Nine sommeliers are asked what their biggest restaurant wine service red flags were in a recent VinePair article. Several common-sense red flags include unclean glasses, talking down to customers, incorrect glassware, and wines served too warm. There were also less known red flags, several of which I expand upon.
What temperatures are too cold for grape vines? When I planned my vineyard in the North Fork Valley four years ago, I didn’t hesitate choosing Pinot Noir and Riesling. The climate tends toward a moderately warm growing season with cool nights. The bane of the Valley is the temperature extremes.
Are you committing to making New Year Resolutions? Feel free to bypass the urge. For the moment. Though it could be said that setting goals and resolutions is vital for personal growth and mental health.
As of the end of this year, I have three years of vineyard weather data. Enough data to consider trends. Not enough for making gross pronouncements! Paying attention to daily weather informs human actions. What to wear, your activity for the day, preparations for an upcoming weather event—and in my case, when to engage in specific agricultural pursuits, whether tilling, planting, pruning, spraying, or harvesting.
Janine and I recently returned from a two-week European trip, during which we experienced extraordinary beauty, wine, and hospitality in Portugal. It was a whirlwind of adventure spanning four locations: Porto and Lisbon, and the Alentejo and Algarve regions. While the trip began with Port “front and center”, it was the variety and quality of country wines which made an impression.
You can be forgiven if you didn’t know October 15 is National Cheese Curd Day or October 20 is National Chicken and Waffles Day. How about Come Over October, a month to celebrate drinking wine with people? Come Over October is simple: invite people over and enjoy wine with them.
Whoa, came across one of these in the vineyard… Well, not really. However, I came across an article about Australian vineyard pests and was struck and humored by the uncommonness to North American pests our “down under” friends have to put up with. They may seem cute, but they are still pests, i.e., they cause damage to the vines and grapes.
You may have encountered the term “natural” when looking for wines at your local shop or restaurant. Initially, I thought natural was used as a play on organic. Come to find out, my initial reaction was not wrong but also not entirely correct.
Can AI write an blog post discussing Colorado’s Wine Country? Of course it can. I asked ChatGTP to write four versions of a blog comparing Colorado’s two wine-growing regions, Grand Valley and West Elks. AI was also used to generate associated images. The results were surprising good, and fast. There were takeaways.
“If you’re not insured, you might as well give up, a wine grower stated bluntly.” The increased severity and occurrence of weather events (rain, wind, hail, drought, etc.) is a well-documented hallmark of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change.
I’ve been experimenting with the usage of AI to generate images. I took motivation from a blog post of Jo Diaz, who wrote about her attempt to write a blog using AI. So far, it’s a work in progress…
A few months ago I was reading the book “The Heat Will Kill You First” by Jeff Goodell, when the author described the experiences of a migrant vineyard worker who died of heat exhaustion, as an example of how excessive heat affects the mind and body.
