Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

The 2005 California Grape Harvest Explained

The onmipresent SF Chronicle wine writer Blake Grey found his words on the front page of his newspaper today in what is the most comprehensive story yet on the 2005 California grape harvest and the potential impact that its girth will have on the business.

Blake is predicting a quality bonanza for consumers who look to the $10 to $15 range where a good deal of the juice that generally gets into higher priced wines will eventually end up as wineries sell off a good portion of the wine they dont' need to bottle to satisfy their bottom line as well as their distributors.

It's an interesting perspective. Add to this idea the fact that a number of wine regions around the world are reporting high quality harvests and you indeed can imagine the 2005 vintage may just be the focus of quality seekers at every price level who look not just to CA wines but to those wines from across the globe.

We'll be seeing the first 2005 wines next month when the Beaujolais Nouveau is pressed upon us. After that, look for the first 2005 white wines to hit the market in mid spring. The first reds will probably arrive fall 2006. The big name California Cabs will be talked about until around spring and summer 2008 when the fist one arrive while the bulk of CA cabs will arrive in Fall 2008.

Blood Red Wine

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As any parent who has come by the Wark House the past few halloweens knows, we offer an open bar. Well, not necessarily an "open bar" as much as an Open Bottle.

So what should the the bottle be? Clearly it needs to be blood red. In my world that leaves out Pinot Noir. I think the choices are obvious: Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouchet.

Did you know that Alicante Bouchet is one of the few red grapes that actually possess red juice. Most red wine gets its color from the red skins. Not Alicante, although its skins do deliver the blackness that is usually used to describe this wine.

Petite Sirah of course is one of the teeth stainers with tannins up the wazoo. I've always thought of its color as purple, rather than red. But it will do.

Which Alicante Bouchets and Petites?

For Petite Sirah you've got to go with either Foppiano Vineyards (they practically invented the grape 100 years ago) or Stags' Leap Wine Cellars, probably the best Petite Sirah ever to come out of the Napa Valley.

For Alicante Bouchet you've got a much more difficult task. I was thrilled when a client, Mayo Family Winery, decided to bottled an Alicante from the 2004 vintage. So we'll certainly be serving that wine. But I need to find some others and I've yet to come across one. I'll be calling around today.

But here's the take-away, the message I implore you to hear: Drink beyond Cab, Merlot and Pinot. Buy wines you've never heard of before, wines you cannot pronounce, wines you usually skip over  because you don't know much about them and you fear you'll be forced to explain them at the dinner party you are going to. Buy these odd wines, open up a good wine encyclopedia, pop the corks and read while you sip. You have nothing to lose.

So, I've got the Halloween wines. The kids have their costumes. The pumpkins are carved, The decorations are up. This is gonna be good.

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Welcome to the new FERMENTATION

Forced to abandon the name "Fermentations", we are reincarnated as FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog.

Why and how were we forced to abandon the "S"? Long story. Suffice to say, it involved a number of lawyers, some of whom believed damage had been visited on a particular business of the same name due to my use of the name.

But what is an "S" anyway besides the 19th letter of the alphabet? Well, it's certainly the very essence of "pluralness". Does this mean I'll no longer have a number of different thoughts on wine, the wine industry, wine education and wine public relations? That's not likely.

Perhaps we can say, that FERMENTATION described the ongoing process of what happens when my mind meets the world around it.

My hope is that you will re-subscribe to to this RSS Feed if you had subscribed to the former "fermentationS" feed. And if you've not subscribed, well, it's easy. Look in the upper right hand corner of this site and you'll see a number of ways to subscribed to Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog.

If you had the former site bookmarked you can delete it and re-bookmark this page.

I want to thank everyone who has supported this effort at recording and reporting on wine and the wine industry. It will continue. Up to today's changeover we had roughly 6,000 unique visitors to the site per month on average. Not bad. But we think we can do better with more and better content and commentary.

Any thoughts on what kind of comments and commentary you'd like to see instituted on the new FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog???  Leave a comment. Let me know.

Again, thank you for following me to this new piece of real estate.

Tom Wark

The end of the American (Wine) Empire?

Jonathon Nossiter predicts the coming end of the American Empire? Sure sounds like it.

In an interview with the Japan Times, Nossiter, the auteur behind the scandalous film "Mondovino", suggests that the end of Uncle Sam's grip on the world will lead to a demolition of of the "current taste in wine":

"Globalization has always been around -- French wines are the direct result of Roman globalization and the so-called classic style of Bordeaux was created to suit the British palate during the 17th and 18th centuries. So in the same vein, the end of the American empire will signify the end of the current taste in wines. The singular nature of globalization is that the dominant culture can spread more or less permanently throughout the world and if America crumbles, its effects on the wine industry will be immeasurable."

Well, he did put that "if" in there at the end, didn't he. But, is it me or is a detectable American death wish on Nossiter's mind? Clearly he does not think much of the "current taste in wine".

Why A Wine Club Just for Women? Men!

I'm not a woman. So maybe I'm not physically equipped to understand the significance of the "First web community for women who love wine, travel and the best of everything."

Nevertheless, I'm going to give it a shot.

Karen MacNeil, one of America's most important wine authorities explains the new website, womenwine.com, this way:

"As they do with fashion, food and design, women have a special sensibility when it comes to wine. Part of learning about wine is experiencing it first hand and while there are lots of ways to do that, Women & Wine(TM) combines the best components: great wines with unforgettable experiences."

I guess what I'm looking for here, then, is an understanding of that "special sensibility". I worked with one woman winemaker/winery owner who was convince that women make better winemakers because they are emotionally better equipped to nurture. While that always sounded right to me in a metaphysical kind of way, I've always had that distinctively male quality that demands you "show me."

Of course now we are getting into that sometimes nasty area of stereotypes. As a marketer, that area can mean bread and butter. We don't call them stereotypes, however, when we think about marketing wine to a particular demographic. We call it "tendencies".

Women clearly have tendencies when it comes to wine drinking and wine buying. One is that women tend to do most of the grocery store wine buying. They also tend to view wine more than men do as simply an alcoholic drink, rather than as men are more likely to see wine, as a symbol or self defining part of their accomplished life.

Of course, womenwine.com is a pure marketing exercise in the same way that Beringer's new wine for women, "White Lie" has nothing else at its heart beyond a new revenue stream.

But let's take this new woman and wine venture on its face and ask, what is it about the female experience that suggests they need their own wine website/clubhouse? Julie Brosterman, founder of Womenwine.com I think answers my question when she explains in her press release, "Traditionally, the world of wine -- from making and teaching about wine, to buying wine in stores and restaurants -- has been male dominated, a 'men's thing', but today women make 60% of all wine purchases and account for over 50% of all wine consumption in the U.S.," she adds. "http://www.womenwine.com/ will help women find their own voice when it comes to wine and become smarter wine consumers. The site provides a connection for women who share a passion for wine and travel."

