Wine-Flair

WINE NEWS - WEEK OF MARCH 8, 2010

2010-03-08T13:30:00.022-05:00

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Winery and Industry News

Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards
Uncle Sam Steps Up on Wine Fraud
Chilean Wine Industry Rocked by Quake
Wine and Climate Change

Consumer/Shipping News

Virginia Cup Gold Medal Wines
Wine Shipments Resume from Chile
Cellaring Wines for Many Years

The Case for Box Wine

Wine/Varietal News and Reviews

Little-Known Wine Grapes

Pinots from Carneros

Bumper Crop for 2007 Port!
Idaho Viognier?
The Reds of Abruzzo

Wine Tasting and Pairing

Wine...from a Steel Keg?
Pairing for Classic American Meatloaf
To Decant or Not?

WINE SHORTS - MARCH 5, 2010

2010-03-05T09:34:00.005-05:00

The Washington Post points out the growing influence of women on the world of wine, including many winemakers such as Cathy Corison, whose Napa Cabernets I consider to be among the best in all of California.

If you fly frequently for business or pleasure, Business Traveller's Cellars in the Sky Awards are for you, and include the best sparklings, whites, reds and sweet/fortifieds served at 35,000 feet. And if you're tired of being stuck on the tarmac for hours at a time - with a good glass of wine or not - consider joining the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. Really.

Speaking of flying and wine, Decanter has a brief story about flights resuming in Chile while winemakers assess their damage from last week's terrible quake. And for my previous story about The Mondavis of Chile, go here. They really make some rockin' wines, and we wish all of Chile a speedy recovery.

BRUSH UP ON YOUR WINE LINGO

2010-03-02T22:13:00.010-05:00

I don't practice or preach wine snobbery...as you know.

But I do preach that it's helpful - and can even be fun - to learn some wine lingo.

My wine glossary is a lot of fun AND it will make you laugh.

Give it a shot.

THE POWER OF PARKER?

2010-02-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

I get lots of newsletters from wine merchants, including some big names in USA, Europe and the UK. I don't buy a lot of wine from them, but I do enjoy keeping up with prices of wine around the world, especially new releases and futures. One thing that's easy to notice is how much these guys depend on Robert Parker to do their marketing.

So that leads me to ask the question: Does Parker single-handedly determine what we buy, what we pay, and really, what we all want to drink?

Lots of people think so, including many in a position to know. Tomas Clancy of Ireland's Sunday Business Post has written: "His (Parker) ratings, along with his florid tasting notes, define modern American wine criticism. The Wine Advocate's scores are quoted in wine transactions across the globe, turning Parker into the world's most influential wine critic...Indeed, his influence over the multibillion dollar wine industry is far greater than that of any other critic working in any other area, be it wine, cinema or literature."

Mike Steinberger of Slate, that publication's wine writer, described the run-up in wine prices saying "They (speculators and trophy hunters) are making the fine-wine market a lot frothier than it might otherwise be, and their purchases are almost entirely dictated by the scores doled out by Robert Parker and a few other critics." He ascribed the problem mostly to the 100-point system pioneered by Parker, that purports (pretends, if you ask me) to evaluate a wine's quality with a kind of, well, mathematical certainty.

That is absurb, of course. And I never enjoyed math in grade school or high school, and avoided it altogether in college. You?

Feelings about Mr. Parker's hold on winemakers themselves border on the surreal. In the leading UK wine rag Decanter, Oliver Styles wrote: "Robert Parker's influence on Californian wines has forced winemakers to lose their sense of balance, says a cult Santa Barbara producer. Adam Tolmach of Ojai Vineyard told newspaper The Los Angeles Times that his wines had 'lost their rudder' in trying to please the palate of the American wine guru Robert Parker."

Curiously, though, I don't think Parker's influence is as great as it may seem...among wine consumers anyway, and especially younger ones. He certainly has influence among some winemakers, yet even former acolytes such as Mr. Tolmach are finally starting to think for themselves.

And while Parker certainly has a hold among wealthy collectors and speculators--ironically, since he says that he's against using wine as an investment--how many of us go into a wine store totally determined to walk out ONLY with a Parker-rated 94 or above bottle?

Bueller? Bueller?

Look, Parker tastes tens if not hundreds of thousands of wines a year. Sounds like fun but let me assure you, it's not, really; it's a business and it's grueling. He likes what he likes, which I understand to be big, bold, tannic and high-alcohol numbers. And he scores 'em how he sees 'em - how could he do anything else?

So when you're in a wine store and are strangely drawn to those numbers on the shelf talkers, well, if they make you feel better, knock yourself out. But don't set your clock to Parker unless, well, you just want what he wants. Maybe you do.

TASTING BORDEAUX FROM 2007 AND 2006

2010-01-24T22:53:00.114-05:00

In pursuit of a Sherry-Lehmann-sponsored tasting of the 2006 and 2007 Bordeaux, I wandered over to the Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan on Saturday afternoon. Given that I've dedicated myself and this site to wine education and wine appreciation rather than ratings and numbers, I'll just list my favorite wines from the tasting and fill in more information as I get the time.

My very favorite is the Chateau Angelus 2007 from St. Emilion. Granted, everything from this estate is very pricey, as it's a Class B Premier Grand Cru Classe from the rather strange St. Emilion classification system.

My second choice is the Chateau Gazin 2006 from Pomerol. I've got a case of the 05 resting comfortably in my cellar, and they may get some younger friends soon, I think.

My third choice is the Chateau Kirwan 2006 from Margaux. Here I think the influence of 10-12% Petit Verdot really adds something.

My fourth choice is the Chateau Figeac 2007 from St. Emilion.

Rounding out the top five is Chateau Giscours 2007 from Margaux.

Many though not all of the 'sixes seem identical to me - and too acidic, too tannic - sometimes roughly so - and generally lacking the fruit I like. But if you look at my top favorites, you'll also see that three of the top five are so-called right-bank wines, which are heavy on Merlot and much less so on Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Vintages

It seems that the '06 vintage is the product of a generally lousy year, climactically speaking. There was lower than average rain from spring until summer when it was most needed, followed by searing heat in July that nearly shut down the vines. August brought cool and rainy days and the threat of rot with them. And then in mind-September, a deluge of rain. These are ideal conditions.

Ideal for a lousy harvest, that is. Yet I still found a few sixes that I like.

Before fall the '07 wasn't turning out any better...until September (I was there) when a month of helping winds, sunshine and consistently warm days really pulled this one out, unlike my adopted NT Jets, who were unfortunately unable to last weekend. At the same time, the earlier summer rains produced a lot of noble rot and excellent sweet Sauternes.

Some other Reds from the two vintages that I really like include:

2007 Chateau Labegorce Margaux
2007 Chateau Lascombes Margaux
2006 Chateau Beychevelle St. Julien
2006 Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac
2006 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac
2006 Chateau Cantemerle Haut-Medoc
2007 Chateau Branaire Ducru St. Julien

Now I'm sure that a lot of the "big name" wine writers, including some that I greatly respect such as Jancis Robinson, will have a very different view. I didn't look at their ratings so as not to have any prejudices.

And my point here is what it always is - You do need to train your palate and educate yourself a bit, and then, follow your taste buds.

Q&A: WHAT'S A MERITAGE - AND WHAT'S THIS TWO-BUCK CHUCK?

2010-01-21T11:06:00.068-05:00

What's a Meritage?

Well, it's a blend - either white OR red (most people think it's red only, and that's wrong) - that's supposed to be similar in style to the great wines of Bordeaux.

Meritage is pronounced to rhyme with "heritage" although I often say it the wrong, French way myself (Mare-it-tahj) out of habit. The name came from a consumer contest in the late 1980s to promote these blends, which come mainly but not exclusively from California.

