Wine Feeds

[fermentation] The Truth About Wine and Thanksgiving

Tom Wark — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:50:49 -0800

No wine "GOES" with Thanksgiving Dinner. Give up the ghost. Don't try to match a wine with this stupendous meal. The task is without reward.

Sure, they'll tell you the wine to serve is Gewerztraminer because it's spicy character will work well with the roast turkey and maybe even with that stuffing. It might.

Some will tell you to go with the Pinot Noir. This wine, not being to big and massive and having any number of aromas and flavors associated with it, can be said to pair up nicely not only with the Bird and stuffing but maybe even with the Cranberry sauce. Whatever.

See, the problem is this: If you are serving a traditional American Thanksgiving Dinner you are going to have so many different dishes on the table there's no way one wine will work with everything, including the Turkey, stuffing of many different types, the mashed potatoes, the green beans, the cranberry sauce, the rolls, the Brussels sprouts, the salads of various historic appellation and who know what else.

And what the hell are you going to serve to go with that "fantasia" mix of marshmallow, little oranges, coconut and God knows what else?

But it's all good and here's why:

Because no one wine truly works with this meal, you are at liberty to pull out ANY WINE YOU WANT, serve it and make it work! That means the wine can match the mood, the people, the season...anything. It means you can pull out that wine you've been saving to impress your new boyfriend or the wine you want to pawn off on the unsuspected.

Bottom line: Thanksgiving is the Black Hole of wine...EVERYTHING CAN GET SUCKED DOWN INTO ITS CULINARY VORTEX!

Me? I'll be serving a Mayo Family Winery Cabernet, a 2002 Failla Pinot and Chardonnay and a Bucklin Old Hill Ranch Grenache (very rare!!). Besides these highly coveted bottlings, I suspect we'll be sampling Wiliam Selyem Pinots, and chards, an Adrian Fog Pinot or two a few Napa Cabs, a Port or two and who knows what else. And the good thing is that it's just not possible that whatever wine is being poured won't match with something that is on the Thanksgiving table.

And for those of you wondering, the answer is "YES". Cocktails are perfectly suited for this Holiday. My recommendation, however, is to do what I do: as soon as the guest arrives ask them, specifically, "what cocktail can I mix for you?"

I tend to think the Bloody Mary is a nice mid afternoon/Pre-Feast drink. The Sazerac, being an American concoction and having two my favorite spirits among its ingredients, is also a fine choice. But really, any cocktail will do. There's nothing wrong with with assuring your guests have a tiny little buzz on as they enjoy this wonderful holiday and it's lovely traditions.

So there is is. Don't waste any time trying to match the wine to the food. It won't go well. Choose the wine based on what you want to drink.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

[Good Grape] When Then Gets Here

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:23:48 -0800

[Vinography] Menu For Hope is Coming. Will You Donate a Wine Prize and Become Famous?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:46:25 -0800

Think of this as the early warning system. Our annual Menu For Hope campaign is right around the corner. In its sixth year, this charity event brings together bloggers from all over the world to raise money for the United Nations World Food Programme. It's an awesome event that raises tens of thousands of dollars each year for hungry children around the world.

For those who are not familiar with this initiative, it is essentially a raffle, with prizes donated by bloggers (or other kind folks who want to participate but don't have blogs). Participants post a description of their prize (or get me to post one for them if they don't have a blog) and do all they can to attract donations (which will be made made on the designated donation web site) in increments of $10. Each $10 donated becomes a ticket for the raffle, which the person donating can specify as being used towards the specific prize they want.

WHY PARTICIPATE?
In addition to supporting the UN World Food Programme, this is an opportunity to generate a large amount of traffic to your blog or a lot of really good press for your company/winery/product. Simple as that. You give to charity, the blogosphere gives you eyeballs.

A CALL FOR PRIZE DONATIONS
The most important part of this project, of course are the prizes donated by bloggers and blog sympathizers. Which is where you come in. Last year we raised over $60,000 in one of the toughest economic climates for charitable giving in decades. Who knows what we'll be able to do this year, but we ought to be able to beat it.

In order to do that, however we need two things. We need great prizes donated by bloggers, and we need those bloggers to spread the word far and wide, so that lots of people want to bid on those prizes.

So I want you to consider donating a prize (whether or not you have a blog). If you're curious, here's the list of prizes donated last year.

Every year, I coordinate the wine related prizes here on Vinography.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRIZE?
The last thing we want to do is discourage anyone from donating a prize to this event, but we do want to make sure that your gift is fully appreciated, and helps the overall cause. There were a number of gifts last year that received only one or two bids, or didn't receive any bids at all, which was a bummer for everyone involved.

So I'd like to urge everyone participating to try to make their prize as valuable and attractive as they can, and to perhaps think beyond a prize that consists of a copy of your favorite wine book, for instance. A good rule of thumb is to think of a prize that would get at least 20 of YOUR readers or customers to donate at least 10 bucks apiece.

The other thing I would suggest, this being the world of wine bloggers we're talking about, is that unless you are a winery or a wine retailer, and you are regularly used to shipping wine to folks in other states, that you don't donate wine as your prize. Shipping wine across state lines as an individual without a distributors license is technically illegal. So if you donate wine as your prize, or as part of your prize, make sure you know what you're doing. However, if you ARE a wine producer or distributor, then BRING IT ON. Donate a couple of mixed cases of the really good stuff. Some of the most popular prizes last year were such prizes. No individual bottles, please, unless they are worth a lot of money or accompanied by other really great stuff.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
1. Think of a prize and then contact me by sending me e-mail at alder at vinography dot com or commenting on this post and leaving your e-mail address.

2. I will then assign you a prize code, which is what your readers will need in order to bid on your prize, starting December 14th when the campaign launches.

