Wine Stars

Wine Stories and News for the Young at Heart

What Type of Sparkling Wine Do Millennials Prefer? Korbel and Gloria-Ferrer Help Answer the Question

Research studies have shown that in addition to dry red and semi-sweet white wines, another favorite category of Millennials is sparkling wine.  With this in mind, the SSU Winesense Tasting Club sponsored a “Battle of the Bubblies” evening and invited Korbel and Gloria-Ferrer to share some of their exciting sparkling wines.   Korbel Champagne Cellars Headquartered in the Russian River AVA, Korbel was established in 1882 and is the oldest continually operating champagne house in North America.  Head winemaker, Erica Mandl, providing fascinating commentary on the history of the winery, as well as production information on the 4 wines she [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:28:52-08:00May 9, 2011|

Wine Commercials by Millennials – Which is Your Favorite?

Millennials often wonder why wineries don't use more online videos to advertise their wines.  The videos can be produced at a low cost, and if the winery is lucky enough to have their video "go viral," it can attract thousands of potential customers to the winery website. Therefore, with this in mind, our team research project this semester in Bus305W – Introduction to Wine Business was to complete a brand refresh project and create an online video for the updated brand.  The target wine brand was Parducci of Mendocino County.  CEO Paul Dolan and Marketing Director Kelly Lentz welcomed over 40 students [...]

By |2021-01-05T14:32:56-08:00April 20, 2011|

Ridge and Topel Wineries Wow Millennials with Big Reds

Another sold out night at SSU’s Winesense tasting this week.  This time the lure was big reds offered by Ridge Vineyards of Dry Creek Valley and Topel Winery, located in southern Mendocino county.  Seven wines were served with some spicy and robust food pairings.  From Ridge Vineyards, the favorite of the evening was the 2008 Buchignani Ranch Carignane ($26).  This was a big earthy wine with dark red fruit and spice.  Everyone also enjoyed the grenache and zinfandels, but the distinctiveness of the carignane caused it to be a run-away favorite.  For more information, see http://www.ridgewine.com/.  From Topel Winery, it [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:29:42-08:00April 3, 2011|

Millennials Prefer Semi-Sweet White Wines

Most wine research confirms that the Millennials have been driving new growth in the US wine industry over the past 5 years.  Research also suggests that they enjoy red wine and sweeter white wines.  This latter fact proved to be true in an informal wine tasting experiment in Bus 305W this semester at Sonoma State University.  Forty-three Millennials tasted 6 white wines as part of our introductory tasting session this semester.  The wines included chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, riesling, gewürztraminer and muscat, and were tasted in order of increasing sugar.  At the conclusion of the tasting, before brands or [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:30:04-08:00March 23, 2011|

Sold-Out Tasting for Flowers Winery & Petaluma Gap’s Clary Ranch

When I arrived at SSU’s Winesense Tasting this week, I was surprised to see a note on the door saying “sold-out; no more seats available.”  This was exciting because it was a testament to the wonderful wines that were served that evening from the Sonoma Coast Appellation.   Over 50 Millennials crowded the room to listen to winemakers Darrin Low of Flowers Vineyard and Paul Clary of Clary Ranch.  Both wineries specialize in growing grapes that crave the cooler climates of the Sonoma Coast AVA.  Flowers is situated near the Pacific Ocean and is famous for its pinot noirs and chardonnay, [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:30:51-08:00March 13, 2011|

Larson Family Winery Highlights Big Spicy Cabs and Sweet Gewürztraminers

It’s hard to believe that there are more than 6,000 wineries in the US now.  Of those, more than 50% are small family wineries crafting hand-made wines, contributing to our economy, and providing lovely vineyard landscapes to beautify America.  Larson Family Winery, located in the Carneros and Sonoma Valley AVAs of Sonoma County, is one of these precious small family wineries.   Founded in the 1800’s, the winery only sells direct to consumers via their tasting room, wine club, and online wine shop (http://www.larsonfamilywinery.com/).  They poured 5 wines for a sold-out crowd of more than 40 millennials at this week’s SSU [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:31:29-08:00March 5, 2011|

New SSU Wine Sense Board Plans Exciting Appellation Tasting Series

The new SSU WineSense Board met this week to put the finishing touches on the Spring 2011 Tasting Schedule.  Over Triscuits, Belgian Chocolates and wine (albarino, zinfandel and sangiovese) -- what a pairing!-- the board decided on an appellation tasting theme for the first two months, followed by some unique and new events. Spring 2011 Tasting Schedule Feb. 24:  Celebrating Carneros March 10:  Savoring Sonoma Coast March 24:  Delectable Dry Creek Wines April 7:  SSU Wine Career Night (5:30) & Alluring Alexander Valley (7:30) April 14:  Beer & Wine Tasting April 28:  Battle of the Bubbles May 12:  Grand Event - Wine [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:31:54-08:00February 11, 2011|