Wineries that put "Meritage" on the label have to pay a fee per case to the Meritage Alliance, and those wines must be made from specific grapes. Because of that, a lot of wineries just blend their grapes and create so-called proprietary wines, which they often give clever (or not-so-clever) names. Insignia from Joseph Phelps is probably the best-known proprietary California wines...and one of the most expensive and exclusive.

Red Meritages must have two or more of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, St. Macaire, Gros Verdot and Carmenere, and no one variety can be more than 90 percent of the blend. White Meritage is made from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Sauvignon Vert and also must follow the 90% rule.

There are some very good Meritages out there, but few of them have resemble their French cousins. If you want a Bordeaux, drink one.

Whats in Two-Buck Chuck? How can it be this cheap?

Charles Shaw wines, known collectively as "Two-Buck Chuck," are the best-known of bottled commercial bulk wines. They're really cheap for some very simple reasons: they come from extremely high-yield vineyards. The grapes are machine harvested and rarely if ever sorted for quality. They're fermented in huge quantities and the resulting wine is pushed into the market with little or no aging and pretty much no marketing.

The second major source of bulk wine is actually high-end wineries. How's that? Well, more frequently than you might imagine, something happens at a winery that makes a batch of wine unsuitable for bottling under its own "prestige" label - inferior grapes from a late-season rain, a bad fermentation, or a wine that just doesn't meet the winemaker's standards. But the wine is still good enough to be sold on the bulk market, and doing that helps wineries recover some of their costs. So they find a company that bottles and sells private-label wine, and voila.

So what's wrong with this? Most of the time, nothing at all. The only big problem when buying bulk wine, sometimes for as little as $3-4 a bottle, is that the quality and taste can be wildly inconsistent. I've heard about, but never seen, people opening a bottle from a case of bulk wine in the parking lot of one of those warehouse stores, and if it's drinkable, running back in to buy the rest of the case. But I have seen people at home opening bottle after bottle of bulk wine from a case, and finding each and every bottle just awful. So it's sometimes a gamble, but in the days of strict quality control and high production standards, the whole case disaster is rare.

Bulk wine in my view is a step above so-called jug wines that often have names like "Hearty Burgundy" but they aren't made from French-grown Pinot Noir, and "Chablis" - that ain't made from French Chardonnay. These I wouldn't touch with a barge pole unless I was broke or in college.

And I'm not.

NEW Hailey's Harp and Pub Wines by the Glass!

2010-01-15T12:39:00.002-05:00

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PLEASE HELP HAITI

2010-01-14T07:59:00.004-05:00

I figure that if I can afford to drink wine - even bottles costing only ten or twelve bucks - I can certainly send at least that much off to The Red Cross to help the victims of this terrible disaster. So I just did, and I hope my fellow wine lovers will, too! Please do. Even at a time when things are tough in this country for a lot of folks, we have more than the best-off Haitians have ever had.

OR:

You can just text HAITI to 90999 on virtually any mobile phone.

You can give to Doctors Without Borders

You can donate to CARE

VIOGNIER in 2010!

2009-12-31T10:51:00.013-05:00

As you start out the new year, probably with a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine, make a resolution to try some wines in 2010 that you've never tasted. And maybe start with Viognier (pronounced "Vee-uh-nyay").

This is among the world's most aromatic whites, with a rich, viscous fullness, often a relatively high alcohol content and even some distinct spiciness on the palate. If, for example, you're used to light, innocuous Pinot Grigio, this wonderful grape might just knock you over - it makes one of the most distinctive white wines on the planet. And depending on where and how it's made, you'll get flavors or aromas of almonds, fennel, citrus, honey, apricots, white peach, pear, and so much more.

In fact, this wine is so rich you may perceive some residual sugar even when there isn't much. Most Viogniers are made to be dry table wine, but there are several late-harvest dessert Viognier wines, too, and I recommend them as an alternative to Port when you want something different - say, with a honey cake or fruit pie.

Outstanding Viognier-based wines now come from just about every continent and many countries, including Australia, USA (Washington, California and Virginia are big producers), Argentina, South Africa, Canada and even Japan. "Experts" will tell you that the best ones come from France's Condrieu region, and here in the US, good wines with that appellation can fetch $60-80 and even $100, but you can get decent $8 bottles from Chile.

Viognier is an outstanding blending grape, too, mixed with larger proportions of Chenin Blanc and other softer varieties. Interestingly, in Australia Viognier is also added as a blending grape to red wines, especially Shiraz - called Syrah in Australia - while in France it's added to Syrah in several wines from Cote-Rotie, which mean "roasted slope." In its classic Rhone form it's often mixed with a few percent of Marsanne or Roussanne. And in South Africa, Viognier is added to Syrah and Mourvedre. So you see how versatile this grape is!

Food Pairings: I find Viognier a great wine to pair with spicy Indian or Thai food. It's also great with white cheeses such as Gouda, especially goat's milk Gouda, and Brie or Camembert. Viognier goes great with grilled seafood, too, especially shrimp and scallops.

In the US, try Viogniers from Bonterra, Castle or Miner. From France, try E. Guigal, Chapoutier or Guy Bernard. From Chile try Cono Sur (forgive the pun). And from downunder, try Yalumba, Oxford Landing or Barwick Estates. Or as an alternative, Heartland Viognier-Pinot Gris.

Enjoy the wine and a prosperous 2010.

WINE OF THE WEEK-GOOD PINOT GRIGIO

2009-11-30T11:38:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, everyone reaches for Santa Margherita at a holiday party or a restaurant. Hey, they spend a lot of money on advertising and the brand name is well known. But between us, it's not really good wine, and it's absurdly expensive for what you get.

That's why the Wine of the week is Maso Canali Trentino Pinot Grigio.

Why is this really good wine? Well I could blather on about late-harvested grapes, stainless steel fermentation, lots of contact with the lees, the fact that the same family has been farming there for 500 years, or that they don't do malolactic fermentation.

The most important reason, though, is that the good folks at Maso Canali use the Passito process; they keep about 7% of the grapes back, and dry them separately on special racks, wonderfully concentrating their flavors, aromas and sugars. These dried grapes are pressed, and this concentrated juice is then added to the base wine which has been fermented normally. Passito is the same process used to make the famous and expensive Amarone red wines, the difference being pretty much all of an Amarone comes from dried grapes versus only a few percent here.

Bottom line: this wine has delicious tropical fruit flavors, real body, aromas and complexity that put most Pinot Grigios to shame. Try it!

Wine(s) of the Week - THANKSGIVING!

2009-11-16T11:28:00.010-05:00

In 10 days it'll be Thanksgiving eve, and you're probably putting together your menu. And if you're not...get on it! And no matter what you're having, you'll need some wines to go with the big meal.

Vouvray/Chenin Blanc: This is among the best wines in the world for Turkey. Vouvrays are Chenin Blanc-based wines from France, and come in a variety of styles, from dry to off-dry, semi-sweet and sweet. South Africa makes great Chenin Blancs, too: try Raats Family, Indaba or Cederberg. And Napa's Pine Ridge makes a wonderful mixture of Chenin Blanc and Viognier that I recommend highly.

Rose: If you're having ham by any chance, try pairing it with Mulderbosch Rose, from South Africa, made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. And if you're not, it's a great aperitif wine! Montes Cherub from Chile or Corbieres Domaine Sainte-Eugenie from France. Domestically, try Sola Rosa from Napa Valley. Goes great with cranberries, stuffing, relishes, everything!