Men. It's because of men that women need their own wine club. Being a man who has for nearly two decades attempted to dominate the making and teaching of wine, I suppose I understand Ms. Brosterman's point...to a degree. I just still don't understand what there is about wine and the wine experience that will be different when explored by the opposite sex. I remain excited to discover this.

How To Spend Your Wine Wealth 1.0

Conspicuous consumption has always been a hallmark of the very rich. We of the "not quite rich" set have always been fascinated by what the our fiscal betters choose to indulge in. The wine industry has always attracted the very rich who like rich boys in blue britches roaming through a toy store, have tended to buy the biggest and best wineries or spent marvelous sums on creating something that might be the biggest or best.

Then there are those who made their money in the wine business and look outside the vineyards for their toys. Jess Jackson of Kendall-Jackson Winery and Artisan Estates is one such vintner and one who's chosen toys really are interesting.

Mr. Jackson recently paid $600,000 for a colt. To quote the news at "Breedingracing.com":

In the US sale ring, wine industry leviathan Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stables paid the Day-2 top price of US$600,000 for a Distorted Humor colt at the 3-day Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, reported thoroughbredtimes.com. The Kentucky-bred colt (consigned by James Keogh/Grovendale as agent) is from Lear Fan mare Happy Nation.

I'm not even sure what all that means. What it does mean, however, is lots of fun for a man who has treated the wine industry not only as a source of wealth. I've long been impressive by Jess Jackson because he knows a good vineyard location and a good winery when he sees one, but also because he has been a huge supporter of small wineries as well as fairness in the wine industry. He's put his money where his mouth is too, often helping a number of political and charitable causes linked to the wine industry that truly deserve the support.

So, as it turns out, Jess Jackson provides us with a multitude of reasons to appreciate him: his wines, his commitment to the American wine industry and its small wineries, and his most interesting display of conspicuous consumption.

Pinot Noir's Place

For a good while now Anderson Valley, a remote valley not far from the Pacific Coast in Mendocino County, has been my favorite Pinot Noir producing region. Everything about the narrow valley conspires to produce Pinot Noir of great character.

Today, the SF Chronicle's wine section has a review of a number of Pinot Noirs from Anderson Valley. The set of reviews includes those wineries that worked to make a name for Anderson Valley Pinot such as Handley Cellars, Husch and Navarro. It also includes some relative newcomers that have more than confirmed the region's greatness.

Interestingly, Anderson Valley appears to be making a stab at developing a reputation at least as great for its Alsace varietals such as Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris. It most certainly will succeed at that.  Which leads me to this piece of advice:

If you live in California and frequent the various wine valleys or if you are planning a trip out to this neck of the woods, perhaps its time to drive a little further, pass up Napa and Sonoma, and take highway 128 out to Anderson Valley. It's about two and a half hours from San Francisco. Once there, indulge in a a peaceful environment and soak up the remarkable Pinots and Gewurztraminers that you'll encounter. It's off the beaten path, yes. But the reward is worth the trip

Rating and Ranking the Greatest Wines

Paul Lukacs is quickly becoming this generation's most important chronicler of America's wine heritage. His first wine book, "American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine", was an entertaining, well written and important expose of it's subtitle. It won the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Wine & Spirits book in 2001. His newest book, "The Great Wines of America" will probably win that award also.

On it's face "The Great Wines of America" seems to take a stab at offering a classification for American wines. It's a game the French have played for decades and a parlor game wine lovers constantly take up. Lukacs creation of this sort of Meta Rating of American wine however is immensely thoughtful and reasonable. He offers profiles of the 40 greatest American wines. His criteria for entry into that club is a virtual tour of American wine styles, important wine regions and those vintners who have best exemplified these important contextual elements of American viticulture vintage after vintage with extraordinary high quality wines.

"I tried to choose wines with inherent high quality in the glass as well as some significance that transcends the glass. That significance might be historical or regional (or both), but I wanted the story of each wine to be more than an extended tasting note. That is, every wine in this book is representative, tasting of itself and more than itself—a grape variety perhaps, or a place, style or winemaking vision."

Lukacs nails it when he implies that greatness in wine, as in most other things, is a function of contextual significance. Consider some of the wines that make it into the list of 40 greatest wines in America:

Alban Vineyards Syrah "Reva"
Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon
Stags' Leap Winery Petite Sirah
Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir
Turley Wine Cellars Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel
Roederer Estate Brut

Each of these wines have been accorded high praise not just by Lukacs but by the critics and consumers. However, they are much more than fine wine. They each represent something very specific: Alban Syrah: the most influential of American Syrah producers, Laurel Glen Cab: the epitome of "classically" made American Cabernet, Stags Leap Petite Sirah: The great champion of a lonely but worthy varietal, Saintsbury Pinot Noir: The epitome and proof of the greatness of Carneros Pinot Noir, Roederer Estate Brut: the proof that great Sparkling wine is American as well as the importance of Anderson Valley vititculture.

Each entry in "Great Wines" tells the story not only of the wine and provides the requisite tasting note, but also details the significance of the wine to the American wine experience. In this respect, Lukacs continues his exploration of America's wine history he began in "American Vintage", making this an almost necessary companion to that volume: one explains how we got to where we are in American wine, while this one tells us exactly where we are.

This is, impressively, a book for both wine aficionados as well as beginners. The experienced wine drinker will learn something more about wines they are familiar with while the novice will be introduced to the ideas, philosophies and visions that motivate our greatest winemakers.

Headline: Wine (or Whine?)

I've never met a headline editor. But they do exist, particularly at the large media organizations. When you consider that headline scanning is the preferred method of consuming media it becomes clear just how important the message of a headline is.

Below are headlines attached to the same Associated Press story that ran across the web and in numerous newspapers yesterday and today. Michelle Locke's story concerns the wine trade pact that the EU and the US are trying to hammer out. It's interesting how mocking of the Europeans these headlines are. Also, there's every indicatiion that the variety of word plays one can apply to wine is, well, limited.

