Bacchus Landing, Medlock Ames, Napa Valley

worklifewine_bacchuslanding
worklifewine_bacchuslanding

Bacchus Landing: A Tasting Room Collective

Located just minutes from Healdsburg Plaza, Bacchus Landing offers a wine tasting room collective. Founded by the Lopez family, a tasting experience there transports guests across Sonoma County to enjoy the best of Healdsburg wine, food, arts and entertainment, all in one location.

Designed by the Lopez family to reflect the Mediterranean architecture of their own home, Bacchus Landing features an expansive central piazza, individual tasting rooms and an artisanal food market. In July last year, six local wineries unveiled their first brick-and-mortar tasting rooms at the property, including Montagne Russe Wines and AldenAlli, as well as 13th and Third Wines, Dot Wines and Aldina Vineyards. Each tasting room is customized to reflect the individuality of the winery and includes a spacious open-air interior space and adjacent patio to relax and enjoy wine in a safe, socially-distanced environment. One unique aspect of Bacchus Landing is that the winery owners and winemakers are frequently on-site interacting with guests.

The property also offers fun activities for children of all ages. Frank’s Place, located just outside the piazza walls, features two regulation-size bocce ball courts, picnic tables, lawn games, music and an herb garden. The Market at Bacchus Landing offers a rotating menu of artisanal cheeses, charcuteries plates, sandwiches and salads. For more information, visit bacchuslanding.com.

The Lopez family. Francisco (far left) with parents Al and Dina, and his sister, Monica, (far right).
[Photos courtesy of Bacchus Landing]

Medlock Ames Sound Tour

Visitors of Medlock Ames, an organically farmed vineyard at Bell Mountain Ranch in the Alexander Valley area of Healdsburg, can enjoy a sensory experience that no other winery in the North Bay can offer—an immersive, audio-guided tour that explores the elements of wine growing through sound. The tour offers guests a deeper look at critical elements of their organic farming and land preservation practices that are often unseen.

Developed by local composer and sound artist Hugh Livingston, the 90-minute self-guided audio tour explores the sights and sounds throughout the 340-acre Bell Mountain Ranch, followed by a guided tasting of six current release wines, paired with local, organic cheeses. Medlock Ames co-founder Ames Morison conceived the audio tour to be an interactive piece of art and an opportunity to share the uniqueness of the winery’s home on Bell Mountain. Throughout the walk, listeners explore a portion of Bell Mountain vineyard’s 50 acres of vines, native oak woodlands, olive groves and a market garden of seasonal vegetables and flowers.

Ames Morison

Bell Mountain Ranch is located at the southernmost tip of Alexander Valley, which overlaps into the Russian River Valley, tucked away on Chalk Hill Road and covering 338 acres of which only 44 are planted with vines and a handful of acres are home to 650 olive trees.

College best friends, Chris Medlock James and Ames Morison, founded Medlock Ames Winery in 1998. The tasting room at Bell Mountain Ranch opened in 2004, custom-built as a functional, elegant and smart solution to the winemaking process. In addition to the first-of-its-kind immersive sound experience, guests at Bell Mountain Ranch can also book an elevation tour and tasting experience.

Visit medlockames.com for more info.

Napa Valley Wins Big in Tourism

Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Awards showered Napa County with trophies as the region won seven awards for its excellence in winemaking and sociability for 2022. “Napa Valley is a globally recognized leader in wine, luxurious accommodations, Michelin starred restaurants and incredible experiences,” said Linsey Gallagher, president and CEO of Visit Napa Valley, in a prepared statement. “These awards of excellence highlight the world-class hospitality that Napa Valley is so well known for.”

Cakebread Cellars was crowned best Innovative Wine Tourism Experience. In October 2019, the Cakebread family created and opened a new sustainably-minded tasting room that thrusts guests into the winemaking process in its cellar while providing the perfect setting for seasonal food pairings from the estate culinary garden.

BRAND Napa Valley was awarded for its grand architecture and landscape. Erin Martin, of Martin Design, reconstructed the tasting room last year, as he was inspired by the estate’s natural surroundings and strong architectural design. Martin brought contrast to the tasting room with warm tones and soft touches to play against the structure’s bold stonework and mixed metals, creating a magnificent central room to peruse assorted wines.

From its 15,000 wine-bottle cellar to its 13 consecutive Michelin Star awards, Auberge du Soleil claimed best wine tourism restaurant, while best accommodations went to Carneros Resort and Spa. The Napa Valley Wine Academy won for best wine tourism services and Clif Family Winery & Farm won for best sustainable wine tourism practices.

The last award for Napa Valley went to Charles Krug, which was selected for the Global Best Award for Art and Culture because of its efforts to maintain Napa’s reputation as a cultural hub. As the county reopened in 2021, Charles Krug became the home for many events like Blue Note Napa for jazz concerts, Festival Napa Valley, Music in the Vineyards, Charles Krug comedy shows, Napa Valley Film Festival and Cameo Theater drive-in movies. “Charles Krug is an excellent example of the spirit of community and innovation that is so strong in Napa Valley,” said Stacey Dolan Capitani, VP of marketing for Napa Valley Vintners, in a prepared statement. “We’re proud of the resiliency shown in our region during the incredible challenges our region has faced the last two years.”

Wine Facts

How many grapes are in an average bottle of wine? The old adage for winemakers is a typical vine produces 10 bottles of wine. So, 40 grape clusters per vine and 100 grapes per cluster translate to 4,000 grapes per 10 bottles or roughly 400 grapes for a bottle of wine. Here are some other facts and figures in the wine business.

730 million acres of land worldwide were used by vineyards for grapes.

1,300 different grape varietals are used in wine production.

$326.6 billion is the estimated worth of the global wine market.

$88 billion is the estimated worth of the U.S. wine market.

6,100 years ago is the farthest back evidence of wine drinking has been discovered.

21.6 million hectoliters were shipped out of Italy, making them the world’s leading wine exporter.

70.4% of tourists rather visit wineries in the summer months.

83.1% of wineries offer a wine tasting experience, while 39.9% of wineries have restaurants included.

statista.com

A Year as a Grape

During the course of a single year, grapes and vines go through several important stages. The life cycle begins in the spring, around April 1 in the northern hemisphere, when new shoots—small, green, feathery branches—emerge from dormant buds on the vine. This is called bud break. As May arrives, the shoots lengthen and tiny flowers appear which “set,” that is, pollinate themselves. (Cultivated grapevines are hermaphroditic.)

 

The pollinated flowers grow into tiny berries that stay green and hard until midsummer. In July, the berries begin to soften, swell and change color (called veraison). The skins of white varieties will turn shades of yellow, gray and light pink; red varieties will turn purple and some will appear almost blue-black. Come fall—usually September through October—the grapes are harvested. Finally, in November and December, the vine loses its leaves and goes into dormancy until the following spring when the cycle will begin again.

Source: “The Wine Bible” by Karen MacNeil, 2nd Edition

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