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.