California wine is well-known globally. A long, rich history is the backbone of the operation. Although much of the global stance got it’s footing post-prohibition, European immigrants long before modern winemakers saw gold in the soils and climate of modern-day CA. Although the official birthdate of California wine…
CA Wine: The Earliest Days
California’s Native Grape
It’s California Wine Month! What better way to celebrate than to kick it off by learning about California’s native grape. It is a common misunderstanding that Zinfandel is the native California grape. In fact, Zinfandel is actually Primitivo from Italy – or wait… is Primitivo Zinfandel from California? …
Wine? In Illinois!?
Happy Illinois Wine Month! Yes. It’s actually a thing, and it should be. Illinois has their first documented winery and vineyard planting dating back to 1851 and by 1880 had over 660 acres planted with 40 operating fine wine cellars. The story of Illinois wine is a story…
WA Cabernet Sauvignon
In celebration of Washington Wine Month (August) and International Cabernet Day, let’s take a look at a few Cabs from Washington that made the state internationally recognized. While Washington wasn’t built on a foundation of Cab, Merlot and Syrah, those red varieties have come to dominate in the…
Decoded: Wine Serving Temps
It is well-known and spoken about in the wine community: Americans drink their whites too cold; their reds too warm. While this is a grossly generalized statement, it exists for a reason. For example, when you dine out at a restaurant, the white wines are sitting in a…
International Rosé Day!!!
This past June we did a small info piece on What is Rosé that looked at the 3 methods in which rosé wines are created (contact, saignée, and blending). Rosé sales and importing into the US are at an all time high, and continue to keep growing. In…
Decoded: Intro to Wine Bottle Shapes
In the world of wine, there are numerous bottle shapes and styles. More recently, wineries have been doing some incredibly artistic things with their bottles with marketing and customer awareness in mind. At a later date we will go into a much deeper dive on these shapes and…
WA White Wines
To celebrate Washington Wine Month and National White Wine Day, we’d like to brush over Washington wine history and take a look at the more interesting portion of the 2nd largest wine producing state’s variety of white plantings. Washington State is known for its plantings of lesser known…
International Albariño Day!
It’s International Albariño Day and what better way to celebrate than drinking some! Well, as Americans, it isn’t commonplace to have some just laying around the house or in our cellars – in fact, most supermarkets won’t have it in the wine isle, so let’s take a moment…