3. I will also need an image to represent your prize. It doesn't have to be an image of the actual prize, although that is preferred. I need that image in two sizes: 200x200 pixels and 75x75 pixels.

4. Please also write a paragraph describing your prize in all its juicy goodness. Sell it, baby!

I hope you will consider doing your part to support this very worthy cause this year. Please let me know if you have questions.

[Vinography] Thanksgiving: No Wine is Too Good for Friends

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:42:58 -0800

OK wine lovers, listen up. Thanksgiving approaches, and in this country that means for the past few weeks every wine columnist in the world has been talking about what wines go with the big dinner. Well you're not going to get that from me, for reasons previously stated.

But I do want to talk about the whole affair of serving wine with the Thanksgiving feast. More specifically, I want to talk about the usually treacherous emotional landscape of choosing which wines to serve to your guests.

I woke up this morning to find that my friend Lettie Teague had kindly covered one half of the conundrum of wine for the holidays: figuring out what wine to bring to someone else's house for dinner.

But I want to talk about the other side of the equation: choosing which wines you want to open and serve to the family and friends that may be eating at your house. And I'm not talking about what grape varieties you think will go with Aunt Maud's special orange and cucumber aspic.

I'm talking about figuring out whether your guests are worth opening some of your really good shit.

Yes, you know what I'm talking about. That inner monologue you have with yourself, or perhaps that conspiring monologue you have with your partner that goes something like, "Well I could open that bottle, but no one is really going to appreciate it. Uncle Bob is just going to pour himself an entire pint of it and gulp it down with his salad."

In short, the holidays always bring up the wine lover's fear of casting pearls before swine. We cherish the wines we have collected, especially those that we think are really good. And the last thing we want is for them to not be appreciated.

Actually the last thing we want is to open them for our guests and have them drunk so quickly by a lot of people who don't appreciate them that we don't even get a chance to taste them ourselves.

Well, I'm taking a stand to say that we need to just get over it. We gotta open the damn bottles and pour fabulous wine down the gullets of the people we care for even if they can't tell the difference between our 1999 F. Cotat Monts Damnés Sancerre and a $5 bottle of YellowTail.

Why? Because it's Thanksgiving, because we love our families and friends (yes, even annoying Uncle Bob), because good wine is meant to be shared, and because we need to break the obsessive compulsive cycle of waiting to open those good bottles on the "right occasion."

Now I'm not saying that if you've got one, or even three truly treasured bottles that Thanksgiving is the time to break out your ultimate, best wines. Frankly, it's definitely not. Don't bust open the best of the best unless you and your guests will really get to savor them in the way that great wines (or greatly valued wines -- only you get to judge) should be.

But I am suggesting that we need to check our tendency to avoid opening good wine in the face of the hustle, bustle, and smorgasbord of the Thanksgiving feast. If you can afford it, and I mean that in every possible way, financial and otherwise, it can be a great joy to watch people you love consume really good wine, even unknowingly. I have wonderful memories of watching the faces of some folks (whose wine preferences can usually be described using a single color) light up as they taste a really nice wine while others at the end of the table pour Sprite into theirs.

Yes, it's a matter of faith, and you have to take the bad with the good. There will be some people who definitely won't appreciate your wine. But if there are just a few that stop in their tracks and want to know "What they hell that was that they just drank because it was really fuckin' good, then you're making the world a better place.

And yes, even if you have to sit in the corner and watch everyone drink a great bottle out of their paper cups while forking green beans and stuffing and gravy and cranberry relish into their mouths in a single bite, it's worth it to know that they're drinking good stuff instead of swill, and that it's your fault.

[fermentation] Napa Considering Its Future

Tom Wark — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:00:10 -0800

If you ever doubted the veracity of the idiom, "Necessity is the mother of invention" then just read what the powers that be are considering in Napa.

After 20 years of living under the Winery Definition Ordinance that banned anything but "Appointment only Tastings" and weddings at wineries founded after 1989, there is consideration now of loosening those restrictions. Why? The economy sucks and many who previously saw no need to tempt a "Disneyland-like environment that many see as the natural outgrowth of easy tastings and weddings, are now thinking maybe we need to loosen restrictions on wineries to help them survive this downturn.

This is a very contentious issue in Napa Valley and Napa County. Many in and out of the wine industry fear that allowing too much "marketing" activity in agricultural zones will serve to threaten the agricultural nature of the Valley by encouraging development as well as by clogging the roads with even more cars filled with travelers who are only seeking their next taste of wine.

But then, again, the economy sucks!

From a political perspective, the question seems to be can the anti-development/pro-agriculture crowd come to terms with the pro-winery/pro-commercial group over how to allow greater commercial activity in ag zones.

The point is made by some that without unshackling the wineries so that they may be allowed to do more "marketing" on their land and in their winery, they may not survive. The point made by others is "give the wineries an inch and their lawyers will take a mile."

I look around and I see a lot of wine-related business, businesses that form the core of the economy in this region, hurting like they never have before. Many are being bought up by larger concerns. Others are going into bankruptcy. If there is not a way to give wineries more latitude to market in a way that encourages more sales and economic activity and to do so in a way that satisfies the pro-ag/anti-development crowd, then both sides ought to be ashamed of themselves. In an economy like this, where many people's livelihood and futures on the line, this is not the time to put your back against the wall and insist on the purity of your position.

[fermentation] I'm Thankful For...

Tom Wark — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:54:00 -0800

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In addition to providing the opportunity to pull out those "special occasion" wines I tend to look forward to opening, it is also the holiday best suited to my temperment, belief structure and inclinations toward feasting.

More importantly, it provides a symbolic pause in life's advance that enables me to formally and publicly give thanks. And there is a great deal for PR Guy and blogger to be thankful for.

I'M THANKFUL FOR...

...Having people in my life to share wine with

...Living a life that anyone would call blessed.

