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The Historic Inglenook Estate Winery

When I attended Wine and Spirits Magazine’s Top 100 Wines Tasting event in San Francisco this past October I had the chance to meet Chris Phelps, the associate winemaker at Inglenook Estate Winery. I jumped at the chance to do an interview with Chris. We finally made that happen in December. You may not realize this but Inglenook was one of the first estate wineries in Napa Valley, founded in 1879 by Finnish sailor (and early entrepreneur), Gustave Niebaum. Following its sale in the mid-60s the winery’s quality and reputation suffered. Enter Francis Ford Coppola. Through his love and decades of painstaking efforts the winery is once again an internationally respected estate and remains a Napa Valley icon. This is its story.

 

inglenook

With Chris Phelps on grand staircase

Ingelnook

 

 

 

 

 

 

inglenook

The South Barrel Room event space

 

 

 

ZinEX 2018 Details and Interviews

I rarely upload a full episode of my radio show but I’ll do it for this post as it promotes ZinEX 2018. I’ve attended ZAP’s Zinfandel Experience the past 4 years, but have more often opted for the media tasting event that takes place on Thursday of the event week. This year will be the second time I’ve attended the Grand Tasting. And oh, how grand it will be. Over 100 wineries from around the state will be on hand pouring Zin at the gorgeous Pier 27 event space, featuring panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay. For details, click this link…ZINFANDEL

To hear my interviews with Zin winemakers Carol Shelton of Carol Shelton Wines and Randle Johnson of ARTEZIN click the player below.

Cheers!

The World’s Oldest Bottle of Wine and Where it was Found

The world’s oldest wine bottle is believed to date back to the year 325. It was found near the town of Speyer, Germany, in 1867.  Believe it or not, it is unopened and contains 1.5 liters of liquid, which is the exact same amount as Magnum in today’s world. The bottle was discovered during an excavation of a 4th-century Roman nobleman’s tomb which contained the bodies of a man and a woman. The man, believed to be a Roman Legionnaire, was holding the bottle. No doubt a treasured wine he chose to take with him on his journey to the after world. The bottle is on display at the Historical Museum of Pfalz, Germany. If I had the chance to taste it, would I?  Mmmm…no.

Oldest Bottle of Wine