Napa-Valley-Vintners-Premiere

Napa-Valley-Vintners-Premiere

This year, we’re hosting a Premiere preview event along with our new neighbors next door, Mira Winery (www.mirawine.com) and Hoopes Vineyard (www.hoopesvineyard.com).  Just to make it interesting, we decided to collaborate on a joint lot of 20 cases – all three of us...
2017-Wrap-2018-Horizon

2017-Wrap-2018-Horizon

As I watch faded leaves fall from the oak above the office window, and think about this year about to end, I have to conclude that it has been one of the most challenging we have faced in the 20 years here at BELL.  The weather alone kept us continually alert with the...
Napa-Approaches-November-Without-Visitors

Napa-Approaches-November-Without-Visitors

It has been two weeks since the fires began.  November is a week away.  Across northern California, recovery has begun, both harvest and wine-making continues, and we carry on.  Unfortunately, the frightening images of raging fires roaring through neighborhoods remain...
Grapes-Coming-Harvest

Grapes-Coming-Harvest

Harvest has begun in Napa, the culmination of a vintage year of unusual weather.  Our drenching rains of winter refilled aquifers and then some.  Flooding in Napa downtown has been a news staple for many generations.  But the recently completed work on utilizing acres...
Harvest-Starts-Vineyard

Harvest-Starts-Vineyard

To review, in January, February, March we experienced biblical levels of wet – parts of Napa got almost as much rain as the last three years combined.  This was followed by a mostly chilly, damp, foggy spring.  No clear weather pattern developed; we swerved from nice...