Life is Cabernet

Rob and Paula Campbell-Taylor hadn’t lived long at their ranch that would become Graveyard Vineyards when Paula got a phone call from a neighbor...

Martin and Patti Croad never intended to become vintners. In fact, when they found what would become their winery property, they were actually looking for a place to escape for a week or a weekend...

Skylar Stuck pulled the well-used Kawasaki Mule under a massive oak tree with a magnificent view south of Halter Ranch Vineyard’s 280 acres of vines, and switched off the motor...

Craig Jaffurs sensed he was in trouble. His father-in-law was not pleased with him. Craig and his wife, Lee, were new parents, and Craig was planning to chuck his 17-year career as an aerospace cost analyst for the Defense Department to open a winery. A winery, for crying out loud! Had he lost his mind?

You say pinot gris, I say pinot grigio. Whatever you call it, if what my panel tasted at the recent Florida International Wine Competition is any indication, pinot gris/grigio may be going down the same path chardonnay did some years ago. In my view, that’s not a good sign...

Poor sauvignon blanc. We just can’t seem to decide how this crisp white wine should taste.

I’m reminded of an old ditty by the comic British duo of Michael Flanders and Donald Swann called “Misalliance,” about a couple of plants whose offspring can’t figure out which way to grow: “Left, right, what a disgrace!

Add Madera to your list of weekend wine trip destinations. Yes, I can visualize your raised eyebrows. Madera?

Why would you want to go up the San Joaquin Valley to Madera to taste wine?

Some years back, I was talking with Gary Eberle, the genial owner of Eberle Winery in Paso Robles, about why he enters wine competitions. He told me: “Only five percent of the people who come into our tasting room have ever heard of Robert Parker [considered America’s preeminent wine critic]. Only twenty percent have ever heard of the Wine Spectator [wine magazine]. But everyone understands a gold medal.”

Two such wineries underscored for me how passion, commitment, focus, and great grape sources combine to make fabulous wine. Surh Luchtel Cellars and Selene Wines exemplify what happens when those qualities converge.

The biggest hurdle for the uninitiated wine drinker is wine’s complexity. It’s not a simple beverage. It’s a living thing with a lifespan much like a human’s. It’s like a bell-curve, going up from infancy and plateauing at maturity, then beginning a slow decline to old age.