Vacation rentals are a fixture of wine country
Focusing on vacation rentals is a bit afield from our usual topic - Sonoma grapes and wine. It's all well and good to grow great grapes, make delicious wine, and build beautiful wineries. But we'd better have customers to enjoy it all. Many growers and winemakers rely...
New York wine client “Sovare” visits Sonoma…
Hydeout Sonoma has many wonderful clients. Our New York-based clients, owners of the Sovare label, came into town to taste their 2017 vintage. Sovare is an estate hillside vineyard near Sonoma Mountain comprising equal percentages of Cabernet, Sangiovese, and...
Farming Sonoma vineyards organically
Farming Sonoma vineyards organically is expensive and time consuming. And it makes the wine more expensive too. Why? One of the biggest risks to vineyards around the globe is mold and mildew. Mildew spores over-winter in dormant cane buds and under bark. For...
Fun with Wine Science…
You love wine. But maybe you never gave much thought to the science of wine? Here is a post that reveals some science behind wine... The preeminent magazine for wine professionals is Wine Business Monthly, headquartered in Sonoma. Last week, I attended their...
Wine Business Monthly’s “Innovation and Quality” Forum at Silverado Resort next week…
On May 23rd and 24th, Wine Business Monthly will be hosting their one-of-a-kind forum for ultra premium wineries focused on Innovations that Advance Wine Quality. Located at the Silverado Resort, the industry's foremost wineries and researchers will be gathering to...
Sonoma “Bee Hive Dive” at Nick’s Ranch
My motorcycle buddy and all-around renaissance man, Nicholas Freedman, hosted a very special lunch and 'bee hive dive' at his east-Petaluma ranch, benefiting the Sonoma Academy. Many bee experts, aficionados, interested parties, and Sonoma Academy supporters enjoyed a...
A winery on the Equator? Yes! (and a coffee plantation too)
On our motorcycle tour through the central Andes of Columbia, we discovered this winery, the Marques de Villa De Leyva... This is the road with a first glimpse of grapevines as we approached the ranch. Could be anywhere in wine country, right? And yet here we are on...
Sonoma International Film Festival
Join me for a quick visit to the Sonoma International Film (and food and wine) Festival, as seen through the eyes of Hydeout Sonoma: Our houseguests during the festival were the director and stars of the documentary film, Grand Cru. Focussed on the trials and...
Meet the winners…
Meet the winners of the Hydeout Sonoma blogpost contest. These 3 eagle-eyed readers spotted my-newt joke in the previous blog post.... For their efforts, they each received a bottle of 2016 "Dysfunctional Family" wine ( a new 'second label' project we introduced this...
Wine Industry Convention
The Grape and Wine Symposium, in Sacramento every January, is THE largest grape and wine industry convention in North America. Here is a quick 'beginner's tour' for those who are unfamiliar with our industry - Quick questions - Reader poll - please let me know what...
Sonoma Firestorm, Part 3, Hiking Arrowhead Mountain
In my final post on the 2017 Sonoma Firestorm, (Part 3) come along as we hike through Arrowhead Mountain, the southernmost flank of the Mayacamas Mountains that splits Napa and Sonoma Counties. The hike started at the base of Arrowhead mountain and climbed up to...
Hydeout clients release their first estate wine this week…
Hydeout Consulting announces 3 new exciting wine releases. Check out these new labels…
Sonoma Firestorm – Part 2 – Analysis, Recovery, Celebration
With mother nature, life always follows death... In my previous blog, you saw images of the terrible firestorm and resulting destruction in Sonoma. In "Sonoma Firestorm - Part 2" we visit a fire-damaged vineyard near Kenwood springing back to life just one month...
Six days of fire in Sonoma
Six days of fire in Sonoma
Sonoma grape harvest 2017, a brief video and pictorial essay…
Enjoy these videos and images of the Sonoma 2017 grape harvest.
Re-visiting the countryside of Marcillac, Aveyron, France, one year later…
One year ago, Cynthia and I visited the French countryside of Marcillac in the department of Aveyron, six hours south of Paris and four hours north of Spain. Attended by my father-in-law, Bruce Bogin, and his friend (and our translator), Georges Berte, we visited a...
Sonoma Ag Boosters party at the Hydeout
The Sonoma Valley Ag Boosters, supporters of the Sonoma Valley High School "Future Farmers of America" and the "Sustainable Agriculture Academy", held their annual fundraising gala last night at the Hydeout in Sonoma... A huge crowd of students,...
Nighttime grape harvest in Sonoma
A pictorial essay of Hydeout Consulting's first nighttime harvest for 2017 Below is a pictorial essay following a nighttime harvest of Pinot Noir from our arrival on-site at the vineyard through to delivery at the winery. Hydeout Consulting directed the management of...