Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

We Need More From Wine Reviews

Can you spare 10 characters in your reviews of wine?

That's really all it would take, a measly 10 spaces in a wine review to add the alcohol level of the wine under consideration. And by adding this bit of information the consumer would be served mightily.

I started thinking about this need for stating alcohol content in reviews upon reading Robert Parker's reviews of Paul Hobbs wines on MSNBC.com. For example:

"2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 93 points. A dark ruby/purple-colored, full-bodied, impressively endowed effort offering up notes of charcoal, smoke, creme de cassis, and toasty oak. A wealth of glycerin, concentration, and fruit suggest it will provide ideal drinking now and over the next 10 to 15 years."

What's not mentioned is that the stated alcohol is 14.7%. This means it could be as high as 15.7% alcohol based on the leeway allowed by law. Even at the lower end of 14.7%, that's a lot of alcohol. But I'd never know it from the review unless I was able to read between the lines.

This is not an anti alcohol rant. Rather, it's a plea to wine reviewers and wine publications to recognize the the alcohol level of a wine is critical to understanding the wine. Furthermore, the alcohol level of a wine is crucial to know in the context of how and when the wine might be drunk. The fact is, many people can drink far less 14.7% wine at one sitting than they can a 13.5% alcohol wine. A little difference goes a long way. Add to this that the higher the alcohol content the higher the calorie content of the wine.

So, we are talking about adding a mere 10 characters to a review of any wine. It could go right there at the end of the review right before the price: "14.7% Alc."

At the risk of moving into the world of rants, I'm beginning to glean a clear set of indications that there is a movement afoot to back way from high alcohol wines. It's a movement that appears to be starting not with consumers but with restaurant wine buyers, retailers and even members of the media. Clearly this trend has already been in full swing when it comes to white wines. But no so much with reds.

Winemakers have been arguing for a long time that the difference between today's higher alcohol wines and yesterdays lower (12.5 to 13.5) alcohol wines is that today grapes are "being picked for flavor" rather than just when the sugars at a certain point. The message here is that today's wines are better.

There is absolutely nothing to validate that conclusion.

So, the plea is this: give consumers the chance to decide if they want a wine that is 14.7% alcohol. Put it right there in the review, before the purchase is made. There are a lot of implications to the alcohol level in a wine, not the least of which is the intoxication level that they can result in with fewer sips.

A Government Sposored System of Corrupt Wine Laws

The state of Illinois has been through a lot of turmoil this year over its direct shipping policies and in its attempt to update its wine regulations in the wake of various legal cases.

Earlier this year the Illinois wineries were willing to give up their right to sell directly to restaurants and retailers. The deal they worked out with distributors, who feared that left in place this privilege would mean out-of-state wineries would also be given the right to bypass the distributors, eventually fell apart when a number of the state's wineries balked at the compromise. No deal was done.

Now, an Italian winery has filed suit saying the existing set of circumstances in which Illinois wineries still have a right to bypass wholesalers is unfair because out of state wineries are mandated by the state to sell first to wholesalers who then sell the wine to retailers and restaurants.

Villa Monteleone Winery was right on the mark when they argued earlier this week that:

"This self-distribution privilege constitutes pure economic protectionism; there is no rational basis for the different treatment of Illinois and non-Illinois wineries."

It is of course nothing more than economic protectionism, but not for the states wineries. It's economic protectionism for a well-heeled industry of wine distributors who have in no way earned the kind of protection that a mandated 3-tier system of distribution grants them.

What's interesting to me however is the response from one Illinois winery that in response to the suit said:

"Some foreign company from Italy is going to tell the state of Illinois what's unconstitutional and kill an industry. Whoever is doing this would be better served by sitting down with the Illinois wine people and fashion something that doesn't put them out of business."

I guess what I'm wondering is how, if wineries outside Illinois are permitted to sell wine to Illinois restaurants and retailers without using a distributor, will this put Illinois wineries out of business.

Why if retailers can buy wine directly from a winery in California would they buy less Illinois wine?

The assumption being made here is that to deal with this obvious discrimination, Illinois must revoke the Illinois wineries' right to sell direct to restaurants and retailers. Instead, the state of Illinois should open up the right of wineries to "self distribute" to all wineries nationwide.

By taking this simple step a number of results occur:

1. Illinois wine drinkers will have access to far more wines in their local stores and restaurants
2. It will prove a boon to entrepreneurial wine sellers wanting to enter a huge wine market
3. Selling more wine in Illinois means more tax revenue for the State of Illinois
4. The state will no longer be burdened by the corrupt nature of a mandated 3-tier system
5. The move will inspire other states to take the same liberalizing approach to wine sales

Wine Buying Guides: What Are they Good For?

I wish W.R. Tish would write more.

First, his wine experience is deep. For a decade he was the managing editor at Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Second, he's got a probing mind that combines with a great sense of humor. However, there is very little humor, but lots of probing, in his most recent article for Wines & Vines Magazine  that takes a fairly close look at the wine Buying Guides of three major American wine magazines.

Let's get to the heart of the matter. Tish says:

"the bottom line of my buying-guide analysis is this: While they purport to be consumer aids, they are actually far from that. As the buying guides continue to grow and grow and GROW, consumers are simply confronted with more and more homogenous-looking ratings and tasting notes of wines they will never see in their local stores or even their regional mar-kets. What these major buying guides have actually become is pure (or impure, depending on your point of view) marketing vehicles designed to raise both the stature of the magazines that create them as well as the wines they commend."

I think you have to start with the assumption that reviews are a legitimate sub-genre of the larger wine writing genre. No one will argue with this. Furthermore, I think you have to accept the notion that reviews can be very helpful to consumers now confronted with such a huge boatload of choices that it boggles the mind. This is not to say that all review of wines are equal. Some are clearly more useful than others. But in general I think it's fair to say they are generally very useful.

