Washington’s Leonetti Vineyards during the wildfires of 2015.
This September has been horrible for pretty much all of the winemaking regions in California, Oregon and Washington. Wildfires are burning in each of those states and pose considerable danger to this year’s harvest and to the vineyards and the people living and working in those regions. British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley may face risk as well. The physical danger posed by these fires is very real and our hearts go out to all those affected; they are in our thoughts and we are sending up our wishes for their safety.
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Frank Gigliotti
Cavallo is the latest project of Frank Gigliotti, the record executive turned management consultant who decided to drop his business career and focus on the two things he loves most: wine and music. Frank is a high-energy entrepreneur who has a passion for everything he does, especially when it comes to making wine.
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Montes Winery in Chile.
Winemaking in Chile dates back to the 16th century where at that time production was largely by way of unsophisticated techniques that resulted in simple wines meant to be enjoyed young, with little thought to cellaring. As a result, the country became well known for decent value wines, but it was a rarity to see a Chilean bottle within a fine wine collection. That started to change in the 19th century when wealthy businessmen travelling to Europe started bringing Bordeaux varieties back to Chile to plant on their properties. They also brought with them French winemaking techniques that has since transformed Chile’s wine reputation from quaffable to world-class.
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The gorgeous view at Barnett Vineyards on Spring Mountain.
For the past two decades, we’ve been visiting the Napa and Sonoma Valleys almost annually. The two Valleys run parallel, separated by the Mayacamas Mountains in northern California. Both are terrific tourist destinations and among the top wine regions in the United States. While Sonoma is much larger in terms of vineyard area and variety of wines produced, Napa is the better-known region of the two with a world-class reputation built on Cabernet Sauvignon. For years, wine enthusiasts have debated the difference between the Cabernets produced on the Valley floor versus those produced from fruit higher up on the mountainsides.
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Tempranillo Grapes at Pesquera
The natural wine movement has been around in various forms for over a century. At its core, natural wine proponents advocate making a wine with the least amount of human intervention possible. Wine will not just make itself; it requires at least some human intervention to plant the vineyard, pick the grapes and have them ferment. How much intervention beyond that is acceptable to the natural wine movement? Perhaps the biggest criticism of the movement has been that there has never been a single accepted definition or set of criteria that distinguishes a natural wine from one that is not. Until now.
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