...Having enough talent to never fall prey to the dread that is dependency.

...Kathy

...Having this blog, though which I can explore my relationship with wine, culture, politics and myself.

...Every client Wark Communications has ever served

...Still being able to pull a few tap dancing moves out of my hat after all these years

...Being reminded that love is not just something at which cynics scoff.

...Karen and Alverna

...Cindy, Don, Jane, Jeff, Kevin, Lisa, Michelle, Robert, Sarah and Stewart, and Tori.

...Bucklin Old Hill Ranch Zinfandel.

...Getting my nose back after abusing it for 20 years

...the New Yorker Magazine

...Authentic Country Hams

...Modern medical miracles

...The comfort and bliss that comes with giving and receiving real affection

...Possessing much less concern today about what others think.

...Possessing the kind of hope necessary to continue to cheer for the San Francisco Giants

...Dark movie theaters, warm popcorn and a projector

...the memories I have of my parents.

...The readership of this blog

[Good Grape] Field Notes from a Wine Life – Giving Thanks Edition

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:12:14 -0800

[Vinography] 2008 Grgich Hills Estate Fume Blanc, Napa

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:06:55 -0800

Visitors to Napa Valley, even those on their first trip, have a hard time missing the Grgich Hills winery, which sits prominently on the west side of Highway 29, its flower beds almost pushed right up against the edge of the blacktop.

Of course, when the winery was established in the late 1970s there was a lot less traffic on that same highway, and founder Miljenko "Mike" Grgich was a young man. But despite his youth, this Croatian-born immigrant did not lack for experience or acclaim. Indeed, it was partly based on his success as the winemaker for the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay which performed so well at the famous 1976 Paris Tasting that Grgich, his friend Austin Hills, and Austin's sister Mary Lee Strebl chose to begin what has become one of Napa's most frequented wineries.

Grgich Hills attracts a lot of visitors by virtue of its location on the beaten path, so to speak, but even if it were tucked away in some cranny of the valley, there would likely be a steady stream of traffic to its doors simply for its reputation as a consistent producer of well-priced wines of good to excellent quality.

Increasingly the winery draws traffic for another reason: its recent move to 100% estate grown, biodynamic fruit, processed in a facility run 100% on solar power. Grgich, who is now in his 80's but still makes every wine and oversees operations at the winery, along with his nephew Ivo Jeramaz, who most actively manages the vineyards, were some of Napa's earliest converts to Biodynamics, the increasingly popular farming regimen which is based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner. Though the initial move to Biodynamics was simply a decision based on the assessment that it produced higher quality fruit, Grgich Hills has embraced its emphasis on sustainability, a move which pays dividends of many kinds, including the ability to market themselves as such, to the pleasure of a growing population eco-conscious consumers.

Like many proponents of Biodynamics, Jeramaz and Grgich maintain with incontestable conviction that they are making better wine as a result, and that's pretty hard to argue with, no matter what misgivings I have about some aspects of the regimen. These guys, along with other prominent Biodynamic winemakers, certainly know "better" wine when they see it.

Now in its 30th year, Grgich Hills makes a well known and widely regarded Chardonnay, a Merlot,, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, this Sauvignon Blanc, and in some vintages, a dessert wine that blends Chardonnay and Riesling. Total production currently sits at slightly less than 70,000 cases, of which this wine, which is called Fumé Blanc in the tradition established by Robert Mondavi, makes up about 12,000 cases.

In an interesting side note, in recent years Grgich has also started a winery back in Croatia, which forms a base for his prominent role in helping to promote the quality and long tradition of the region's winemaking.

Despite being produced in substantial quantities, this wine is made in very old-school fashion, and quite differently than most Sauvignon Blancs in Napa. The fruit comes from the estate's cool-climate, Biodynamically-farmed vineyards in Carneros and American Canyon. After sorting and destemming, the fruit is fermented in a combination of neutral French oak barrels, and huge 900 liter French oak tanks. After fermentation it is transferred to neutral oak barrels where it ages for about 8 months before bottling.

The results of both excellent fruit sources as well as fermentation and aging in neutral oak make this wine a wonderful balance between the crisp qualities that make Sauvignon Blanc so wonderful, along with some deeper substance that makes the wine command some attention. I've had many, many vintages of this wine, and I believe this to be the best I've tasted.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Light gold in the glass with hints of chartreuse, this wine smells of tart unripe apples and citrus zest. In the mouth it is explosively zingy, with crackling acidity and bright pink grapefruit, lemon zest, and unripe apple flavors that linger in a nice finish. Dynamic and refreshing. One of the better examples of the form from Napa.

Food Pairing:
A great food wine! I'd love to drink this wine with steamed mussels in a garlic, bacon, shallot and white wine broth.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $25

This wine would ordinarily have been released by now, but with the economy as it is, it hasn't hit the shelves yet. The winery is no doubt waiting to let some of the remaining 2007s sell. Keep an eye out for it.

[Good Grape] What is the “New, New Normal?”

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:07:13 -0800

[Vinography] Vinography Images: One Berry

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:21:42 -0800

One Berry
The first time I tasted a Cabernet grape I was surprised at how unlike Cabernet wine it tasted. Some of the flavor lies in that bright leathery surface that Andy captures here so well in vivid blue. Grape skins hold many different volatile aroma compounds (some of which are also found in the juicy flesh of the berry) that contribute to the flavors of the wine. Just biting into a ripe berry isn't quite the same as tasting that same berry in a bottle three years later. They still taste pretty damn good, though. -- Alder Yarrow

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact photographer Andy Katz through his web site.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Andy Katz for readers' personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images.

[IBG Blog] Personal Customer Service – Your Differentiator

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:55:44 -0800

How do you set yourself apart in a relatively saturated and extremely competitive market? You need to capitalize on every opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your existing customers. While identifying ways to continue to reach new audiences and find ways to acquire new customers, you always need to be finding new and exciting ways [...]

