About Doug Wilder

Doug Wilder - Founder, Wine Reviewer

doug@wildernapavalley.com

As a native of Northern California who regularly took trips to the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma during the 1960’s with my parents for Sunday drives, visiting the wineries introduced me to the sights and smells that helped fuel my passion for wines to this day. I always had an inquisitive nose for aromas and many years later realized that all of the training I had subjected it to prepared me pretty well for a career in wine. After starting in the business in 1990 I began writing about what I found in wine for the benefit of my clients. Over the last ten years I worked with two of the most influential domestic wine companies in the country based in the middle of Napa Valley where I continued to evolve the discipline of tasting, writing and reviewing.

The purely domestic wine blog is a unique source of consumer information as it is the only independently written blog dedicated to reviewing domestic wines produced in California, Oregon and Washington. The focus on emerging, cutting-edge producers who likely have not hit the mainstream press yet, brought to you from the local perspective. Thank you for taking the time to read it regularly.

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About Lulu Roberts

Lulu Roberts - Executive Coordinator, Writer/SF

lulu@wildernapavalley.com

Lulu joined the purely domestic wine blog in Spring 2009 shortly after arriving from London. Her enthusiasm for all things food and wine oriented and the fact that she lives in San Francisco led me to appoint her in November 2009 as my official eyes, ears and ‘pen’ for essentially all urban activities related to this website. 

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    « More wine bloggers go mainstream and raise the bar of credibility | Main | This little blog's evolution at nine months »
    Thursday
    Jul302009

    Thirteen ways picking blackberries is like running a business

     

    Hey, I thought this would be a fun thing to share. Yeah, I know… I’m breaking my rule about only writing about domestic wines. actually I am only bending it since technically you could make wine out of what I am writing about, AND they are grown right here in Calistoga!

    It is prime blackberry picking time in Calistoga right now. In the last three days I have harvested over two kilos on my morning bike ride. While doing this simple, time-consuming task in the solitude of a misty, chilly morning in the northern reaches of the gorgeous Napa Valley, I had some time to reflect on the similarities between owning a business and picking blackberries. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    1. When looking for ripe fruit, go where nobody has picked for a while
    2. If you think you have found every berry ready to pick, you haven’t turned over every leaf or looked at the bush from another angle
    3. When you find yourself tangled up in a vine while reaching for berries, don’t lose your focus and try to get out of it, otherwise you will need to wade back in to the same place to finish what you started
    4. Dress for the job
    5. Have a thick skin because thorns are part of the experience
    6. Don’t rush, there are 400 blackberries in a kilo
    7. Stay balanced and watch where you step
    8. Only pick the fruit that is ready to go, what is sour now will be ripe next week
    9. If you pick more than you need for the day, save 25% of it for the winter
    10. The biggest berries are in the last place you look
    11. Always look for a way to get to the berries on the other side of the fence
    12. If fruit is out of your reach today, decide what tools you need to pick it tomorrow
    13. If it smells wrong, find another bush!


     

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