Our wines are distinctive. One of the great advantages of selling direct to customers from around the world is that the winemaking team learns to distrust a good deal of the received wisdom about what people ought to like and to focus on the large range of what individual people actually do like. Since we sell mainly from the property, we can worry less about "the brand" and more about our ongoing relationships with individuals who share our interest in diversity and quality and experimentation.

Almost all wine judges are linear: they expect/asset/believe that their 95 is a 95 for the west of the world and their 66 is also a 66 for most "well-trained" wine-lovers.

Some set theory background might be useful for those who tot up scores. There are indeed "majority" wines, which a reasonable percentage of people from around the world do tend to like, but there are also groupings of wines, or wine characteristics, which are very popular--or very unpopular--among certain blocks of buyers. One of the great advantages of wine-making in the running battle against the monolithic power of modern consumerism is that there are so many individuals involved in this business making wine from such an immense tradition of styles and diversity of varietals. Think of the amazing world cellar one could construct with the cash someone paid for a single case of 1961 Petrus ($31,000).

For us, making a racked, riddled, hand-degorged, well-aged, bottle fermented sparkling wine out of wild blackberries is not precisely what an MBA might suggest to a young winery eager to please Mr. Parker, but it has been great fun for us and our customers.Side Effects Of Effexor Credit Card Counseling Services List Of Detroit Casinos We pay great attention to our vineyards, but we make wines from different pickings of the same varieties in varying styles to show that there are many ways to deal with grapes in the winery and no single inevitable style determined in advance by tradition or cultism.

This year (2009) we have a stunning crop of Pinot Noir at both vineyards. We're scouring our own cellar and notes and we'll ferment in at least three very different styles. For example, in one we'll leave around 30% of whole bunches in the vats for the fermentation and try to keep the temperatures low (60 to 70F rather than 70 to 85F) for most of the process. Final decisions about bottling (in another two or three years) will then provide us with many interesting choices.