 Affordable Red Bordeaux Paired With Instant Pot Oxtail Beef Bourguinonne” where three of the featured wineries have women running the show.
For women winemakers Nadine Cross of New Zealand’s Peregrine and Megan McGrath Gates of Lucas & Lewellen, farming is the family business, and it is through their love of the land that they’ve come to love vine and wine. Today we explore a pinot noir from each. Stay tuned for a feature on pinot noir from Megan Gunderson of WALT; she’s director of winemaking for an enterprise that makes wine from Oregon to Santa Barbara! Continue reading →
Lovers of Pinot Noir UNITE and calendar these three events: World of Pinot Noir (WOPN) at the Bacarra Resort Santa Barbara CA March 5-8, International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) July 24-26 in McMinnville OR, and Pinot Noir New Zealand (PN NZ) slated for February 23-25 2021 in Christchurch NZ.
WOPN kicks off with a field trip to WALT’s Clos Pepe vineyards OR an Alto Adige lunch at the Wine Cask in downtown Santa Barbara
While today’s post gets straight to the red wines we tasted at our table (and here’s a link to all of the wines tasted), I do want to mention that I am working on posts about some of the panels and sessions, including the rather controversial one with the professional print wine writers.
Remember, while there are a few links to websites, you can click on the highlighted @followedbywineryname to go to their twitter page which will link to their website to learn more about these wines.
And here’s a pro tip: bring an envelope or folder to put the handouts from the red tasting and another from the white tasting to make it easier when you go to write-up the post! And wineries, be sure to give us some sort of hand out to help us in the those critical 5 minutes about what’s in our glass, price, twitter handle and more so we don’t need to interrupt you for these details while you are telling us your story. Or wineries: be the one to GIVE us a folder with your brand on it and suggest we put all of our notes inside! (Because while I brought the folders to the hotel, I didn’t bring them down to the tastings!)
We were up in Mammoth for a holiday weekend ski trip where I also had a twitter tasting with Steven Kent Wines and Jim Demetriades, owner of Rafters hosted me! And what a gracious host! I was able to use a beautiful side room for the tasting, sommelier Chip Irmish set me up with the correct glasses I’d need as well as a dump bucket, and an ice bucket. Staff brought water, and either Chef Kerry Mechler or various staff brought out the six dishes that chef had chosen to pair with the six wines.
Here in Part 2, I’ll move from the whites on to the Pinot Noirs, one from Carneros and one from Santa Lucia Highlands, near Monterey. (Want to read about the Lola and the Dutton Chard?)
Last month, after a bluebird afternoon on the slopes at Mammoth Mountain, I participated in a fantastic Twitter Wine tasting featuring Steven Kent Wines hosted by The Rafters Restaurant at the Sierra Nevada Resort 202 Old Mammoth Road, Mammoth Lakes, CA. Established in 1967; Rafters was recently reborn as a world class restaurant with a 7000 bottle wine list!
Sommelier Chip Irmish had glasses ready and the wines chilled perfectly for me when I dashed back after a few quick turns on the slopes. Continue reading →
It’s Harvest Time in New Zealand and Spring Time in California! Celebrate both with the first Thirsty Girl #TGTaste Twitter Tasting of 2013 set for Wednesday March 27 at 5 pm PST (8 pm EST). You’re invited! Continue reading →
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 