JPPENS

This is the short version of how all this beautiful, luscious birthing of a wine begins... The clone vine (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir etc) that is purchased from vine nurseries just about anywhere on the planet that supports vines, is hand grafted onto an American root vine here. It is then usually planted in the ground at a nursery, usually on the west coast, and is monitored about three years until it is ready to be sold to vineyards for their further development. Once it has traveled to its new home, it is placed in the ground and trained usually like you see above, in a three tier system. Not all vineyards use this tier system but most do as it makes it easier to hand prune and harvest. Once the clone vine has been growing in its home soil it takes about three years to develop into a usable grape.  Keep in mind through all of this that Mother Nature leads in this long dance. Climate is what is expected but weather is what we get so there are no guarantees. A healthy mature grape vine w

  Most of us have been around for many years. Lining hallways and locker rooms in High Schools and Middle Schools, it's what we call "home". We have seen, heard and sometimes smelled too many things. We have witnessed friendships develop, dates made, relationships fade, sock hops planned, quarrels explode, first smooches, class rings exchanged, class rings returned and yes the list goes on. Remember your hallway and locker room days? Then there were white socks in penny loafers, polished white Keds, saddle shoes and dusty bucks.  Can't forget the pleated skirts with bobby socks, petticoats under a poodle swirl or jumpers and knee lengths and white button down blouses with Peter Pan collars.  Button up tight angora sweaters, bobbed bouncing hair, headbands, pin curls, bobby pins, clip on earrings,charm bracelets and perfume.  Saw loose fitting dungarees with cuffs rolled up, khaki slacks with no pleats, white socks in black polished loafers. Brown and black tooled belt

School lockers have tons of tales to tell; heck, I am thinking lockers placed anywhere have stories to tell but in schools life happens in the hallways! Grown-ups think it all happens in the classroom. Don’t get me wrong; I know lots of really good stuff happens there. We lockers are the holders of things and not just stuff but secrets too! Most is good stuff and some, well may I say "not so good". Much of the time we know what is going to be happening way before things actually happen, but not always.  It used to be in September, now it happens in August. That’s okay by us. We can’t wait for the first day of school.  One of the coolest things for us is “locker assignment”! You know, when your homeroom teacher gives you the number and a padlock with your own private combination to spin and open, if you want a lock that is. You're not required to have one on your locker but if you do, it has to be an assigned school padlock; no putting your own on because if you do, it g

 In my winery employment days there was not a day that passed without a guest asking me about sulfites,histamines and tannins and why they get headaches or flushed when they have a couple glasses of red wine but were perfectly fine when they enjoyed white wine. So began my easy, understandable explanation (without all the chemistry stuff). First off lets just clear up that there really is no real thing as a "sulfite free" wine. Not possible, not happening because sulfites are a natural by product of growth. They are compounds that are naturally found in the human body.  A tomato growing on a vine produces sulfites, an apple hanging off a tree has sulfites and on and on it goes. Once again, labeling on bottles is mostly controlled by marketing. Now many many people believe they react to red wine because of the sulfites. I remind them that red wine, unlike white wine is fermented with the skins, seeds, the whole deal except the stems. White is just fermented with the juice that