FEATURED INDUSTRY: WINERIES

Q: How did you get started in the wine business:

A: There are certain privileges one receives during the structure of their life. One of those great privileges afforded me was to do a tremendous amount of world-wide traveling. In the early 70’s, I had eased out of the Radio, TV and General Media Business to do private consulting with other companies, as well as, training their associates and staff in good human relations. Living in Marin County, just south of Napa, Sonoma, “the heart of Northern California winemaking”, my company was privileged to assist several wineries in personnel training, human relations and sales.

That probably seeded my interest later in life, to get into the ownership and operations of a winery down the road. During this same time, I was traveling and working with many international companies throughout the world. I lived in Sidney, Australia for nearly a year and London, for two years. Sydney was my base for Southern Pacific and Far East countries. London provided access to all of Europe, including the great wine regions of Italy, France, Germany, and in general the Mediterranean growing regions.

Q: What goals in winemaking are you still looking to achieve?

A: Our goal appears on every bottle of our wines, and has for nearly 33 years and continues as follows: “Our goal is to produce premium quality wines that are perfectly balanced and extremely smooth”.

Q: What are the three main factors of wine tasting?

A: In most tasting rooms our five-senses play a vital roll. To narrow it down to the three main factors it would be 1. Sight, 2. Smell and 3. Taste. Let’s not forget 4. Touch and feel and of course 5. Hearing.

Once wine is placed in your glass by your server, tilt the glass and slowly rotate the glass. While doing this, observe the color, the clarity and the viscosity of the wine. Most importantly, check to see if the dishwasher did a good job getting rid of the lipstick stains along the rim.

Now, swirl the wine so it goes up onto the glass sides and falls back to the bottom. This releases the aroma of the wine. You are now using your sense of 1. Sight and 2. Smell. Wait for it: Now comes a new sense: 3. Taste. Take a little sip from the glass, roll it around your mouth so it touches all parts. This will cleanse your mouth. Swallow it. Wait a few seconds and the take another small sip. This is where you determine if you like it or not. What about items 4 and 5, touch/feel and hearing/sound?

One definitely gets to feel wine as it touches your lips and encompasses the inside of your mouth. As for sound, the clinking of two or more glasses together in celebration of any event, and the spoken words ‘congratulations’, and all those words connected to romance is always a great sound.

Q: How should I store my wine?

A: Store your wine in an area that is not subjected to drastic temperature changes. Keep it out of direct sunlight. Store it so the bottles are on their side to keep the cork moist. If screw tops are used, treat them the same. There are wine refrigerators, for both red and white wines. These units are generally kept at about 62 degrees. Not a necessity.

Q: What are legs?

A: Legs are visual streaks in a wine glass created by the viscosity of the wine. What is viscosity? It is the texture of the wine that causes the wine to stick to the side of a glass and then slide down the inside of the glass leaving individual streaks running down the inside of the glass.

This is caused by several combinations. High alcohol, residual sugars, or a combination of both. The remaining natural sugars will thicken the