[Good Grape] Making the Muse

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:54:17 -0800

[fermentation] I Should Have Drunk Bad Wine

Tom Wark — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:10:47 -0800

I think it's one thing for America's alcohol wholesalers to selfishly and arrogantly take control of state legislatures and cripple consumers' beliefs that their demand is honestly assessed by suppliers and met for the sake of consistency with basic economic laws, all for the sake of multiplying their power, wealth and control of a huge swatch of the American economy. After all, that's business...of a sort.

But no matter how ugly the state-mandated three tier system can get, it's not nearly as ugly and damaging and immoral as the work of America's entertainment industry who cravenly produce things like "2012", a full blown slasher movie on a gigantic scale masquerading as a film about human resilience.

In my desire to do good work for the Specialty Wine Retailers Association and in feeling compelled to call out the blatant absurdity of a system that hurts more than it helps, I'm told by some that I ought to be more moderate in the way I attack these personal and professional pursuits.

I can live with that critique of my approach.

But what's really difficult to live with is that I contributed my person coin to purveyors of artless filth who are best defined by their furious and giddy delight in slathering mud and feces all over that most precious thing called human life, all for the sake of making money and indulging their own sadistic nature. I used to think that slasher films, where the flaying of human flesh is used to evoke surprise and fear, was just about the worst thing a moviemaker could do with the trust and money they are given. I learned it wasn't. In "2012", a collection of "filmmakers" and actors upped the ante by fantasizing not just about the killing of a human being with sharp objects, but about the torture of all humanity while all humanity watches. That's sick.

Life is short and final.

That's just one of the reasons it's so precious. That's just one of the reasons we should expect ourselves and anyone else not infected by diseases of the mind to treat it with respect. That's just one of the reasons those of us in the wine business, whether aligned with producers or wholesalers or retailers, appreciate that we get to work around a man made product that primarily gives people pleasure. That, having been reminded of it in profound ways over the past year and a half, is why I'm positive I need to pursue those things that leave a real positive mark on my and others lives.

It's also why I need to be much more careful about spending money in support of smut like "2012" and instead spending it on something better, like time drinking the worst wine I've ever tasted.

[Vinography] 2003 Descendientes de J. Palacios "Moncerbal," Bierzo, Spain

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:49:36 -0800

This is one of those wines that I live for. The kind that begins with an unknown bottle thrust in front of me by a friend with a twinkle in their eye, and ends with a profound memory of taste that becomes one of those moments that wine lovers cherish. Such wines are not common, at least not for me, but they are what keep me passionate about drinking and writing and enjoying the world of wine.

Occasionally still described by romanticizing writers as "off in a forgotten corner of Northwestern Spain," the winegrowing region of Bierzo can no longer be described as truly unknown. While it remains off the radar of most mainstream wine drinkers, this little appellation has gained some attention from wine lovers and wine critics in recent years thanks to a few spectacular wines some of which were made by, and all of which owe a debt of gratitude to a man named Alvaro Palacios.

Palacios is in his early forties, but he has dramatically shaped what we know as Spain's modern wine industry. The Palacios name has been associated with winemaking in Spain for several generations, and Alvaro eventually decided to continue the family tradition. He studied winemaking in France and went on to work at Chateau Pétrus with Jean-Pierre Moueix. But instead of returning to work on his family's estate in Rioja he traveled around Spain looking for places where he could make wines of the character and grace he had experienced in France.

Palacios eventually stumbled onto the disused Priorat region, which he singlehandedly proceeded to put on the map, both through evangelization and by example, with wines that have now become some of Spain's most sought after and most celebrated.

As if completely revitalizing one of Spain's historical winegrowing regions wasn't enough, Palacios went on to do it a second time with Bierzo. Known only 10 or 15 years ago for making fruity, innocuous wines of little consequence, Bierzo's valley floor vineyards were not of interest to Palacios. What caught his eye were incredibly steep schist and shale hillsides where select plantings of the local Mencia grape were still hanging on to life after more than a century.

The rocky soils of the region are apparently both very poor in nutrients, but also quite varied in their composition, especially on the steep hillsides around the town of Corullon. Reminded of the detailed variations in terroir he had observed in Burgundy and Piemonte, Palacios decided this region held the promise he was looking for. Just as he did in Priorat, though this time with his nephew Ricardo Perez, Palacios has snapped up several ancient vineyard sites and transformed them into something magical. The diminutive, scraggly vines, eking out an existence on hillsides of almost solid rock, yield very little fruit, but what they do give under the patient hands of Palacios and Perez is nothing short of astonishing.

Named after Palacios' father and Perez's grandfather, Descendientes de Jose Palacios makes an entry level wine named Petales, as well as its flagship bottling known as Villa de Corullon. In addition, however, the winery makes 4 single-vineyard bottlings from the oldest, most extreme vineyard sites around the town. These are named Las Lamas, San Martin, Faraona, and Moncerbal. The winery produces very little wine to begin with, and these single vineyard bottlings are made in even more minute quantities, somewhere between 200 and 400 cases apiece.

The Moncerbal vineyard is a step schist hillside about 2200 feet above sea level. The vines average 80 to 100 years in age and produce less than one ton of fruit per acre. Despite these somewhat austere conditions, Palacios and Perez farm the vineyard Biodynamically. All work in the vineyard has to be done by hand, with occasional assistance by a mule.

The wine is made just as manually, with hand harvesting and hand destemming. The grapes ferment using native yeasts as gently and as long as they need to. After fermentation the wine ages in 100% new French oak barrels and is bottled without fining or filtration.

This is one of the most unique and impressive wines I have had from Spain, and certainly the best from this appellation I have ever tasted. If you can manage to get your hands on a bottle, I highly recommend it.

