CARTOGRAPHWINES.COM SNEAK PEAK We are working feverishly to get our new Cartographwines.com website up and operational. It's been a fabulous experience getting our first vintage of Cartograph wines to bottle. Now we are focused on getting our online store...

Bottling is a loud, joyous, flurry of activity. It reflects the culmination of months or even years of work you've done on one particular wine. All the decisions about when to pick, how to ferment the grapes, what the...

CELLAR RAT CELLARS WILL BE POURING FEBRUARY 20 AT FORT MASON IN SAN FRANCISCO We were thrilled to be awarded a silver medal for the 2006 Wentzel Vineyard Pinot noir in this year's Chronicle competition. The San Francisco Chronicle...

It's Official, We're a Winery! It's almost unbelievable but after months of questionnaires, finger printing, background checks, trademark battles, and registering with about a dozen government agencies, we're legit, and can start selling wine under our new label. We'll...

So it's perhaps a sign of my arrested development but I have to share the best entry in the Healdsburg police report this week. This is why I love my home town. kind of. And I SWEAR this is verbatim...

In the summer of 2006 I undertook a project that was the first of its kind in the wine world. It was a mashup of winemaking and what we now call social media. I called it Pinot 2.0. I...

Early the other morning I headed out to the Mononi vineyard in the Russian River Valley with Arista's Mark McWilliams to check out the Pinot noir. It was the final day of picking the fruit from Mononi with hot...

In the proper wine biz tradition of spending money only on what really counts, I had a funny realization the other day that the two new barrels we were transporting in a borrowed truck were worth much more than the...

The moon shed just a little light as we headed out to a night pick at the Floodgate vineyard in the Russian River Valley. We only were able to secure one ton of this beautiful fruit but it was...

Mark McWilliams at Arista took this video of how you graft bud wood onto rootstock in the field. enjoy....

In the very early morning hours on Tuesday September 15 we headed to Floodgate Vineyard for their first harvest of a new Gewurztraminer block. It was a cold night with the barest illumination by the sliver that was the...

Hey folks, we made a trip up to some very remote areas of Mendocino to check on grapes a while back. Video of this spectacular site farmed by John Alden is coming soon but here's a quick look at this...

On September third we picked the first of our 2009 grapes. Warren Burton and the crew at Floodgate were out early in the morning and we joined them about 3AM. Night picks are so wonderful with the cool air,...

The McWilliams family picks their first fruit form the Arista Estate...

While living in Healdsburg, oh, way back in '05 I met a family who was just opening their doors for business on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley. Al and Janis McWilliams were seeing their long held dream...

After a flurry of activity trying to get licensing, grape sourcing, barrels, tank space, custom crush agreements... the list goes on... it all fell into place about a week ago, and suddenly we're hauling in grapes. What a fabulously...

We're a go for a Thursday 3am pick at Floodgate - Sweet I'm glad we're picking at night because I wouldn't have been able to sleep knowing we were picking the next day anyway. Night picks are great, btw,...

Making the Call on Picking Floodgate Pinot Noir I got a call early the morning of August 28th from Warren Burton saying "Hey things are moving fast. Get your butt out here to make a call on pick date!"...

Why am I sooo happy to be back in Healdsburg? So I can once again troll the local police report to make myself feel, well, normal compared to the characters getting in trouble up here... And I swear these...

Ralph Steadman's Heart of Darkness label for Bonny Doon When none other than Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon says he likes your wine label, well, you gotta pay attention. He was talking about my 05' Cellar Rat Syrah that...

In a blatant attempt to cash in on a trending topic.... A ridiculous topic, but hey, I'm unemployed. With the Cycles Gladiator label being declared porn by the Alabama ABC, I feel the need to offer a collectors Edition...

On the eve of the 09 Wine Bloggers Conference I tripped across something I find crazy funny. There's been a big dust up between Dr. Vino and the crew at the Robert Parker hive. I love Tyler's (Dr. Vino)...