So I guess this puts me at odds with Tish insofar as I think Buying Guides and their reviews are "consumer aids" (I hate being at odds with Tish...he usually bests me in discussions of this sort)

However, I can't disagree with him that Buying Guides at wine publications are INDEED "vehicles designed to raise the stature of...the wines they commend". And in that sense wineries and PR types view them as marketing vehicles. The question in my mind is can a Magazine's wine buying guide serve legitimate and above board purposes of being consumer aids as well as marketing vehicles for wineries? I think again the answer is, yes.

As Tish points out in his this excellent Part 1 survey of American wine buying guides, we can take issue with the way wines are tasted and presented, if we are so inclined. And most of us usually are. Critiquing the the critics is a blood sport in this industry. But when I think about the value of the Buying Guides to the person with a budge to spend maybe $200 to $500 a month or more on wine and who is still learning about the product, I think these guides serve to pique interests, deliver discoveries and "guide" the buyer.

READ this piece. It's important.

Attention: Winery At Play!

I'm pretty sure that sometime at the beginning of the year I predicted that the number of winery blogs would increase by a large amount this year. And it looks like that prediction is going to be born our.

I came across another winery that is really doing an outstanding job communicating their irreverent perspective on life and wine via their relatively new blog.

Twisted Oak Winery in the Sierra Foothills calls their blog EL BLOGGO TORCIDO (essentially translated as "The Twisted Blog").

It's a good read! And they manage to do what I think a good winery blog should do: educate their readers about their own products as well as educate their readers in general. The bonus here is the good humor.

How To Taste 1200 Wines in 2 Days

I got my invitation in the mail today for August's Family Winemakers of California Tasting. Based  on the preliminary list of wineries that have committed to pouring at the event, it appears there will be upwards of 400 California wineries at Fort Mason in San Francisco on August 20 and 21. Most of them will be relatively small wineries too.

The question for anyone going to this event is how to attack it. After all, we are talking about a tasting that will present at least 1200 different wines...and that's a conservative estimate.

When you have a tasting of around 100 wineries at a tasting you really don't need a plan. It's manageable enough to jump in with your glass and guide and go at it. Four hundred wineries is a different animal all together. If you spent five minutes with each winery you'd have to spend more than 33 hours at the tasting...and that doesn't count time for a bathroom break, eating, or conversing with others. You have to pick your wineries when you head out to something like this.

So I have an idea for Family Winemakers to make everyone's lives easier on August 20 and 21.

Provide us with a directory of wineries that identifies certain unique qualities of each winery.

In the past, Family Winemakers has provided a "Varietal Guide" to the wineries. That's helpful. If you just wanted to taste Viognier you could consult the Guide and head out. But with 400 wineries, offering more alternative with which to organize our pursuit of sips makes a lot of sense.

Varietal sorting, while obvious and useful, is hardly the only viable criteria by which to organize 400 wineries. Rather, I'd like to see Family Winemakers provide a guide to this tasting that provides a number of different categorization schemes that could make the tasting have a great deal more meaning for people. For example, the Guide to the Family Winemakers of California Annual Tasting should categorize wineries by:

-APPELLATION
-SIZE (cases produced)
-PRODUCERS OF WINE FROM MOUNTAIN FRUIT
-BY AVERAGE ALCOHOL LEVEL
-NEEDING DISTRIBUTION
-THOSE MAKING UNOAKED WINES
-PRODUCERS OF "OLD VINE" WINES
-PRODUCERS POURING WINES OLDER THAN FIVE YEARS

I realize that "discovery" is one of the enchanting elements of walking down an aisle of 200 different wineries. But with 400 wineries at your disposal the opportunity to hone in on particular types of wines is great. It might also make the tasting a far more interesting affair.

The Single Vineyard Man Passes

If you have an interest in "Terroir American Style" then you probably, or should, have an interest in Diamond Creek wines. The vineyard designated wines of Diamond Creek made off of a relatively small parcel of land on Diamond Mountain in Napa Valley were among the first to give concrete recognition to the notion in America that different pieces of land create different tasting wines.

The man who committed to this idea, Al Brounstein, died Monday after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease.

I met Mr. Brounstein a couple times, both at his winery on the hill. The first time was a trip to convince him to sell futures of his vineyard designated wines at Winebid.com. He immediately told me he wasn't interested as he already sold everything. Then he offered to give a detailed explanation of why I came to him with this business opportunity...in other words he wanted to give me his explanation of why his various small vineyard plots were so special. I forgot why I was there and listened. He had a lot to say. And I forgot why I was there.

I hate writing about important people like this after they pass because I regret not having mentioned them to readers while they are alive. It almost feels like I'm taking advantage of their death. At the same time it reminds me that there are a number of people out there that deserve continued recognition  and that I should make a greater effort to introduce them to readers, or at least remind readers of their value.

A lot of people will miss Mr. Brounstein. He helped American vintners feel more confident with the notion that vineyard designated wine is important because it is vineyard designated.

Dealing With A Labor Shortage in the Vineyards

While I know my position on the immigration debate in the U.S., I don't claim to know exactly HOW the ultimate outcome will affect the wine industry. Wine is an industry that employs a number of migrant workers, a great many of which are surely illegal.

However, this little tidbit  found at the California Farm Bureau Federation website is very interesting:

"Meanwhile, Joseph Ramazzotti, owner of Ramazzotti Vineyards & Wines in Geyserville, told the "San Francisco Business Times" last week that nearly half of his laborers didn't return from their annual winter vacations in Mexico for the first time since they began working for him 10 to 15 years ago.

Ramazzotti estimated that of the 40,000 agricultural workers in Sonoma Country, as many as 17,000 didn't return from Mexico to work this spring."

Part of the debate surrounding immigration reform centers on the impact on food prices were we to have far fewer workings in the fields and vineyards. Many suggest prices will go up since wages will rise as the supply of labor declines. Mr. Ramazzotti's estimates are that 43% of the laborers did not return from Mexico to work this year. That's HUGE, though it is, admittedly only a second hand estimate.

Still, it is something for the industry to consider: If immigration reform, or the threat of it, causes a shortage of labor come harvest, what will be the impact...BESIDES higher prices for wine?

