The Old Vine

“Captain” Kirk Hugo landed in the cellar at Girard by way of his winemaker cousin, Glenn, and has been living the good life ever since.  Can you say Old Vine Zinfandel and BBQ?  Make it so number one.  Moving north from Los Angeles for better surroundings for his growing family, Kirk helps keep things running [...]

Glenn Hugo Glenn continues the Girard tradition of terroir-driven and minimalist intervention as the protege of Marco DiGiulio and Zach Long. He brings a practical artisanal approach to winemaking with a focus on wine as part of the culinary experience. A native Texan, Glenn developed his passion for wine over 12 years in the restaurant [...]

Since 2007, the Girard Winery has been located in a nondescript industrial park in the Carneros area. From the outside, there’s not much to look at. Mostly a series of garage doors and some machinery outside. On the inside, it looks like most any working winery with barrels, stainless tanks and T-bins stacked up. But [...]

After the grapes are crushed and pumped into huge stainless tanks to await fermentation, a small closed-cell foam rubber ball is pumped through the lines to push out the remaining juice. It’s called the pig and the trick is to catch it before it goes into the tank. Sounds easy enough, but I decided to [...]

Okay, now that I have your attention. Last week, I wanted to know first-hand what working in a winery involves and I got my wish. (Careful what you wish for!) For several hours, I helped with sorting and then filmed my new-found winery friends as they went about doing all those jobs that offer so [...]