Gewurztraminer: This somewhat spicy white wine is a nice change from all those Chardonnays or Pinot Grigios you're offered at dinner parties. Washington State's Columbia Winery makes Gewurz, and California's Fetzer Vineyards makes a nice off-dry version. Dependable, inexpensive "authentic" Alsatians come from France's Trimbach or Hugel et Fils.

Pinot Noir: Lotsa folk say this is a great pairing with turkey - its bright cherry flavors and gentle tannins and acidity work well with Thanksgiving treats. Check out Chalone Vineyard Monterey, Bannock Brae from New Zealand or just about any Pinot from Willamette Valley in Oregon. From France, try Francois d'Allaines Bourgogne Rouge or Bouchard Pere et Fils.

Beaujolais: This underappreciated and unfairly-dissed wine is a great choice if you're not a white drinker but still want wine with your bird. The Gamay grape makes easy-to-drink wines that are fruity but dry and go nicely with most things on the menu. You'll likely find a good, reliable Beaujolais selection at your retailer including Georges Dubeouf and Louis Jadot. If you want to go up-market a bit, look for Chateau Thivin Cote de Brouilly or G. Duscombes/Morgon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINES!

2009-11-10T13:24:00.002-05:00

The United States Marines celebrate their 234th birthday today, November 10, 2009.

Resolution of the Continental Congress:

"That two Battalions of Marines be raised consisting of
one Colonel, 2 Lt. Colonels, 2 Majors, and Officers
as usual in other regiments, that they consist of an equal number
of privates with other Battalions, that particular care be taken
that no person be appointed to Officer or enlisted in said Battalions,
but such as are good seamen, or so aquainted with maritime
affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea."

WINE OF THE WEEK - November 9, 2009

2009-11-09T15:06:00.003-05:00

This week's WINE OF THE WEEK is Kunde Family Estate, Chardonnay Nu 2007.

Now, if you like sweet, caramel-y, very soft and way-buttery Chardonnay, you won't like this one.

BUT if you like fresh, crisp Chardonnay, a wine in which you can taste the fruit - crisp apples and pears - and not just tons of oak, this is one for you. If you've ever had a true French Chablis, Chardonnay Nu may remind you of that. I won't bore you with all the details about malolactic fermentation or new vs. old oak. I will tell you that this wine is a great companion to foods because it won't overpower their flavors with over-the-top flavors of its own. Yet it's not too steely or austere like some Chablis are.

You'll find it at retailers for about $14-17.

NEXT WEEK - What else? Wines for Thanksgiving. Cheers!

TEN TIPS FOR GOOD RESTAURANT WINE SERVICE!

2009-11-03T11:39:00.032-05:00

1. Wine should always be served in a clean, spotless glass with no lint. If you get a dirty glass, send it back. Dirty glasses aren't fun to drink from, and soap film gives a nasty taste; it also kills Champagne bubbles.

2. Speaking of glasses, the type and size of glass matters. If you're in a family-style Italian restaurant or "old fashioned" Spanish or Portuguese place, you might find yourself drinking out of short, cylindrical tumblers. That's culturally appropriate, but only for inexpensive table or house wine. For anything else, even at a casual dining place, the glass should be at least 12 or 13 ounce size, with a slight tulip-shape flare. Try to avoid drinking out of the typical, tiny (6 oz.) wine glass, shown at right here, that's far too prevalent in casual dining restaurants and pubs.

Why? Well, to get a full pour they have to literally fill it to the top. They often spill it just handing it to you. You can't enjoy the wine's aroma. The big bowl glasses, while a little better, aren't much more appropriate, and they're awkward to hold and drink from - wine isn't soup, after all. The ideal glass is a 13 to 16 ounce tasting glass, an example shown at left here.

3. If you're ordering wine by the glass and you order a second or third, it should always be served in a fresh glass even if you're ordering the same wine. If you've ordered a bottle, it's perfectly fine to pour into the same glass.

4. In a fine dining establishment, your server should keep an eye on your table and quietly move in to refill your glasses as needed. Don't, however, expect this in a casual dining restaurant. And if you'd like to refill glasses yourself - which is fine - be polite and tell your server after he or she does the first pour. Which they, not you, should do under any circumstances.

5. If you order a bottle of wine, it should first be presented so that you'll know you're getting what you ordered, especially the correct vintage (year). Assuming it's correct, the server should then open and pour it in front of you. If not, refuse the wine and ask that a new bottle be brought and opened properly. Proper wine service is a ritual and sometimes it's silly and overblown, but there are reasons for it, too.

6. The person who orders the wine is the person for whom the first taste should be poured, regardless of who "outranks" whom at the table, or who's paying. If that's you - you're on!

7. In most fine restaurants, the server will then hand the cork to the person who ordered the wine. Don't sniff it. You can't tell much from a cork unless it's so dry that it disintegrates - and even a cork covered with mold (as long as it's not on the "business end") doesn't mean much, at least if it's from an older wine. It's really just part of the ritual. The one exception is that some very fine and expensive wines will typically have an imprinted cork, including the vintage year. If so, make sure the vintage on the cork matches the year on the label. If you collect corks, put it in your pocket; if not, place it next to your plate and the server should remove it before or when he or she does the first refill. At that point the cork is just trash.

8. If you've ordered a white wine, the server should only bring an ice bucket if you ask. Many Americans drink their whites so cold that they taste only acid, so consider not icing it down. One good way to preserve the temp of a white is with a "chiller" - a ceramic or clay tube. Sometimes glass or stainless ones are used such as the one shown at left, and if they're double-walled they do a great job.

9. An exception to this is Champagne and sparkling wine, which does want to be kept cold. Unless you've got enough guests to empty the bottle on the first pour, an ice bucket should always be brought. And it should include a couple inches of water at the bottom.

10. If you've ordered a red wine, in a fine restaurant it should be placed on the table on a wine coaster, usually one of pewter, silver plate or crystal. I've seen some newer ones in marble that even have a little niche for the cork. Woo-hoo. In a casual restaurant, a bottle of red will usually just be placed on the table nearest the person who ordered it.

11. Here's a free #11 - Don't get too caught up in wine rituals. If you've ordered a good wine and you're with good friends, as long as you're not drinking out of a boot you're probably in good shape! Oh, ok maybe a clean boot...

GREAT WINE FROM "THE MONDAVIS OF CHILE"

2009-10-29T17:28:00.108-04:00

I had the pleasure of having lunch - and more importantly, tasting wines - last week with the winemaker of Chile's Vinedos Emiliana along with the estate's owner, Jose Guilisasti.

I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but I was pleasantly, even astonishingly, surprised at how good the wines are. I say this because in my salad days, in college after six years in the Marine Corps, I was only able to afford a meager three or four dollars for what was often a bottle of very, well, "rustic" red from Chile with a label that looked like a kindergarten coloring project. What I tasted last week as a guest of Banfi Vintners at midtown NYC's Il Tinello restaurant was something very different.

Emiliana was founded only in 1986 as a privately-owned operation producing wines made from organic grapes, and in the case of their super-premium labels Emiliana G and Coyam, produced along biodynamic lines as well. To be honest, I'm not much impressed by wineries claiming bio this or organic that, given that these terms are often misunderstood and not uniformly applied even in this country, let alone across the seas. More than that, they're frequently bandied about by marketers eager to greenwash their products and tap into a share of the burgeoning environmentally-conscious market. But a little explanation is in order, wouldn't you say?

Organic, Biodynamic...so what?

