Just imagine what mysteries are hidden in that bottle of wine. Can a wine look like it tastes, simple or complex, voluptuous, young or over the hill, conventional or biodynamic? Wine as liquid poetry and now wine as art we can drink. Discover the art within wine as uncovered by the microphotography of Dr. Sondra Barrett. Dr. Barrett, biochemist, medical scientist and author of Wine’s Hidden Beauty has explored the wonders within wine for 40 years uncovering clues about aging, layers of expression, and the mysteries of fermentation and transformation. Here we see a photomicrographic portrait of the 2015 Ch. Veronique at 2 years … Continue reading →
When my mother died nine years ago this week, I was shaken to my core in ways that I had not have anticipated. It felt like an endless earthquake in slow motion with relentless aftershocks. My distress was so profound, my thinking and mental faculties so severely impacted, that I began to worry. Perhaps something other than mourning was going on with me. When I confided in a woman whose strength and no-nonsense attitude I respect greatly, she shared a surprisingly similar experience. For months after her mother’s death, she said she had felt like a ghost and an … Continue reading →
Dear Friends, What if courage was the real ‘it ‘factor in our lives? That has certainly been true in my own life, where clearly my worst mistakes were due to my lack of courage. But today is not about me and I am getting ahead of myself. Le 8 Mai (May 8th) is a major day in the French culture. today we honor the courage of millions. Notably, it takes quite a mensch to run towards danger and possible death in order to stand for what is right, when every instinct wants us to run in the opposite direction. Yet … Continue reading →
“You could consider me the goddess of organic wine because of my longevity,” says a tres enthusiastic Veronique Raskin of The Organic Wine Company in San Rafael, Calif. “I’ve been at it for 30 years so I should know a couple of things.” Read the full article by Ecosalon: Ecosalon Article
Continue reading →Dear friends, Have you been wondering where our Easter egg tradition came from? I went looking to refresh my memory so permit me to refresh yours briefly. For eons the egg has been a self-evident symbol of life and rebirth. In the Christian culture, painting them red at Easter time was meant to remind us of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. The egg itself represented the empty tomb in which Jesus’ body was laid to rest and later cracked open to bring about the resurrection, otherwise known as spring time. Remarkable men like Mircea Eliade in the … Continue reading →
Dear Friends, Isn’t this picture of a Southern French pigeon house enchanting? Well, it certainly was full of mystery when my mother would send me to stay at La Bousquette as a 6-year-old with my great aunt, Tatie Charlotte and her husband, Uncle Georges at Easter and at Harvest time. Both of them, born in 1897, were characters if ever there were any, as eccentric as they come. Poor Tatie had been raised to be a mouse, was afraid of her own shadow, was afraid of everything and its opposite. There was absolutely no limit to her imagination when … Continue reading →
Dear Friends, I am pleased to say that our audience, the people who seek out and enjoy our wines are typically educated, open-minded folks, eager to learn and to grow. Not a day goes by without my being asked a provocative question that leads to very exciting exchanges. I just love these direct interactions. One of the regular questions I get asked is “What is biodynamic farming?” The article below has just crossed my desk, and with the full permission of its author, Roberta Cicchitti, I am pleased to be able to share it with you now. Read, enjoy, check … Continue reading →
Have you ever finished your dinner, but then found yourself hungry close to bedtime? You’re not alone – plenty of us feel the need to snack as the night progresses, and luckily, studies have deduced the perfect nightcap: a glass of wine. You heard us. Recent studies have pointed out that wine can help diabetics and improve your sex drive, but apparently, wine is also a great way to prevent midnight munchies. According to Linda Monk, a 47-year-old woman who’s lost 6 pounds in three weeks, the benefit of having a nightly glass of wine is that the treat suppresses … Continue reading →
Should you be worried about it? The world is all abuzz about recent news that wine has dangerous levels of arsenic. With headlines like that, who wouldn’t panic? We wanted to find out the whole story so we did some old-fashioned research and we found that arsenic naturally occurs in air, soil, water, and clay, but it can also be introduced into wine through pesticide residue and other methods. A class action lawsuit was filed in the California Superior Court alleging that certain wines contain trace amounts of arsenic that pose a risk to consumers. The wines tested at the … Continue reading →
I am not really much of a wine drinker. And, I have to say that I never go down the organic aisle in my supermarket as my perception is that organic wines always come at a premium. But then I started doing some work for Veronique on the OWC website and she would send me home with bottles of wine which my wife and I would drink. It was lovely wine and we enjoyed it. It wasn’t long before I started to develop a taste and an appreciation for good wine. A few months ago my job required that I … Continue reading →