A Constitutional Amendment Banning InVINticide

Today the Senate of the United States is considering an amendment to the constitution that would prohibit the desecration of the American Flag. It is an important debate that pits free speech advocates against those who would put priority on protecting the apex of American symbolism.

While this debate is important, I would urge congress to move past it quickly and get to what is a truly consequential and urgently needed debate: Whether Americans Should Have The Right to Practice InVINticide—the drinking of wines at too young an age.

There was a time in this country when respect was given to wine, whether originating in America or abroad. That respect was manifested in the acknowledgment that wine ought to be given time in the bottle before it was drained and consumed. That respect was practiced by consciously "laying down" wine for an appropriate time, allowing it to age, and consuming it only when its tertiary and more complex potential had emerged. It was a respect that all Americans acknowledged was essential to maintaining the critical role of wine in our culture.

Then, sometime in the 1970s, a wine drinking revolution emerged in which that respect for wine was diminished, if not completely destroyed, by a band of troublemakers who flaunted their disrespect for wine. They advocated that it be drunk YOUNG, yes YOUNG!. They said that it was an inherent right of theirs to enjoy this beverage in the manner they desired. They even went on to make the ridiculous argument that drinking wine young, not letting it age, and not letting it take on those important qualities that come with time in the cellar, was a right bestowed upon them by the Declaration of Independence's promotion of the ideal of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

The urgent debate that must occur now in Congress is whether life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can still be the motto of this country while at the same time the consumption of wine in its youth is proscribed.

I say we must pass a constitutional amendment that very simply says: "The Congress of the United States shall have the power to protect all wine, foreign or domestic, from InVINticide: From being drunk too young."

By passing this Constitutional amendment America will restore the time honored, nay, the essential, recognition that only by aging wine can we honor this most important beverage and protect Americans from the kind of self delusion that we've seen lead to other unconscionable acts such as: serving cola without ice, preparing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with "chunky" peanut butter, and the most recent degradation of American culture, the inclusion of caramel inside the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup.

There are those that would reiterate the argument that drinking wine young, using chunky instead of smooth peanut butter and serving cola warm is merely a reflection of our devotion to "freedom of choice" and liberty. I say these things are what lead to the slippery slope that degrades the tradition of "American Exceptionalism".

Write your Senator and urge them to move past the Flag Burning debate and move quickly on the debate over InVINticide Amendment.

Details of 2005 Bordeaux (I'll Still Take St. Barts)

As a follow up to Friday's post about the question of buying a few weeks in St. Barts or a case of 2005 Bordeaux, I've been alerted to this fabulous website that documents the details of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage at the top chateau as well as gives current pricing of the 2005 vintage as well as projected increases in pricing over both the 2004 and vaunted 2000 vintage.

Lots of interesting and illuminating ideas at this website if you are interested in Bordeaux, value and hubris.

That said, I don't want to suggest the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is not worth the astounding prices the owners are asking. If there are buyers at the prices they want, if they can sell out the wine at the prices they want, then the wines are correctly priced.

However, I'll still take St. Barts over a case of Chateau Lafite any day.

St. Barts VS. 2005 Lafite

The word on the street is that while the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is quite good, the pricing of the top wines is, well, quite ridiculous.

Decanter has the story.

But consider this: First tranche pricing of only a portion of Chateau Lafite's 2005 bottling was announced at $375 per bottle for negociants. The negociants are selling a bottle of the wine to merchants for around $465. And we aren't even at the marked up price for you....the consumer.

If you are a consumer and want a case of Lafite to save for the future you are looking in the neighborhood of $6000+ per case.  I just traded in a 1996 BMW 740 IL with 116,000 miles on it. It had new tires and breaks and an engine that ran pretty good. Air conditioning needed work. I got $6000 for it.

However rather than my old BMW or 12 bottles of Lafite, with that same $6000 you could also purchase:

-A 2000 Vintage Camero with 84,000 miles
-A mint condition 2000 Ford Taurus
-Five Acres of land in Spinney, Colorado
-23 Foot Chris Craft 230 Scorpion Speed Boat
-A bungalow rental in St. Barts for five weeks that is one minute from the Beach

I'm the kind of capitalist that believes an item or service is perfectly priced (or even under-priced) if it sells out at that price. So, if the Chateaux are able to get this kind of dough for their 2005 vintage then I guess we have to conclude that Bordeaux as an industry is in fine shape...and so is the luxury wine market.

However, I'll take the five weeks in St. Barts.

Is Wine.Com irrelevant?

Is Wine.com necessary? I mean to ask, does the Internet really need Wine.com the wine store?

Apparently someone thinks so. It appears that Wine.com will receive another $12 Million   in venture funding, a seventh visit to that trough that has been filled with upwards of $200 Million over the past 8 years or so. In addition, it appears Wine.com is getting yet another CEO. And in all this time, after all this money, after all the fine leaders of the concern, nary a dime of profit.

So I have to ask, what's the point of Wine.com?

Better yet, considering THIS LIST, is there really a need for an unprofitable on-line wine shop called wine.com?

I wonder if it is the perceived value of the name "Wine.com" that leads to a sort of Manifest Destiny view of the company? One thing is for sure. No matter how many millions of dollars are sunk into the name, the name itself will never go away. It is prime "Real Etherstate". Maybe the problem is that it just hasn't been zoned right all these years. Or, perhaps the Wine.com moniker simply hasn't found the kind of developer that understands its potential.

Is the URL better suited for a publishing venture than a retail one? Or maybe it is best used to identify a promotional site?

I don't know. What I do know is that Wine.com is irrelevant given the ease by which we can find just about whatever type of wine we want on the Internet using any number of other sites and search engines.

Heat, Vines and Restaurants

It is 5:45pm on June 22 as I write this and the temperature in the shade reads 103. This is down from an earlier temperature of 106.