Tasting Notes:
Opaque, inky ruby in the glass, this wine has a stunning nose of wet stones, black pepper, black cherry, and a vague pruney / leathery quality that emerges with some time. In the mouth it is nothing short of astonishing for reasons that are difficult to describe. This wine offers a mysterious dichotomy between what can only be described as liquified rocks -- an earthy mineral backbone that takes the breath away -- and a very thick, ripe, black cherry and plum fruit that avoids all trace of sweetness. These flavors actually taste more like the skins of these fruits than the flesh, and the impression of tartness is aided by a remarkable acidity given the ripeness that the fruit must have actually achieved (this was, after all, the year of the deadly heatwave). Overall this wine ripples with muscled power, its tannins glassy-smooth and incredibly sculpted. The finish is minutes long, and resonates with both sides of this wine's personality -- wet stones, and dried cherries. Outstanding.

Food Pairing:
I had this with a pasta in a wild boar ragu, but frankly it would have been better with wild boar morcilla.

Overall Score: between 9.5 and 10

How Much?: $85

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

[fermentation] The Big (wine) Lie

Tom Wark — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:08:01 -0800

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

JOSEPH GOEBBELS, Propaganda Minister Under Adolph Hitler

Collectively, American alcohol wholesalers act very much like Nazi leader Joseph Geobbels and certainly have adopted the strategy of the "Big Lie", described above as a means to deceive the people just long enough to assure that the consequences of the lie take their toll before the mortal enemy of the lie, truth, takes hold.

While the "Big Lie" that most alcohol wholesalers and many state alcohol regulators tell is that the three tier system of alcohol distribution is a great thing, the most important and damaging lies are those little ones that are more often told in support of the wholesaler monopoly.

THE BIG LIES

1. The Three Tier System Prevents Vertical Monopolies in the Alcohol Industry
Whether true or not, it is believed by most that the primary purpose of creating a three tier system at the end of Prohibition was to prevent vertical integration of the industry through cross ownerships between retailer and supplier. It is believed the three tier system was put in place to prevent retailers or restaurants from being "Tied" to large suppliers that could control them by virtue of ownership or influence. Fine. The big lie however is that a state mandated three tier system whereby alcohol must flow through wholesalers before getting to retailers, is necessary to prevent vertical integration or tied house influence. Simply passing a law that prohibits supplier ownership in restaurants and retail establishments would accomplish this. One need not give wholesalers a monopoly to prevent the abuses that allegedly took place prior to Prohibition

2. The Three Tier System Has Resulted In The Best Selection of Products of Any Marketplace in the World
Though the wholesalers claim this, the fact of the matter is that nothing about have a state-mandated three tier system contributes to providing a wide variety of products to consumers. In those markets where in fact consumers are lucky enough to find a variety of wine products that comes close to representing even 1/10th of the wines available in American, the fact that they have this kind of choice has nothing to do with the existence of the three tier system. Rather it has everything to do with the ingenuity of the producers and the retailers' acute awareness of consumer demand. The only reason wholesalers provide the small amount of choice in those markets that might seem to have greater choice of products is because there exists the number of producers to provide a larger choice and a savvy retailer class that demands the ability to meet consumer choice. Wholesalers, given their desires, would see as few brands as possible being distributed in markets. What truly gives consumers in any market real choice and selection is direct shipment rights by out-of-state wineries and retailers. And these rights are EXCEPTIONS to the strict rules of the three tier system.

3. The Tier System Prevents Sale of Alcohol To Minors
Goebbels would be proud of America's alcohol wholesalers for telling this lie. There is nothing about the existence of a state mandate that retailers buy their supply from wholesalers that has anything to do with minors attempting to obtain alcohol or actually obtaining it. Were wineries allowed to sell to wholesalers or directly to retailers as a matter of their own choice, you would see no difference whatsoever in the number of minors that drink alcohol or attempt to obtain alcohol. One has nothing to do with the other.

4. The Three Tier System Prevents Corruption and Coercion the Likes of Which Prompted the Original Adoption of the Three Tier System in the 1930s.
Any retailer or supplier playing in a market that has only 1 or 2 very large wholesalers that control those markets knows this is untrue. In fact, in those many states where two wholesalers dominate the industry, they control access to wine by the retailers and restaurants and they abuse that control through corrupt practices and by the natural corruption that results from monopolies. The wholesalers, in the most corrupt way, demands that retailers and restaurants buy a lot of wines they don't want in order to get the wines they do want. In addition there are many stories of the powerful wholesalers, upon hearing that a restaurant or retailer has begun buying wine from smaller upstart wholesalers, no longer services that account, leaving them without the majority of wines they need to buy. The only way this kind of power could be wielded and this kind of corruption could exist is if use of the wholesale tier was mandated by the state and made into a monopoly.

There are more "Big Lies", but these are among the worst and most often put forward by the proponents of the state-sponsored welfare for alcohol wholesalers known as the state mandated three tier system.

[Winecast] Pax Cellars, Syrah, Alder Springs 2005

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:41:22 -0800

I have blogged and podcasted several notes for Pax Cellars Syrah over the years so I was looking forward to revisiting this producer for my birthday dinner last night. The producer has been in a state of flux over the past year or so with winemaker Pax Mahle leaving in the summer of 2008 but [...]

[Pinot Blogger] Sniff Taints With Me for 2 Straight Days At UC Davis

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:17:48 -0800

Honestly, ask yourself: have you sniffed taint recently? I mean really sniffed taint? Rigorously. Methodically. Intensively. Do you know how to rectify your taint after you’ve sniffed it? Are you certain? Did you know that not all taints are foul smelling? Some folks think some taints smell pleasant. It really depends on the person. There is so much [...]

[fermentation] A Bad Wine Saga Ends!

