What is a Meritage Wine?
The word “Meritage” is a combination of the words “merit” and “heritage”. Learn more about this American term in this two-minute Fun Fact. 
Wine Trivia du Jour
Okay, here’s one of my favorite bits of trivia:
What percent of California’s wine comes from Napa Valley?
a) 4%
b) 12%
c) 25%
d) 89%
Let me give you a hint: Napa Valley is a little over 30 miles long and about 4 miles wide at the widest point.
What do you think? Find out in our Wine Trivia Challenge!
NVWR® 99 – Top Five Questions: Ask Our Educator
February 23, 2010 by David
Filed under Napa Valley Wine Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“Ask Our Educator” is one of my favorite website features because people write in with all kinds of wine-related questions and sometimes we get a real conversation going!
In episode 57 (December 2007) we covered questions about screwcaps, sulfites and more.
Since then you’ve had questions about decanting, how to buy a good wine glass, and how to store left-over wine among other things.
So, here we go with a new installment of the top five questions!
Goosecross: Pruning Time in the Vineyard
In this 2-minute video our Winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch, does a show and tells of when and how he prunes the vines. He references the term “buds” several times. For each bud left after he prunes, a shoot will emerge in the spring. He can expect that each shoot will produce one to three clusters of grapes. Enjoy!
Culinary Getaways
Suffering from cabin fever? Love to cook? And EAT???
You should know Sherry Page of Culinary
Getaways. Whether it’s Napa Valley, Paris, Sausalito, Tuscany or Provence you’ll cook with the very best local ingredients and eat the best that the region has to offer. This 2-minute Fun Fact fills you in!
PS: There are just two places left for her three-day Napa Valley Getaway beginning February 26!
Reynolds Gorsuch – In Memorial
In Memorial – It’s been one year to the day… Reynolds Gorsuch passed away.
Rey Gorsuch, medical device inventor and founder of Goosecross Cellars passed away peacefully of natural causes on February 21, 2009 in his Yountville home.
During his 33 years in Yountville, Rey guided his team at Transvivo in Napa to develop an artificial, pocket-sized kidney, an immensely promising invention that is currently being tested on patients and pending FDA approval. Over the years, he developed numerous systems for therapeutic cure of congestive heart failure, kidney dialysis, and therapeutic apheresis. Rey was also instrumental in developing a catheter called Slow Continuous Intracorporeal Plasmapheresis (SCIP) which prevents fluid overload in congestive heart failure patients and is helpful in treating kidney disease and organ failure.
During his 56 year career as an engineer and inventor, Rey held over 100 patents on various medical devices from incubators, to radiant shields for burn victims, a blood pressure transducer, ventilators, heat shields, inhalers, medical pumps for edema, monitoring equipment for hospitals, pulmonary diagnostic machines, heart monitors, resuscitators , and the power supply for artificial hearts. Rey’s lifetime of accomplishments is a fitting legacy for a man that gave everything he had to help people improve the comfort and quality of their lives.
As Founder of Goosecross Cellars, Rey served as a mentor to Geoff and David and was often sought out for his advice and visionary thinking. He created the preliminary design for the ÆROS winged label and was a guiding force in Goosecross’ tour and wine education programs. He delighted people with his viticulture tours, his stories of the native Wappo Indian history, obsidian artifacts, and his dedication to growing and producing the best quality wines in all of Napa.
Rey is greatly missed by his family and friends who have benefitted so much from his ingenuity and compassion for all.
Culinary Getaways, Sherry page
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Fun Fact by Nancy Hawks Miller, Goosecross: Culinary Getaways, Sherry page
Did you enjoy this? Here are more Fun Facts from Goosecross Cellars.
Fancy Food Show
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Fun Fact by Diane De Filipi, Let’s Go Cook Italian: Fancy Food Show (recap)
Did you enjoy this? Here are more Fun Facts from Goosecross Cellars.
Oak Derived Flavor In Wine
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Fun Fact by Nancy Hawks Miller, Goosecross: Oak Derived Flavor In Wine
Did you enjoy this? Here are more Fun Facts from Goosecross Cellars.
Q: Sulfites/California Wine/Headaches
Question from Susan: We have a friend who claims that she can only drink French reds because California reds have more nitrates/nitrites and give her headaches. Is this possible or is it a bit of wine snobbery?
Reply: Hi, Susan! Thanks for writing! I think your friend must have meant sulfites rather than nitrites. I’m pretty confident that nitrites aren’t a significant part of the wine picture (although they’re found in water, so…). They’re used to preserve hot dogs and salami and stuff like that. The sulfite question comes up pretty frequently.
It’s hard to blame her for thinking that French wine doesn’t have sulfites because, up to quite recently, only the US and Australia required the sulfite warning on the label. If you vacationed in Paris and drank French wine, a few years back, you wouldn’t have seen the warning. But, now you would (unless it’s an old vintage) and this applies to all the wine-producing countries in the European Union.
The law is very similar to the American one and enologists have determined that a bottle of French or California wine is likely to have around 80 parts per million. Any variation is more from brand to brand than country to country. Goosecross wine usually leaves here at around 30-35 ppm.
Sulfites, or sulfur, have been used to preserve wine for centuries. Even in Roman times it was used to help create a seal for the container. Without a little sulfur the wine loses its fruit and has a short shelf life. Fortunately, if the wine spoils it’s not harmful, but it’s not much fun to drink, either, which is why sulfur is still in use. Sulfites turn up in a lot of foods, too, especially dried fruit.
At this very moment, enologists are working to try to eliminate the need for sulfur. The success, so far, is by way of reducing it. Today’s wine has much lower sulfur levels than wine did as recently as 50 or 60 years ago.
This isn’t to say that you can’t buy wine that doesn’t have added sulfites. The “Organic Wine” designation prohibits sulfur additions to wine, as opposed to “organically grown”, which only refers to the farming (and even there, elemental sulfur application to the vines is permitted to keep mildew under control). The reason you don’t see very many “organic wines” is that they usually don’t taste very good. I should add that organic wine may still contain sulfites because they’re a by-product of the fermentation. The level, in that case, is extremely low.
As to the headaches, chemists keep telling us that sulfites don’t cause headaches, but statements like that can set off a maelstrom of heated opposition from those who believe otherwise. Your friend might try eating some brightly colored dried fruit to see if that causes a headache. If not, something other than sulfur is the cause. California wine is quite often higher in alcohol than French wine, due to climatic differences, so that’s the more likely culprit.
I hope that puts your debate to rest! May you and your friends enjoy wine, whatever its nationality, in good health! Cheers! Nancy