Earlier today I was with a client who was visiting with a wine writer. We walked out into the vineyard. Talked for about 10 minutes. Then we all sort of collectively, but silently, acknowledged that shade was needed...Now! We simply turned together, headed back to the cars and quickly found ourselves at the restaurant. Much better.

BETTER NOW THAN LATER
It is far better to have this kind of extreme heat early in the growing season for a number of reasons. The water table is still higher, feeding the plants nicely during the heat spell. Later in the growing season, in August and September, this kind of heat can cause serious sunburn, shut down the plants ripening process as well as stress them to a degree far beyond what is good for them. A series of 120 eighty-five degree days from June through September, bracketed by fog in the morning and evening, would be perfect. However....

This has been a pretty odd year, weather wise. Torrential rains at the first of the year, then some unexpected early spring heat, followed by significant amounts of spring rain and now we are getting extreme mid summer heat on the second day of summer that is forcasted to last through the weekend.

No one around here has any more expectations for what will come next. The gamblers grapegrowers are just along for the ride. So far it's been a pretty bumpy 2006.

Our Motivations: The Substance of our life

What keeps you up at night? What keeps you excited after you wake in the morning and realize another day is yours? What is it about your work that makes you proud and motivates you?

I was asking myself these questions the other day while conversing with a Zinfandel. In the end, my answer was not money, not prestige, not security. What keeps me proud and motivated about the work I do is my associations.

Wark Communications has right now the most fascinating mix of clients and individuals ever assembled.

Hook & Ladder Winery: A Russian River Valley producer with 400 acres of grapes at its disposal and three generations of family working it.

Bucklin: Producer of the Old Hill Ranch Zinfandel, clearly one of the most historic vineyards in California that produces a wine of such uniqueness that it might not be taken for Zin, but could only be "Old Hill" in origin.

Mayo Family Winery: By far most forward thinking tasting room entrepreneur who makes only single vineyard wines in small batches.

Inertia Beverage Group: This group of direct sales/Internet marketing entrepreneurs are the kind of group that gets remembered decades from today as "the pioneers."

Saintsbury Vineyards: Is there a more definitive producer of Carneros Pinot Noir? Are there two more interesting and engaged wine guys as Dick Ward and David Graves?

Now I get to add to this pride-inducing group Appellation America. I've been fans of Appellation America an their mission to bring appellation consciousness to the American wine trade and consumers since I first heard of them. I watched them slowly bring on a series of outstanding correspondents such as Tony Aspler, Dan Berger, Thom Elkjer and Alan Goldfarb. Let's face it, wine web sites are a dime a dozen. But Appellation America is demonstrating the kind of commitment to a mission that exists among a group of American publishers that can be counted on two hands.

So, when they came to talk to me, I listened.

I rarely send out a press release or allow a press release to be sent by a client announcing new Wark Communications clients. My philosophy is its the client, not me, that needs to get in the news. I didn't hesitate with Appellation America.

Sometimes in wine pr, and probably most other consulting endeavors, we take clients because we know we can do the job and because the money is good. The ideal is to WANT each and ever client because they motivate you with their significance and your desire to spread the word.

Well, I'm in a motivated mood—so motivated as to be inspired to write a bit of a self congratulatory post on FERMENTATION, something I studiously try to avoid.

But the take away is this: Our motivations are the substance of our lives.

FEDEX V. UPS: Who's Wine Deliveries Are Hotter?

Just something to consider....

I was talking with a journalist in Colorado today who receives a lot of wine shipments to his home...every day. He disclosed to me that in a very consistent way wines delivered by UPS are about 15 degrees warmer than wines delivered by FED EX.

How does he know this? He measures the temperatures of the outside of the boxes when they arrive at his home with a laser temperature guage. He says the difference in temperature between UPS and FED EX is consistent.

"Why," I asked him, "would this be the case?

In his opinion the reason is two fold: 1) The brown trucks of UPS absorb more heat than white trucks of FED EX. 2) UPS has translucent panels on their their trucks that allow more heat in.

And how hot are the boxes that come from UPS? "Usually 90 degrees or warmer," he said.

Ouch!!

Summer isn't the best time to be having wine shipped unless you go overnight delivery. The chance of getting a heat stroked wine is just too high. A lot of places you buy from will hold the wine for you until the fall and cooler temperatures roll around. However, a journalist writing regular reviews and on a publishing deadline doesn't have this luxury.

So...just an anecdote from a curious journalist with a thermometer.

Moving "Other States" Wines Into the Mainstream

While California wines dominate cosumption of domestic wines, other states across the country have seen their wine industries reallly take off. A combination of high quality bottlings and the attraction of a local wine country seem to have spurred this "other state" explosion in wine production.

The question is, how to get more people to try wines from "Other States".

I like what Ohio did recently.

They recently staged the Ohio Wine Challenge. Taking a page out of Robert Mondavi's early book, the Ohio wine industry pitted that state's wines against wines from CA and France. As might be expected, a number of Ohio wines bested the French and CA wines.

The best thing about these sorts of "tastings" is that it gives inspiration to Ohioans to choose their own state's wines. This is the key...convince the locals and you've got ambassadors who will take the news outside the state.

The Old World May Embrace a New Wine World

What a fascinating exercise the European wine producers and European Union is embarking upon.

Europe appears to be in the early phases of a complete overhaul of their wine industry, from growing to producing to marketing.

Yesterday the European Union's European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development , Mariann Fischer Boel, made a statement  that served as an introduction to the coming debate and staked out a rather progressive position on what needs to be done to make European wine more competitive as well as shore up the industry in general.

Mischer Boel started with a rundown of the challenge facing the European wine industry:

-Consumption in the EU is falling
-Europeans are fast adopting New World alternatives to Old World offerings
-Excessive production is pushing prices for wine and grapes downward
-Distilling down excess wine has become a part of the market rather than an extraordinary event

One gets the impression from the commissioner's statement that a total liberalization or revamping based on market forces would be the preferred way to address this issues. However, it is also made clear that this kind of drastic approach won't fly with producing countries.