Organics is an agricultural system that focuses on creating bio-coexistence, namely, that plants and animals inhabit the land and contribute to it in a natural way. For example, instead of using fungicides on weeds growing in the vineyard's cover crop, farmers allow animals to graze on them. Organics prohibits the use of industrial chemicals including synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and genetically modified organisms. Now, it's important to keep in mind that organically-grown grapes don't necessarily mean organic wine. For example, to label a wine (as opposed to the grapes) sold in the USA as organic means that the wine has 95%+ organically-grown ingredients and that no sulfites were added. Such a wine can then carry the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Organic seal. Of course, this can limit its shelf life, depending on the quality of the grapes and the grapegrowing and winemaking practices used. And remember, sulfites are naturally formed as part of any winemaking process, organic or not.

Biodynamics is a way of farming based on, among other things, a closed system, phases of the moon, and so-called homeopathic principles, originated by the early 20th-century Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. For grapes, this means the use of natural fertilizers, nine preparations applied to the vines, and cow horns filled with manure and buried in the vineyard. Moreover, you can't just wake up one day and "go bio" - it requires a prep period of a couple years during which the farmer doesn't use industrial chemicals and must use organic compounds and practices. There's certainly an element of mysticism to all this, which many observers scoff at; others say it works, whether or not you understand the reasons behind it.

So, when I received the pre-tasting packet of info, its boast that "Collectively, Emiliana constitutes the single largest source of estate-grown organic wines in the world" didn't really move me. I was more interested in the quality of the wines, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Before I talk about the wines, I'd like to specifically mention our host winemaker Antonio Bravo, who did a six-year stint at none other than Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, including three at K-J's Argentine property Tapiz, and three more in Monterey, California. He'd also spent time as assistant at Concha y Toro and Undurraga in Argentina, and much to my delight, with my good friends the Corley Family/Monticello in Napa. But Antonio was far from an organic or biodynamic winemaker at precisely the time when the Guilisasti family was intent on making Emiliana the largest organic and biodynamic wine operation in the world.

And lest I neglect my other lunch host, Jose Guilisasti is considered one of South America's top viticulturalists (grape growers). Under his and the family's leadership, which dates back to the '50s, Concha y Toro has become of the top 10 wine companies in the world. Some even call him "the Robert Mondavi of Chile"! But Emiliana is a totally separate operation with its own vineyards, wineries, winemakers and winemaking philosophy. I tasted some wines from Concha a few weeks earlier, and I'll write about those next week.

Anyway, when the Guilisastis tapped the then 36-year-old Bravo in 2006, he plunged in despite his training and work experience as a decidedly "conventional" winemaker. And he's got a lot of organic grapes to work with, grown exclusively on winery-owned vineyards in Maipo, Colchagua, Casablanca, Bio-Bio, Cachapoal and Limari. But while he and the Guilisasti family have embraced organic and biodynamic concepts and practices, they're not "rabid" about them. Instead, they focus on quality, and organically grown grapes just happen to be their base to make three lines of delicious and (mostly) very affordable wines: their luxury wines "G" and Coyam, their Novas line, and their Natura line.

Antonio, Jose and I talked at length about their quest for quality, and after tasting their wines, I was a believer. Here are the wines I tasted:

G 2005 - Retails around $90

Certified Organic and Biodynamic, made from 30% Carmenere, 30% Syrah, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot.

Outstanding. This is a really big, full-bodied wine with layers of black cherry, blueberry, plum and cassis; perfectly balanced and nicely structured with a long and surprisingly soft - that is, non-tannic - finish. I finished my pour and asked for another.

Coyam 2005 - Retails about $30

Certified Organic and Biodynamic, made from 34% Syrah, 31% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec and 3% Mourvedre.

A very different blend of grapes; ripe and spicy, and while not quite as bold as the G, has its own unique charm with a bit of smoke and spice and a satisfying, very persistent finish.

Natura Carmenere 2008 - Retails about $11

Certified Organic, made from 85% Carmenere and 15% Syrah.

A solid effort, with a front-end of blackfruit and spices that moderates a bit and then finishes again powerfully.

Natura Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - Retails about $11

Certified Organic, 100% Sauvignon Blanc.

A lot of the zest of a New Zealand SB, without that over-the-top grapefruit flavor and bell pepper aroma that is off-putting to many. Fresh with a flinty-grassy middle, and a moderately long finish.

Novas Chardonnay 2008 - Retails about $17

Certified Organic, 100% Chardonnay

An extraordinary good Chardonnay. Coming from me that says a lot, as I'm not much a fan of Chardonnay outside Chablis and Burgundy except for the odd and decidedly un-oaked version from California or Australia. This one has just enough oak to soften it, and it's so well integrated that the oak just whispers to you. There's a hint of butter but just, allowing the acid to come through and keep your mouth refreshed. Classic citrus flavors and a long finish. Truly delicious stuff. I don't do numbers but I'll say this is one of the best <$20 Chardonnays I've had in years.

Natura Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 - Retails about $11

Certified Organic, made from 85% Cab Sauvignon and 15% Carmenere.

Novas Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2005 - Retails around $17

Certified Organic, made from 70% Cab and 30% Merlot.

Novas Carmenere/Cab Sauvignon 2007 - Retails about $17

Certified Organic, made from 80% Carmenere and 20% Cab Sauvignon

STOUTRIDGE VINEYARD: A NEW YORK PHENOM!

2009-10-21T18:47:00.006-04:00

Visiting wineries is one of my favorite pastimes, and I suspect, since you're visiting this site, that it may be one of yours, too.

Usually I go somewhat far from New Jersey to do that - Sonoma or Spain, Sicily or Sancerre. Yet right in my own backyard, or perhaps more correctly my front yard, there's a winery that is remarkably technologically advanced, but also fun, charming and beautiful. Especially if you live in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, a visit to Stoutridge Vineyard is well worth the trip.

The current property of Stoutridge goes back to at least the mid 1800s, although it wasn't always a vineyard and winery - at times it's been a pig farm, autmobile garage, illegal distillery, orchard, even a training ground for rifle and pistol shooting. This rather eclectic history turned in another direction in 2001, when entrepreneurs Stephen Osborn and Kimberly Wagner bought the place and began returning it to its roots.

Like many other Hudson River wineries, Stoutridge is known for its hardy (and, well, hearty) whites: Pinot Blanc, Vidal Blanc, Muscat and Riesling varieties - and they do a nice job with these. Unlike other area wineries, however, they also produce northern Italian-style reds: Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Teroldego and Refosco. But most striking of all is how progressive, modern and sophisticated this winery is. You have to see it to understand, but among the highlights:

The winery more than powers itself via a 2,000 square-foot solar array that covers the entire south-facing part of the roof. In fact, they'll soon be selling power back to their local community.

Stoutridge practices what are called "slow-wine" processes, using a tiered architecture that keeps the juice flowing downward naturally. In addition to reducing energy consumption and capital equipment costs, many winemakers swear by gravity-flow techniques, believing that the less the juice is jostled and pressurized, the better. Amazingly, using tailor-made equipment including electric hoists, a single Stoutridge staffer can take a batch of grapes from crush to bottled wine.

It's not "just" a winery. Stoutridge is also a Vodka distillery, and as you can see, these gleaming stills are impressive (let's face it, winemaking equipment other than barrels is pretty...ugly). New York and, I think, federal law requires winery and distillery facilities to be physically separated, and here the distillery room is a world unto itself, lined with small barrels in which the vodka ages.

It's all tied together by a beautiful farmhouse, vineyards, picnic grounds and tasting room, so even if you're not into New York-style wines you should consider a visit to Stoutridge.

A BOOK JOURNEY ON THE WINE TRAIL

2009-10-09T18:36:00.005-04:00

One of the ways I've learned about wine, oddly enough, is to read wine books.