The Amazing Rubired Grape – Third Most Planted Varietal in California

Have you ever heard of the “Rubired” grape?  Last year at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium 2010, I was able to taste some wine made from this grape.  However, it is rare to find it used for wine.  In general, Rubired is used to produce grape concentrate, but can also be used as a blender in red wines. At this year’s Unified Conference 2011, the audience was amazed to hear that Rubired (17%) is now the third most planted grape in California behind Cabernet Sauvignon (23%) in first place, and Chardonnay (18%) in second place.  Rubired is a hybrid [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:32:13-08:00January 29, 2011|

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!. Crunchy numbers A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,600 times in 2010. That's about 13 full 747s. In 2010, there were 14 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 43 posts. There were 42 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 15mb. That's about 4 pictures per month. The busiest day of the year was May [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:33:25-08:00January 3, 2011|

Holiday Ports Paired with Desserts – Trentadue Winery

A warming glass of port is always a good choice for the winter holidays – especially when paired with decadent desserts.  The SSU Wine Sense Club was able to experience this recently with a tasting of 5 special dessert wines made by Trentadue Winery in Geyersville, California.  See: http://www.trentadue.com/. The Basics of Making Port The tasting was hosted by Assistant Winemaker, Shane Ryan, who described how they grow the grapes and make the wine in this Alexander Valley AVA of Sonoma County.  Port is made differently than still wine in that the grapes are typically picked at a higher degree [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:33:45-08:00December 14, 2010|

Artesa and Karyl Wineries Thrill With Big Reds

We had a full house at Thursday night’s tasting entitled “Sparkling and Big Reds,” featuring Artesa and Karly Winery.  However, red wines seemed to rule the night again, as only one sparkling wine was offered along with a dessert muscat.  Generally these two wine styles would sweep the crowd as favorites, but not with this big red loving group. Artesa Winery Artesa Winery, located in Carneros, started off with exciting offerings of pinot noir, tempranillo, and cabernet sauvignon.  Sarah Helmers, Manager of Consumer Direct Sales, described wine making techniques and appellations of these exciting wines.  The favorite Artesa wine of [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:34:03-08:00November 23, 2010|

The 5 Great Bordeaux Varietals – Tasting by Stryker Winery

(By Guest Author, Brian Shapiro) Last night we had a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the wines from Stryker Sonoma. The winery is located in Alexander Valley and in our opinion typifies the types of wines being produced in that region of Sonoma County -- big, bold reds with a focus on the Bordeaux varietals. Stryker Sonoma brought us five wines; each was a single vineyard 100% varietal wine. The theme of the evening was the “Five Great Bordeaux Varietals” and the winery did not disappoint!  Fresh off of harvest Winemaker Tim Hardin joined me (Stryker P.R. guru) in describing the [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:34:24-08:00November 6, 2010|

Lake County Wines Delight with Unique Varietals

Even competing with the Giants game and the rain, we had a decent turn out last night for the “Wines of the Lake” tasting, featuring eight wines from Lake County.  The tasting was led by Pietro of Rosa d'Oro Winery and John McDermaid of McDermaid Family Wines.  They began with an overview of what makes Lake County unique; describing the higher altitude, the impact of Clear Lake on the vineyards, and the swings in temperature from the low 100F’s during the day to a drop of 50F overnight.  We also learned that Lake County has 5 AVA’s (American Viticulture Appellations). The [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:34:46-08:00October 22, 2010|

Professor Picks: Harvest Fair Gold Medal Wines Less than $16

I love October in Sonoma County, because it means the Harvest Fair is here!  I've attended every year for the past 10 years to taste the top scoring wines.  In addition, I enjoy checking out the monster-size pumpkins, the decorated cakes, visiting all of the sheep, goats, cows, horses, and pig pens, listening to the music, and always catching the Grape Stomp before I leave. Afterwards, I head to some of my favorite wine stores in Sonoma County, because they have great deals on the Harvest Fair medal winning wines.  The two stores I always hit are Bottle Barn and Olivers, [...]

By |2021-02-02T13:35:20-08:00October 15, 2010|

Mystic of Red Wine Tasting with Robert Mondavi and Ravenswood Rescheduled to Spring 2011

They say "patience makes the heart grow fonder."  If this is true, we will enjoy tasting these wines even more in the Spring.  This tasting had to be rescheduled due to some paperwork issues on the SSU campus.  We are disappointed, but look forward to inviting Constellation and all of their fabulous wines back to campus next semester. Estancia Pinot Noir Reserve 2007  Ruffino Ducale Chianti Classico - Sangiovese 2006  Clos du Bois Sonoma Reserve Alexander Valley Merlot 2006   Robert Mondavi Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Hogue Genesis Columbia Valley Syrah 2007 Ravenswood Sonoma County Zinfandel 2007  

By |2021-02-02T13:36:56-08:00October 4, 2010|
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