Rather, the proposals now on the table include:

-Financing the pulling out of 400,000 hectares of vineyards (the equivalent of all the California wine grape vineyards

-Allowing these lands to be planted to any other agricultural product the owners desire

-The reapportionment of funds once devoted to distilling excess wine into alcohol and devoting it to restructuring the industry by funding early retirements and creating more profitable agricultural endeavors in regions where production of wine and grape outstrips demand.

-Wine labeling and wine production laws are to be made far more flexible and liberal in order to allow European growers to compete with the more free wheeling ways of the New World where just about any production methods are allowed.

-Increase the amount the EU spends on marketing of their wines, presumably both oversees and inside the Union.

It's pretty drastic stuff. I can't begin to estimate what the reactions will be, nor how successful they will be at bringing Europe into a more competitive stance with New World wines. Debate is about to ensue with proposed legislation coming likely early next year.

What's really fascinating however is the fact that Europe apparently sees a turning point in their approach to winemaking and wine marketing the likes of which we've not seen in a very long time. It's a very strategic approach that is being suggested. What I think will be most interesting is how the Europeans change their winemaking and wine labeling laws to compete with New World producers while attempting to maintain a reliance on the idea that the PLACE makes the WINE.

Pinot On Ice

This past fathers day was a hoot. We had four fine fathers gathered with their wives and children and grandchildren all in our newly renovated back yard. It was all good...Until I had to explain myself.

You see it was warm outside. And while a chilled rose and gewurztraminer were on the table, I wanted to drink something red. But it was just too damn hot to really appreciate it. So I did what I often do with red wine when it's hot: I put ice cubes in the wine.

Oh my god!!!!!!  Ice cubes.

My family and in-laws who fancy me a "wine dude" were aghast. "you don't put ice cubes in wine, let alone red wine, Mr. Wine dude!"

And this brings us to the ultimate question: What is wine for?

Is it for savoring under perfect condition so the wine's nuances and complexity will show? Or is wine for drinking, plain and simple?

Yes.

But pick your battles is my cry. Have you ever had a Pinot Noir on a hot day chilled down with a few cubes? The wine is cool, refreshing and quaffable. Yes, it loses some of its nuance (well, a lot of it), but who cares. Wine is here on earth for one reason: To make life more enjoyable. That's it. There is no other reason. Make some up if you want, but they will all be lies and fabrications after you get past the "wine is for making life more enjoyable" explanation.

The iced pinot tasted great with the meatballs and warm day.

It's going to start to get hot out there. It's summer. You can go with the chilled Rose or white wine. But  give other variations a try: Pinot over ice with a lime wedge. Cabernet over ice with a teaspoon of sugar. Take a flabby Chard, ice it down, drop i a lemon wedge.

The other fathers were still a bit aghast when I explained this philosophy to them. I think I burst their bubble about my wine savvy reputation. I'll fix that at thanksgiving when I blow their minds with a well aged sauvignon blanc or some champagne with fifteen years on it.

Until then, I'm icing the pinot whenever I damn want to.

More reasons to Drink Wine

Maybe wine IS God's gift to man.  Every year seems to bring new discoveries of how wine is good for us.

The latest discovery, and one of the more intriguing, is one which iidentifies red wine as helping to induce sleep due to the high amounts of melatonin, a hormone that is produced in our bodies and that helps regulate our internal "body clock", which tells us when to sleep.

Italian researches now tell us that some grapes they tested, particularly Nebbiolo, has very high amounts of this compound. The researches concluded the existence of melatonin in the grape skins of Nebbiolo and other grape varieties that eventually make their way into wine, could keep help us keep up a regular sleep schedule if taken regularly.

Of course there's always the skeptics. This time its those who point out that maybe its the alcohol that would make us sleep better. Yea...it could be that. But did they have to go on to say that alcohol before bed can provide a less restful sleep? Damn those skeptics.

Why Farmers Pray

Lest we forget that the wine industry is an agricultural industry, given to the whims of Mother Nature, the is now the 2006 Port vintage to consider.

Apparently a storm that rushed through Portugal last Wednesday did extensive damage to what would have been the Port wine vineyards in that country. Initial reports had the loss in the neighborhood of 80% of the vines due to severe hail.

Today the estimates of the loss and damage was said to be less than the originally stated 80%. Taylors, one of the top producers of Port, said they lost 750,000 of 1,200,000 vines...just over 60%. That's still pretty devastating.

In my time working in the California wine industry and living in the North Coast I've never heard of such a loss of crop. But this doesn't mean it can't happen. But again, this is a reminder that those who grow any crop for a living are, at heart, gamblers. The purchasing of crop insurance sustains these gamblers in years when devastation occurs. However, the very chance that an entire crop, or most of it, makes it easier to understand why faith and religion tend to be stronger in agricultural regions.

Those Who Help the Cause

Just a reminder to those reading FERMENTATION that there is a cadre of folk who help the FERMENTATION Cause.

Check them out. Visit their websites and businesses.

They include:

K&L WINE MERCHANTS
A fantastic wine retailer located in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the Internet. They recently got serious props from the Wall Street Journal for just about everything they do in the store and on the Net.

INERTIA BEVERAGE GROUP
The industry experts on how to sell wine on the Internet, IBG is breaking ground in every direction they go. And, we are very proud to work with IBG. Their blog however is one of the real jewels in their crown. If you are a winery or sell wine direct you must really check it out.

MAYO FAMILY RESERVE ROOM
After changing the way wine tasting rooms approach the wine experience with their Sonoma Valley based RESERVE ROOM, Mayo Family Winery has opened a second RESERVE ROOM in Healdsburg. A simple but brilliant concept the Wall Street Journal called "An Awesome Experience: For $20 you get seven reserve wines delivered with seven amazingly prepared food pairings.

OHIO WINES
A new sponsor here at FERMENTATION. It's a beautiful website filled to the brim with info on one of the country's most important wine producing states that once was the leader in production. It's clearly time to look beyond the usual suspects and investigate wine from "other states".

