Colorado Wine: It’s a Journey, Not a Destination Another great VinCO Conference in Colorado this year. The Colorado VinCO conference is one of the best in the nation – period. One of the reasons it’s outstanding is because the conference actually exists for the industry. The main purpose for CAVE’s existence (Colorado Association for Viticulture and →

Minnesota: Growing Grapes & Making Wine I took a long break from blogging while getting my new website up and running, enjoying the holidays and working with some new and established clients.  My visit to the Cold Climate Conference in Minnesota is a great opportunity to break back into blogging! Looking out my hotel window, →

What’s the Value of a Viticulturist?   Who better to ask than Fritz Westover, career learner, educator and leader in viticulture education. Graduating from Penn State with a degree in horticulture and an MS in Plant Pathology, he was soon Virginia Tech’s Viticulture Research-Extension Associate. Fritz later moved on to serve as Viticulture Extension Program →

Viticulture & Enology Internships Premier Wine Blends recently announced Internship opportunities through Grayson College’s TV Munson Viticulture and Enology Center in Denison, Texas.  “Hands-on grape growing and winemaking is the only way to truly learn the art and science of viticulture and enology.” – Justin Shreiner, Director, Grayson’s Viticulture and Enology Program. Learn and Earn →

Secrets of a Successful Tasting Room – Highlights from SVB 2013 Survey Last week Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division founder, Rob McMillan, along with Cyril Penn of Wine Business Monthly, Brian Baker of Chateau Montelena and Ahin Thomas of the Vintners’ Alliance, conducted a live videocast: Secrets of a Successful Tasting Room- 2013 Survey Results. →

Wineries and Breweries: Work Together To Change Laws As in many states, the 3-Tier System in Texas has always been a nightmare. It took wineries over a decade to persuade the legislature to allow for retail sales at their wineries. Finally, in 2001, after seeing the financial potential of the burgeoning wine market, the legislature →

When NOT to Blend Recently I was working with a winery who had a wonderful 2012 harvest of Vermentino. My standard procedure for presenting wines to the winery owner is to make at least two different blends and use a sample of the single varietal wine for comparison. I set up a blind tasting for →

Colorado Wine, Winters and the West I recently attended the third annual VinCO Conference, Colorado’s annual wine conference January 15-17. It’s held in Grand Junction, where the majority of Colorado’s grapes are grown. A massive cold snap hit during the conference stirring a few concerns about the vineyards among local conference attendees. You might think →

Let Your Sales Forecast Be Your Guide What is the difference between these two perspectives? 1. Winery owner produces a wine(s) and needs to sell it to fulfill the sales goal. 2. Winery owner has a sales goal and needs a wine(s) to fulfill that goal. At first glance, you may not think there is →

3 Mistakes You Don’t Have to Make Starting Your Winery I work with people who are interested in opening a winery and are doing their research.  I also work with winery owners who have only been open a few years, as well as established wineries facing new challenges.  After working and being involved in the →