The Artist on the Road comes to Westside Road
Richard Sheppard is The Artist on the Road and recently he came to the Westside Road to do some sketching and talk grapes with Charles Bacigalupi. His article on the 1976 Paris Tasting and sketches of the vineyard were recently featured in the harvest edition of the Press Democrat. Here is one of his sketches […]
From vine to hand to bottle; the truth about hand harvesting
Gloves- check, head lamp- check, multiple layers- check. Its nearing 12 am and I am on my way out the door to start my day, or night rather of picking. Hand harvesting is by far most meticulous and pain staking way to harvest grapes, however it is also a great way to get an idea of the […]
Growth Spurts
Summer in the Russian River Valley is such a beautiful time of year. Foggy mornings and warm afternoons make this an ideal time to visit wine country. Summer marks the arrival of grape clusters, which begin forming on the vines as the leaves soak up the summer sun. From new plantings to leaf pulling to cluster development, here are […]
The Bumper Crop Year
Harvest 2012 ~ The Bumper Crop Year In farming they say “feast or famine” and with this year’s harvest there is no shortage of celebration in the Russian River Valley with a fantastic vintage now resting peacefully in the cellar. After a pair of unusually cool seasons in 2010 and 2011, vintages which resulted in […]
The vineyard sites
Goddard Ranch Purchased by my grandparents; Charles and Helen Bacigalupi in 1956 this ranch is the homestead of our family and the oldest ranch that we farm. With stewardship of this site for over a half a century this vineyard includes the Paris tasting block of Chardonnay. This Chardonnay which is planted to an old Wente […]
An upset in the world of wine ~ The 1976 Paris Tasting
The 1960s was the first time Charles Bacigalupi had ever heard of Chardonnay. Bob Sisson, the University of California farm adviser for Sonoma County at that time began advising Russian River Valley growers to try planting Chardonnay. Charles obtained the budwood for the Chardonnay from Karl Wente and planted 14 acres of it in 1964. […]