Waters Crest 2004 Private Reserve Merlot So I had my first of the New York wines that Gary V sent last night. I'm not one to be at all skeptical about wines from regions that are emerging or are not...

How often have you landed someplace near or far and found yourself wanting a local resource to give you the scoop on everything going down? Yeah, you could scour websites but really you're looking for recommendations on interesting activities...

Just made an epic trip to FedEx to retrieve a package. (would have took less time had I lounged around and ate red vines waiting for them to re-try the delivery. Lesson learned) It was worth the trip, however....

On Wednesday, April 8th, I managed to sneak out of Crushpad for a quick visit to Reverence vineyard in Napa Valley's Coombsville region. I met up with Aaron DeBeers who is the vineyard manager, and he gave me the scoop...

Loving the new widget maker from the Times. Want this Wine and Dining widget for your site? Grab the code below....

On August 29th, the 2008 harvest for Crushpad began at 3AM in Grassini vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley. Sauvignon Blanc is typically the first grape we pick each year, and with a little heat spell moving through California this...

Check out how we created a new door between the existing Crushpad winery, and our new barrel room space......

I don't know what was more amusing yesterday, learning that I was a finalist for the American Wine Blog Awards, or finding out that we are calling the Crudhpad softball team Noble Rot. I mean, c'mon, Noble Rot is totally...

So lazy-Arsed me can never seem to find a good reason to open all that pricey Syrah I seem to buy. OK, I have maybe ten bottles worth more than $30, hardly pricey in the big picture, but I really...

Thank you all for the thoughtful inquiries here on the Rat and to my personal email. I assure you I have not been hit by a bus, at least not literally. I'm alive and doing very well in San...

We're almost there... a look at the Pinot 2.0 wine as it rolls through fermentation

The Rat catches up with Michael Evens. CEO of Vines of Mendoza, a company that will do everything from direct ship wines from Argentina, to plant and manage a vineyard for you in Mendoza

Is winemaking an art, or is it a science? I take a trip to the lab at Crushpad to figure out what we need to know about the Pinot 2.0 must as it begins fermentation.

The Rat Pack get the grapes back to San Francisco and then help crush and manage the must as we extract color during the cold soak

Why does the temperature a fermentation reaches matter? Check it!

Cellar rats, and lab rats getting along in perfect harmony. Check out some of the science behind the art of winemaking

The pressed wine after being pressed and captured before pumping to barrel. This is the actual color lit by camera flash.) Exactly two weeks to the hour after we destemmed the Pinot Noir from Wentzel Vineyard into bins for...

Remembering Hydrometer #V.6873-H1

From our two T-bins of fermented must, we will get four barrels of wine, plus topping wine. The plan was to use one brand new barrel and three neutral barrels for a total of 25% new oak. We changed...

The Pinot 2.0 juice quickly turns a deep ruby color in the cold soak phase, and the fermenting Rat Rose gathers a crowd...

After eleven days in the winery, the Pinot 2.0 grapes are now officially wine. Fermentation is almost complete. There are two or three brix worth of sugar left in the must but it’s definitely tasting like wine, not grape...

It's Harvest Day for the Pinot Noir that will go into the Pinot 2.0 project's wine.

The Rat Pack crew processes the two tons of Pinot 2.0 Anderson Valley fruit. Watch how the sort and crush process works, and get initial reactions from the crew to the Wentzel Pinot Noir.

A quick update on wine status as the grapes come out of their cold soak phase.

I catch up with David Dain, of Dain wines to figure out how he's launching California wines from Missouri.

The Rat Pack picking crew shows up for an early, and cold, start to a fabulous day in the Wentzel Vineyard picking the Pinot 2.0 grapes.

A video collage of sights from around Anderson Valley, and the Wentzel Vineyard, on October 12th, harvest day for the Pinot 2.0 Pinot Noir.