Of course you can read lots of technical books - on home winemaking, wine courses such as Jancis Robinson's, or tasting books such as Hugh Johnson's. And for those at the apex of wine geekery like me, there are huge tomes such as Clive Coates' The Wines of Burgundy, or Vino Italiano - The Regional Wines of Italy, that can take weeks to read and are more appropriate for people studying for their MW rather than casual wine drinkers and even dedicated tasters.

For my money and yours, though, I recommend that you have some fun while you learn, and for that reason I'm going to recommend five books, all narratives, without boring statistics about the number of grand cru vineyards in Burgundy, how many clones of Chardonnay there are, or how long it takes to apply extra toast to a brand-new French oak barrel.

Now, I write about Robert Parker pretty often. He's a force in the wine industry, to be sure, and called the single most influential wine writer alive. But I think of him more as a wine "rater" than a writer, and I just don't buy the notion that you can reduce the quality and pleasure of any particular wine to a specific number with mathematical certainty. For that reason, I was eager to get my copy of Alice Fiering's recent (2008) book, The Battle for Wine or Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, and plunge into it.

I gotta tell you, I had a little bit of trouble with the premise to begin with. The truth is that I don't think Alice has saved the world from Parkerization, and her title, like a lot of the book, is too clever by half. In fact, throughout the book, she laments the fact that winemakers around the world hold their noses to Robert Parker's grindstone, praying that the Emperor of wine will grant them a 92 or above, pretty much assuring their commercial success. To get his attention as well as those ratings, says Fiering, these vignerons use technology to excess, grossly over-oak, focused absurdly on color, and just generally make a mockery of the "natural" winemaking practices used by their grandfathers. In the bargain, she says, many if not most wines have lost their nuance and finesse and amount to little more than syrupy-sweet plonk, one wine indistinguishable from another.

She clearly believes this and makes her case over a couple hundred pages...fair enough. But I suppose in an effort to make her book charming and "full-bodied," Fiering insists on telling us intimate personal details along the way, especially around her love life and the many men who find their way into and out of her journey along the wine trail from New York to wherever. Worse still, she gives them each a pet name ("Owl Man") as she does a half-dozen female friends who often accompany her on trips to this symposium or that wine region. Such stuff weighs down the book in much the same way Ms. Fiering says "modern" winemakers weigh down their juice with alcohol, tannin, oak and sweetness.

Still, big parts of the book are a lot of fun - they read like a travel log and give you those rich and interesting back stories about why wines are made the way they are, and what those winemakers are thinking. There are some insights here, and it's an easy-reading page turner. There's a little discussion about organic and biodynamic winemaking, but it's hard to tell whether she's applauding or making fun of the grape farmer who harvests according to phases of the moon and plants a ram's horn filled with cow dung in a corner of his vineyard. When all is said and done, my only real complaint is this: she has the opportunity on several occasions to tell Parker what she really thinks: that he's done huge damage in a quest for wines that appeal solely to his palate. But each time she approaches the line, Ms. Fiering backs off under one pretext or another -- not wanting to hurt the great man's feelings, or provoke him to walk away from the interview. If this is saving us, we ain't saved.

By contrast, Adventures on the Wine Route - A Wine Buyer's Tour of France, is pure pleasure: personal but not uncomfortably intimate, written with equal or even greater conviction but with no sign of a chip on his shoulder by Kermit Lynch, a pioneering wine importer who just happens to have a gift for the narrative.

Like Fiering, Lynch is passionate about artisanal wines, but he makes his case more by talking about who is making them rather than who's not. And his view that "Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull" courses through his chapters and paragraphs, which are by turns funny, absurd, colorful, quirky, and sometimes all at once. I think he's equally unhappy about the ascendance of ratings as the gold standard for wine consumers, oddly enough given that he's an importer and a commercially successful one at that. As you might expect, he trumpets as authentic a great many wines on which his own fortunes turn, and in this sense he's certainly not a disinterested critic like Alice Fiering.

Nonetheless, if you really want to get a feel for old world winemaking I would run out and buy this book. You can read a lot about Bordeaux and Burgundy elsewhere, but you won't often find these kinds of stories about winemaking and wine styles of the Loire Valley, the Languedoc, Provence, Chablis, or Beaujolais for that matter. And if you really like the culture of wine and not just the taste of it (or the buzz you get from it) this book will enrich both your mind and your spirit.

From a little closer to home in California's Sonoma Valley comes A Very Good Year, a truly inside look at winemaking by Mike Weiss. Originally a series in The San Francisco Chronicle where Weiss was a staff writer, this narrative tracks the 2002 vintage of Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc) as it goes from vine to glass, from the field and crush pad to a white-linen restaurant table in Manhattan. Along the way we meet the wealthy owner and his muse, the winemaker and his lieutenants, the vineyard manager, the head of sales and marketing and his sales minions. Most poignantly we meet the ordinary field workers, one a tragic character who takes his own life in Mexico after the '02 harvest.

Into these personal stories are interwoven professional jealousies, seemingly creative decisions based mainly on accounting spreadsheets, the false ostentation of California wine culture, and the inordinate power of a handful of wine writers that would make the personalities in Falcon Crest blush like a dry rose.

NOTE: I'll write up Natalie McLean's Red, White and Drunk all Over - a Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass and Noble Rot - A Bordeaux Wine Revolution by William Echikson, in the next edition.

BUBBLES FOR AUTUMN

2009-10-02T19:19:00.007-04:00

Champagne isn't only for New Year's Eve, weddings of people you love and funerals of, er, people you didn't. Here's a quote from Lily Bollinger of the famous producer family of the same name, which perfectly captures all the reasons you should drink it:

"I drink champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty."

You probably already know or at least have heard of the big "marques" - Champagnes made in the millions of bottles annually, such as Veuve Cliquot, Moet & Chandon (and it's pronounced "mwet," not "mo-way"), Taittinger, Perrier-Jouet, Krug and Pol Roger. Most of these are non-vintage; that is, they are a blend of wines, typically from many different vineyards across Champagne, and from two or more years. Why? Well, they're designed to taste the same year over year, so that the buyer always knows what they're getting. That's not always true, but that's the idea. And this consistency, supported by sometimes pretty expensive marketing, is supposed to make you become exclusively a "Krug (or whatever) drinker." But that's up to you.

My view? Champagne can be great stuff for a Tuesday night when you're feeling a little down, or just because, well, it's Tuesday night!

To help you appreciate Champagne I could write a few pages on how it's made, about its different styles and relative levels of sweetness, and how some brands are known for toast, others for spice, some for body and richness, and others for a kind of steely austerity. I'll do that in the future, but for now here's a quick explanation of what's in that bottle, and a short glossary that will help you makes sense of what's on your wine retailer's shelf. Again, I recommend my good friends at Brian's Wine and Liquor Emporium in Piscataway, NJ, and CoolVines in Princeton and Westfield, NJ.

Why the Bubbles?

Let's take a "white" Champagne made from 100% Chardonnay. It starts out as ordinary "still" wine - the juice is squeezed from grapes and placed in a big vat, some yeast is added, and the yeast turns the grape sugars to alcohol - oh, and creates some carbon dioxide, which is ultimately allowed to escape. That's called the base wine. If we bottle that up at the end of this process, we have...Chardonnay!

But we don't. Instead, we fill the bottles with that wine, but leave a little space in the neck. Then we add a little solution of sweet, unfermented grape juice and a tiny bit more yeast. The yeast goes to town on the sugar once again, but this time the bottle is capped, so the Carbon Dioxide can't escape. Those bottles sit around for awhile, and instead of being bored or watching Oprah, the yeast is busy interacting with the wine and making it more complex and interesting.

