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.

69 Decanting and Wine Magic	68 More Gifts for Wine Lovers
67 High-Paying Winery Career	66 Wine and T-Shirts	65 Wine in Hard Times
64 What Am I Tasting?	63 Wine Tastings	62 Vineyard Critters
61 Aging Gracefully	60 (Back to) the Future of Wineries	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 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: Grapes	23 What's in a Name: Appellations
22 What's in a Name: Wineries	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 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 "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?

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