Wine Headache? Blame the Sulfites
Headache or Hangover? Many of us have been there, you wake up the next morning a little foggy with a ...
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A “Sticky” Problem – SOLVED
At Koi Zen Cellars, we are constantly trying to make the world a better place. One way we can do ...
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Those Little Yeasties
As the days get hotter, the harvest gets closer and the more a winemaker starts thinking about making wine. The ...
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Sulfites – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
“Contains Sulfites” – this little phrase cases a lot of concern and confusion – most of which is inaccurate. S ...
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Storing and Serving Wine
Storing Wine: As the weather warms, it is time to think about your wine collection and how best to keep ...
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How to Blend Wine – Part 3
Aging: Last time I talked about how varietals that grow together go together – most time, but to really get ...
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How to Blend Wine – Part 2
Review: Last week we talked about how are we going to take 8 barrels of Cabernet Franc and figure out ...
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How to Blend Wine – Part 1
Blending wine is easy: Gather some barrels of wine, Gather some friends to taste the wine, Blend the barrels you ...
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A Walk in the Park
Last Sunday morning a group of us met at the winery and caravanned up to Deer Park Monastery north of ...
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Bling and More Bling
About 10 days ago, I was up in Sonoma drinking some fine wine and hanging out with some friends in ...
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Baby Grapes Have Arrived
I spent last weekend hanging out in Sonoma with some friends planning some really cool stuff that you will hear ...
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5 Years Ago, Today…
5 years ago, I stood in the parking lot puffing on what was to be my last cigarette. I was ...
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Sad Times and Sad People
On Monday, Lisa was opening the winery for a yoga class and discovered that the winery had been broken into ...
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Hurry Up and Wait
I have heard the expression “hurry up and wait” over and over while working with the military for over 20 ...
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We Crushed It!
Earlier in the month, the NASS (National Agricultural Statistics Service) released the 2018 Grape Crush Report which is an impressive ...
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Get The Franc Out!
Pre-dawn one cold morning last November, Steve and I were standing in the Camp Four vineyard in Santa Ynez staring ...
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What’s Up Bud?
As the weather warms and the winter clouds begin to fade, the grape vines are waking up. The vineyards have ...
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Rack and Roll
As spring rolls in, it’s time to rack and roll in the cellar. The 2017 wine is getting ready for ...
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What’s In the Bottle?
L ast week we talked about barrels, but what about bottles? Starting about 6,000 BCE large earthenware containers called “kvevri” ...
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What’s That Smell?
A s a winemaker, I smell a lot of wine. Some wines are very aromatic and others are more reserved ...
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Sac or Bust
Next week a small armada of Koi Zen Cellars folks will be converging in Sacramento. Nothing starts the new year ...
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I Decant Wait!
We are so happy to announce that we will be releasing our 2016 Syrah during August’s Wine Club Release Party ...
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Châteauneuf-du-Pape – Say What?
This year we are contracting for 5 tons of Grenache which is a new varietal for us @KoiZen and I ...
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Hurrying and Waiting
“Hurrying and delaying are similar ways of trying to resist the present” – Alan Watts N ow is the big ...
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Tears of Gettysburg
On July 1, 1863, the Union and Confederate forces met head to head outside of the small town of Gettysburg, ...
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When Less is More
Our girls have graduated from college and now have their own apartments; however, a lot of their stuff is still ...
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Myriad Minds
I have been meditating seriously for about 3 months now. Once per day, I find a quiet spot and focus ...
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You are NOT You
O ver the last few months I have put on some weight, well maybe more that some. I could blame ...
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Connections
I was in the winery a few weeks ago and there were two ladies sitting apart enjoying a glass of ...
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Free Range Parenting?
H ave you heard that Gov. Gary Herbert of Utah signed the “free-range parenting” bill into legislation? This is bill ...
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Does Wine Make You Smarter?
I have met many wine snobs who think they know everything there is to know about anything but is this ...
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Walking in Your Shoes
T hey say if you want to gain empathy with someone, you need to walk in their shoes. This allows ...
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Time to Make the Donuts
L ast night Lisa and I got up at 5:00 am and watched the Super Blue Blood Moon which was ...
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Happy Buddha Belly
Budai: You can find the Happy Buddha – Budai everywhere in China and it is said to bring good luck ...
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The Cost of Wine
Blame your great-great-great-grandparents for the cost of wine! Between the years of 1920 to 1033, there was a nationwide constitutional ...
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Wine Ratings – The Good, Bad and Ugly
What are Wine Ratings? If you have been following this series for the last few weeks, we have talked about ...