Tom Wark — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:57:31 -0800

On October 15, 2005 more than 6 million bottles of wine stored at the Wine Central Warehouse in Vallejo were destroyed when Marc Anderson, a Sausalito, California business man set fire to the warehouse in order to destroy evidence of earlier crimes.

Entire inventories of wineries productions were destroyed as almost 100 wineries kept their inventories in the warehouse. In some cases, historic library collections of important California wineries were destroyed by heat damage. For the Northern California wine industry, Anderson's self-serving, desperate act was a devastating loss.

Today, under a plea agreement involving a 19 count federal indictment, Anderson pled guilty to the crime.

Now, I don't mean to suggest that this crime of arson, because it was wine that was destroyed and because I love wine, is a particularly terrible crime. I don't mean to diminish the impact of other types of crimes where lives are taken, for example. I only mean to suggest that the 20 some odd years in prison that Anderson will likely get as a result of being convicted not only of arson but also of mail fraud and tax evasion, are simply not enough.

The problem is, I have no idea what kind of prison term would be appropriate. Luckily, I'm not a judge. If it were me, I'd probably flip a coin: Heads it's life, tails it's it only until he dies.

What was shocking about this case at the time was not just the extent of the loss as the mass loss of wine became known, but the fact that this kind of cross industry loss is not often seen in the wine industry. Sometimes we hear about trucks carrying grapes tipping over on the highway. Sometimes we hear about tankers with wine crashing spilling 1000s of gallons of wine onto the highway. And occasionally you hear about a fire at a winery. You just don't' hear about 6 million bottles of wlne being destroyed.

In any case, we'll not hear much more about this story. Anderson pled guilty, he'll go to jail and the wineries that lost so much have plodded forward and done what they had to.

I just hope that those who did lose so much of what they had worked so hard to produce and preserve gain a little bit of solace from the fact that for the next 20 years Anderson will spend time sharing a shower and soap with some of the nicest guys in California. But I doubt it.

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QUITTING SMOKING UPDATE—DAY 23

There's no question about it, I'm on the downslope of working through the cravings and oral fixation that has been so difficult to deal with over the past 3 weeks. Today the occasional craving to light up and inhale smoke into my lungs still over comes me. In fact, it happens at least 10 times a day. But the cravings are far less severe now and last only momentarily. In addition, when distracted, when not writing about quitting smoking but thinking about other things, I don't think about smoking at all. As I've written before, the aroma seeking nose is back. However, I'm still waiting on the flavor detecting ability of my palate to become more acute. Bottom line: with the help of drugs, patches, candy and the support of friends, readers and another very important person, I'm pretty sure I"m a non-smoker.

[Pinot Blogger] Über Wine Review #3 – “Shit-de-merde! A Brett Bomb”

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:51:56 -0800

Shit-de-merde! This wine is all Brett, all the time. Unless you have an aversion to the flavors and aromas of actual wine, it is best to stay away. Only the most jaded fruit and floral aroma haters need apply. Based on this one dimensional sensory profile I guessed France, and from there the Rhone. I was [...]

[Winecast] Crowdsourcing Wine Selection For My Birthday Dinner

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:57:13 -0800

via tweetie Posted via web from winecast’s posterous

[Good Grape] Vin de Napkin - If a Politician Paid Lip Service

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:15:59 -0800

[Vinography] What's Next? Wine Labels in Jive?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:51:59 -0800

I haven't stopped chuckling this evening since I read a post on Spittoon.Biz, a long running wine blog run by Andrew Barrow over in the UK. About a week ago he reported on the latest marketing efforts by a national supermarket chain to make sure the wine labels on their wines were readable by all their clientele (UK supermarkets often bottle and label their own wines from around Europe). These efforts involved something quite straightforward: translating the back labels of the wines into different languages.

Except the languages they translated them into are some of the local dialects of the United Kingdom. This yielded labels like:

"A canny Merlot ableeze wi succulent blackcurrants an blueberries. This Merlot has legs leik a thoroughbred, strong an forward, tha sucks the leif oot of yer palate. Its stowed bouquet is a delight fer yer nose an will leave yee clamming fer moor. This ain ne blash." in Geordie.

"A totally stoatin bevvy. It's bricht an' foo o' flavur, wi plum, curranty fruit, mackin it taste awffy braw. A youngane's colour wi cherries an black fruit on the nose, it has a laldy kick tae it, tha runs fae the front tae the back ae' yer mooth" in Scottish.

That just makes me giggle. What if Trainspotting was filled with wine instead of heroin?

Or better yet, maybe we can get some labels written in Jive:

Read the full post on Spittoon.Biz.

[Good Grape] What Nascar and Tony Stewart can teach Wine Media

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:56:19 -0800

[Vinography] Vinography Images: Golden Globes

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:31:03 -0800

Golden Globes
Andy's close-up images of grapes are really special. The translucency of the skin with the light shining through reminds me that each berry is this tiny little body, with its own anatomy and structure. Each golden globe is a complete system, a little planet unto itself. -- Alder Yarrow

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact photographer Andy Katz through his web site.

[Vinography] Wine Education as Big Business

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:45:01 -0800

In an already crowded field of certifications for wine knowledge, add one more: the Parker & Zraly Wine Certification courtesy of Robert Parker and Kevin Zraly. While no doubt well intentioned and likely to be filled with good questions (Kevin Zraly is a renowned wine educator) it's hard not to see this as more than yet another revenue stream in the Robert Parker empire.

Did the world need another wine certification? I'd argue no, but who knows. Perhaps people will flock to this one, especially considering the barrier to entry is so low. The first set of eight exams costs $30 apiece, or $195 if purchased together. The second level single exam is $150, and we don't know what the third level exam will cost.