GMO Wines & Vines

There is an interesting AP story making the rounds today about an effort to combat various wine grapevines...using genetic modification.

They ask the right question in the story: will the wine industry and consumers happily adopt the idea of vineyards planted with genetically modified vines, let alone the wines made from them?

The effort is taking place in Missouri at a place called "Center for Grapevine Biotechnology", where it turns out they are also part of the global cooperative project to uncover the genetic make up of the world's grapevines via "International Grape Genome Program."

Here in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties there is a very strong movement against the use of GMOs. Mendocino County banned the use of them. In Sonoma there was a similar ballot measure that failed. But it wasn't a landslide.

I wonder if it is already enough to ask consumers to look at the vintage, the varietal, the appellation and the pretty picture on the label without asking them to look somewhere on the product for the symbol or message indicating if the wine was made with GMOs?

Seems to me the scientific work is surely worth while. The question is will the effort ever turn from pure science to practical use.

Wine PR Rule #1: Giv'em What They Want

The wine PR business has really changed. It is much harder to garner good press for your wine today than it was 15 years ago for one simple reason: There are a whole lot more excellent wines on the market and just as many new, compelling stories that need to be told. A good wine marketer or publicist better know what they are doing.

This is the first in a series of looks inside the wine PR business. Or, better put, the first in a series
of how the wine business demands a particular approach to public relations in an industry where each bit of ink is hard fought.

RULE  NUMBER ONE: Give them what they want.

While a wine publicist does a lot of things, one of the primary jobs they perform is getting the wineries unique story in front of the media. In part, being successful at this is merely showing up. While some of the wine media receives tons of info from wineries, PR firms, importers and wine distributors, the majority of wineries, particularly the small and medium sized ones, simply don’t engage the media in any meaningful way.  So, doing so is a good first step.

However, taking this first step often leads to a slip   because what get delivered to the wine media is not what they want. In fact, it just makes more work for them.

THE UNNECESSARY PRESS RELEASE
For example, is it really news that a winery has released a new vintage of its Chardonnay? I mean, is it really? The number of press releases that get sent to wine writers that say, simply, “we have released a new vintage of Chardonnay” are too many and too useless. When was the last time you saw a story anywhere about the release of a new wine?

THE UNNECESSARY PHONE CALL
Another way wineries reach out the wine media is by sending “Press Samples” for them to try and hopefully review. Yet all too often the winery will call the target of their mailing on the phone to ask, “Did you received the sample?” Well, the FED EX tracking software tells you they did. Of course they did. Who wants to take time out of their day to answer a stupid question?  Why not ask what you are really thinking: “Did you taste it and did you like it?” You don’t’ ask that question because it pushes someone into a corner. No one likes to be in a corner. No one likes to be pressured.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Here’s the deal, and it applies to contacting media on any subject matter at all: contact them when you have something compelling to offer them. Know what they tend to cover. Find out what kind of angles they hang their stories on. Then, and only then, contact them, make sure it’s a good time to talk, or write them, and give them your compelling story.

This takes work.

But if you are asking a member of the media to, essentially, work on your behalf, why wouldn't’t you put in the work first yourself?

Depending on Score Whores: A Cautionary Tale

A Cautionary Tale

What’s the impact of building a winery marketing strategy that relies on receiving only great scores and ratings from the most important wine critics? Consider this cautionary tale.

A few years ago a very fine winemaker decides it’s time to make their own wines, rather than make someone else’s wine. So the winery is born. Well, actually they lease space at another winery to make about 400 cases of wine. They get fruit from great vineyards and set out to make the kind of wine that gets BIG scores from the critics.

These are big wines. Fat wines. Wines of girth and strength. And the critics…..LOVE THEM.

92 Points!  95 Points. 93 Points.  The wines, at a price somewhere north of $60, sell out. Nearly all the wine is sold direct at around $60 a bottle. Do the math. Yep….very nice little business and not a little bit of acclaim to go with it.

In fact after the first vintage sells out to score whores,  the next few vintages sell out, again on the strength of very good scores for these behemoths. Production slowly increases. We are now at about 700 cases….mostly sold direct.

The strategy has worked.

Then….one year…something happens.  88 Points. 87 Points. 89 Points. Small changes in scores, but very big meaning. The nicely written and complimentary reviews are irrelevant. The problem is the scores are too low for the score whores to bite.

Now what? Now you’ve got 700 cases of an 88 Point wines that sell for $60 to $70 a bottle.

A number of people on the mailing list still want the wine. But a number of them don’t order. The wine’s not moving that fast. At first the winemaker tries something he’s never really tried before…selling it. He talks to retailers and presents them with an 88 point wine that retails for $65. The retailer walks them over to the aisles and shows them a $20 wine that got 89 Points.

The winemaker gets the same tour at a number of different retail and restaurant establishments. So, the next best thing is undertaken. Find distribution. But they want to know what the scores are too. And they show the winemaker 89 pint wines that sell for $20.

Luckily the winemaker has lots of wine on his hands….because he needs a drink.

NY Times On Wine: A Motivational Tool

I think it’s pretty clear that Eric Asimov likes his job.

Read this evocative description of the Bollinger 1970 Vielles Vignes Champagne he tasted at the House of Bollinger from his most recent column in the New York Times:

“It was sedate for a Champagne, the bubbles soft and delicate, the color golden, bordering on amber. It was bone dry and quiet at first, but with a little air, it took on richness. It was still lively, graceful yet intense, with a succulence that comes from good acidity. The toasty, nutlike flavors were precise and finely etched. This was a profound wine, and though it came from pinot noir, it had the majesty of an old white Burgundy.”

I think it’s pretty clear that Mr. Asimov was in the mood. How could you not be?

Based on the recent posts at Asimov’s wine blog it appears he has been traipsing about France these past few days. His recent dispatches have beautiful insights into the winemaking minds and wines of that Old World.

