Conversations with Evelyn

Many moons ago the Little Old Winemaker at Italian Swiss Colony in Asti used to say that every year was a vintage year in California. This implied California’s weather was ideal and varied little from year to year. However, in the 30+ years I’ve been in the business I have never seen a vintage which […]

Wooden barrels have been a part of making and aging wine for millennia. We commonly think of oak as the wood; but chestnut, redwood, cherry and acacia are and have been used as well. However, oak is by any measure the wood of choice, and we will focus our discussion on it. Mike Tierney: Why

Last week we released our 2010 Sonoma County Rose of Pinot Noir. The wine is delicious and we have boosted production in an effort to meet an increasing demand. Rose is no longer a summer – only beverage, and is rightfully taking its place as a year round choice. The reason is clear – Rose

STAFF TASTINGS  Periodically we gather our production, sales and administrative staff for formal tastings. We choose a varietal and compare our wine with six others, often local wines. We taste the wines “double blind;” that is we cover the bottles so neither the pourer nor the tasters knows the identity of the wines beforehand. We

This is the second in a series of wine related conversations between Taft Street Winemaker Evelyn White and Mike Tierney. This conversation focuses on Taft Street’s go-to wine – Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Mike Tierney: Everybody loves our Chardonnay. We won our second BEST OF CLASS award and the wine has just been released. So

This is the first in a series of conversations between President Mike Tierney and winemaker Evelyn White on wine related topics and enjoying the fruits of our labors. Since we have just released our 2009 Sonoma County Rose of Pinot Noir, the making of rose seems an appropriate place to start. Mike Tierney: There are