When the winemaker says it's time, the yeast is collected in the neck of the bottle and shot out, leaving crystal clear wine with all that carbon dioxide dissolved into it. The wine is now really, really, bone dry, so to take the edge off, a little more of that sweet grape juice is added back, and then it's corked and that little wire cage is added to keep the good stuff secure inside. Now it's your daughter's first birthday, and while she's busy covering herself with cream frosting, you pop that cork and this lovely wine comes forth, with all those pent-up bubbles now freed in your glass.

What could be nicer?

Here's your glossary. Have a great Autumn, and I really hope you'll include some Champagne or other sparkling wines in it! If you're looking for a California wine, look no further than Schramsberg, in my view the best of some very good American sparkling wines.

Blanc de Blancs is white Champagne made from 100% Chardonnay.

Blancs de Noirs is white Champagne made from Pinot Noir and sometime Pinot Meunier grapes. There's little or no color from those red grapes, though, because the juice is gently pressed and then fermented with no skin contact. Sometimes you'll see a slight hint of gray or pink in these wines.

Champagne Effect is the heady, romantic feel you get when drinking this great stuff, and there's a very scientific, non-romantic reason for it, explained here.

Grower Champagnes are wines made by typically very small houses, producers that bottle relatively tiny amounts, say, 2000 cases a year. They grow their own grapes in vineyards that they own, and while they're usually very high quality, you've probably never tasted or even heard of them. Typically a bottle of Grower Champagne will have RM - "Recoltant-Manipulant" somewhere on the label, which roughly translated means "Grower-Winemaker."

Methode Champenoise. A term that describes the way Champagne is made, which was generally applied in the past - and found on bottles of - sparkling wine made in places other than the Champagne region of France. The Champenois (people who live and work there) didn't like anyone else using this term, either, so you'll usually see "Methode Traditionelle" on the label of those bottles today.

Mono-cru Champagne means the wine was made from grapes pulled from a single, named vineyard. Many grower Champagnes are also mono-cru.

Rose Champagne is a pinkish-colored sparking wine made in one of two ways - either some red wine, generally Pinot Noir is added to white Champage, or less typically, the skins of some pressed Pinot Noir and/or Pino Meunier are left with the juice to extract just a bit of color and flavor.

Sparkling Wine is wine typically made in the style of Champagne, but not from grapes grown there. Some producers such as California's Korbel refer to their wine as Champagne but it can't be, by definition. And recent agreements that the US is part of will make it illegal for US producers to call their wine Champagne in the future. So, for example, the house of Moet & Chandon produces Champagne in France, but its US operation produces "California Sparkling Wine" in Napa under the label Chandon.

Vintage Champagne means that the wine was made from grapes from one or more vineyards but from a single year's harvest. Vintage Champagnes don't happen every year, but only in years when the crop is deemed to be excellent and then the vintage is formally "declared."

WHEN AN AWARD IS NOT AN AWARD

2009-09-30T07:19:00.001-04:00

A couple years ago, The New York Times writer Amanda Hester noticed that it wasn't real tough for restaurants to get a wine list "Award of Excellence" from Wine Spectator magazine. I want to mention it here because it illustrates a point that needs making when you're thinking about what wine to buy, and why.

Hester wrote: "...with such a large number of winners, perhaps competition is too strong a word. Of the 3,360 awards granted this year, from a pool of 3,573 entrants, 2,808 received the basic award. Only the winners of the Grand Award, the magazine's top award, of which there are 89 this year, are ever inspected; 3,271 restaurants simply sent in copies of their wine lists and menus, a cover sheet describing their wine programs and a check for $175 - and walked away winners." This means that 94% of the applicants got an award on some level. Fast forward to 2008. The entrance fee was $250, and more than 4000 restaurants "earned" the award. And Wine Spectator, uh, booked more than a million in fees.

Ironically, though, this really isn't the scandal I'm referring to.

That was the work of one Robin Goldstein, a wine blogger and writer who manufactured a nonexistent restaurant in Milan, Italy, paid the fee and "won" an award. Frankly, it doesn't really bother me, and it shouldn't bother you too much. And to be fair to Wine Spectator, Goldstein put a lot of work into his little scam - he built a website, created a extensive menu and wine list, and even established a working Milan phone and fax number as required by the application. Who wouldn't have been fooled unless they showed up to discover the place didn't exist?

For its part, Wine Spectator did call the restaurant to verify the information, and left a voicemail (although the voicemail was after the "award" and it was a sales pitch for an ad). Had I been preparing to visit Milan, and run across his website, I might have made reservations at his non-existent establishment myself. And you might conclude that the fictional Osteria l'Intrepido restaurant's award was an exception, and the result of an elaborate scam. And you might further still think that a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence still represents, oh, I don't know, maybe good value, wide selection, and good pairing opportunities with things on the menu. After all, they're still conferred by experts at one of the world's leading wine consumer publications, right?

Wrong. All it really means, in most cases, is that the restaurant paid the price of admission and sent in some paperwork.

The lesson here? Don't depend on others to tell you what to drink - not Parker, not Broadbent, not me, not Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast, not your neighbor. It's ok to read reviews but remember they are someone else's taste buds and someone else's opinion. Instead, learn the basics and then enjoy the experience of tasting wines and thinking critically about why you like them, and how to pair them up with the foods you like. And before you head to a restaurant, do a little homework. As homework goes, it's not as bad as digging ditches.

Wine Spectator is a good mag, with interesting, thoughtful articles and fabulous photography. I read it myself. But I make up my mind about which wines I'll taste and buy on my own.

And frankly, too, this isn't that big a deal, warranting great outrage, is it? We've got military men and women dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. An economy still in the toilet. And people still losing their houses, jobs and health insurance daily.

Wine is supposed to be about fun.

WINE SHORTS, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

2009-09-18T20:53:00.017-04:00

Study Shows Ratings Numbers DO Influence Tasting Experience

I've said more than a few times on WineFlair and elsewhere that wine ratings by "the big guys" (and gal) such as Parker, Robinson, Broadbent, Suckling etc. will obviously and hugely influence the views of people who taste those wines and know their scores in advance. In other words, someone tells you you're about to sample a 95, and boy when you taste it, it really is!

A scientific team from a university in Zurich says they're proved it and also that wine ratings have a consistent effect on people who are told scores after they taste. Basically, a bunch of wine-drinkers was separated into five separate groups before a blind tasting. One group was told beforehand that Parker had rated the wine 92, and a second group that he had rated the wine a meager 72. A third and fourth groups were told the scores (92 and 72 respectively) after they had tasted the wine but before recording their impressions. A fifth group wasn't told anything.

The results weren't what a lot of wine snobs or people who live by critics' ratings want to hear: the group that knew the wine had a 92 Parker rating before tasting it uniformly thought it was quite a bit better than those who'd falsely been told 72. The "92 Group" also rated the wine better than those who were told after they had tasted it. The third and fourth groups showed a marked tendency to agree with the ratings when they were told afterwards, indicating that even those who were told that the wine was a 72 didn't challenge that number though they were tasting a wine actually rated 20 points higher. What that means is simple: their taste perceptions may have actually changed by being told that low number!

In a post from a couple years ago, I cited a 2001 University of Bordeaux story that made a similar if slightly more subtle point. In the first of two tests, Professor Frederick Brochet invited a bunch of self-anointed wine experts to describe the flavors and aromas of both red and white wines he poured. One of these experts lauded the red for its "jamminess" while another talked of its "crushed red fruit." What's wrong with that? Well, it was really a white wine, tinted darkly with food coloring. Not one of the 60 "expert" tasters could tell!

