Wine Technology Archives | Crushed Grape Chronicles

Wine Technology

From Dirt to Glass – Michael Larner on the Language of the Vines

Oct 2, 2014

There are many ways of telling what a vine needs in the vineyard. On our visit, Michael took us into the Syrah at his Vineyard in Ballard Canyon and spoke to us about how the vines communicate with them. “We think...

Hilliard Bruce Vineyards – Part 3: Canopy Management, Wines & Philosophy.

Oct 24, 2013

Part 3 of a 4 part series on our trip to Hilliard Bruce in the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. Canopy management that you will see no where else! The planting style at Hilliard Bruce is compact with...

Hilliard Bruce Vineyards – Part 2: On Sustainability

Oct 23, 2013

Part 2 of a 4 part series on our trip to Hilliard Bruce in the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. On Sustainability The vineyard is SIP Certified as Sustainable. For several years they farmed “organically” but John...

Halter Ranch – Tradition and Innovation

Aug 26, 2013

In 1874 when Edwin Smith moved to Paso Robes the area of Halter Ranch was still known as Las Tablas. This is the name of the creek that runs through the property and gives it’s name to the Haas/Perrin winery...

Gravity flow wineries. Isn’t this just common sense?

Jul 19, 2013

Gravity flow wineries. Lately it’s a high tech term, but really it seems like common sense doesn’t it? In Bordeaux Chateau Lynch-Bages built a tank house that employed a railed gravity flow system in 1850. The lower level held the...

All About Barrels

May 31, 2013

Wine began stored and aged in amphorae (sealed earthenware or clay jars) that were used in Greece and Rome. Wine Urn’s It was the Celts in around 50BD that devised using wooden barrels to store and transport wines (those...

Yeasts: Indigenous or Cultured

May 15, 2013

Recently while in Paso I had an interesting and enlightening conversation with David Parrish of Parrish Family Vineyards regarding yeast. Now this is not a subject that I have in depth knowledge on, most of what I know I have...

Avant Tapas and Wine Bar. I have found my Nirvana.

May 6, 2013

Avant Wine & Tapas from Crushed Grape Chronicles on Vimeo. So…after our first day of tasting on our trip. Hitting Santa Barbara and then a stop in Los Olivos, we checked into the hotel and headed out for dinner. With...

Wilson Creek, so much more than Almond champagne

Feb 19, 2013

I will admit to a bit of snobbery. I really had no desire to go to Wilson Creek in Temecula. I mean you find bottles of their Almond champagne in Long’s Drug Stores (well you did when they were around). ...

Wine Geekdom, and Media Technology

Apr 8, 2012

Media technology is amazing. So is wine geekdom. I realized this morning that I was currently reading 3 books. I picked up a beautiful hard backed copy of Kevin Zraly’s Complete Wine Course the 2012 edition for my birthday. I...