Tom Wark's Fermentation Wine Bloggie Awards

Look Tom, we love what you're doing over there on Fermentation. Honest.
We love the blogs you've nominated for awards. HONEST!

But we can't help but ask you to create a new blog category for us people, you, me, everyone. Coolest Winemaker Blog. Best Place to Waste Work Time. Best Single Varietal Blog. Best Nonsensical Wine Blog. Hottest Contributers to a Blog. Something!

Shhhh.....Single Vineyard wines bottled

These are secrets... shhhh

We bottle a very small quantity of two single vineyard kinton wines... They are in unlabelled bottles destined for the dungeon for a year or so. We'll label them up next year, maybe we can put your name down for some

2007 "Neilson Vineyard" Syrah - This is SOOOOOOO peppery

2007 "Hampton Family Vineyard" Syrah - So rich and plummy

Don't tell anyone yet...

relax, two-buck chuck will remain two-bucks

Read about the California State Tax Package here.

Leave it to Jancis to give us the goods in a straightforward manner.

hidden items

In alot of internet meme's, one question inevitably is "Whats Under Your Bed?"

And I want to address whats IN my bed today. Thats right IN IT.

- Current issue Bon Apetit magazine
- Gold, glittery sparkly ball from the San Francisco Exploratorium
- 2 Sparkly barrettes that I wore two days ago
- 2 books: "Arriving at Your Own Front Door" and "Anne of Green Gables" (hey I LOVE Marilla Cuthbert)
- Bottle of Fiji Water that never made it over to bedside table
and
-Hello Kitty Calculator

I think that will tell you more than if we peered under my bed (Two plastic storage drawers filled with tax receipts and returns & scarves).

Happy now Internet Meme's?

How can we (I) convince The Girl Who Ate Everything to only drink Kinton?

The Image Formerly Known as Ren & Stimpy, Here.

Seriously. How can we?
They had a dumpling making and Ren & Stimpy marathon.

Syrah 101

Here is the first in a series of videos highlighting the merits of syrah. Look for a special guest appearance by our very own Peter Frasier. Enjoy!

(I always feel like) Somebody's Watching Me

To celebrate Chinese New Year, I went with some friends to (here it comes, wait for it) CHINATOWN. I brought a bottle of Syrah with me. Normally I wouldn't think of bringing wine, especially a red wine, with me to a Chinese restaurant. But these economic times call for it.

There was no corkage fee. Brilliant. And the plummy, jammy Syrah paired well with all the intricate spice combinations, black bean curd sauces, pork, fatty duck and fresh vegetables. If it was Summer I might have reached for a bone dry Gruner Veltliner.

But since this day was cold and overcast, we were all glad to have a little warmth.

Global Fusion, baby.
Santa Barbara Syrah & Chinese food is heaven.

Here are some more photos from the adventure. . .

New Proposed California Tax could cause loss of 7,000 Wine Jobs and the creation of Three Buck Chuck

Read about it HERE or HERE

Syrah Mascot

RacySyrah has a new mascot... pebbles

Pebbles in an Australian Kelpie, they are a working dog used for hearding cattle and sheep.

Pebbles willl be trained to herd vineyard workers during picking and pruning, she might even steel their lunch if they are not careful!

Virgin Blogger

I am posting my first blog... oooh ahhhh

It's been a crazy week! We are having a heat wave at Yangarra in McLaren vale of enormous proportions, reaching day time temperatures of 115F/45C, and nights as warm as 93F/34C. The Shiraz with some irrigation seems to love it, it's defintely opposite to the Santa Barbara Syrah conditions!! It hasn't been so kind to our poor dry farmed old vine Grenache, because they are bush vines they are closer to the dirt which is sand, which reflects the heat and scorches the fruit, in a normal year this helps with tannin and flavour ripening, doesn't look like we will make a 2009 Grenache. I sopek to the Bernard Smart who planted the vines with his father in 1946, and he said he has never seen the Grenache effected so severly!

The shiraz is just finishing verasion, so propbably around 6 weeks from harvest here, which is about 2 weeks early.

February Profile: Margaux Pierog

Margaux Pierog
Regal Wines

If you were ever in search of a knowledgeable real sommelier type, someone who could really lay out the facts with finesse and an unstodgy vocabulary, then Margaux Pierog would end your search. Done and Done. She is young, she is intelligent. She is pretty, she is also pretty smart. And best of all, Pierog can name & define 10 obscure wine appellations faster than you can recite “Peter Piper Picked a Pickled Pepper” three times fast.

Pierog grew up in Dana Point, California – a relaxed beach community. Her family encouraged her to seek the keys of the world and unlock secrets. And that’s just what she’s done, as a wine educator, for the last two years for Regal Wines.

1. What single person, place or thing has most significantly altered the course of your life? Studying abroad in Paris, really took me out of my element. Living there allowed me figure out what was most important in life. There was so much out there to take in each day and new parts of the city to explore. I had to be bigger than my realm of comfort.

2. What is your greatest passion? Learning, without question. Not just about wine, but surrounding things that I don’t know much about. Also, my family and maintaining a close group of friends who keep me centered and laughing!

3. What makes you happy? Mad? Mad? People who don’t laugh! Laziness!! It’s horrendous! Happy? Knowing that what I’ve been a part of is better off than before I started being a part of it.

4. Has the economy affected your job in any ways? Not really. People always want to learn and there are so many ways to share education. But I have had to re-focus on the more popular classes though. Classic topics.

5. What have proven to be the hardest pieces of the wine puzzle to learn? Italy. Sometime I think that the Italians makes rules just to break them. I adore Italian wines since they are so food friendly. But trying to delve into Italy after France and California is difficult.

6. What is your favorite food & wine pairing? Anything with champagne. Do you really even need food? I also like Kendall-Jackson Late Harvest Chardonnay with Caramel Corn. Mmm I like Spanish Cava, too.

7. What’s your next destination or just your favorite destination? My dream is to visit Greece and Portugal. Oh! The wine and culture there. I need to make it happen before I’m 30.

8. Tell us about one of your secret cheap thrills? Sancerre, a baguette and goat cheese. That’s perfect for a simple lunch or dinner. A complete thrill.

9. Which country or varietal is your specialty? Wonderful. Priorat. It’s in Northeastern Spain. Priorat are blends, usually of Mourvedre, Carignane and of course SYRAH! They are brooding, complex and delicate all at the same time.

10. Top advice for an up and coming aspiring sommelier? Check your facts. It’s important. So much wine info is out there is wrong. So have due diligence, Become an expert, a real expert on world wine. Constantly reading and learning.

11. Would you rather be caught in granny panties in public or paying corkage on a bottle of 2-buck chuck at an upscale restaurant? Granny Panties as long as they aren’t orange or yellow. People might get the wrong idea from yellow granny panties.

12. What is the most overlooked varietal? Syrah! Wholeheartedly. It’s not just pure black pepper and spice. It has a myriad of nuance – chocolate, raspberry, leather and mint.

13. And the next thing on your learning radar? Greece… there is more there then Retinsa.

14. Leave us with a quote… I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. ~Abraham Lincoln


Margaux Pierog recommends you read A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat
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