Hello my friends. Been another hot minute. As most of you are by now probably aware, I am currently flying my freelance flag. š
Yeah. But I’ve got a few fun updates that have happened since that time.
Helloādoes anyone visit anymore? I know I haven’t in a long while. Hah. Well for those of you that do, thank you. Appreciate you. I’ve written loads of articles since my last post, and I should (will!) update my portfolio soon enough. But, in the meantime, I want to blast out about a podcast I was recently a guest on. If you listen (and I hope you do), let me know how you liked it.
Below is a link to the podcast homepage, but of course you can listen to it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you prefer listening to your casts. Please enjoy and thanks for listening!
Stacy Briscoe, Managing Editor ofĀ Wine EnthusiastĀ Magazine, joins Laura this week to share her journey into wine journalism and wine education. She tells us how she got her start and discusses her focus on regenerative agriculture, which she has written about extensively. Laura and Stacy discuss the experience of being a woman in the wine industry and the importance of having a supportive network, and Stacy shares some of her favorite wine recommendations.
Stacy joinedĀ Wine EnthusiastĀ in 2022 after freelance writing for the publication for several years. Previous to this role, she was the managing editor forĀ Wine Industry Network, the assistant editor ofĀ Wine Business MonthlyĀ and staff writer ofĀ Wines & VinesĀ magazine. She has also written freelance for numerous publications includingĀ SevenFifty Daily,Ā Sonoma MagazineĀ and theĀ SF Chronicle, among many others. Stacy regularly speaks at wine industry events, has completed her WSET Diploma, teaches WSET courses at the Napa Valley Wine Academy and, most recently, has been accepted as a Master of Wine Stage 1 student. Listen here.
Custoza, if you’ve not heard of it, is located Northern Italy in the Provence of Veronaācomprised of nine townships, named after village of Custoza, a hamlet of Sommacamapgna. The hills originate from glacial deposts between Verona and Lake Garda ā massive amount of deposits created an incredibly complex and variable soil situation. The main soils are calcareous clay, interspersed with gravelly rocks and sand. It is this soil structure that greatly differentiates Custoza from surrounding DOCs. It is the soil that creates a uniqueness to the white wines produced, providing a savoriness that will make any doubter of the reality of ‘minerality’ a true believer.
I find Santa Barbara wine country so interesting. As a kid, Santa Barbara always meant vacationāhot days, sandy toes, beach water I could actually swim in. (If you grew up along the San Francisco shoreline, you know what I mean when I say Pacific Beach is never that welcoming). So, it’s interesting that a placed perceived as a summertime getaway where board shorts and flip flops are basically the dress code, could produce wines with any kind of delicacy. Let alone the cool-climate grapes for which it’s gained a reputation, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
But as all you fellow wine nerds know, the cool thing (pun not intended, but not deleted either) is that because of tectonic plate-shifting, Santa Barbara’s Transverse Ranges are exactly thatātransverse. Whereas most of California’s coastal ranges run from north to south, limiting some inland locations from cool ocean breezes and fog patterns, in Santa Barbara the ranges go from east to west, thereby funneling in that cool ocean air.
The two major AVAs are Santa Maria and Santa Ynez, the latter of which contains four sub-AVAs: Santa Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Los Olivos, and Happy Canyon.
But at the end of 2020, Santa Barbara County finalized the approval process for its seventh appellationāAlisos Canyon AVA
If there’s anything we know about Chardonnay, it’s that it is highly adaptable to its environment. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Oregonāheck even Canadaāall have areas that produce premium Chardonnays. Yet all are so distinctly different, all so uniquely dependent on both environmental (soil, climate, altitude and latitude) and human factors (grape grower, winemaker).
In California, Chardonnay is our most-planted white wine grape variety. It’s produced all over the state and, given the size of the state and the amount of wine producers, it can be expressed in a number of different styles. Today I’m zeroing in on three specific AVAs: Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, and Dry Creek Valleyāall part of the Northern Sonoma AVA in Sonoma County, Calif.
The wines expressing these pieces of CaliforniaĀ terroir are all Chardonnays produced by Dutcher Crossing Winemaker, Nick Briggs, who walked me through a virtual tasting which included insight into the regional specificities from his growing partners: Charlie Chenoweth (Chenoweth Vineyards), Pam Bacigalupi (Bacigalupi Vineyards), Dan Rotlisberger (Redwood Empire Vineyard Management).