The following articles were written for our local volunteer fire district newspaper, The Pioneer Turnout, and later for the successor publication Three Forks Times. They describe grapegrowing and winemaking in El Dorado County (that’s in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California), from the highly opinionated perspective of John Smith, Founding Winemaker of Oakstone Winery.  We hope you enjoy them, but please don’t take them too seriously. Additional articles will be posted as new editions of the newspaper are published.

Special note--John has been doing this for more than fifteen years, and all the articles are now in the .pdf format that requires Adobe Reader to view. Some of the early ones are quite dated, but still highly opinionated.

83 Wine Writing	84 Wine Critics	85 Winery Regulation
80 Fair Play Winery Dates	81 Wine & Charity	82 Wine Clubs & Wine Shipping
77 Lowered Expectations	78 Grapes and Weather	79 What's Trendy Now?
74 Both Sides of a Tasting Room	75 Cashing In (or Cashing Out)	76 Beer in the Winery
71 Continuing Education	72 Don't Build a Winery!	73 Why Do So Many People Want to Make Wine?
68 More Gifts for Wine Lovers	69 Decanting and Wine Magic	70 Fruit Wines
65 Wine in Hard Times	66 Wine and T-Shirts	67 High-Paying Winery Career
62 Vineyard Critters	63 Wine Tastings	64 What Am I Tasting?
59 Gifts and Goofiness	60 (Back to) the Future of Wineries	61 Aging Gracefully
56 Wineries of the Rich and Famous	57 Metal Medal Mettle	58 Wine Words and Whimsy
53 Volunteers	54 Wacky Wine Names	55 What's the Dirt?
50 The Lowly Pallet	51 Cold Fermentations	52 What Wines to Offer
47 Oh, The Paperwork	48 Grape Prices 2004	49 Sour Grapes
44 Telefarming	45 Grape Acreage 2003	46 Grapes, Sugar and Diabetes
41 Marketing the Unknown Winery	42 Put a Cork in It!	43 Grape Prices 2003
38 Clearing Land	39 2003 Grape Acreage	40 Tillers to Swillers
35 Selling Grapes in 2003	36 The Vine Mealybug	37 Being Right Isn't Much Fun!
32 Glasses and Goofiness	33 Vineyard Costs	34 Winery Costs
29 Now What Will You Do?	30 Much Ado About Oak	31 Wrong, Again!
26 Those Darn Weeds	27 Famous Mistakes	28 We're Doing it All Wrong
25 Prices 2001	24 What's in a Name: Grapes	23 What's in a Name: Appellations
20 The Glassy-Winged Menace	21 1999 Grape Prices	22 What's in a Name: Wineries
17 Odds 'n' Ends	18 Can You Make Champagne at Home?	19 So You'd Like to Work in a Winery?
14 Wine Containers--Made of Wood?	15 Bottling-A Dickens of a Time	16 When to Pick?
11 Water in the Vineyard--Friend or Enemy?	12 The Revolution in Grapevine Training	13 What Might the Future Bring?
8 Wines from Barrel to Bottle
9 Uvas: Viva Diversidad	10 "The Delicate Ones"
5 Out of the Vineyard and into the Winery	6 What Does a Winery do with My Grapes?	7 White and Blush Wines
2 What would I have to do to grow grapes?	3 The Seasons of the Vine	4 The (F-Word) Ph-Word

1 So, you want to grow grapes?

Here are some of our favorite links: The Story of Slug Gulch Red Fair Play Winery Association Gold Vine Grill, Somerset, CA The Meritage Association ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) El Dorado Wine Grape Growers Association El Dorado County Department of Agriculture Free the Grapes!