"high tech" news and stories

According to Chuck McMinn of Vineyard 29, his winery in Napa Valley, high tech wine is better.

Chuck is one of many "Silicon Valley refugees," who, after success in technology, leave Silicon Valley and pursue a second career in making wine. However, rather than technology behind, this new breed of winemakers is taking the technology right along with them. They use all kinds of high-tech gadgetry in the wine-making process - everything from moisture probes monitoring water use to weather stations to sap-flow sensors to Tanknet, a system that manages software at 80 vineyards. Tanknet links thermostats on the tanks to Web-based software to regulate fermentation and aging.

The question is, how does this high-tech wine match up against, say, French wines, which have been made for hundreds of years without so much as irrigation? Some experts believe that high tech is the future of wine, but you be the judge. Here are three they recommend you try: Clos De La Tech (www.closdelatech.com), Clos LaChance (www.closlachance.com), and the aforementioned Vineyard 29 (www.vineyard29.com).