The first two levels of these exams are given entirely online which raises some interesting questions. While they are timed exams, they have no oversight. So there seems to be nothing stopping someone from taking one of these exams with a stack of books next to them to reference. Or more likely, the web version of the Oxford Companion to Wine. Undoubtedly, some people eager to have bragging rights will cheat.

Given that the third level includes a blind tasting exam with Parker and Zraly (and presumably costs more than the previous ones) we won't have a lot of Parker & Zraly Wine Experts™ running around who don't actually know anything about wine, but I'll bet there will be a lot of first and second level dilettantes who will be happy to take these exams pretty much in the same way that I took the last online traffic school I attended.

It also bears mentioning that the only people who can sign up for these exams at the moment are current subscribers to Parker's web site.

The current players in the world of wine certification include the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust, the Court of Master Sommeliers, and the Institute of Masters of Wine. Each of these certification programs involves much more time, energy, and money to earn the right to their particular title. In the case of the MW certification I've heard of people spending more than $10,000 and taking several years to get there.

It will be interesting to see how, where, and when people start showing up with the initials PZWA or PZWC after their names. Will Doug Frost, Ronn Wiegand, and Gerard Basset all complete the certification to retain their titles as the most certified wine professionals in the world? (Those three are the only individuals to hold both the Master Sommelier and Master of Wine titles).

More likely a lot of Parker disciples and subscribers will simply see this as an opportunity to test their knowledge for the fun of it. Which presumably is just what Parker and Zraly had in mind.

[Vinography] Just Where Is That Winery, Exactly?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:41:00 -0800

I'm in the middle of a book project. I've agreed to write a chapter in a big wine book that will cover all the major wine regions of the world and the top producers in each region. My area of responsibility will be Sonoma and Marin counties, which the book is combining into a single section. I'm enjoying the process of thoroughly combing through the region's wineries to select the several hundred that I get to highlight in the book, but in the process I'm running up against a conundrum.

My charter is quite simple: list a bunch of Sonoma and Marin wineries. But the difference between the theory of that charter and the practice of actually selecting the wineries is proving quite difficult, because the definition of what is a winery these days isn't so clear. For starters, not all wineries have wineries. These days there are plenty that are just labels without buildings, or often, even without vineyards. But that's just the start of my problems.

Let me give you a couple of examples of some producers that have caused me to scratch my head a little:

A producer that owns a vineyard in Sonoma county, makes wine from only that vineyard, but the offices and the place where the wine is made are not in Sonoma county, they're in Napa.

A producer based in Napa with their own winery facility that makes only wines from Sonoma County.

A producer based in Marin with their own winery that does not make any wines from grapes grown in Marin county.

A producer that makes wines only from contracts with several Sonoma County vineyards, has offices in Sonoma County, but uses a custom crush facility in Napa.

A producer that owns a vineyard in Sonoma, has a winemaking facility in Sonoma, but their tasting room is in another county.

A producer that makes mostly Sonoma county wines, but also has a Napa Cabernet in the portfolio. All the grapes are grown on contract, the wine is made in a custom crush facility in Sonoma county, but the winery's official address is in Napa.

Which of these is actually a "Sonoma winery" or a "Marin winery?" It would be easy if there were some sort of clear cut legal definition like the address on the winery's bond issued by the government, but that really doesn't make sense in a lot of cases, as that address is pretty arbitrary and often has nothing to do with the winery's real operation.

To add an extra layer of complexity, one of the implicit purposes in making this atlas of wineries is the idea that it can be used by consumers who want to go visit these wineries. It's not a guidebook, of course, but there will be maps and the wineries will be plotted on the map. So where the heck do you put some of these wineries in a way that is most useful to consumers? In some cases you'd point the consumer to the vineyard, where they might meet the owner and taste wine in their kitchen. In some cases you'd point the consumer to a tasting room which may or may not be anywhere near where the grapes are grown or where the wine gets made. In some cases there may not be anywhere to point the consumer, just a warehouse in some industrial park that will carry the name of many producers because they all make wine there. Better that, I suppose than some little business office or P.O. box in the middle of nowhere, right?

After a couple glasses of wine, I'm less frustrated, and contemplating thoughts like "the damn grapes know where they're from. Who gives a shit about anything else?" But that's not exactly going to make the publisher very happy.

Maybe I should have volunteered to write the chapter on Macedonian wineries. I'll bet they're much less difficult to pin down.

[fermentation] Integrity—Bloodied and Scarred

Tom Wark — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:56:03 -0800

I tend to talk a loud game here at Fermentation about the corruption that surrounds the politics of wine distribution. I tend to accuse politicians of being in some people's pockets on the issue of the three tier system. But rarely do I have the opportunity to point my readers to an example of integrity so obviously bloodied and scarred by bald faced corruption. Allow me.

Late last year, the state of Michigan lost a court battle in which they vigorously defended their discrimination against out-of-state wine stores. Michigan allowed in-state wine stores to ship wine to Michiganders. It allow in-state wineries to ship wine to Michiganders. And it allow out-of-state wineries to ship to Michiganders. But out-of-state wine merchants? They were prohibited.

The Federal District Court Judge told both the state of Michigan and the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association that their arguments in favor of denying adult consumers access to the wines they want and denying out-of-state wine merchants the right to fulfill Michigan consumers' demands was unconstitutional. The Judge, predictably, cited the Supreme Court decision and reasoning of Granholm v. Heald.

It was no surprise that the state appealed this decision to Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals where, I'm sure the Michigan wholesalers knew, their arguments in favor of blatant, anti-consumer discriminatory laws would be shot down by an even higher court. The problem the Michigan wholesalers in particular had was that a decision in favor of retailer direct shipping from an Appeals Court is a very powerful slap to their face and would have advanced the goal of allowing wine merchants outside Michigan and other states to be treated fairly where wine shipping was concerned.