The Rat corners Crushpad president and CEO Michael Brill to ask him why he won't let us harvest our grapes;-) Rain delayed harvest twice, but we'll pick in a couple days... no fooling.

The Rat hangs out in the cellar waiting for the rain rain to go a away, hoping to pick on Monday... And he runs into David Dain, of Dain Wines, who makes seven wines at Crushpad, including one from the Wentzel Vineyard this year, 2006.

OK, so this is simply the Kron4 site harvesting the Pinot 2.0/Crushpad press release and dropping it in their wrapper but it struck me as funny with Dr Phil smiling his shiny head off in the margin. Does this...

The first vodcast in a series of video podcasts that document a collaborative winemaking project by Alan Baker, a.k.a. the Cellar Rat, with his winemaking group, the Rat Pack. Join us at Crushnet.com

I discuss the growing season in Mendocino, and specifically Anderson Valley, with Casey Hartlip, the vineyard manager and winemaker for Eagle Point Ranch.

The Rat takes off into Northern California to seek expert assistance on how to create a winemaking plan for the Pinot 2.0 project.

The Ratcam begins to take shape...

I won't go too deep into details since I'll be giving updates soon with audio and video but I wanted to get a few images posted from my vineyard visit to the Wentzel vineyard in Anderson Valley. This was...

The Winemakers show is indeed going to happen, and I am not going to be on it. I knew that I wasn't since I told them I wasn't available for the times they were going to shoot. But it...

Looking back, and forward, at the life of a rat. Let's just call it a Ratrospective. Ratrospectacle?

OK, so I'll admit I'm driven by guilt to get a little something up since several things fell through this week, and I didn't get a podcast produced. I'll get back on schedule ASAP but with harvest kicking in,...

The 2006 wine grape harvest has begun in California! The Rat gets the lowdown from all over the state on how things are looking as the grapes start coming into the winery.

Hangin' at the Family Winemakers tasting with Gary and Jeff Pisoni

The Rat grabs some tunes and wine at Slims in San Francisco while checking out the Uncorked and Unplugged tour - part rock show - part wine tasting.

You want 25 cases of high-end Cabernet from a great Napa Valley Vineyard? I thought I heard you right. Just give Crush Pad a call, they'll do the rest... all it takes is about $10,000

So who says cold beats hot when it comes to Syrah growing conditions? I used to but in RC 48 I find some killer Syrah right under my own nose in warm Dry Creek Valley. OK by me.

The Rat ventures out into the hot, sun drenched vineyards to attend an outdoor tasting comparing warm and cool climate Chardonnays from Sonoma County, CA

The Rat goes looking for bubbles in Medocino's Anderson Valley, and finds some killer white wines as well

The Rat checks out Sauce, a hip neighborhood eatery in San Francisco, to see how they go about building their wine list, and if you can charge corkage for Two Buck Chuck

I mentioned in Ratcast #44 that an interview I did with Heather Irwin showed up in the July issue of Wine and Sprits Magazine. Well, it was the August issue, which showed up on the shelves in late June....

A side-by-side comparison of six different wines made from six different Pinot noir clones, and a visit from Dolly, my favorite cloned sheep

Lured into the Priorat region, of the wine shops, by tasting amazing Priorat wines at this year's Hospice du Rhone, the Cellar Rat goes in search of bargain wines from the Priorat

The Rat tours Pinot country - the Russian River Valley - and reports on the best spots to hang

The Rat hits the streets of San Francisco looking for what grape varieties, and wingrowing regions, have come onto the world's stage in the past year.

The ten wines from the 1960s-early 70s' poured prior to the Paris anniversary tasting... NPR did a nice build-out on their Web site for the ATC piece, and included links to other wine related stories. I'll drop that link...

To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of this famous tasting, the Rat sneaks into a reenactment of the famous Judgment of Paris, which proved that Californian wines could stand on the international stage and rightfully claim to be the best in the world.