The second test with a different group was even sneakier, in which ordinary and inexpensive red table wine was placed in a pricey Grand Cru-labeled bottle, and also separately in its original labeled bottle. In other words, a single wine was passed off as itself - and as a different, far superior wine. What happened here? Three-quarters of the experts there judged the "grand cru" as "complex, balanced and rounded," while the vin de table in their view was "weak, light, flat and faulty". They were the same wine.

The moral of the story is what I've been saying for years, and you're probably sick of hearing it.

But I'll say it again: don't depend on wine ratings. Taste and decide what YOU like.

Chicago Wine Retailer Closes Two Big Stores

Sam's Wines, a major wine seller in my former town, has closed two Chicagoland stores in just two months -- the South Loop, closed in August and Highland Park just last Sunday. Maybe they were overextended; after all, the Highland Park location was an impressive 25,000 square feet with a wine lounge, party room, 50-seat demonstration kitchen and glassware room. But it was a pretty awesome place - at the wine bar, you were permitted to buy a bottle of wine, have it chilled (or not) and drink it right there with no markup! First Harry's Velvet Room, and now Sam's. Damn!

I started making my first large purchases (rather than a bottle of two at a time) from Sam's big location in Lincoln Park, and was thrilled that I could order a case or two at 3 pm and have it waiting at my 40th floor apartment in Lakeview neighborhood at 6. It was probably the precursor of many of today's giant wine warehouses, but even back then, in 1996, their service and wine knowledge was better than at most places, even much smaller ones, today.

This ain't good.

We Remember the People of Windows on the (Wine) World

Windows on the World was a great restaurant and one of the country's premier wine venues - its patrons consumed 10,000 bottles a month from a 50,000 bottle cellar, choosing off a list with nearly 1500 selections. The wine service, at the hands of people we know and respect today including Kevin Zraly, Michael Skurnik and Andrea Immer, was top-notch, and its prices were reasonable in a city known for outlandishly expensive wine lists. And its "Cellar in the Sky" offered one of the city's original wine and food pairing menus.

Seventy-eight of its staff perished on that day, and we remember those who died there along with all the other innocent victims of that senseless act of terrorism. Every day they worked hard to make their customers happy, and they are sorely missed.

THE PIONEERS: JACK AND JAMIE DAVIES of SCHRAMSBERG

2009-09-11T14:29:00.050-04:00

"For more than a year now they had been searching: on the highway, near the river, atop oaky knolls that rose abruptly from the valley floor, up wild canyons, and along the spines and scarps of two rugged coastal ranges. What they were looking for was not easily put into words, but the quality of the ideal was absolute and unassailable in their minds. They were searching for...they would know it when they found it."
- The opening paragraph of Napa by James Conaway

Jack and Jamie Davies were modern-day pioneers, and the mark they left on American winemaking is truly meaningful and, I hope, lasting.

It's ironic that far too few Americans have heard of Schramsberg, much less tasted what is perhaps America's finest and "truest" sparkling wine. But the name and the property have a storied history dating back to the mid-1800s, and I'm driven to tell the story myself.

Jack Davies was a successful salesman and entrepreneur when he and young bride Jamie left a comfortable, secure life in L.A. and moved to a dilapidated Victorian house atop Mt. Diamond, south of lonely, tiny Calistoga, California at the top of the Napa Valley. Neither knew anything about winemaking, nor did they know a single soul in all of Napa. And the house they'd bought, with all its promise, was mostly a haven for bats and rodents. The Davies were not just taking a chance, they were gambling their very futures - with a four year-old son and another on the way.

The Schramsberg story is itself iconic of the early years of Napa winemaking. Jacob Schram was a German immigrant who worked as a barber in New York after arriving in 1842. Ten years later and presumably filled with wanderlust, he set off for San Francisco, finding his way to the Napa Valley. No longer content with the life of a barber, in 1862 he purchased 200 acres of hillside vineyards.

Eight years later, scores of Chinese laborers were digging wine storage caves into the hillside, and a second set in 1881. Today, those caves hold hundreds of thousands of bottles of outstanding sparkling wines, many of them meticulously turned or "riddled" by hand.

Before Jacob Schram died in 1905 he was producing at least six varietal wines bearing his name. William Henry Harrison, President of the United States, was served Schramsberg Riesling when he stayed at the famous and still operating Palace Hotel in San Francisco. By the time of prohibition the Schramsberg wine estate had become a summer home for the wealthy and didn't produce wine again until 1951, when the property was resurrected by Douglas Pringle, who produced both table and sparkling wines. but almost as quickly, Pringle died and his widow padlocked the place. The Schramsberg legacy might have ended there.

But it didn't.

Fast forward to 1965. Jack and Jamie clear the bats from their home - with the help of a volunteer from the St. Helena Police Department - and are there to stay. They set off to produce their first vintage, but don't have and can't find any Chardonnay, the base wine they need. Eventually, Jack barters some Riesling grapes he's bought for 500 gallons of Chard. And he barters for it with the General Manager of the Charles Krug Winery, a guy names Robert Mondavi, whose name at the time wasn't known outside Napa. How things would change for both families!

It wasn't all, er, wine and roses on that hill. Chardonnay doesn't grow well on Diamond Mountain, nor does Pinot Noir - together the two principal grapes that go into Schramsbergs. So the Davies built relationships with many winegrowers over many years such that today, they source their grapes from dozens of vineyards as far away as Mendocino County. Although that creates huge logistical problems, they somehow get their grapes in every year, and the results are spectacular.

The business, the Schramsberg name, and the Davies would flourish. Richard Nixon toasted Chinese Premier Chou En Lai in Beijing in 1972 with a '69 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs.

Today the place is run by son Hugh, and it's clear that nothing has been lost over the years in terms of quality or tradition - or dedication to excellence.

At least once a month I pull a bottle of Schramsberg outta the cellar, chill it, and toast Jack and Jamie..whom I unfortunately never met.

If you love sparkling wine, you should, too.

WINE COOLER, ANYONE?

2009-09-08T09:30:00.003-04:00

No, I don't mean a Bartles and Jaymes Strawberry Wine Cooler from a carry-out outside the university. You should not buy those under ANY circumstances. They were good commercials, though, right?

As for a wine keeper, wine refrigerator, wine cellar, wine cabinet - whatever you want to call it - yes, you should, if you drink wine and keep more than a few bottles on hand at a time.

Until I built my own wine cellar when we remodeled our basement, I had a 200-bottle wine cabinet, about the size of an average refrigerator. It was a single temperature model that I kept at 57 degrees, perfect for storing and preserving almost any wine. Of course, I needed to let the bottle warm just a bit (but not quite down to actual room temp) before serving if it was a red, and I chilled it just a bit more (but please, not to refrigerator temperature) if it was a white. Champagnes got a bit more chilling. You can get cabinets that have several temperature zones and hold as many as 1000 or more bottles, but when you're diving in those waters it makes sense to build a real cellar in your, er, cellar.

The point is, a wine storage unit is a good investment, and wine storage units can be had for under $100 these days, holding as few as 12 bottles, and you can get one at Target, or Wal-Mart or Costco.

These small units are ideal if you live in an apartment and have limited space, or want a counter-top unit for the kitchen or bar. You can also get waist-high units that are permanently mounted under the counter.

Some hints:

If it's an option, get the glass door so that you can see your little friends and enjoy the anticipation of drinking them!
Keep a row or two at the bottom for wine you want to "lay down" (save) for a special occasion, some date in the future such as an anniversary, or just because it's an extraordinary wine that will age well and perhaps grow in value. Tag these wines "SAVE" so neither you nor a guest accidentally opens them.
Buy a bigger unit, say, 36 bottles, rather than, say 24, if there's any possibility, however slight, that you'll want or need to store more wine. You don't want to have to buy a second unit, do you? And the marginal cost of buying bigger is probably a no-brainer.
Don't splurge on a multi-temp unit unless you really want to spend the money. A unit that keeps all your wine at 55-59 degrees works for everything, really.
The main thing is, these units keep wine at a constant, cool temp, protected from harsh light, and free of vibration. The better ones (and most of the cheaper ones, too, via the a/c compressor) also keep an acceptable level of humidity.