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Is it a Hangover or an Intolerance?
My Head Hurts: Is your aching head caused by a hangover or intolerance to wine? When the body consumes too ...
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Wine Tasting – Savoring
So far we have Seen, Swirled, Smelled, Sipped and now we get to Savoring the wine. So if you haven’t ...
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Tannin got your tongue?
Tannins Drying your Tounge Out? Tannic Acid So you sip that expensive Napa Cab packed with tannin and all of ...
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Just Sip Back and Relax – The Art of Wine Sipping
Many people grab a glass of wine and just chuck it back while in mid-sentence while being highly distracted; instead ...
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Funk in your Wine? How Come?
Bacteria can cause wine to have a Funk Is there a Funk or a Skunk in my wine? Hopefully many ...
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Wine Tasting – Smelling
I hope you all had a chance to take a moment to LOOK at your wine over the last week; ...
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Wine Tasting: Look Before You Sip
Photo Credit: Wine Folly If you are wine tasting, or just having a glass, before you take that next sip ...
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Our Mourvedre & Bottle Shock
Last weekend we had a small bottling run and bottled about 105 cases of Mourvedre which is a typical run ...
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Its Willamette Dammit
Last week Lisa and I took an afternoon and investigated the northern half of the Willamette Valley in Oregon just ...
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Koi Zen Cellars 1st Anniversary
On April 24th, 2016 Koi Zen Cellars celebrated our 1 year anniversary. We planned 5 days of events and right ...
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Put a Cork in IT
Cork Production, Sustainability and Carbon Footprint: This week we will be exploring natural corks and their use in the wine ...
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Are Old World Wines the same as New World Wines?
Last week I wrote about how wine generally can be classified as either Old World, or New World. Well here ...
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Judgement of Paris
Old meets new at the Judgement of Paris 40 years ago. On May 24, 1976, Steven Spurrier, a British wine ...
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Paso Robles and Terroir
Lisa and I just spent two wonderful days in Paso Robles exploring wine country and attending the WiVi (Wine & ...
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Grapes and Global Warming
Is Global Warming causing early Bud Break? A lot of people ask me how the drought and global warming is ...
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Highlights of some Koi Zen Cellars Parties
During our Parties, we have been having a lot of fun over @KoiZenCellars; here is a video of some highlights ...
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Terroir – Or Not
Terroir is a French word with no literal translation in English and the closes we can come to is “earth”, ...
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Minerality in Wine
If you haven’t tried our 2014 Pinot Gris from Monterey then you haven’t had to opportunity to taste the fresh ...
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2016 Ferrari
Check out our new Ferrari convertible! Our Ferrari is a manual corking machine made in Italy and yes it is ...
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Local Artist – Ramon Britton
LOCAL ARTIST GALLERY SHOWING SAVE THE DATE: Friday February 5, 2016 We are so exited to host Ramon Britton as ...
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The Winery and Winemaking
This year, the grape harvest has been a roller coaster for the growers and winemakers; we are just about finished ...
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Custom Labels
Did you know that there are over 100,000 private and custom wine labels in the United States? And how many ...
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Meetings, Meet-ups and Networking
We have been having so much fun hosting meetings and meet-ups at the winery. There are so many interesting people, ...
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Book your Wine Blending Party
Wine Blending Party Creation They say that winemaking is part science and part art and the artistry shows while blending ...
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Opening an Urban Winery
We have been so blessed by all of the great people who have come into our urban winery and shared ...
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Our Grand Opening
Thank You!!!! We cannot extend enough gratitude to everyone who attended our grand opening week, or helped us get ready! ...
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Pre Grand Opening
Hi All: Photography Update: Even though the studio has been completely transformed into an Urban Winery, we are still shooting ...
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Winery Construction – The Transformation of a Photography Studio
Update – Winery Construction Efforts: This is an update on the winery construction project that we have started. We hope ...
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Wine Pairing for Valentines
Today we are all about Valentines, celebrate with a cool wine pairing technique. Wine and Chocolate…It’s all About Sugar Baby! ...
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TTB Application Under Review
Hi All, Breaking News: We have just been informed that our TTB federal application is under initial review!!! Let’s hope ...
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Paperwork Reduction Act?
Hi All, This month was all about getting our CA ABC winery license and our TTB license. There are so ...
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Monday was De-Pressing
We can’t wait to tell you about the status of our first vintage! Freshly pressed grape skins Monday, October 20, ...
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We are having a Grape Day!!! How about you?
Hi All, Syrah Grapes We just wanted to let you know about some happenings at the Miller residence. Some of ...
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