Meet the winners…

Meet the winners…

Meet the winners of the Hydeout Sonoma blogpost contest. These 3 eagle-eyed readers spotted my-newt joke in the previous blog post.... For their efforts, they each received a bottle of 2016 "Dysfunctional Family" wine ( a new 'second label' project we introduced this...

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Wine Industry Convention

Wine Industry Convention

The Grape and Wine Symposium, in Sacramento every January, is THE largest grape and wine industry convention in North America. Here is a quick 'beginner's tour' for those who are unfamiliar with our industry -  Quick questions -  Reader poll - please let me know what...

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Sonoma Firestorm, Part 3, Hiking Arrowhead Mountain

Sonoma Firestorm, Part 3, Hiking Arrowhead Mountain

In my final post on the 2017 Sonoma Firestorm, (Part 3) come along as we hike through Arrowhead Mountain, the southernmost flank of the Mayacamas Mountains that splits Napa and Sonoma Counties. The hike started at the base of Arrowhead mountain and climbed up to...

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Sonoma Ag Boosters party at the Hydeout

Sonoma Ag Boosters party at the Hydeout

The Sonoma Valley Ag Boosters, supporters of the Sonoma Valley High School "Future Farmers of America" and the "Sustainable Agriculture Academy", held their annual fundraising gala last night at the Hydeout in Sonoma...       A huge crowd of students,...

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Nighttime grape harvest in Sonoma

Nighttime grape harvest in Sonoma

A pictorial essay of Hydeout Consulting's first nighttime harvest for 2017 Below is a pictorial essay following a nighttime harvest of Pinot Noir from our arrival on-site at the vineyard through to delivery at the winery. Hydeout Consulting directed the management of...

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Countdown begins for harvest 2017 in Sonoma

Countdown begins for harvest 2017 in Sonoma

In Sonoma, the harvest is already well underway for sparkling wines and some Pinots. But for the deeper darker reds, we are just starting to do field sampling of berries. And beginning to forecast the harvest schedule. This is vital because every winery has a...

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1st annual wine and music party Hydeout Sonoma 2017

1st annual wine and music party Hydeout Sonoma 2017

Normally we concern ourselves here with serious topics about growing grapes, making wine, building brands, and occasionally irreverent chatter about the mathematically proven variability of scores, points, and contests. And occasionally we make light-hearted fun of...

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Managing vineyard irrigation with high technology

Managing vineyard irrigation with high technology

Vineyard irrigation systems, even in small vineyards, are either under-featured or overly complex, and most controllers are prone to problems. In the vineyard, risers get run over by tractors, drip hoses get chewed by coyotes, and drip emitters suddenly crack, plug,...

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It takes a lot of beer to make wine!

It takes a lot of beer to make wine!

It's an old adage in the wine profession, often said with a knowing laugh, that "it takes a lot of beer to make wine." Why? Because working out in the vineyards in the heat of the day is a really sweaty proposition. And equally, standing on your feet all day and night...

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What are they growing in that vineyard over there?

What are they growing in that vineyard over there?

Standing out in the middle of a vineyard in Bennett Valley yesterday, it struck me how many times I have been asked, "hey Ken, what are they growing in that vineyard over there?" I almost always have to give the same answer - "almost impossible to say." This is...

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Sonoma mobile bottling line in time-lapse video

Sonoma mobile bottling line in time-lapse video

I have some of my client's wine made at the Deerfield custom crush facility in Kenwood. I stopped by the other day to check on some barrels of 2016 Cab and Syrah. They had a mobile bottling line running under the tent at the crush pad. After watching this video, we...

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