Even though I’ve been attending wine events for years now, I still love them.  I like talking to new people, tasting wines I haven’t tried and if I can sneak away from the table for a minute or two, grabbing a tasty snack which is usually something beyond just bread and cheese.  Every once in […]

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It’s the middle of the day, between lunch service and dinner service. Chefs are in the kitchen prepping, making stock, finalizing specials, instructing sous about a particular sauce. Servers reset tables and ready silver. Wineglasses polished. The show before the show. Back of the house. Behind the curtains of dinner performance.  It’s a time that […]

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We pass this windmill every time we walk from Mike’s house over to the vineyard. It creaks and howls when it spins and on the way back we always linger in front of it. It reminds me of a good friend of mine who had a tattoo of a windmill. Late that afternoon, Emily, Mike […]

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Speaking of cellar skills. Ramiro, lifeblood of the cellar at Michel Schlumberger, where we make VERGE, is so pro.  Seen below taking a full 1 ton macro bin of 2009 Unti Vineyard Syrah, raising it on a forklift around 20 feet in the air and ever so gently pouring it into the press. Notice how […]

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Last year we harvested the Grist Vineyard, which makes up the largest component of our Syrah, on 10/10/08 so we are just two days later this year. The old block on Grist is so consistent in terms of crop load and quality. A few days ago we were checking sugars with Mowgli and the leaves […]

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Our motley crew strolls down a stretch of road right behind Mike’s place. Headed to Grist Vineyard to take a peek at our Syrah fruit…almost time, almost.

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The golden hour. It’s really a majestic time of day (and year) here in Sonoma County, especially when set against the brilliant red clay on top of Bradford Mountain, where our Grist Vineyard Syrah sits. So, when we donated our VERGE Vineyard Hike & Syrah Tasting auction lot to the 2008 Menu For Hope, this […]

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Official sugar sampling is underway. Is it ready yet, Mo?

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