My name is Leon Glover.   I am the winemaker and owner of Lionheart Wines (www.lionheartwines.com).  I have decided to start a blog about the wine industry, wine making, wine and food pairing and basically anything wine related.  I will try to post two blog entries every week.

A bit of background on myself.  My background is in software development, project management, venture capital and wine collecting.  I have been teaching myself about wine from an information and production perspective.  I completed the WSET Diploma course last month; it requires detailed knowledge of dry wines, sparkling wine, fortified wines, spirits, wine production and the business of wine and spirits.  The WSET diploma requires detailed tasting analysis of wines, sparklers and spirits.  I used to have a “California” palate but now have a much greater appreciation for all the wines of the world with a strong desire to know more about all of them!

As a winemaker, I strive for making wines that pair well with food.  The wines must be very balanced in acidity, alcohol, tannin and flavor intensity while having enough acidity to pair well with foods.  I do not produce “cocktail” wine as most of California does due to the high natural sugars and low acidity of grapes left to hang as long as possible on the vine.  My wines also strive to be varietally correct aka a Pinot Noir will not be made to a Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Lionheart Wines had a large release party this summer at ‘The Mane Event’ held at Crushpad, Inc. in San Francisco, Ca.  We released the following wines:

• 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
• 2006 Roaring Red, Proprietary Blend
• 2006 Syrah, Santa Barbara
• 2007 The Angel’s Share, white Rhone blend, Saralee’s Vineyard, Russian River Valley
• 2007 McGinley Vineyard, Roussanne, Santa Barbara

We also had barrel samples for futures sales:

• 2007 Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
• 2007 White Hawk Vineyard, Sangiovese, Santa Barbara