The Winery Zapfino of Lodi of California

There’s a reason why heavily-applied perfume ranks highly on most wine lovers’ list of pet peeves. It overpowers your senses, conceals aromas and distorts your perception of a wine. In professional tastings and wine exams the wearing of perfume is banned, if not thoroughly frowned upon. You just don’t do it. What then, if we applied the same logic to music, controlling the sounds we hear, or don’t hear, while tasting wine? There’s no doubt that a chaotic environment can clog your synapses, makin ...

Given the sheer climatic diversity, the California 2022 harvest was a story of variability, specific varieties and varied approaches to making it all work out. Yields are down, nearly across the board. Still, winemakers and vineyard managers report high-quality fruit throughout the state, and the prediction is that the potential for fantastic, complex wines is high. There was tremendous variability up and down (as well as across) the state. An uneven growing season, with uneven effects throughou ...

Flood concerns have continued to hit parts of Australia, with the country’s Bureau of Meteorology warning today (17 November) that ‘major flooding’ was ongoing in communities in New South Wales, as well as along a number of rivers in Victoria. In the wine world, there were were concerns that flooding of vineyards in Victoria last month is now being repeated at some New South Wales wineries after continued spring rain in the south-east of Australia. There was even flash flooding ...