Al Brounstein
A RECENT VISIT TO DIAMOND CREEK VINEYARDS – FALL 2018
I first visited Diamond Creek Vineyards over 40 years ago. The first vintage for Diamond Creek Creek was 1972, and shortly after that we went to we went to visit (to read a recent article on Diamond Creek including the history click here). The late Al Brounstein, along wine his wife Boots, founded […]
Click here to read entire article »A VISIT TO DIAMOND CREEK VINEYARDS AND GREAT WINE AND FOOD
My history with Diamond Creek goes back to the very beginning (to read a recent article with background on the beginning of Diamond Creek and my involvement there click here). Earlier this year my wife Laurie and I paid a visit to Diamond Creek. We had a wonderful visit with Boots Brounstein, her son […]
Click here to read entire article »DIAMOND CREEK VINEYARDS
History And Notes On Stunning New Wines Founded in 1968, Diamond Creek is California’s first exclusively Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Vineyard. The first vintage was 1972. Visionary pioneer Al Brounstein defied conventions and planted Bordeaux varietals on secluded Diamond Mountain. Four separate vineyards – Volcanic Hill, Red Rock Terrace, Gravelly Meadow, and Lake – produce a […]
Click here to read entire article »WHERE HAS NAPA VALLEY GONE?
LONG TIME PASSING WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN? As I look back on the changes in Napa Valley over the last 40 years since my friends and I first started going there in the early 1970s, I cannot help but reflect on the great Pete Seeger song “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”. This song […]
Click here to read entire article »THE MARRIAGE BLEND
For some time I have been writing about the advantages of blending young wines (particularly inexpensive ones) to get a wine that suits your taste. This covers a wide variety of wines from Two Buck Chuck up (to read one of the early Blending Man articles click here and to read the article on […]
Click here to read entire article »THE MAYACAMAS MOUNTAINS OF NAPA VALLEY & THREE PIONEER PRODUCERS
Recently I visited Napa Valley with my good friend and Underground contributing editor, John Morrill. We visited friends and some new people, but also revisited three wineries that I first visited in the early 1970s shortly after they produced their first wines. For decades, all continued to produce traditional wines that are balanced and […]
Click here to read entire article »Retrospective Review: Volume 1, Number 6 (June-July, 1980)
With Volume I, Number 6 in June-July 1980, we ended our first year of publication. My lead editorial was a glimpse of things to come and was titled “It’s Our Anniversary! But The Best Is Yet To Come!” In it I talked about the launch of our barrels and bottles feature which would review wines in barrel and bottle before they were released for sale. The idea which was to prove to be the wave of the future was “to evaluate some of the best wines before they begin their way through the retail trade.” I stated our intention to focus on fine wines exclusively – Chardonnay, Cabernet both old and new and other California wines such as Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Gewurztraminer, and also Vintage Ports. And French wines, 1978 Burgundies, 1978 Bordeaux and Sauternes, plus older Bordeaux vintage reviews 1970, 1966, 1961, 1928 and 1929 and a review of Chateau Petrus from 1920-1976. These reviews of older vintages were timely because the older wines were readily available at auctions in England and then through wine merchants in Europe and the U.S. And, it is important to remember, that this was before the plague of wine fraud was to rear its ugly head!
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THE UNDERGROUND IS BACK!
Some 40 years ago, I started my pursuit of learning about wine. It had never been a part of my life until after Laurie and I were married in 1967. At that time, I said to her that there has to be something better than “Red Mountain,” a jug wine that sold for a few […]
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