|
||||||||||
|
Wills Creek Vineyards/Courtesy photo Wines made with the muscadines grown at Wills Creek Vineyards are an attraction for visitors to the winery. The Winery at Pepper Place — 2801 Second Ave. S., Birmingham; 205-250-6326; wineryatpepperplace.com. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all week. Bryant Vineyard — 1454 Griffitt Bend Road, Talladega; 256-2638; kabryant71614@aol.com. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Want to drink in Chaos Theory? Or perhaps you'd care to give your palate an Educated Guess? We're talking wines, of course – specifically a new breed of quirkily named wines that aim to make you think while you drink. The Associated Press Educated Guess is named after the nature of winemaking, 'with no right or wrong to it,' says Roots Run Deep winery owner Mark Albrecht. "I'm a big believer in the theater of the mind," said Jerry Prial, who decided to call his wine Debauchery to tickle the intellect as well as the palate. "People – when they see the wine, they really start to laugh and they smile, and that's what we wanted." Prial founded Portsmouth, N.H.-based Gerard Wine Co. after spending 30 years in the beer brewing industry. The wines are imported from Chile, and he picked the name Debauchery – extreme indulgence of sensuality – as an antidote to the wine world's "mysterious and intimidating" ambience. "I'm trying to fight through the clutter, all the thousands of different wines out there," he said. As one of the visionaries who first glimpsed the potential of Ontario's Prince Edward County to be Canada's next fine wine region, Geoff Heinricks is well-versed in what it takes to thrive in such challenging, cool climate conditions. A case could be made that Heinricks has played a role in the planting of virtually every vine in the region -- either physically or spiritually. He certainly has done his share of muscling young vines into the gravelly soils around the town of Hillier and beyond. ESCONDIDO, Calif. Realty Income Corp. said Friday it has closed on the bulk of its acquisition of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines properties in Napa Valley. The real estate investment trust said it has closed $258 million of the roughly $269 million transaction. One property for $11.1 million is expected to close in the next 30 days. The properties are located throughout the Napa Valley wine country in Northern California and include 1,690 acres of vineyards, as well as the winery, production, retail and visitor center buildings of the Sterling Vineyards and Beaulieu Vineyards wineries. I confess I don't know a chipper from a putter. Probably because they're not used in winemaking, although there must be something called a chipper to make all those oak alternatives that are widely used ? and you'd be surprised how very widely. They make nice, inexpensive alternatives to pricey oak barrels and can really tame tannic monsters, such as petite sirah and sangiovese, into something distinguishable from paint thinner. Not much oak chipping goes into the making of fine pinot noir, however. Pinot is the grape goddess that shuns pedestrian techniques of any kind, and demands to be taken to the ball in a super-stretch limo with Ricardo Montalban-sanctioned Corinthian leather seats. If you're craving a Pro Am-sized dose of pinot right about now, head north to the fifth annual Pinot Days celebration Saturday and Sunday at Fort Mason in San Francisco. On Saturday, several of our local pinot maestros, including Morgan, Pelerin, Pisoni, Tantara and Testarossa, will join winemakers from Hug Cellars, CRU, Riverbench and more, to showcase their distinctive Santa Lucia Highlands, Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley gems as part of a focused tasting seminar.
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
34
|
35
|
36
|
37
|
38
|
39
|
40
|
41
|
42
|
43
|
44
|
45
|
46
|
47
|
48
|
49
|
50
|
51
|
52
|
53
|
54
|
55
|
56
|
57
|
58
|
59
|
60
|
61
|
62
|
63
|
64
|
65
|
66
|
67
|
68
|
69
|
70
|
71
|
72
|
73
|
74
|
75
|
76
|
77
|
78
|
79
|
80
|
81
|
82
|
83
|
84
|
85
|
86
|
87
|
88
|
89
|
90
|
91
|
92
|
93
|
94
|
95
|
96
|
97
|
98
|
99
|
100
|
101
|
102
|
103
|
104
|
105
|
106
|
107
|
108
Site developed by Viraj Patil ()
|
||||||||||