US-EU wine agreement subject of debate

Wine pact irks EU lawmakers

Wine agreement has lawmakers in EU seeing red

Fine wines come between US, Europe

European officials debate wine pact

Wine pact causes whining in EU

Fine whines

Fine whines US-EU trade deal subject of debate

California wine market growing

US-EU wine deal debatable

EU lawmakers see sour grapes in wine trade deal with US

EU uncorks anger over US wine pact

Wine trade agreement produces clash over tradition, technology

No toast, but fine whines

Grape debate

Europeans pop their cork over New World winemaking

US wines make gains, waves in Europe

Old World Irate Over Wine Deal

OLD FIGHTS NEW

Whine wars

Europeans whine over US wine trade agreement

EU pours a fine whine

Trade pact spurs debate over wine and wood chips

EU lawmakers abuzz over wine trade deal with US

US-Euro Wine Agreement Has Some Fuming

 

Ripeness: The New "Great Wine" Paradigm

Think about it...

Do you buy wine with the idea of keeping it and letting it age and mature into something different, something delicious?

Better yet, do you drink much wine older than ten years?

It's highly likely you answered "No" to both these questions. But don't feel bad. You're in good company. It turns out that most CA vintners don't give much consideration to aging wine either.

This is one of the issues I've been thinking about as I've had the opportunity to consider of late the trend toward higher alcohol in wine. Make no mistake. That trend has enveloped the wine industry. A recent article in Wine Business Monthly outlined the continued rise in alcohol levels in CA wines from 1971 to 2001. Here's a snippet:

1971: 12.5%
1975: 13.3%
1981: 13.7%
1995: 13.9%
1997: 14.4%
1999: 14.6%
2001: 14.8%

What's not always mentioned is that with higher alcohols comes lower pH levels. A measure of the wine's acidity, rising pH levels in wine over the years has indicated continuously lower levels of acidity in wine. And with lower pH levels comes a lesser and lesser chance the wine will age and mature gracefully, rather than simply falling apart.

Vintners know this.

So do wine critics and writers.

Yet it seems that the desire to craft bigger and riper wines, along with the fear of including ANY "green" aromas or flavors in wine today have led the wine world to forgo the desire to make or buy or recommend wines likely to age into that uncommon animal: a mature and complex, well aged, intellectually interesting wine.

What we are going through is a style revolution. It's a bit of a paradigm change actually. Fine wine is fast becoming defined by its ability to gratify immediately, when youthful, when darkest, when most intense. "Fine Wine" has been known by a different description for most of the 20th century. It was something showed the potential to thrill us in the future or thrill us by being around long enough to let us look back into the past through a well aged wine. It should be no surprise that while the great wine connoisseurs of the 1930s through the 1990s exalted their Roses and blushed over fresh Beaujolais, they only bestowed the title of "Great" upon Burgundy and Bordeaux. These were the wines that were capable of aging and maturing and changing for upwards of 10 to 50 years.

What has caused the new paradigm in California wine? That's tricky.

It's almost as though a Perfect Storm of circumstances have swelled up in the wine industry at the same time that served to change the view of great wine to one defined by ripeness as well as reinforce each other, making each of these forces even stronger:

1. The arc of viticultural knowledge and the understanding of the CA terroir over the past three decades have made growers better at getting grapes ripe and flavorful. Nearly all the lessons learned have demonstrated how to get grapes riper and more flavorful

2. This new breed of riper CA wine easier to enjoy in it's youth than the earlier generation of CA wines. They are softer, fruitier, sweeter.

3. Critics took to these wines like children to candy. They'd discovered a style of wine that was not "imitation Bordeaux". This sense of Independence is emboldening. It's something you can champion. And they have.

4. The rise of the 100 Point scale slowly but inevitably became a "Ripeness Scale", making it easier to communicate the ripeness level of a given wine.

5. A rash of new wine drinkers hit the market just as this new definition of greatness was coming into vogue and when Merlot was the new hot red. Their introduction to wine coincided with a decided softening of drink and a criticism that hailed it. These new drinkers liked what they were getting and being told and they wanted more.

6. The market conspired to encourage vintners to make wine to match the Soft-Big-Alcoholic framework. From consumers to distributors, a call for this new style of wine was loud and vintners heard. It became clear that if you made a wine that was highly ripe, deeply extracted and softer to the touch you were better able to satisfy the desires of the wine sellers who now were fully accepting of the new definition of "greatness, a well as the consumers who liked what they were drinking, reading about and finding placed on the shelves and wine lists by the trade.

These are the cultural factors that led to the fact that you likely don't drink well aged wine nor buy wine to age. The impact of this has spread to the Old World too where the trend is also toward Bigger and Riper. Yet there are more than cultural and stylistic reason for this paradigm shift. Technical issues relating to the health of the vineyards, new types of clones, new yeast strains as well as others seem to have conspired to help bring on the Age of Ripeness. And some even suggest that global warming has played a part in the switch from Balance to Ripeness.

Right now you can still find CA wines from the 1970s and 1980s that have undergone the change that vintners rarely imagine these days. You can find wines, the best of the vintage obviously, that will demonstrate what once allowed ageabiltiy to be a critical factor in the definition of "greatness". They are expensive however as they are fairly rare now.

I don't want to suggest that there are no wines being made today nor any vintners making wine today for which ageabilty is a key factor. There are some. However, most will not be publicized or lauded. You'll have to work to find them if you choose to take that path. But make no mistake, that path is pretty barren right now. Not many trodding along looking for something ethereal with ten or twenty years  in the bottle. You'll be fairly lonely.

The History of Dirt

Generally, Americans begin a discussion of "terroir" by asking "what is it?" Perhaps this is a result of our relative youthfulness as vintners compared to he Old World vintners, who, after first stating that theirs is the best terroir in the world, tend to go speak of the soil and its history.

That is, European, and particularly French vintners, understand terroir to be those elements that make up the physicality, soils and subsoils of the vineyard, along with the plot's history. A perfect example of this understanding of terroir is on display in a notice put out by the Narbonne Town Council. They are auctioning off the wines produced from a vineyard owned by the city since 2003. The proceeds from the the auction of wine will go toward the construction of a water tower in Burkino Faso.

They breakdown their description of the wine they'll auction into the following categories:

Terroir, Climate, vine variety, winemaking, maturing.

Were this a description of a wine by Californians it is unlikely that terroir and climate would be separated into different categories. We would be more likely to lump those two elements of the vineyard together. Here is how the Narbonne City Council describes their vineyard's "terroir":

"Beside Mediterranean shores, the 7.5 hectares of vines belonging to Narbonne Town Council are to be found in the Quatourze vineyard, lying south-east of the renowned Narbo-Martius.
This 6-km-wide plateau, famous from ancient times, is a unique terroir made up of pebbles predominantly forming a terrace dating from the Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary era, at the foot of which amphorae and galleys still bear witness to the commercial history of the wines from this Roman city. The wine’s name, “Narbo 118”, evokes the construction of the town in 118 B.C.
This terroir, under the prevailing north-westerly Cers wind, is steeped in Mediterranean influence, intensified by the heat radiating from the pebbles."