I'll be attending the Reenactment of the legendary Paris tasting of 1976 at Copia tomorrow. This famous tasting pitted the best wines of France against the best from the upstart region of Napa Valley, California. Even the organizer, Steven...

The Cellar Rat treks south to Paso Robles California to crash Hospice du Rhone 2006.

The Cellar Rat auditions for the Reality TV series "The Wine Makers"

The Cellar Rat crawls out of Las Vegas in the blinding morning light to visit a winery in the Mojave Desert. How could a rat resist the temptation to investigate something called the Pahrump Valley Winery, and RV Park?

The Casting Call for "The Wine Makers" was a pretty odd affair. It was mostly waiting around on a noisy loading dock. I'll get a full podcast up soon but the basic gist is that we won't know for...

File under: Seemed like a good idea at the time Believe it, or not, I tossed my hat in the ring to be part of a casting call for the upcoming PBS reality series called The Wine Makers. And...

The Rat swings through the northern end of Napa Valley, and then heads into the hills to track down some great Riesling, and also finds an amazing Cab for a bargain price...

Come along with the Rat on the first, of two, tasting tours of Napa Valley. Ratcast #35 features an interview with John Williams of Frogs Leap Cellars.

The Cellar Rat swims out to the vineyards to get an update on the 2006 growing season.

I had completely forgotten about Wine Blogging Wednesday being today. I'll spare you the self-indulgent details of why I'm distracted but there it was, Tim's post over at Winecast, and I remembered that WBW #20 was, well, now. And had...

Here are the Cellar Rat's favorite places to hang out, and taste wine in Dry Creek Valley. Check it out, and then tell us of your favs on Cellarrat.org.

Come along and check out what VinoVenue in downtrown San Francisco has to offer, and evaluate the selection and freshness of these 100+ wines with an honest to god wine professional, not just a delittant Cellar Rat.

Relentless rain a mystery Perplexing weather expected to linger as stalled jet stream drives storms into California. With 22 days of measurable precipitation this March already, and rain expected again by this afternoon or tonight and all day Friday,...

Despite lower than normal temps, and rainfall totals soaring well over 130% of average for this point in the year, spring is indeed coming to Dry Creek Valley. The trees are in bloom, and the vines are itching to...

Strap on that big foam cowboy hat, and hop on your broomstick pony for a tour of the Rhone Rangers tasting in San Francisco with the Cellar Rat. Are these winemakers French winegrower wanna-be's, or are they creating something uniquely New World?

The Rat wraps up his tour of Washington state wines with a visit to Andrew Will Winery on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound.

Other than trying to make a living here in Nor Cal, there's nothing much to do these days but watch wave after wave of cold spring storms roll through. And knowing that all the cruddy cold rain we were...

Take a Road trip to check out the 28th Annual Russian River Valley Barrel Tasting Weekend with the Cellar Rat, and a few thousand very close friends.

The Cellar Rat stumbles into the suburbs of Seattle only to find a stash of good wines, and a burgeoning wine tourism center. WHO KNEW? not this rodent.

Is it posssible to knock out a rock show playing only songs that begin with the same letter? Of course it is. But will it suck? ----- Dunno, you tell me. Tonight's Energy Bar will be made up entirely...

Top Spots - Cool places to Visit As luck would have it I bailed on a planned wine tasting side trip from Seattle to Oregon's Willamette Valley last week. It was going to take at least three hours each...

The Rat treks even further north in California to check out Ceago Vinegarden, a winery and developing resort, in Lake County dedicated to educating people on biodynamic winegrowing.

So I wander out of a downtown Seattle restaurant late last night with a group of broadcast geeks, and see a woman leaving a club, and strapping herself together to ride off on a Vespa with the strangest paint job...

Spring seems to have come early in Dry Creek Valley but the warm weather that encouraged these trees to bloom passed without pushing the grapevine buds, so the risk of frost damage has lessened. For a while I had...