So what happened? Rather than play out the Appeal, the Michigan Wholesalers decided to go to their bench. They decided rather than get a bad decision in a higher court, they'd fix their problem of having to compete on only a slightly more level playing field by getting a law passed that, while seemingly fair, would make sure there would be no retailer shipping at all in Michigan.

The Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers went to Representative Barbara Farrah and asked her to introduce a bill they had themselves written that would have banned ALL direct shipment of wine in Michigan by both in-state and out-of-state retailers, an approach to Direct Shipping policy that incredibly anti-consumer and anti-business, is constitutional.

The wholesalers also asked Representative Farrah to introduce this bill into a committee and to arrange to have that committee "hear" the bill without giving any notice to its opponents. Essentially, the wholesalers wanted to ram it through the Legislature under cover of darkness.

Representative Farrah did everything the Wholesalers asked. Everything.

Now, it just so happens that Representative Farrah counted Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, the folks that wrote the anti-consumer bill that was successful in killing retailer to consumer shipping in Michigan, as her largest campaign contributors during her three terms as a state Representative.

This was one of her last acts as a state representative. It also turns out she was a lame duck. Term limited out of office. Needing no more support from the Wholesalers, she could have done the right thing and denied the Michigan Wholesalers her involvement in screwing the consumers of Michigan and her representatives by engaging in a seriously dirty end run around representative government.

So why didn't she do the right thing? Because there was a job waiting for her after she left office.

Today, former Representative Barbara Farrah works for the Lansing lobbying firm "Governmental Consultant Services Inc." Imagine who one of their largest clients is:

The Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, the very people that were giving her money throughout her political career and the folks for whom she choose to assist by taking a sharp carving knife and sticking in the side of Integrity, leaving it bloodied and wounded next to the capital steps while she went down the street to take a six figure job that was one can only assume was promised her if she did the deed for their benefactors.

If you are even a little bit appalled by Ms. Farrah's blatant lack of integrity in the Michigan Direct Shipping debate, you should write her and tell her. I did.

[Pinot Blogger] An Open Letter to Former Michigan Rep. Barb Farrah

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:16:18 -0800

Ms. Farrah, I thought you should know that I just finished reading Tom Wark’s recent post on your unconscionable support of HB6644 late last year. This was a bill that, as far as I am able to discern, was almost completely anti-consumer and anti-competitive, benefitting only the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers. That you counted the [...]

[Vinography] 2007 Smith Madrone Riesling, Spring Mountain District, Napa

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:19:12 -0800

There are more legends, stories, fairytales, and fables than anyone could count that all involve some guy up on a mountainside somewhere. Sometimes a hermit, sometimes a wizard, sometimes a troll -- sometimes just an old man who went to sleep under a tree for a long, long time. No matter what the story, there's always something a little different about the guy on the mountain, something that is both scary and alluring at the same time.

Stu Smith might be living out yet another version of one of these tales. The fact that Stu sports a big gray and white beard under a wizened and kindly face helps to reinforce the possibility that he might belong in some ancient tale. His start as a winemaker certainly sounds like it belongs in a storybook somewhere: a lone hiker in the early Seventies, stomping through the forests on the mountainside above St. Helena discovers the remains of ancient vineyards and is struck then and there by inspiration.

In deciding to purchase that long forgotten parcel of land, and turn it again into a vineyard, Smith began a thirty-five year odyssey as a pioneer, an iconoclast, and what looks to be a permanent fixture on Napa's Spring Mountain. The venture, begun in 1973 with money from family and friends, is now one of the most established, and perhaps most under-appreciated wineries in the Spring Mountain District.

If you were going to start a Napa winery, even back in the Seventies, what would be the first kind of grape you'd plant? Certainly not Riesling. Yet that was the very first grape that Smith planted. Smith Madrone winery has produced one ever since, and even more surprisingly, especially to those unfamiliar with the winery, it's quite good. To those who have known about Smith Madrone for some time, this small production Riesling is one of Napa's best kept secrets.

Over the years, the winery has grown to a modest thirty or so acres, and after as many years in production, only makes around 4000 cases of wine, split between Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Riesling. Smith, along with his brother, and occasionally his two sons, like to keep things manageable for a small family who choose to do a surprising number of things by hand.

The winery facility was built using stones and lumber from the property. As the winery was gradually built over the years, Smith and his brother Charles discovered the remains of rock walls, caves, and old carriage roads created by the farmers who last ran the vineyards on the site, sometime before the turn of the century. Some evidence of the former tenants was not so hard to notice -- the property boasts a carefully planted line of 22 olive trees, most of which are over 100 years old.

Perhaps it was inspiration from the 19th century vintners whose traces could still be seen on the land, or perhaps it is the only way Smith could ever have operated, but the winery operates very much on the model of small European cellars. From the small volume of low yield fruit that is hand harvested each year, to barrel fermentation in small lots, Smith Madrone wines are hand-crafted from start to finish.

The winery's Riesling is grown like its other varieties, in dry-farmed hillside vineyards of modest to considerable age. The average age among the Riesling vines is about 32 years. The naturally small yields produce enough fruit for only about 600 cases of wine per year.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Light gold in the glass, this wine smells of wet limestone, white flowers, and fresh pears. Bright and cheery in the mouth it tastes of pears, wet stones, and unripe apples. Nicely balanced with excellent acidity, incredibly easy to drink and delicious, the wine finishes with a hint of candle wax. Certainly one of my favorite Rieslings made in this country.

Food Pairing:
Though it does not taste sweet, the wine has a tiny bit of residual sugar that will make it an excellent match for intense, even spicy flavors. I had some Indonesian corn fritters today for lunch with a chili garlic sauce that would have been an interesting combination.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $25

This wine is available for purchase on the internet.

[Good Grape] Life’s Rich Pageant

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:00:36 -0800