STEPFORD...WINES?

2009-08-26T10:20:00.013-04:00

Most people who drink wine but don't "follow" it haven't heard of Michel Rolland and probably won't be interested in the controversy that occasionally swirls around him. But he's a symbol of how the world of wine is consolidating, and the degree to which some winemakers are influencing wines to a remarkable degree.

The question is, is this influence good for us consumers? Are a lot of formerly different and interesting wines starting to taste identical - and boring - on account of guys like Michel? Or is this just overstated, overly-dramatic hyperbole by people whose wines aren't getting the big scores?

For those of us who are immersed in this stuff (get it?), everywhere we turn there's another article about Rolland putting his personal mark on wines from every continent. Much of the coverage is fawning and borders on idolatry; I guess that's to be expected in the wine world, where winemakers and winery founders are the equivalent of rock stars.

Who is this guy, anyway? Well, Rolland is 61-year old Frenchman known as "the flying winemaker." Essentially, he jets around the world dispensing winemaking advice for a hefty fee, even to wineries that have full time and very capable winemaking teams. I'd heard of Mr. Rolland for some time before I became truly interested in his story, after reading "Rolland's Mark on Virginia," in the March 2007 issue of Wines & Vines. In that piece, writer Mark McIntyre notes the criticism of Rolland, which in my view is often based on professional jealousy, tinged with latent anti-French sentiment that seems to pervade the US these days, and which I find groundless and absurd. Remember "freedom fries?"

McIntyre also notes that the criticism emerged after Rolland was prominently featured in 2004's Mondovino, a documentary that seems to suggest that winemakers increasingly focus solely on getting high ratings from the big consumer wine magazines, losing their souls in the process. It also suggests that small, "artisanal" producers are being forced out of the business by big, internal wine conglomerates.

Having said that, McIntyre avoided a genuinely deep look at Rolland in his article, and he's simply wrong when he says that Rolland is controversial because of Mondovino; that was a documentary, and very few people saw it. It's not the film but what it suggests that stirred things up: as the wine business "globalizes" like information technology, diversity in winemaking is going out the window.

McIntyre is not alone avoiding tough questions: a June 2006 article is Wine Spectator said "He (Rolland) is not a proponent of micro-oxygenation as some suggest, and never has been." Yet a scant 10 minutes into Mondovino, we see Rolland holding court at the prestigious Chateau Le Gay in Pomerol, telling (not suggesting) owner Francois Boursaud to do just that. He says he's doing it just to "make the wine better." And at that moment, when filmmaker Jonathan Nossiter notes that not everyone shares Rolland's ideas about what makes a wine better, he responds "Yeah, it's called diversity. That's why there are so many bad wines."

That's a strong message there: What's better is what Mr. Rolland says is better. And winemakers had "better" listen.

The Wines & Vines piece was especially telling because, while Kluge Estate Winery owner Patricia Kluge disputed that Rolland makes the same wine everywhere, the article seems not to be about what she, winemaker Charles Gendot, or CEO William Moses want, but what Monsieur Rolland wants: "For the long term, Rolland's goal at Kluge Estate is to unlock the potential of the Carter Mountain soil." His goal? Have they none for their property and their wines?

To be sure, Rolland's insight and expertness are real, and earned. I'd love to have his palate, his knowledge of grape growing and his years of experience. And, well, he's rich, lives in Bordeaux, and makes a living tasting wines, walking the vineyards, and gently barking "suggestions" to the royalty of the wine world. What's not to like about all of that? And the issue about micro-oxygenation is just a sideshow...that's just a technique that many wineries use from time to time.

The real issue is simple and important, and it's fair to ask: Can anyone who touches 100 wineries and countless wines every year avoid - even if he tries - putting a very personal, singular stamp on what otherwise might be very different wines?

I kinda think diversity in wine is good. You?

WINE SHORTS

2009-08-25T11:21:00.028-04:00

Prosecco gets a Promotion

The producers of Prosecco - that refreshing Italian sparkling wine made from grapes of the same name - are thrilled that the Italian government has elevated Conegliano-Valdobbiadene to Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita status, the country's highest level of quality. Only 41 wine regions in Italy carry the D.O.C.G. rank.

Prosecco producers may now call their wine "Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene" or "Prosecco Superiore" beginning with the 2009 vintage. And as we say in the Marine Corps, everyone moves up one.

Why? Because wineries in nine provinces outside the DOCG region currently producing Prosecco labeled "Indicazione Geografica Tipica" (IGT, two levels down on the prestige meter), have been raised to (DOC) status. That was the rank once formerly held by Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. Finally, winemakers located outside this new DOC area will not be allowed to make a wine and label it "Prosecco."

What does this really mean? Not so much to you and me, but to the top Prosecco producers it means they got kicked upstairs and are getting the respect they deserve. Prosecco really is a wonderful sparkling wine, lower in alcohol than many others and very refreshing and crisp. It's also a great value.

What (Grape)'s in a Name? A Place. Somewhere. Probably un-pronounceable.

We Americans tend to describe, discuss and select wines based on the variety(ies) - that is, the grape or grapes that go into them. Hey, I'd like a Cab from Sonoma or a Pinot from Oregon, right?

But that's bewildering to most people who don't follow wine closely and don't exactly have time on their hands to memorize what grape goes with what location. And, well, some of these places are often impossible to pronounce and therefore impossible to remember, anyway.

Say, for example, you like Merlot but want to try one from France or Italy. Except in very rare cases, such as Christian's Mouiex's Merlot, it won't say "Merlot" on the bottle. Or maybe you had an Australian Viognier from Yalumba Winery but want to try one from France.

What to do? At least three things.

First, you can download and save my Wine Grape Charts, that give you the names of the grapes (sometimes there are two, three or even four varieties in a wine) and their corresponding, weird-sounding places. It's not exhaustive and not meant to be, but it will cover about 90% of the wines you're likely to find in most retail stores. For example, it will tell you that Viognier wines - some of the best ones, anyway - come from a place in France called Condrieu and that's what's on the label.

You can also look on the back label, which is just what it says...a second label on the back of the wine bottle, that sometimes (but not always) lists the grape varieties in the wine, and sometimes even their proportions.

At left is a remarkably detailed one, showing that this wine contains 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13.5% Malbec, 10.5% Merlot, 5.5% Cab Franc and 4.5% Petit Verdot, the five classic grapes that go into a Bordeaux blend (despite the fact that this is Australian wine). They even tell you a bit about how the grapes were harvested and the wine was fermented. But to tell the truth, this is rare. Often you'll just get some

Most importantly, you can also talk to your local retailer, who should be able to not only help you based on the grape varieties you're looking for but also the style of wine - old world vs. new world; light, medium or full-bodied; fruit bomb or nuanced; spicy or mellow; sharp or soft; etc.

If you're buying from knowledgeable people such as Brian Hammill of Brian's Wine and Liquor Emporium, or Mark Censits of Coolvines - two great NJ retailers - you'll be talking to experts who'll help guide your choices. If you go somewhere else and get a blank stare followed by a mumbled such as "well, it's fruity with a real grape taste" then I suggest you drive away and find Brian or Mark.

THE WINE QUIZ

2009-08-12T08:59:00.003-04:00

In Argentina they call it Bonarda...what do they call it in California?

Click here for the answer.

Past quizzes are HERE.