But here’s the thing. As clear as it is that Eric Asimov loves his job as the New York Times wine columnist and satisfying as it is to see that kind of appreciation for someone’s vocation, the real treasure is that one of the greatest newspapers the world has ever seen sees fit to devote a
position to this genre of writing.

Wine is not earth shaking stuff. It’s fermented juice with a history. There are a lot more important topics than the old vines of champagne. Yet, The NY Times seeks out great writers to cover wine. Of course, so does the LA Times, the Wall Street Journals and the San Francisco Chronicle, while not quite the paper of record that the NY Times is, devotes an entire section to the subject. These kinds of commitments in turn motivate publishers and editors at small market newspapers to do the same…or at least to buy a syndicated column.

This is the sort of thing great newspapers do. They deliver great insight and commentary on subjects of little import but of great concern to those with broad views and taste.

The Apex in Critter Wine Appeal?

Well, it is official.

The trend toward cute labels has reached a climax.  Here is a wine column out of Arizona that reviews and gives scores not only to the wines, but also to the wine labels that qualify as cute.

There is something in me that creates something of an aversion to cute labels but I can't quite lay my finger on the source of that dismissive attitude.

By the way...Why not FIVE emus?

Barrelling Into Blogging

Ever wonder what the life of a barrel looks like?

Annette Hoff, winemaker at Cima Collina, a client of Wark Communications, one who works in a region I’m quickly coming to conclude is on the cutting edge of all that is great about California winemaking (Monterey), and who also is a great blogger, has a post on just this subject.

The fact is, Annette simply doesn't’t blog enough…or, enough for me. Each of her posts are a delight, very personal, instructive and insightful. However, I’m not necessarily suggesting she post more often to her blog if it means she spends less time in the cellar or vineyard. I’m out of her pinot and want to make sure there is more to be had.

A New Venue For Robert Parker

It's not unprecedented but it is unusual. Robert Parker's agreement to write a weekly column for Business Week Magazine is a fairly rare even for the most powerful wine critic on the planet. Since beginning publishing his Wine Advocate newsletter he has taken up very few gigs outside that venue. He wrote fleetingly for both Wine Enthusiast Magazine and for Food & Wine Magazine. But most of his efforts have gone into his newsletter.

So bringing on Parker to write a "wine of the week" type column is indeed a bit of a coup for BusinessWeek. And it's good for Robert Parker too. If indeed it's a small column that lists a few recommendations then it's the kind of thing that Mr. Parker can probably pull off with very little effort. However, it brings a large group of decently heeled readers into his fold and many likely on to his subscription rolls.

I've always seen a bit of a tongue in cheek quality to Parker's musings. One quote from the press release for this new partnership points to that quality:

"I am very excited about the opportunity to share my passion for the world's finest wines and wine bargains with the readers of BusinessWeek. I have always believed no great business can be conducted without eventually serving the proper wine."

Now, while Parker most definitely will leave a legacy behind when he's done reviewing wine, if he were able to convince the business community to pour more wine while doing business....well, that would be an EXTRA SPECIAL legacy.

Marin County Pinot Noir--DISTINCTIVE!!

I can recall the era when the emergence of a new wine growing region, while somewhat exciting, was also met with a bit of skepticism by the wine trade and the hard core consumer. The issue was 1) can the new area producing anything of merit and is there any talent making wine in the region.

It was also the case that getting out the word on wines from an emerging region was also a difficult task. The wine media was taken up full time already just covering the traditional wine regions in the Old World and focusing on the best of the new world. To get any substantial coverage for a region that was only beginning to pump out wines was a difficult task, which led to the slow going of gaining recognition for their wines.

This has has all changed.

With a renewed emphasis on rationality and terroir, and with technology and know-how having advanced to the point that a region's potential is well known before the first grapevine is planted, the issue of whether or not a region can produce fine wine is pretty much assumed. Also, the ways by which news of an emerging region is spread is helped tremendously by the expanded wine media and the expansion of the ways by which people can get their hands on info about a region.

This is all significant in relationship to the winegrowers of Marin County in California.

A small group tasting was held in Marin County on Friday and Saturday in which the Pinot Noirs of this region were showcased. These wines clearly demonstrate that Marin County can, if there were enough vineyards planted, become a source for really stunning wines.

The tasting was held in the beautiful remains of the old Escalle Winery in Larkspur in Marin County. About 8 wineries showed up pouring a number of different Pinots from the region. What's clear to begin with is that, generally, Marin County Pinot Noirs tend to be lower in alcohol, immensely complex and the result of generally far smaller crop levels than in other regions of California.

The climate where Pinot is planted her tends to be very cold, influenced tremendously by its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the winds that come off that body of water and to the San Francisco. Bay. The Proximity to these bodies of water means Marin tends to have more moderate winters and springs.  This is good because it leads to an earlier bud break, which is needed given how cool the summers can be. The Marin Pinot growers need an extended hang time to get the grapes ripe. Most of the winemakers I spoke with explained that they end up picking Pinot in Late September, October and sometimes in November. And Pinot is an EARLY ripening grape.

The upshot too is that 14% alcohol or there abouts, and often south of that, is the norm for these Pinots. Yet, they are PACKED with flavors and aromas that make them fascinating wines to linger with and drink.

I liked the Marin Pinots quite a lot. The bottom line is that they are exciting, well made, distinctive and there are not enough of them to go around.

POINT REYES VINEYARDS
Scott Dougherty was pouring a 2002 Blanc de Noir style Sparkler that was delightful. It's yeasty, citrus, peach-laden nose and crisp demeanor made it a refreshing and interesting wine to drink. The grapes for this wine were picked on NOV 11 !!! The cost is $24 and that's a bargain!

CORDA WINERY
The vineyards for this winery sit just on the Marin side of the Sonoma/Marin County border near Petaluma. I tasted the 2001 Marin County Pinot Noir and found it infused with aromas of rose pedal, black tea, ripe cherry, bacon and vanilla. The tannins are rich and silky and the flavors are headlined by brilliant and sharply defined dried cherry. It delivered excellent balance and is drinking wonderfully right now. Cost is unknown.

