While I spent Wednesday morning seeing behind the scenes of how wine is made, the afternoon was all about the vineyards and how the grapes are grown at @hirschvineyards. 🌱 Such a thrill to meet @jasminehirsch and taste the wines overlooking their gorgeous property. 🍷 (at Hirsch Vineyards)
Some pics from Wednesday morning’s visit to @dirtyandrowdy with @dirtysouthwine. So down to earth with stellar wines. Beyond fun! (at Punchdown Cellars)
Just a tease for now: spent the day with the people behind these two wines. @dirtysouthwine and @jasminehirsch were beyond amazing in giving me a behind the scenes look and letting me taste their phenomenal wines. I can’t thank them enough. (Pics from the visit will be posted later). #winesofinstagram
A few housekeeping items:
* I officially bought the domain itswinebyme.com, so now instead of having to remember the full tumblr address… you can just enter itswinebyme.com and voila, you’re here.
* I was really hoping to come in and write a post about how to do visit wine country solo before I embark on another trip next week. About two years ago I had an incredibly successful journey and learned some tips I’d love to pass along to others thinking about taking a solo trip. It’s funny, the very idea for this post is what provided spark for this tumblr. Yet, I never officially wrote it. Whoops! If I don’t get in here again before Tuesday (I’m headed on a pre-vacation before my vacation), that post will just be filled with twice as many goodies from what I’ve learned on this upcoming trip.
* I’m going to SONOMA and NAPA in 5 DAYS!!!!!!!!! Only 4 days of my week in California is wine related, but I have a lot of great appointments lined up and still working on a few more. I’ll cross-post Instagrams here – but feel free to follow along or reach out to me via twitter.
* And just to leave you hanging, I may have at least one piece of exciting news (at least it is for me), to share. It’s nothing too major, but just another notch in my wine journey. I’ll be sure to post once it’s actually happened.
Tuesday night happiness! Lucky for me, I was able to score three of these 2012 #hervesouhaut #lasouteronne from @weygandtwines! It’s amazing how peaceful life becomes after a few sips from Hervé! 🍷✌🏼#winesofinstagram #wineporn
While it’s fun to watch what winemakers are saying on social media about the state of this year’s harvest, I was happy to stumble on this well-reported story by Eric Asimov of The New York Times. If you’ve become almost as obsessive on this topic as I have, it’s a must read:
The drought may have turned all of California into a pitiless desert in the popular imagination, but a week in July spent visiting fine-wine regions all around the state painted a more nuanced picture.
From the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, to El Dorado in the Sierra Foothills, to Napa Valley and the Sonoma Coast, the drought, now in its fourth year, has affected every area differently. Some regions have been hard hit, like eastern Paso Robles on the Central Coast and the Central Valley, source of much of the grapes that go into cheap bulk wines. But other regions, like the North Coast, are bearing up well.
While individual estates may feel the pain of the drought keenly, the California wine industry has continued to prosper through it.
Keep reading here.
Decided to experiment with Storify today and aggregate a bunch of the amazing tweets, Instagrams and links I’ve been seeing on social media about the 2015 Harvest. Hope you enjoy!
View the story on Storify: Spying on #Harvest2015
Cheers!
If you don’t follow Jasmine Hirsch on social media, then you missed a pretty spectacular Instagram post. I’ll let the caption and photos speak for themselves, but if you’re just as fascinated by the winemaking process as I am, this will be quite a treat:
Dream assignment: Go to Burgundy and write about Aubert de Villaine’s decade-long effort to get his region designated as a World Heritage site by the cultural arm of the United Nations. Oh, and while you’re at it, sip from the barrel that’s storing Romanée-Conti from the 2014 harvest. It would be rude not to accept a taste, right?!
To say I’m swooning may be an understatement, as I’m now very jealous of the reporter. But beyond that, it’s a fun read and a greater understanding of why the designation is important to the to winemakers of Burgundy.
For anyone with even a basic knowledge of wine, it may seem unthinkable that the revered wine sites of Burgundy need more recognition than they already have. But the Unesco designation gives a global imprimatur to the French view that great wine can be produced only through a magical combination of climate, geology and history — that ineffable quality often called “terroir.”
And it is sweet vindication for Mr. de Villaine’s long effort to rouse his fellow Burgundy producers to the threat posed by a global wine industry and, in his view, their failure to keep up with rising standards.
“The climats define the unique character of Burgundy’s wine region,” Mr. de Villaine said. “They are an exceptional representation of human ingenuity that must be preserved. What is most important for me is that the people of Burgundy, especially the vignerons, be inspired by the ancient, precious, unique treasure they hold in their hands.”
Read more here: International Designation Is Sweet Victory for Burgundy
I think of wine as sort of the last true thing. It’s so utterly simple, and anyone who loves wine knows how transformative it is. I’ve always been attracted by that almost archetypal pull of wine. I like that idea philosophically and emotionally, and I like the mystery of it.
– Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible
Forbes contributor Cathy Huyghe interviewed MacNeil about how she wrote and now revised her 14-year-old book, which is an impressive encyclopedia of the wine world. It’s an interesting look into
MacNeil’s process, and I was pleasantly surprised to see her dedication to words was just as emphatic as she was to the wine. Read the full story here: How To Write The Bible Of Wine: Karen MacNeil On The Craft Of Writing .
It's Wine By Me! 
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