While not a complete picture of the soils, the main features of their dirt is described. And along side the mention of pebbles and such, we have a notation of the history of the region, of it's place in the Roman era as an important source of wine.

The nod to history in this description give us no understanding of the capability of the soils today. It does not tell us anything about the physical nature of the soils, their ability to drain well, their composition. However, they do give us context. They give us a sense that this ground supported a trade in wine, if not vineyards, for centuries.

The French and Europeans include this non-scientific, non-objective information in their definition of terroir because they can. Wine has been a critical part of the French/Gallic economy and history for centuries.

In this sense, terroir for the French becomes a combination of the grounds capability and its aura. It's dirt placed in a historical context. I like this. This kind of presentation of terroir is what makes wine interesting, what makes winemaking and vineyard cultivation mysterious to some and romantic to many.

It will be a long time before the Californian or Oregon or New York vintner can add the history of  the ground to their definition of Terroir. In the meantime, we'll find a number of ways to stuff romance and mystery into our winemaking pursuits. But the European vintner does have a head start here.

The BIG IDEA: A Wine Archive

It's a BIG Idea; the kind that is beyond one person and demands the attention of many. But it's an idea that's time has come.

I've been thinking about the recent fire at the wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. In doing so I've been unable to get one thing out of my mind: something very important besides bottles of wine were lost and destroyed. History...and its critical artifacts are what were lost. I'm not denigrating the importance of losing current and future vintages, nor the impact that this loss is going to have on producers. Rather, what's on my mind is the loss of the historic library wines from a number of producers that can never be replaced. I'm thinking, there needs to be a repository for this kind of history, a history in which wines largely define the culture, society and people of a particular region.

What I'm thinking of is A WINE ARCHIVE.

For regions like Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, Russian River Valley, Oregon and others around the world it is the growing of grapes and the making of wine from those grapes that largely define that area's history, culture, society and people. It's a unique kind of history that deserves preserving. It would take significant funding and probably only work on a regional level, but it is the kind of BIG IDEA that should be considered by right thinking people who believe that history is still something that deserves attention.

Only because it is where I live, let me describe the idea of a Sonoma Valley Wine Archive.

It would be a repository for every wine every produced using grapes grown in Sonoma Valley. It would be a place where each wine is deposited, carefully stored and logged by every imaginable category: producers, grapes used, vineyards used, winemaking methods, price, amount produced, release date, distribution, winemaker, vineyard manager or viticulturalist, date of harvest, everything. One bottle of every wine produced would be archived in the Sonoma Valley Wine Archive (SVWA).

But it must be more than this. It must be a location where the history of Sonoma Valley wine is on display. It must be a mecca for wine lovers. It must be a source of scholarship on Sonoma Valley wines as well as wine in general. It should be a publishing house. The SVWA should be the sponsor of seminars and conferences on wine, winemaking, wine marketing and wine history. It would be a location where current release Sonoma Valley wines are always poured for visitors. Exhibits and exhibitions would rotate constantly. A huge map of the Valley with it's current vineyards and wineries as well as historic, lost and ghost wineries and vineyards would be on display.

While the SVWA would generate income, it would most certainly need to be endowed and supported by sponsors as all cultural institutions are to one degree or another. Fundraising would play a key part in the administrative tasks. And most certainly an institution of higher learning would be involved. What would be needed to get it off the ground would be millions of dollars in seed money, cooperation for locals and cooperation from Boards of Zoning and City councils. There would be some sales involved in convincing all these groups that the project was necessary. But I'm convinced that some enlightened region, set on preserving its history and cultural story could pull it off to the benefit not only of its citizens, but to the benefit of the American wine industry.

Every day a major wine region goes without its own wine archive, history is lost. And it nearly goes without saying that the publicity value for a region that embarks on this kind of cultural project is practically inestimable. Simply declaring that the regions wines are worthy of preserving, each and ever one of them, is a declaration that the region's wines are of great importance for historical and cultural reasons.

A WINE ARCHIVE's time has come and the warehouse fire simply underscores this fact. Yes, it would be a monumental effort. Yes, it would take huge amounts of funding. But usually this is what's necessary to create something of real importance. It's a BIG IDEA...but it's the right Idea.

Weekly FERMENTED Wine Links: Oct.18, 2005

WEEKLY FERMENTED WINE LINKS: October 18, 2005
Links To Wine Information Old & New Worth Pursuing

1. THE GODDESS OF WINE GETS HIGHER ALCOHOL
Writer Jancis Robinson has some very interesting thoughts and observations on the ever increasing levels of alcohol on both sides of the Atlantic.

2. VINO
An interesting site highlighted by the inclusion of reviews by Master of Wine and Master Sommelier Ronn Wiegand. Reviews, articles, news....Good vino.

3. LONGEVITY IN A BOTTLE
Stony Hill Vineyards bottled their first wine from the 1952 harvest. At one time they defined "cult producers" as their non-malolactic, austere, graceful chardonnays were among the most coveted in Napa Valley. Their own website is a great source of information on one of California's most important wineries.

4. NAPA VALLEY LIVE
Just for a second, take a look at the live webcam aimed out over a Napa Valley Vineyard in the town of St. Helena. You'll note...it's that time of year. The leaves are turning yellow. It's mid October...Do you know where your Cabernet is?

5. WINE APPARENTLY COMES IN SO MANY DIFFERENT VARIETALS

6. WINE FIRE: IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE
It wasn't that long ago that another set of wineries were struck by fire. This Wine Spectator article from 2000 makes the point.

7. WINE AUCTION PRICES AND BUSINESS CYCLES
Do they correlate? This academic paper tries to answer the question.

8. "THE GREAT WINES OF AMERICA"
My candidate for the best wine book of the year. Even upon glancing at the book it was clear this is the book American wine lovers have wanted for some time.

9. THE FILMOGRAPHY OF WINE
Wine on film

10. WINE BLOG OF THE WEEK: WINE WAVES
Wine Waves is nearly all about reviews. They do a good, consistent job of it too. The prize is the photography, however, Hands down the best bottle shots in the blogosphere.

Wine Fire: ARSON

Wine Warehouse Fire: ARSON!

Simply Ugly...and looking to get UGLIER

The Pinot Event

The popularity of the movie “Sideways” really did do a disservice to Pinot Noir.

What makes this wine, particularly its New World incarnations, so interesting is not its new-found popularity. What makes it the most interesting wine in the world today is the craftsmanship that has been put to work on its behalf over the past decade. No other varietal has been given so much attention by so many artisan-minded winemakers as Pinot Noir.

