A Free Wine Encyclopedia!Martin Van der Kamp, a native of the North Coast wine country, was a home winemaker there for many years. In his youth he had done a stint as an employee at Napa’s famous Schramsberg Champagne Cellars. Bitten by the bug, he took several trips to some of the top Champagne houses in France. It… read more »
Founded in 1921, Zonin is Italy’s largest privately-owned wine-making concern in operation today. Considering how far back many Italian wineries go, this makes the company a relative newcomer. In all fairness, it is important to state that prior to establishing the firm seventy years ago, the family had actually been active in the wine industry… read more »
In opening, let me first ask you to notice the small print section of this wine’s label which reads “A Chalone Property”. Any discussion of the Carmenet Vineyard must include a discourse on its parent company. Chalone Incorporated is the only publicly-held company in the U.S. whose principal business is producing and marketing premium wines…. read more »
The southern part of Burgundy, France plays host to many famous communes and townships: Notably Pouilly Fuisse, Macon, and St. Veran. The town of Clesse is a sleepy french commune, its only real attraction, aside from the wine of course, being an 11th century church with an octagonal tower. The basic red grape of the… read more »
The Benziger family moved to Glen Ellen California in 1980 from White Plains, New York to set up a boutique winery. The rest is truly California wine making history. The 1981 crush came before construction of the winery was finished. There was no electricity. There were no wine storage tanks. The crush went on through… read more »
With the rising cost of the dollar on the international money market and the increase tax liability that has hit the wine industry, many people have asked how “The Club” will be able to maintain the quality of the monthly import selection. Good question! One answer lies between the sandy beaches of the Mediterranean and… read more »
White Oak winery is no newcomer to the Wine of the Month Club. In fact, White Oak is the first winery to have been selected for both the Limited Series and the Regular Series with two wines from the same grape. Our shipment #2 in 1990 featured the Myers Limited Reserve Chardonnay that promptly sold… read more »
Unlike many Bordeaux wineries, Chateau Larroque is built around a bona fide chateau. A beautiful country mansion (pictured on the label), the property was built in the 1600’s and has been in the same family for 150 years; M.C. Ducourt proprietor. Bordeaux, the wine region is named after Bordeaux, the city. It is on the… read more »
Note: Please do not confuse the wine maker Inglenook-Napa Valley with the jug wine maker Inglenook-Navale. Founded in 1879, the Inglenook-Napa Valley winery was the hobby of the great seaman Gustave Niebaum. Not only a diligent student, receiving his ships papers by attending merchant marine school in Finland, he was a brilliant businessman. At age… read more »
The Vina Los Vascos winery lies sheltered in its own private viticultural paradise, the 4900 acre Caneten Valley, about 90 miles south of Santiago, in Chile’s climatically-endowed Colchagua region. Don Pedro Gregorio Echenique, a knight of the Order of Santiago, built the winery in 1750. It has stayed in his family ever since. The soil,… read more »