Posts by jmberry

The Paris Exposition of 1889 was the largest of its time. Between May and October, nearly 30 million visitors strolled its exhibits. Celebrating 100 years since the revolution, the Paris…

Preparing my tasting notes for tomorrow’s release of the 2013 vintage of Pinot Gris, I am tasting back through the previous five vintages. I love this wine; I love the…

The story of our Chardonnay begins during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, when he ordered the planting of oak forests to ensure a sustainable supply of wood…

Our local newspaper, The Independent, last week ran a front-page article about a Livermore winery that ran afoul of State regulators for allegedly using unpaid volunteers at their establishment. Substantial…

Here, my son James has captured me mixing the Pinot Noir rosé, an ancient ritual not unlike those depicted on the walls of the Pharaohs’ tombs. The grapes have been…

As with many of the important things in life, there is only one chance to get it right. This is most certainly the case with our wine grape harvest.  If…

Harvesting table grapes is largely determined by the fruit becoming sweet and juicy, with consumption coming relatively soon thereafter. But I am not picking table.  I am harvesting for wine,…

As a boy, I was always wondering why my Dad picked the crop on a certain day. Nothing about the crop appeared any different to me from the previous day.…

Of course we can’t have harvest until Jon Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle announces it, and he has done just that this morning in his SF Gate Blog Posting.…