Sumner Vineyards has a new red wine that just came in off the range: California Cowboy Red. California Cowboy Red comes by its name honestly, hailing from the Northern California cowboy country of Summit Creek Ranch. Our ranch is made up of 690 acres in Hayfork Valley, which we use mostly for our grass-fed beef business, but we also have over a thousand acres of leased land for grazing. Along with our land at Summit Creek Ranch, these...
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You can taste it. Soda has no terroir. It tastes the same every time you drink it. It has consistency, but no individuality. An olive oil from a small producer in the Napa Valley, though, tastes like its smoky Manzanillo olives and perhaps the influence of the dry, hot weather that year. People who like to taste distinctive flavors seek out handcrafted olive oils, or chocolate, or wine, or just about anything where the land and...
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In an excess of cleaning frenzy, I cleaned out my pantry last week. This was a good thing, because I could barely walk inside. The result? A clean and orderly walk-in pantry, easy to add to or extract from. What does this have to do with wine? Here’s what happened. At first, I was going to simply rearrange our wine collection: ordinary “spaghetti reds” together, finer wines on a lower shelf, because we don’t...
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There is a huge variety in the types of soils where vineyards are planted. Sand is good for drainage, loam holds moisture, organic matter aerates, and rocks add minerals. As a grapevine’s roots grow, searching for water, they take up molecules and minerals from the soil that help the plant to thrive. It is those same molecules that contribute to the chemical reactions that create individual grape flavors based on location, or...
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“Thank you for your wine, California, Thank you for your sweet and bitter fruits.” ~ The Rolling Stones, Sweet Virginia “California wines…” In that short phrase, a world of images arises. The cultured beauty of the Napa Valley. The wild hills and wilderness surrounding vineyards in far northern California. Cool coastal vineyards, fog rolling in. Grapes growing on golden hills dotted with wildflowers and...
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