At the moment they seem to be in freefall. What is the cause and what will be the repercussions? All that and more is packed into this episode.

We are about one month in to the 2024 harvest season! What has happened thus far? What is still to come and what are us winemakers keeping an eye on this season?

• 03:35.00 - You mentioned different types of wood barrels - French, American, Hungarian, etc. You did a great job breaking the differences down between these. My question is that under these types of wood - like French Oak - are their different barrel types, construction materials, etc that make each French oak barrel different? And how do these things change the wine?
• 10:53.00 - We love the MTGA Pinot Gris at our house. You mentioned it was a 60/40 split on wood vs stainless aged (I think that was the ratio). Is the difference in the product coming out of these two aging methods a stark one? Or is it not as noticeable as you might think?
• 17:02.00 - Have you gotten a chance to experiment with a concrete amphora yet? I agree they sound like a pain to clean. Wondered if you had tried anything with those yet in the last year since that first episode aired.
• 20:38.00 - What effect will the Vintage Wine Estate bankruptcy have on the industry?
• 28:24.00 - After the "shopping for additives" episode why do you mention multiple items as being "okay" but you would not use them?

As one vintage comes to a close we begin again!

Part #4 of our wine additive conversation is here! Today we dive into an actual catalogue and company that supplies some of these "goodies" and what they can do for the wine industry.

Laffort Website - https://laffort.com/en/ranges/specific-treatment/

• 02:58.00 - During a blending session if something isn't working or if you are not happy with a wine what can you do?
• 11:01.00 - When shopping for wine how can you tell a wine is a "quality" product and not heavily processed or cheap?
• 18:51.00 - Why is it that we can find some wines we like in a wine shop or at a place like Costco for cheaper than the winery?
• 28:14.00 - Do you think Napa Cabernet Sauvignon will ever decline in popularity? It seems like there really isn't that much variety coming from Napa. https://napavintners.com/press/docs/napa_valley_fast_facts.pdf
• 34:40.00 - You have mentioned that has been a slower year tourism-wise in Napa. How is that affecting the wineries? Are the finding success elsewhere?

Tough winemaking years (ie 2022, 2020, 2011 and so on) can create all kinds of challenges that ripple through the winemaking process. Even as we finalize wines from 2022 even the most talented winemakers can run into snags.

There is a long way to go but when it comes to figuring out exactly what is going into your wines we've seen an improvement! Hopefully it is the first of many dominos to fall.

SOURCES:

• Napa Valley Vintner's & Wine Institute Press Release - https://napavintners.org/downloads/2024/Wine-Institute-EU-Nutrition-Ingredient-Labeling-FAQ-v3-4.29.24.pdf
• Accepted Additives per the EU - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/1190/oj