Articles

The following articles were written for our local volunteer fire district newspaper, the "Pioneer Turnout."  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, Owner and 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 Pioneer Turnout are published.

Special note--John has been doing this for over ten 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.

59 Gifts and Goofiness
58 Wine Words and Whimsy
57 Metal Medal Mettle
56 Wineries of the Rich and Famous
55 What's the Dirt?
54 Wacky Wine Names
53 Volunteers
52 What Wines to Offer
51 Cold Fermentations
50 The Lowly Pallet
49 Sour Grapes
48 Grape Prices 2004
47 Oh, The Paperwork
46 Grapes, Sugar and Diabetes
45 Grape Acreage 2003
44 Telefarming
43 Grape Prices 2003
42 Put a Cork in It!
41 Marketing the Unknown Winery
40 Tillers to Swillers
39 2003 Grape Acreage
38 Clearing Land
37 Prices--Being Right Isn't Much Fun!
36 The Vine Mealybug
35 Selling Grapes in 2003
34 Winery Costs
33 Vineyard Costs
32 Glasses and Goofiness
31 Wrong, Again!
30 Much Ado About Oak
29 Now What Will You Do?
28 We're Doing it All Wrong
27 Famous Mistakes
26 Those Darn Weeds
25 Prices 2001
24 What's in a Name (3): Grapes
23 What's in a Name (2): Appellations
22 What's in a Name (1): Winery Names
21 1999 Grape Prices
20 The Glassy-Winged Menace
19 So You'd Like to Work in a Winery?
18 Can You Make Champagne at Home?
17 Odds 'n' Ends
16 How do You Know When to Pick?
15 Bottling-A Dickens of a Time
14 Wine Containers--Made of Wood?
13 What Might the Future Bring?
12 The Revolution in Grapevine Training
11 Water in the Vineyard--Friend or Enemy?
10 White Wines-- "The Delicate Ones"
9 Uvas: Viva Diversidad
8 Wines from Barrel to Bottle
7 White and Blush Wines
6 What Does a Winery do with My Grapes?
5 Out of the Vineyard and into the Winery
4 The (F-Word) Ph-Word
3 The Seasons of the Vine
2 What would I have to do to grow grapes?
1 So, you want to grow grapes?