It was the late ’60s, and Dick and Nancy Ponzi had moved their young family to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. After several research trips to Burgundy and an extensive search for an ideal vineyard location, they purchased 20 acres on a small farm just southwest of Portland. The Ponzi’s were about to embark on a quest […]

Malbec has become a hot commodity in the market place in recent years, thanks to Argentina’s success with the varietal. However, the grape’s ancestral home in southwest France, near the city of Cahors, has become part of a renaissance taking place that may revive the legacy of the Malbec grape. In this ancient landscape, younger […]

If you ask the average wine geek where Malbec comes from, they’re most liable to tell you it’s Argentina. But, that’s just part of the story! True, Argentina has made the grape justifiably famous over the last two decades or more. However, the grape’s ancestral home is in southwest France, centered around the city of […]

As the saying goes, all Cognac is brandy – but not all brandy is Cognac. Cognac is distilled wine, or brandy, and often referred to as eau de vie. Of course, in order to be called Cognac, the brandy must come from the Cognac region in France, and it must be made according to strictly-defined […]

Nestled among some of the very best vineyards sites in the Chehelam Mountains AVA is where the De Lancellotti family’s first block of Pinot Noir was planted in 2007. This particular site was chosen for its silica rich, sandy soils to a set of clones destined to thrive in this AVA. The neighbors that surround […]

Established in 1860, Tahbilk is one of Australia’s most beautiful and historic family owned wineries. Located in the Nagambie Lakes region of central Victoria (120kms north of Melbourne). The vineyard has some 200 hectares under vine which includes Marsanne, Viognier and Roussanne, as well as Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre. Also planted are the traditional varieties […]

The wine industry always seems to make good subject matter for films and video. Some efforts are based on real figures, others on fictional characters. Some are romanticized versions of how we envision wineries, vineyards, and wines, while others seek to expose the unvarnished truth – embellished or otherwise. Less often, yet frequently more interesting, […]

Part 2 of the 2014 WOPN seminar on Oregon and Burgundy takes us to Pinot Noir’s homeland in Burgundy, France. We were very fortunate to have Louis Jadot’s Technical Director Frédéric Barnier, present a vertical of the Premier Cru vineyard, Clos des Ursules, which included vintages: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2005, 2003, 1997, 1990, and 1985. […]

As with many of the Châteaux of Bordeaux, Gruaud-Larose has a fascinating history. Originally, Joseph Stanislas Gruaud was the owner of the Ténac, Sartaignac and Merle Crus in the 18th century. He united them in 1757 under the name of “Fonbedeau”, also called Gruaud. When he died in 1771, he left the property to Monsieur […]

‘Tis the season, as they say, so we thought we’d finish up the year with a show featuring one of our favorite wines – Champagne! The Jacquart story began in the early 1960s, as an effort by the Champagne growers’ to control their own destiny. Rather than selling their grapes or juice to the large […]