I believe it’s fair to say that making really good Pinot Noir is much more difficult than making really good Cabernet or Merlot or Chardonnay or Zinfandel. And great Pinot Noir is down right rare, where great Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay and Zinfandel is far more accessible. The reason is the grape just doesn't’ want to be made into great wine. Pinot Noir first challenges the grape grower. Let’s face it, there are far fewer places on the globe where Pinot Noir can produce grapes that can be transformed into a wine of some complexity and fascination. In California the grape is practically mocking in it’s disagreeable nature when asked to produce in places like Napa Valley, Alexander Valley and other only slightly warmer locations. And even in those regions that are famed for their Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, Anderson Valley, Santa Barbara County, Carneros) you still need to find that perfect combination of well drained soils in a sheltered, cool plot with just the right amount of sunshine in order to have a shot at greatness.

Then there is the cellar. There Pinot Noir is notorious for responding well only in the company of a delicate hand, a winemaker that practically coos at the wine as they crush, ferment, press and age the stuff.

Luckily for those of us who truly love this wine, there are more than enough winemakers in our midst willing to coo, cajole, plead and pamper Pinot Noir just to get it right. And it’s this happy condition that leads me to the upcoming 2ND ANNUAL PINOT ON THE RIVER WEEKEND.

Set for October 28, 29 and 30, PINOT ON THE RIVER is the latest homage to the wine and those who make it. Set in the Russian River Valley the event attracts Pinot-making fanatics from across the state of California, from every Pinot growing region of merit, and with wildly varying approaches to courting the grape.

This is the kind of event people tend to wait for. The first successful Pinot festival in America was the International Pinot Noir Conference in McMinnville, Oregon. It is one of the most sought after tickets in the wine world. What makes that even so terrific is that it attracts a slew of great producers who are there to both show off their wines as well as taste the Pinots of their fellow fanatics. Alongside them are this curious bunch of people that I recognize but many other people wouldn’t: They walk around the event with a combination of fear and elation written all over their face; elation because they have access to all these Pinot Noirs, fear because they know they may miss one.

PINOT ON THE RIVER is the same kind of event, and maybe better. Take for example the line up of Pinot Noir producers set to show off their efforts to the collection of fearful and elated that are expected to attend:

Amici Cellars
Arcadian Winery
Arista Winery
Brogan Cellars
Castalia
Castle Vineyards
Chasseur
Clary Ranch Vineyards
Copeland Creek Vineyards
D'Argenzio Winery
Davis Bynum Winery
De La Montanya Winery
De Loach Vineyards
Domaine Alfred
Domaine Chandon
DuNah Vineyard & Winery
Dutton-Goldfield Winery
Esterlina Vineyards
Failla Flying Goat Cellars
Fort Ross Vineyard
Freeman Vineyard & Winery
Goldeneye Winery
Green Truck Cellars
Halleck Vineyards
Hanzell Vineyards
Inman Family Wines
Iron Horse Vineyards
John Tyler
Ken Brown Wines
Kosta Browne
Landmark Vineyards
Loring Wine Company
Lost Canyon Winery
Lynmar Winery
MacPhail Family Wines
MacRostie Winery and Vineyards
Marimar Torres Estate
Martinelli Vineyard
Merry Edwards Wines
Moshin Vineyard
Old World Winery
Orsi Papale Estate Wines
Papapietro
Perry Winery
Patz & Hall Wine Co.
Peay Vineyards
Pellegrini Family Vineyards
Porter Creek Vineyards
Robert Hunter Wines
Robert Stemmler
Rodney Strong
Roessler Cellars
Row Eleven
Russian Hill
Schug Carneros Estate Winery
Skewis Cellars
Sonoma Coast Vineyards
Tandem Winery
Testarossa Vineyards
TR Elliott
Vergari Winery
Vision Cellars
Woodenhead

It’s a diverse collection composed of new and classic producers that make wines from across California.

PINOT ON THE RIVER is the kind of wine event that you should attend if you are serious about learning about wine. If you are in that period of your education where you’ve tasted across all the varietals and come to some conclusions about which you like, and if Pinot is one of those wines, then your next task is understanding how Pinot is made and what styles of Pinot are offered. This is where you do that.

The event is composed of large and small tastings, winery visits, dinners, and seminars. And let me soothe any fears you may have about feeling a bit too surrounded by snooty pinophiles who may disregard your questions that might seem too elementary. In my experience, these events attract a crew of people who go out of their way to take “PinotNeos” under there wing, introduce them to the pit of dementia that is the Pinot-loving-life and happily answer any question…and with gusto. “

Sideways” did popularize Pinot Noir in a way that little else could have. It brought new drinkers to the wine. But this new interest in Pinot could not have been possible had the new crew of Pinot makers not taken on the most difficult of wines with a view toward understanding it and mastering it. There were a number of great CA and OR Pinot makers who came before them, and to whom the new crew owe a great deal and in many cases are still working to catch up with the old masters. Still, it's this rennaissance that makes the Pinot Lover so pleased and PINOT ON THE RIVER so special.

PINOT ON THE RIVER is the perfect opportunity to understand Pinot from the perspective of those who proved it could be great and those who think they can do better.

Go.

A PLEA....

A plea directed at the generous....

I've once again taken on the task of helping build a a set of auction lots for my children's school fundraiser here in Glen Ellen, California:

The event:
The Dunbar Elementary School "Moondance Dinner and Auction

Each year we see more and more cuts cuts to eduction on the District and State level. The task of funding the educational needs of our children falls on parents and friends of schools.

My contribution is organizing the wine auction. That means asking, pleading, cajoling and convincing generous folk and willing wineries to offer up an auction lot of wine that attendees of the Moondance happily and actively bid on.

ARE YOU A WINERY THAT CAN LET GO OF A MAGNUM? A DOUBLE MAGNUM? A SET OF INTERESTING WINES? ARE YOU A COLLECTOR WHO CAN HELP US FUND THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF THIS SMALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN GLEN ELLEN WITH A DONATION OF A SPECIAL LOT OF WINE?

We would be grateful for any donation you might be able to offer.

PLEASE...don't hesitate to contact me if you can make a donation to the Moondance Wine Auction for Dunbar Elementary School: tom@warkcommunications.com

Tasting Room Do's and Don'ts

I worked in a tasting room on Sunday. I've never been employed in a wine tasting room in my life (though the first wine job I was ever offered was at the St. Supery Winery tasting room in Napa Valley. It was advertised as a "public relations" position. I turned it down.) However, I have filled in here and there over the years for clients in their tasting room. Yesterday, one client needed some help because most of the employees were taken to the Oakland Raiders football game they needed someone to fill in who had knowledge of the wines.

