Rusty’s Posts
Posts from Rusty Gaffney: Prince of Pinot
By BurgLover on August 12, 2010
Nick Mills, who had picked up French in travels to France as a child with his winegrower father, Rolfe Mills, returned to Burgundy after a short-lived, injury-ending career as a world-class snow skier. He started as a cellar rat at Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron, and stayed in Burgundy from 1998 to 2002, studying enology and viticulture in Beaune and working at some of Burgundy’s most celebrated domaines including Nicolas Potel, de la Vougeraie, and de la Romanee-Conti. Upon urgings from his mother in 2002, he returned to Rippon on the shores of Lake Wanaka in Central Otago, where some of the oldest Pinot Noir vines (some dating to 1985) in New Zealand are located. 80% of the Rippon vineyard is planted on its own roots and [....]
Posted in Etrangers, Rusty's Posts |
By BurgLover on February 15, 2010
There is nothing else quite like Dry River Pinot Noir in New Zealand, or even in the world for that matter. Dry River, located in Martinborough, North Island of New Zealand, was the name of one of the oldest Wairapa sheep stations in New Zealand, dating to 1877. It was later named Dyerville, and it was here in 1979 that Neil and Dawn McCallum planted a vineyard. The area subsequently became known as the Martinborough Terrace, now famous for Pinot Noir. McCallum is an opinionated winemaker, a committed “terroirist,” who is highly respected by his peers. His wines have achieved cult status in New Zealand, although he never submits the wines for judging. At Dry River there is no tasting room, yet the wines are [....]
Posted in Degustation, Rebuy - Yes (2010), Rusty's Posts |
By BurgLover on October 16, 2009
A tongue-and-cheek look at winemakers.
Posted in Rusty's Posts |
By BurgLover on September 6, 2009
Gary Farrell could easily be given the title of Father of Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. After making his first wines for Davis Bynum, Farrell launched his own label in 1982. That year, he crafted the first Pinot Noir for the newly launched Rochioli Vineyard and Winery label, and released his first Gary Farrell Pinot Noir consisted of 50 cases of a blend of Rochioli West Block and the North Hill of Allen Vineyard. It sold for $80 a case. His Pinot Noirs offered elegance, yet intense and nuanced flavors, reasonably low alcohol levels, and generous acidity, and became among the most popular from California. By 1999, Farrell had outgrown the Davis Bynum winery where he had been making his wines, partnered with Bill Hambrecht, [....]
Posted in Etrangers, Rusty's Posts |
By BurgLover on July 15, 2009
Thomas Rivers Brown and his wife and business partner Genevieve Marie Walsh have quietly developed one of California’s most honored Pinot Noir labels: Rivers-Marie. Although Brown crafts wine for at least twelve other wineries where the focus is Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, Rivers-Marie produces small lots of Pinot Noir from three vineyard sources in the true Sonoma Coast, specifically the Occidental-Freestone area. Summa Vineyard is a 6-acre site owned by Scott and Joan Zeller, Occidental Ridge Vineyard is owned by Richard and Darla Radcliffe, and the Willow Creek Vineyard is owned by Raleigh and Patricia Wilson-Juckett. Total production for Rivers-Marie was 650 cases in 2007 and 1,200 cases in 2008. There are 4,000 people on the waiting list hopelessly biding their time for a spot [....]
Posted in Asides, Etrangers, Rusty's Posts |
By BurgLover on June 9, 2009
The fickle grape has found a new home in the Mendocino Ridge AVA of Mendocino County.
Posted in Etrangers, Rusty's Posts |
