Dirty Talk on WineSummer's ApproachingPosted 06/04/2010 at 09:51 AM by DirkRumor has it that summer is here. OK, it has been raining, but I know that you can't be a winemaker unless you are an optimist. According to the calendar, it is time for all those summer things: graduations, good weather, barbecues, swimming, SPF 45 and a fun book. Graduations: I have attended and listened; the graduation speakers were wonderful this year. Yes, summer must be close. Weather: It continues to toy with us. If ...0 comments More > Single SourcePosted 05/24/2010 at 02:10 PM by DirkI recently had some great, single-source chocolate at the Nimbash event, put on by Nimbus Arts, in St. Helena. (There was good wine at the event, too.) Their name: TCHO. (Pronounced "choh!") Doesn't that sound as if you should then say, "Geshundheit"? They are making great chocolate in San Francisco but got my attention when they brought a chocoholic's dream kitchen appliance to Nimbash. It looked like a KitchenAid but its granite wheels turn cocoa nibs into chocolate! ...0 comments More > Great FuturesPosted 05/12/2010 at 02:27 PM by DirkYou have to be about my age to remember the classic line from "The Graduate": "The future is plastics." That may be true if you are talking about toys that come with your Happy Meal, but we have determined that Great Futures actually is about wine?and blue teeth. This weekend is the official start of the Nickel & Nickel 2009 Futures, when we taste the latest vintage of our single-vineyard Cabernets from barrel. They are young?maybe even ...0 comments More > Pit StopPosted 04/29/2010 at 02:10 PM by DirkWe had the mother of all pit stops at Nickel & Nickel this week. The California Mille stopped here?they were invited, so it was OK. If you love vintage cars (which means that you don't judge a car by the size or number of its cup holders?or if it has cup holders, you don't mind knowing your mechanic on a first-name basis, don't need those wimpy airbag thingies, don't need that GPS doohickey, know how to ...0 comments More > Plant a TreePosted 04/15/2010 at 08:35 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Bread and Wine...Try PaneVinoPosted 03/24/2010 at 11:00 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > On your marks...Posted 03/11/2010 at 08:24 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Spring FlowersPosted 03/05/2010 at 10:31 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Pruning AwayPosted 02/19/2010 at 08:33 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Back to SchoolPosted 02/12/2010 at 01:24 PM by Dirk
0 comments More > EspressoPosted 01/22/2010 at 08:42 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Tasting TeethPosted 01/13/2010 at 02:19 PM by DirkIt's January and we are busy evaluating our next moves with the 2009 red wines. It's time. They are in barrel. They have dropped a lot of their sediment. They have finished malolactic fermentations. They have lost the "fermentation" character. (Oh...and they are very good.) Tasting wines this young can sound great...even romantic in a wine-geeky sort of way, but, like teenagers, they can be aggressive and rebellious. (They are supposed to be like that...the wines, ...0 comments More > Plaid TidingsPosted 12/08/2009 at 09:41 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Christmas LightsPosted 12/04/2009 at 11:57 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > How many bottles of wine are in your future?Posted 07/30/2009 at 11:28 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Meet the "Futures"Posted 04/21/2009 at 02:43 AM by DirkYes, we know that there is more than one "Future." In fact, this year, we have 13 "Futures." (Multiple "Futures" sounds like some sort of vino-schizophrenia.) (Did you read "Popular Science" when you were a kid? It was always predicting how we would live in the future. I don't have a flying car...and I could use one! They never mentioned the internet...) You get the idea, they were wrong. (but it was fun to read and ...0 comments More > Tractor JamPosted 04/03/2009 at 08:38 AM by Dirk
0 comments More > Don't Read too Much about Food...(It is better to enjoy it!)Posted 03/27/2009 at 11:49 AM by DirkI just finished reading Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food." In spite of being dangerously close to qualifying as a "self help" book, it was very good. (I tend to avoid self help books because there would be no logical place to stop if I ever started in on that Herculean task of my own self improvement.) Michael (now that I have read the book, we are on a first name basis...other than the fact ...0 comments More > Half-Track Takes on VineyardPosted 03/24/2009 at 01:57 AM by DirkWhen I was a kid, I had a toy half-track. It was a WWII truck with tires in the front and treads in the back. (That's why it is called a half-track.) They were probably in a lot of those movies about D Day, A Bridge Too Far, Saving Private Ryan, Kelly's Heroes... I never expected to see a half track in our vineyards but we have one (It's orange instead of green and comes ...0 comments More > Spring ReleasePosted 03/13/2009 at 12:14 PM by Dirk
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About the Author
Dirk Hampson
Few winemakers realize the opportunity to build a winemaking program from the ground up, living and growing with the vineyards over two decades. Dirk
Hampson, director of winemaking and chairman at Far Niente, and sister wineries Dolce and Nickel & Nickel, counts himself among the fortunate. An
enology graduate from the University of California, Davis, Hampson honed his craft at some of Europe's greatest properties, and was the first American to apprentice at Bordeaux First Growth Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Hampson returned to the US and was appointed winemaker at Far Niente in 1983.
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