So in the course of greeting visitors, pouring wine and talking, I was reminded that there are some do's and don't of tasting rooms. But not Do's and Don't for tasters, but Do's and Don'ts for those behind the bar.

1. Don't wear a white shirt when working behind the tasting bar.

2. Be careful who you correct when they make an incorrect statement. Some people are sure of themselves and have no time for being corrected. Anyway, they are there to have a good time. Let them have it .

3. Pay attention to the "silent ones". It's not that they are shy, but just not confident. Give them an opportunity to confidently express their opinion. They'll appreciate it.

4. To prompt a sale of wine to someone who's on the fence, find a way to let them hold an unopened bottled of what they seem to like. Once in their hands, they don't like to let go

5. No Metallica on the stereo. For some reason it's not conducive to thinking about wine.

6. The longer they stay at the bar, the more likely they are to buy...still, don't lock the doors when they enter.

7. Try to pour a wine that's not on the "tasting menu". It's a small gesture that makes guests feel special. People buy wine from people who make them feel special.

8. Never tell a guest, "God, you couldn't pay me to live where you do." People tend to be protective of their home towns.

9. Try not to ridicule the drunk people.

10. Try not to bring in your publicist to help out in the tasting room unless they have adequate supervision.

A sweet ratings/review blog

I came across a blog that does reviews....and does them well. Each review is placed in context, which is extremely important. We learn a bit of history, a bit of comparison with other products, what it tastes like, its texture, where it was purchased, and the price. And they attach a score/rating. It's a 10-point scale described this way:

• 1 to 3 - I wouldn't put it in my mouth again if you paid me.
• 4 to 6 - If someone else bought it, I'd eat it.
• 7 to 8 - I'd buy it again
• 9 to 10 - I will buy it again.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GREAT REVIEW BLOG

More Wine Warehouse Fire News and Thoughts

Wednesday's massive fire at a wine storage warehouse will be remembered for a long time to come by many in the wine industry and those who treasure not just fine wine but the history of CA wine.

The blaze at Wines Central's 240,000 square foot facility in Vallejo, California was the resting spot for a number of wineries' current and future releases as well as "library wines", those older vintages not meant for sale for for posterity.

At this point, I'm aware of the following wineries that lost wines of one sort or another n the fire.

Trey Sabore, Whitehall Lane, Thackery, Livingston-Moffett, Von Strasser, Signorello, Frazier, Saintsbury, ZD, Justin Vineyards, Domaine La Due, Lehrer Family Vineyard, Tamayo Family Vineyards.

If anyone out there has updates on wineries that lost inventory feel free to post that information here.

It's hard to feel worse for one winery over another. It's tough, even with insurance kicking in, to have your product destroyed. In the wine industry you don't just go manufacture more. You have to wait. Many wineries who lost their current or soon-to-be-released vintages will be out of the market place for a year or more. That means they lose cash flow as well as their places on retail shelves and wine lists.

But then there are wineries like Saintsbury, with whom I've done some work. It appears, based on what co-founder Dick Ward said in today's San Francisco Chronicle and based on my chat with him, that most of their Library wines have been lost in the blaze. This won't keep Saintsbury of the shelves anywhere or see their bottlings dropped from wine lists. However, the loss is really staggering for historic and sentimental reasons.

Saintsbury is one of California's oldest great Pinot producers and champions of Carneros winemaking and is celebrating their 25th harvest this year. Dick Ward and David Graves began their quest to make great "Burgundian" wines in 1980. Each vintage they saved a certain number of cases of each wine for posterity as well as to be able to go back and evaluate how their winemaking efforts aged. It's a common practice among serious and forward thinking vintners. Most of those Saintsbury Pinots dating back to the early and mid 1980s and forward to the present vintages were destroyed. The winery did keep a certain amount of back vintages at the winery, so all is not lost....just the bulk.

It's hard to put a price on a bottle of 1985 Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir. Though I'm sure the insurance agency will do that, this figure can't account for what is learned by tasting the wine.

Huge Fire Destroys Millions of Dollars in Wine

It appears that a massive fire at a 240,000 square foot warehouse that stores wine may have caused over $100,000,000 in damage to more than a half milliion cases of wine that were stored there. The warehouse is owned by Wines Central in Vallejo, California, just down the road from Napa Valley.

According to a story by the San Francisco Chronicle, the warehouse was the resting place for winery-owned cases of wine, collectors' wines and wines stored by marketing companies.

The cause of the blaze has not been determined and no one was hurt. However, the owner has said the fire lookes very suspicius.

I have no hard information at this point as to which wineries store their case goods at Wines Central. And while it is likely that insurance will cover most of the loss, you can bet a huge amount of great wines have been lost. According to a recent article on the business, over 80 wineries stored either case goods or THEIR LIBRARY WINES (older vintages) at the warehouse, while more than 40 private collectors also used the facility to keep their collections in temperature controlled conditions.

One cynical winery owner I've spoken to was stunned at the size of the expected losses, yet noted, "well, at least it will make a dent in the surplus it looks like we'll have after what looks to be a good sized harvest this year."

That's a pretty cold and ugly attitude.

The biggest problem will be faced by wineries that have their current or future releases stored at the destroyed warehouse. They simply won't have wine in the market, meaning they will lose their place on wine lists and retail sheves, positions that are difficult to win back after being lost.

Wine and the Cranium Explosion Syndrome

Here's a tactic in the Wine Shipping Battles I've not come across before.

A lawsuit has been filed in Minnesota by The Institute For Justice that is asking that state's ban on Internet wine sales to be declared an unconstitutional restriction on "Free Speech".

"The state should not be in the business of telling people how, and through which medium, they can talk," said Lee McGrath, executive director of the Institute for Justice's Minneapolis office.

This seems like a long shot to me, but then I'm not a scholar of constitutional law. What I do know is that in Minnesota a consumer can purchase wine from a retailer's Internet site, but not from a winery's, one of those strange laws you look at and can only ask......huh?

Jim Farrell, a former Minnesota legislator and now the Executive director of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage association explained, ""If Minnesotans are allowed to buy wine on the Internet giant California wineries will jump into the on-line business in a big way, potentially harming Minnesota's fledgling wine industry."

Of course this doesn't explain why the Institute for Justice filed its lawsuit on behalf of two Minnesota wineries.

Sometimes your head feels like it's just going to explode.

The Joy Police on Patrol

"If you get behind the wheel of a car with any measurable amount of alcohol, you will be dealt with in D.C. We have zero tolerance. . . . Anything above .01, we can arrest."

So says Dennis Fair, police officer in the District of Columbia quoting Department policy.

