Wine’s Inner Terroir

Wine portrait: Pinot Noir 2008 hope & grace. The French use a term “terroir” to talk about a wine’s expression of place.  They say that only certain wines express terroir which means they express the land and its temperament. We experience terroir  as sensory qualities of  a wine’s nature, its personality and spirit. What influences ‘terroir’ the land...
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Jewels of our Vines

It is almost 30 years ago that I started my journey into the inner beauty of wine. It began at Sterling Vineyards when they had an artist-in-residence program and I was fortunate to be selected with two years to prepare. I was guided by the winemaker Theo Rosenbrand who would ask questions - what would a wine look like that had been grown in the valley compared to on the side of Diamond...
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Beyond the French Paradox

The better cardiovascular health among the French people compared to Americans has been a puzzle. Even though the French eat a lot more saturated fat (meat, cheese, butter), smoke more, and exercise less, the French have forty percent fewer heart attacks. Initially, drinking red wine was seen as the principal difference. Though a daily glass of wine is an indispensable part of French and...
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Shaping Wine…

If wine had an image to represent its character, style or personality – what kind of wine do you think would be represented by the above image? I often fantasize that if wine bottles had pictures of what’s inside the bottle, we the consumer might make different choices. Granted our experience of wine is subjective yet in my own experience  capturing wine’s expression under the...
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Once Upon a Time – Inglenook

I’m so glad to see Inglenook back in the news thanks to Coppola. Why? Years ago when I first started photographing wine through the microscope, when Inglenook made great wine and still ‘lived’ in their original buildings, their PR director hired me to photograph 45 years of their cabs. This was a very special tasting event with the Wine Spectator and who’s who in wine...
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