Palate Press

7 min read

If you've never put your nose inside a few well-wrought barrels, it may be hard to understand just how excited winemakers can become about oak - and also, just how varied the contribution of oak to the profile of a wine can be. The range of smells, the different characters

Jumilla: Introducing Monastrell Wine to a World Market

Penny McKinlay

Feature Stories

6 min read

I was introduced to Altos de Luzón, a wine from Jumilla, this past winter and was entranced by a small, relatively unknown wine region in southeast Spain that has been growing grapes and making wine for over 5,000 years. When-read more-

In Pursuit of the Best: Meliora Wines

Erin McGrath

Features

4 min read

Sommeliers-turned-winemakers: a predictable career move for restaurant wine professionals. Despite the large number of stories such as these among sommeliers, many are not vanity projects; instead, unique endeavors of true passion for a particular region or style. When Seattle sommelier-read more-

North Coast Producers Unite to Brand Mendocino Coro

Howard Hewitt

Features

6 min read

California hardly conjures up an image of a wine region struggling with an identity crisis. But there are areas of the Golden State that have never fully defined a winemaking niche. A consortium of Mendocino County winemakers are counting on-read more-

Defining Sustainability: A Concept of Varied Means

W. Blake Gray

Features

5 min read

Two Central Coast vintners walked through a pristine-looking vineyard last fall—it had no cover crop, a usual sign of organic or biodynamic farming—explaining why they use herbicides. "We need to do it to keep our business sustainable," one said. The-read more-

Vino 2011: To Oak or Not To Oak

Fredric Koeppel

Features

6 min read

There’s a reason that the Italian Trade Commission has held an annual wine fair in New York since 2009. Imports of Italian wines to these shores have increased enough that in 2010 Italy surpassed France to reach a market share-read more-

Members Become Winemaker for a Day at Boulder Creek

Kyle Schlachter

Features

4 min read

Most wine tasting room visits tend to be similar; people lined up at a bar sampling the current releases. Occasionally wineries offer a barrel tasting experience, where a tour guide (or if you’re lucky the winemaker) will use an oversized-read more-

Brimstone in the Bottle: Redux

Tom Mansell

Features

8 min read

In the last five days of 2010, we are going to count down five of our favorite stories from some of our favorite authors in our first year. One real strength of Palate Press: The online wine magazine has been-read more-

Wine

The Philosophy of Rosé: From the Costaripa Winery on Lake Garda

The Story of Spain’s Top Wine Estates

A New-Old White Wine from Abruzzo in Italy

Random

2010 Azelia Dolcetto d’Alba “Bricco Dell’Oriolo”

Spirits

Why Low-Alcoholic Wine May Be Increasing & An Adult Beverage Option; Even No-Alc can be Tasty

A Dog, a Mountain Hike and Gin

A Life-Saving Whiskey of Forests and Caramel

Random

A Dog, a Mountain Hike and Gin

Travel

Wine Country Hospitality in Amador County

Why is Arianna Occhipinti a Winemaking Legend?

Top of the Mark Lounge in San Francisco Celebrates 85 years

Random

24 Best Escapes for the Family – or maybe not – this Winter

Hospitality

Wine Country Hospitality in Amador County

Top of the Mark Lounge in San Francisco Celebrates 85 years

Women Chefs Seed Plant Forward Dining at The Grove in Napa

Random

Top of the Mark Lounge in San Francisco Celebrates 85 years

Putting Your Best Oak Forward: Diversity in the World of Barrels

Jumilla: Introducing Monastrell Wine to a World Market

In Pursuit of the Best: Meliora Wines

North Coast Producers Unite to Brand Mendocino Coro

Defining Sustainability: A Concept of Varied Means

Vino 2011: To Oak or Not To Oak

Members Become Winemaker for a Day at Boulder Creek

Brimstone in the Bottle: Redux