.01 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)

Debra Bolton, a DC lobbyist, found about this ludicrous, time wasting, money wasting and resource wasting policy when she was arrested for being way over the DC Lime: .03 BAC. Here story was recently outlined in a Washington Post article that highlighted DC's anti-alcohol policy.

I'd be willing to bet my own Blood Alcohol Content hasn't slipped below .01 since 1989.

Yet since the 1980s municipalities, States and the Federal Government have worked to lower the BAC that legally defines "drunk" For years that level had been .10 in most areas. In the 1990s the Feds passed a law that allowed states' highway funds to be taken away if their measure of intoxication was not lowered to .08. This is sensible. I don't know anyone who hasn't been exposed in one way or another to the kind of decimation that can occur as a result of too much alcohol in someone's system.

But .01?

This amounts to a single glass of wine over a one hour period. Actually, it amounts to less than that. Check for yourself. For those of you who remember wine writer Jerry Mead you'll recall that he spend a good amount of time ridiculing and denouncing all those willing to push the idea of zero tolerance for drinking. He thought it was stupid, a waste of time, anti-alcohol and he said so. And he was right. I tremble just at the thought of the kind of words Mead would have tossed DC's way had he lived to read about a .01 BAC drunkenness standard.

The practical implications of such a policy are obvious and intended: They deter people from having a glass of wine or beer at a restaurant or a meal cap of cognac perhaps. Publicity surrounding this arrest of Ms. Bolton only makes the DC police and the Joy Police happy. They know that if the .01 policy is publicized less alcohol will be consumed. Less joy will be felt. And less civilization will be encountered by the public at large.

The Death of Shiraz

"They pour freshly squeezed grape juice into clay pots, which are then placed in freshly dug ditches before being covered with sheep droppings to aid fermentation."

It was not always this way. In this place, Khollar, they once grew an abundance of grapes that were harvested and taken to the town of....Shiraz.....where they were turned into wine that carried a reputation throughout the Middle East. Now, this Iranian town supports a mere 250 residents who furtively bury crushed grapes under sheep dung.

Robert Tait of the Guardian newspaper offers a poignant account of how far this one-time vine growing village with a millenniums-old winemaking history has declined since the Iranian Revolution of the late 1970s.

I know only enough about the Iranian Revolution to get myself in trouble in commenting about it. So, it would be somewhat crass of me to suggest the demise of a thriving and historic winemaking community for the sake of a popular religious uprising that has led to little more than instability, deaths destruction is nothing less than disgusting.

So, why not leave it at that.

The article is quite good. Don't miss.

 

Did the Cold Winters Freeze Their Brain?

So Imagine this law...

I'm a California winery. I get an order for two bottles of my 90 point Russian River Valley Zin from a nice fellow in Minnasota. He tells me, "ship the wine to my friend in San Francisco."

However, Minnasota law prevents me from taking his order ( read the last paragraph of this link). That enlightened state has a little law prohibiting in-state (they do have wineries in Minnasota) and out-of-state wineries from accepting orders from Minnasotans.

How completely F 'ed Up is that?  I'm having trouble wrapping my little mind around that one. Is it to protect the Minnasota wholesalers from competition? Are they protecting Minnasotans from themselves? Are they protecting wineries across the country from the scourge of commerce?

Any explanations would be appreciated.

Great Wine Links of the Week

WEEKLY FERMENTED WINE LINKS - OCTOBER 11, 2005
Links to wine information old and new worth pursuing

1. FACTS AND STATS FROM THE INSTITUTE
The wine institute's release of policy positions and stats, some going back as far as 1994

2. CHOOSING THE BEST WINE GLASS...YES, THERE'S A SYSTEM
From winedoctor.com, a good article on the art of choosing a wine glass. Me? I always go for clean and round. That's my criteria. There's better advice in this link.

3. THE FIGHT AGAINST VINE DISEASE
This link to a recent article shows there is hope in the battled against one truly bad bug

4. A TRULY AWESOME COLLECTION OF WINE BOOKS
The Wine Appreciation Guild stocks an amazing collection of wine books

5. THE WINE LOVERS DATABASE
winefiles.org serves as a tremendous index of wine information in print. Hosted by the Sonoma County Library.

6. DEEP IN THE HEART
They rarely travel outside their home state. Yet they are among us. Some very nice bottlings too. Check out the Wine Trails of Texas.

7. THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF LAURIE DANIEL...WINE WRITER
The long time wine writer for the San Jose Mercury News has been at it...for a long time. Experience always leads to great insights. Here are a few of her recent columns.

8. ANCIENT WINE
A really marvelous site that outlines a college level class on the ancient history of wine. Check this out.

9. WINE EVENTS FOR EVERYONE
It's the website that catalogs wine events across the country. Name your place, your date and see what's available.

10. WINE BLOG OF THE WEEK: THE CORK & DEMON
"The Smartass South Texas Wine Blog". She writes well. Rarely disappoints. Also, how can you not give consideration to someone who lists "Shaun of the Dead" as one of their favorite flicks?

Mistaking Appellations for Statements of Wine Quality

It's very difficult to argue with the view of The Center for Wine Origins (CWO)  that it is important consumers "aren’t misled by producers who want to use a region’s name as their own." So, I don't think I will. The new CWO, however, believes that this is an important issue. And their concern is understandable.

CWO is funded by the European Union with Champagne and Port producers seemingly running the show. They care about wine producers outside these regions, particularly in America, using names like "Port" and "Champagne" for the simple reason that THEY are the ones that developed a reputation for wines that carry this place-name on their labels. They are right. Bottom line, unless the wine comes from Champagne or the Douro Valley or Chateauneuf du Pape or Napa Valley or the Santa Rita Hills, then these place names should not be on the label.

However, one thing of great importance does need to be pointed out:

A place-name or appellation on a wine label has no relationship to quality, and barely any relationship to style.

While I would argue this is the case with European appellations, it is particularly the case with American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) that are bestowed upon regions by the federal government. When you see the words "Anderson Valley" or "Santa Rita Hills" or "Sonoma Coast" on a label the only thing you can really conclude today is that's the region where the grapes were grown that went into making that wine. You can not assume very much about the quality or style of the wine behind the label.

I know what you are thinking and you are right: AVA's are of very little use to anyone except me (wine marketer) and people like me.

The notion that a large swath of land called indentified as "Napa Valley" or "Russian River Valley" will guarantee wine drinkers a particular style of Pinot Noir or Cabernet is ludicrous. Today's winemakers use so many different grapegrowing and winemaking techniques that have such a significant impact o the final style of a wine that it is virtually impossible to expect a wine from a particular region to have the "stamp" of that region's character in the wine. That's right. Appellation or AVA level terroir simply does not exist in today's wine industry.

