Allen Balik has decided to make 2022 the year to discover new wines, in addition to revisiting favorites.
Champagne and other sparkling wines are a bright spot in the ever-changing landscape of wine sales in 2021.
Allen Balik travels to LA for a holiday dinner with old friends, and memorable food and wine.
If there ever was a “one size fits all” in wine, sparklers may be the answer.
How do you define a "great" wine? There's no one answer.
Allen Balik looks at the 2021 harvest, checking in with winemakers in California and Europe.
A visit to Quintessa in Rutherford yields insights into their decision to go to biodynamic farming.
In his Aug. 21, 2020 column (“Viticulture combats a new normal”), Allen Balik looked at the threats and challenges of climate change. In a year, what has changed?
Some would say blended wines are not expressive of significant varietal character. Others are convinced that single variety wines lack the complexity of several varieties working in harmony. Is either side right?
The rich heritage of Hispanic immigrants in the Napa Valley includes those who have realized their dreams of owning vineyards and making their own wine.
Napa wine writer Allen Balik writes that today's renewed focus on health and changing lifestyles challenges winemakers, vintners and producers to adapt to the growing popularity of lower alcohol in wine and other beverages.
Napa Valley winemaker Kristie Koford, recognized by colleagues such as Aaron Potts for her technical expertise, is quietly celebrating her 50th harvest.
Napa Valley wine writer Allen Balik reflects on the changes in the industry he's seen in the past decade, including the effects of millenials and climate change.
While considered by most an unwinnable quest, the battle against cork taint has been waged aggressively for the last several decades.
Michel Chapoutier said, “Varietal wines can be the ‘rock music’ that gets people into the subject (but) ‘classical music’ can [only] be provided by wines of terroir.”
Australia's innovative vintners have traversed many industry boom-and-bust periods, as its diversity of climatic activity and soil types led to the development of growing regions with differing customs, varieties and stylistic expressions.
Will climate change cause Napa Valley to turn to other varieties than Cabernet Sauvignon? A panel of wine professionals caution that flexibility may be key to keeping the Napa brand powerful in the next 25 years.
During the holidays, don't worry so much about pairings, just enjoy the adventure of exploring new wines.
After Allen Balik asked "what does wine mean to you?" in a column, readers weighed in with answers.
The term, “sustainable farming” covers a broad range of practices that are not only ecologically sound but also economically viable and socially responsible.
Allen shares the responses to a question posed at an online wine meeting: What does wine mean to you?
All wines are blended to some degree, even if the wine is 100 percent one variety or 100 percent from a single vineyard. In these cases, blends are created from a variety of fermentation vessels and barrel types, vinification and aging protocols, vineyard blocks, pick dates, vintages or othe…
In an effort to broaden the vineyard’s role in combating climate change, an increasing number of growers worldwide are adopting practices that minimize carbon release and enhance carbon sequestration in the soils.
How are Napa Valley viticulturalists responding to climate change? Allen Balik reports on a meeting with Dan Petroski, winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Calistoga and Aron Weinkauf, winemaker and vineyard manager at Spottswoode in St. Helena.
In intricate and subtle ways science and art – two seemingly disparate values – meld into the creation of wine.