Beyond Tokaji – Pushing the Boundaries of Hungarian Wines
Hungary’s 22 wine regions offer a variety of wines of remarkable value. Three of Credo’s latest imports push the boundaries of traditional winemaking.
Matt Parish – Wine Industry Mentor
Matt Parish has decades of wine business experience as a senior winemaker at Constellation, Treasury, and Naked Wines USA, but in my eyes, it is his kindness that makes him one of my favorite wine industry mentors. […]
Life-changing Tokaji Furmint
My introduction to Tokaji Furmint was in 2020 – the 2018 Wetzer Tokaji Furmint – a dry white with some botrytis influence made in a minimalist style (native yeast, unfiltered, unfined). I wrote about tasting it – and won one of the categories in the 2022 Hungarian Wines Web Wine Writing Competition.
Villány Underground – Péter Bakonyi of Bakonyi Pincészet
The first day of my November 2022 trip to the annual Franc & Franc Forum in Villány, Hungary, we arrived late due to flight delays. Our guide asked my group if we wanted to skip the tastings to freshen up at the hotel and join everyone at dinner – or attend the tastings, but arrive at the first tasting a little late. I had been awake for about 36 hours, but I said yes to the tastings. […]
Bells Up Winery – The End of the Beginning
In August 2021, I met Sara and Dave Specter of Bells Up Winery for the first time during a media visit that was a bit more formal – a sit-down tasting and interview with them both.
Youngberg Hill’s Wayne Bailey – Farmer First
In late October 2022, I visited Youngberg Hill in Oregon’s McMinnville AVA. It is a gorgeous 50-acre property with a historic inn atop the hillside, surrounded by astounding views and meticulously farmed, organic and biodynamic vineyards planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris.
7th FRANC & FRANC International Cabernet Franc Forum
Fast forward to 2022. Villány is the primary red wine region of Hungary, which is becoming increasingly well known for producing its signature wine, Cabernet Franc, thanks to the area’s sub-Mediterranean climate, loess and clay soils, and innovative producers who are making Villányi Franc in a variety of styles.
Lenné Estate – Going in Blind
Lutz, an Oregonian, began his career in Napa Valley in 1984, when he developed a taste for wine shortly after college. He worked at several well-known wineries, including Robert Mondavi. It was at Mondavi where Lutz and the Mondavi team would participate in staff blind tastings led by Robert himself.
We Should Start a Vineyard…
“We should start a vineyard. My family in Italy did it so it can’t be that hard,” said Brian Cadamatre to his girlfriend, Nova, when they were college students. The seed was planted.
Lula Cellars – The Deep End’s Hidden Gem Comes of Age
During a rare chilly and rainy, late-spring day, a friend and I stopped to taste the highly rated wines at Lula Cellars, a small producer in the cooler and foggier “Deep End” of Anderson Valley in Mendocino County.
Longtime Winemaker Donald Patz Talks Business, Wine and Life
Since arriving in California in the early 1980’s, Donald Patz has worn many hats in the wine industry. From starting in sales at Flora Springs Winery to being a founding partner at Patz & Hall Winery, Patz has endured the ups and downs of the wine business. After selling Patz & Hall to Chateau Ste. Michelle winery, he would go on to establish the Donald Patz Wine Group, which is a combination of three small producer brands.