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WOODSIDE -- The buds are bursting open and leaves are forming on the pinot noir vines at Kings Mountain Vineyard at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Grape grower Alec Hutchison, who stands 6-foot-9 and is built like an NBA power forward, made the bold move in 2009 of grafting the vineyard -- he switched out the cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay grapes, making everything in the vineyard pinot noir. Late Harvest Chenin Blanc (dessert Wine) The shift spawned the biggest harvest in years last fall, and this year's yield could be bigger.Delaney Vineyards & Winery secures both ?Most Outstanding? honors from Grapevine Wine Tours guests in the first quarter of 2011. PR.com )-- In its closest voting to date, guests of the Grapevine Wine Tours have named Delaney Vineyards the “Most Outstanding Winery” in Grapevine. In fact, Delaney swept both award categories during the first quarter of 2011. Grapevine Wine Tours launched to glowing reviews in July 2010. The tours have been extremely popular with out-of-town visitors and locals alike. Late Harvest Chenin Blanc (dessert Wine) Bill Foley, president and CEO of Foley Family Wines, discusses his expansion plans during a panel discussion Thursday at the North Bay Business Journal's annual Wine Industry Conference in Santa Rosa. Five of the most likely buyers of California's premier wine brands gathered in Santa Rosa on Thursday to discuss the future of the industry. They sat on a podium in a hotel ballroom like prize fighters before the championship fight, all five of them answering questions and explaining how they plan to conquer a slice of the wine industry. Name that movie! The clues: Pavarotti, tennis and a Napa Valleywinery. Anyone? Benessere Vineyards on Big Tree Road in St. Helenawas the shoot location and the movie, called “Yes, Giorgio,”starred the tenor great, Luciano Pavarotti. The movie companyactually installed a tennis court at the winery so Luciano couldplay tennis in the movie. But let’s talk about the wine. I tasted the Benessere Vineyards2006 Phenomenon ($60) at a recent blind tasting and gave it firstplace against other great reds from the Napa Valley. The wine is aSuper-Tuscan blend of cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese, merlot andsyrah. A gorgeous ride over the tongue, this wine is very balancedwith lots of ripe berries and spice. Benessere is part of the Napa Valley Vintners’ Napa Neighborprogram. Locals and a guest receive a free tasting at the wineryfrom 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Just show your driver’s license. The developer of the Kendall-Jackson brand, who died last week, changed the image of California winemaking with his reliable crowd-pleasers. Jess Jackson, at one of his mountain vineyards above Santa Rosa, helped create the Kendall-Jackson success by using grapes from multiple vineyards. Jess Jackson, who founded Kendall-Jackson Winery in 1982, died last week at the age of 81, leaving an almost incalculable legacy on the California wine industry. He transformed it at least twice, first in establishing a style of wine that would come to be as much an irresistible flavor profile as a cultural icon; he would go on to become one of the state's most passionate and articulate advocates for the preeminence of place in the production of great California wine. In the process, he became one of the industry's most envied property owners, and by far one of its richest men.
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