El Nino Promises Exciting Weather – 2015 Harvest
Predicting the weather is a tricky, business. Though long-range weather forecasting is risky, it plays an integral…
Vintage 2015 – A Year of Unusual Weather Promises Concentrated Wines
This is the first year of a new program at Occasio Winery, where we begin intense management of…
The Many Faces of Zinfandel
Zinfandel has had many incarnations: first as a substitute for French claret in the 1870s, and then…
Minerality in Wine
The latest research into minerality in wine, and what we might do to capture it….
A Proper Barrel Tasting Weekend
This Saturday and Sunday the Livermore Valley Winegrowers’ Association is holding its annual barrel tasting weekend fundraiser….
Key New Positions Announced
This January we gave our members the opportunity to taste every vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon since our…
Christening Our New Bottling Line
Occasio is a small winery by any measure. Our annual case production rarely exceeds 1000 cases, and…
Thanksgiving Pairing – Three Perfect Essentials
This time of year I receive many inquiries on choosing the best wines for the Thanksgiving meal. Without knowing the menu or personal wine preferences, my advice is to rely on the three essentials: acidity, sweetness, and tannins – the secret of the sommeliers.
The Next Chapter – Searching for a Sense of Place
As a scientist, I always followed a ten-year rule: the first five years on a new project were…
Defining our Future with an Eye to the Past
After more than 30 years of making wine, movie director Francis Ford Coppola is dissatisfied. He feels…