However, that is not to say that certain expectations of quality are out of the question. For example, Napa Valley's climate and soils are very well suited for getting Cabernet Sauvignon ripe. Most of Russian River Valley has a climate that is beneficial to Pinot Noir, a grape that ripens best and develops desirable flavors best in a climate that is somewhat cooler. But this does not mean that the Cabernet from Napa Valley or the Pinot Noir from Russian River will naturally be of high quality or of a particular style.  It only means that the name Russian River Valley on a Pinot Noir means you are more LIKELY to have a Pinot Noir that will meet higher standards.

It's these greater expectations among consumers that make place names important to marketers and producers. When a winery buys Cabernet grapes from a Napa Valley grower and puts it in the bottle with "Napa Valley" on the label, they can charge more that wine because consumers with higher expectations are willing to pay more.  Note that expectations for style do not make their way into this equation. And how could they when the various styles of Cabernet that emerge from Napa Valley hugely varied.

Today, if you seek out wines of a particular style, if you want big, juicy and alcoholic Pinot Noir, or if you  want crisp, elegant, citrusy Chardonnay, you must look to a producer, not a region or appellation. The Center for Wine Origins understands this too. They have not, nor will they ever I suspect, make any claims about a region's or appellation's ability to deliver wines of a particular style. Instead, they will argue that only "quality" can be expected from a wine that has a particular place name on the bottle. Their mission is simple: protect the market for raised expectations that have been built up around particular wine regions by working to prevent names like "Port" and "Champagne" from being used by producers outside those areas.

At this point you should be thinking about the utility of the idea of "terroir"; the idea that the soils and climate of a region bestow particular characteristics on a wine. This writer places no faith in the ability of an AVA or Appellation to consistently deliver particular characteristics to a wine produced from grapes that carry any particular appellation. Without strict rules on production and growing techniques in a region it is simply impossible to assume anything about a wine with any particular place-name on the label. My feelings about vineyard designations are different. Here is where "terroir" truly takes on meaning. When you have a small, well defined piece of land with fairly consistent soils influenced by a specific climate, you have the potential to witness the influence of terroir.

The Center for Wine Origins is marketing/political organization that is essentially working on the side to influence trade negotiations between the EU and the United States. The EU wants the U.S. to outlaw use of European place-names on American bottlings. And we should.

Discovering The Future of CA Wine in Monterey

It's always exciting when you get to discover a wine growing region up close. I had that opportunity this weekend when I was given a guided tour of parts of the Monterey appellation and the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation.

Years ago Monterey got a bad reputation for Cabernet. U.C. Davis announced that it was perhaps the best region in California for growing wine grapes. Well, they planted them...unfortunately they planted Cabernet and in the wrong place. What we got was weedy, under ripe red wine. It was nearly universally panned and Monterey's reputation took a dump.

However, that didn't stop a number of pioneers from taking a closer look at the region and identifying those varieties best suited for its different terroirs and microclimates. What emerged was a series of very promising Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from what is a region that offers a very long growing season.

Wark Communication's client had a great deal of experience in the Monterey region before being asked to begin a winery. She had made some great Pinots while working for another winery earlier in her career. She sees the Monterey region as being extraordinarily similar to New Zealand.

The Santa Lucia Highlands is located on the western side of the Salinas Valley. Most of the vineyards sit on benchland, protected by the steep highlands from the sometimes monstrous winds that can sweep through the valley. Many of the vineyards also sit above the fog line. The appellation rise from 40 feet above sea level to over 1200 feet.

Three vineyards in particular have helped define the Santa Lucia Highlands as one of the top Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producing areas in California: Pisoni Vineyard, Garys' Vineyard and Rosella's Vineyard. Searching through Robert Parker's reviews, over 85% of the wines reviewed from the Santa Lucia Highlands come from these three vineyards.

There are a LOT of vineyards in this neck of the woods. A huge amount of them are owned by large corporate concerns that feed the grapes in to "Coastal" winemaking programs that pump out $7 to $10 a bottle wines. However, a number of artisans are looking to Santa Lucia Highlands for grapes that are carefully tended by conscientious grapegrowers. Many of these artisan wineries are not from the Monterey area. They are simply buying fruit, not growing it.

Our client is one such artisan. However, she has her sights set not just on Pinot from the Santa Lucia Highlands but from a number of small, carefully tended vineyards throughout the Monterey area. Some of the vineyards she's identified for her new project are in pretty remote areas. But the key is that they are farmed by those who are dedicated to producing grapes for people just like her.

Monterey is one of those fast developing areas of California that will be better defined in a decade or two after a number of other small wineries and artisan grape growers help flesh out the meaning of its climate and soils. The interesting things is just how fast this will happen. Winery and vineyard associations will help do the work of explaining Monterey. Tourists who flock to the region will discover its wines and make their way inland to check out the wineries first hand. This will in turn lead to the development of new tasting rooms for visitors to frequent. This will lead to even better reason for people to head to Monterey.

My guess is that a number of the new wineries that settle in the Monterey area to take advantage of the magnificent fruit will set down roots the same way our client has, in the quiet, out-of-the-way comfort of a warehouse. There reputations will grow in similar ways.....locals buying the wine, tourists tasting them, good reviews of the wines, then the high-end wine drinkers and first adopters will move in to "discover" them.

INFO ON MONTEREY WINEMAKING

Grape Radio Covers Tanzer

The fellows over at Grape Radio have a marvelous new interview with Stephen Tanzer. Tanzer is the publisher of the International Wine Cellar, one of the top wine review oriented newsletters in the world.

This is part one of a two part interview with Mr. Tanzer and a great opportunity to get an inside look at what it takes to be a top flight, hard working wine critic. Tanzer and the GrapeRadio crew cover the business of wine criticism, the difficulties of maintaining friendships with those people who's wines you are reviewing as well as the state of the artisan wine world.

Kudos to Grape Radio for a great interview

In The Museum of Fine Arts: The Wine Wing

I had a jarring experience today. I was challenged on my usefulness as a wine blogger. I’d never yet had a discussion with anyone about wine blogging who, while familiar with genre, saw absolutely no value in it.

I can quote her: “Why spend time writing about a drink when there are so many other important things happening in the world? It just seems wasteful.”

She had a point.

The cultural and social consequences of wine appreciation and the wine business do pale before the consequences of trying to protect our country, the fight to protect a fragile environment, of creating a reasonable state and national budgets, or of the attempt to invent even better schools.

I had to stop and think about what was a very important point to her. Then I realized what she was missing by considering an overly serious interest in wine b