SEAN THACKERY'S ANDROMEDA
Thackery's 2003 Devil's Gulch Andromeda was the odd man out at this tasting. This wine is huge!! It easily came in with the highest alcohol content of all the wines at the tasting at 15.1%. The Devil's Gulch Vineyards is clearly the best know of the Marin County vineyards. The vineyard has also produced beautiful wines for Dutton Goldfield. Thackery explained that the yield on this vineyard is absolutely minuscule due in large part to the fact that the berries are perhaps twice the size of a BB. Of course, this also accounts for the Devil's Gulch Pinots expressiveness. This wine was bold, very Syrah like with bright, dark cherry flavors, very meaty, very long and very fat. It's a style of Pinot that will appeal to some. To those who appreciate the feminine side of Pinot, this might not be the wine for them. Cost is around $60.

DUTTON GOLDFIELD
Dutton-Goldfield was pouring its 2003 and 2001 Devil Gulch Pinot Noir. Both were exceptional with the 2001 clearly more ready to drink, more evolved and more interesting. The alcohols for both these wines fell in the 13.5 range. Perfect. The 2003 shows more berry than cherry aromas and flavors. But its the spice in these wines that keeps you coming back. An Asian spice quality lifts up from both wines in a very attractive fashion. These are beautiful Pinot Noirs with a medium body and a good acid backbone that will allow them to age, I  think, quite nicely for another 8 years or so. Each vintages costs about $48.

PEY MARIN
Jonathon Pey is one of the driving forces behind the resurgence of Marin winemaking  and the promotion of the wines. He's not only a good, enthusiastic spokesperson for the group but his wines are also terrific. We tasted the 2004 Trois Fille Pinot Noir. It is a beautiful Pinot Noir that comes in at 14% alcohol and is wonderfully expressive offering up a collection of varietal Pinot aromas, lovely acidity a subtle richness on the palate and demonstrable spiciness that creates the kind of complexity in Pinot Noirs that we look for. Cost is about $36. Pey also poured a 2005 Riesling from their Mount Tamalpias brand that was  beautiful. Nearly dry, more German than Californian in style, bright, textured, lovely.

VISION CELLARS
Vision was showcasing their 2004 Chileno Valley Vineyards, which are owned by Corda. It is a wine that is more straightforward than other Pinots. Varietally correct, very bright aromas and flavors with nearly a carbonic maceration quality to it that will likely evolve away with a year or two in the bottle. These folk know single vineyard Pinots and it's a boost to the region to have them making a Marin County Pinot. At $24 the 2004 Vision Pinot is a bargain.

STUBBS VINEYARDS
Stubbs is a winery that has retained the services of Dan Goldfield of Dutton Goldfield. Few people know Marin winemaking and even cold climate Sonoma County winemaking as well as Dan. The Stubbs 2004 Marin Pinot is a beautiful wine made from their estate vineyards. It's young right now and needs to settle down. It's in that phase where the oak is even with the fruit character rather than supporting the wine, but I thinks this wine is set to be a balanced beauty in about six months to a year. It has a fleshy texture supported by good acid and silky tannins. The wine is driven by deep seated cherry flavored base this is ripe, not dry. About $38.

What holds Marin County winemaking back at this point is clearly not the quality of the wines or the dedication of those making the wines. All this is in place. It's access to vineyards that will hold back these wines' accessibility. Vineyard land is expensive in this neck of the woods and currently there simply are not a lot of acres under vine, though it appears that there are perhaps another 20-30 acres that are yet to be producing.

Marin, with it unique and distinctive climate, is one of those regions that can develop into a source of wines for which wine lovers can have an expectation of character and style. This is important. It's what sets them apart.

A Wine Blogging First Ends

Taj at Cork & Demon has apparently finished her notorious Western Wine Tour. It was, as far as I know, "on the road" wine blogging event to hit the blogosphere. Taj started in Texas, made here way through the southwest, up through California, Oregon and Washington, then back home. Along the way she stopped and visited wineries, talked to owners and winemakers and blogged it all.

I envy Taj. Who doesn't really. There is something very substantially American about the solitary road trip. Combine that with wine, blogging and stopping to meet on-line acquaintances and you've got something very compelling.

Taj currently has a round up post on her adventures and most particularly on the notable wines she tasted along the wine. It is highly recommended.

"This Wine Is Rubbish"...well, not really!

From the "Be Careful What You Say" File:

Decanter reports that a maker of Portuguese wine Vida Nova was provoked by his host on a British TV show to denounce his own wine as "That's rubbish. I wouldn't pay for that, it's tainted, it's insipid. It tastes like vinaigrette. I'd never buy that."

Ouch.

Of course it was a blind tasting. The winemaker, Cliff Richard, should have known better.

But what's more interesting is how this episode in self emulation points to the usefulness of excuses in the world of wine and wine tasting. The article quotes "a veteran observer" (what's that) as coming to Richard's defense this way:

"'The first wine Ramsay gave him was a £400 claret. Of course a Portuguese table wine, made from five-year-old vines, is going to taste rough after that. It's a classic wine industry sting."

Not really. If the Portuguese wine was decent any good winemaker or winery owner really should have the wherewithal to detect its decentness...no matter what wine came before it. The difference between "decent" and "rubbish" is a pretty long hike.

This happens a lot in the wine business and among tasters who have even the smallest interest or state in a wine that doesn't show well. The excuses are many and varied:

"It's in a dumb phase"
"The wine is closed up right now"
"Clearly this wine is in bottle shock."
"His wines always need a good three years to show its stuff"
"It's not a wine that is made to age"
"I shouldn't have had that candy bar this morning before tasting"

There is something to be said for studiously avoiding situations in which you might be called upon to pronounce judgment on your own spawn, or even put your creation anywhere near a call for judgment. I'm reminded of the CA vintners who, apparently, didn't want to have their wines tasted alongside other wines in the recent 30th anniversary re-staging of the Paris Tasting of 1976. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose.

The problem with this attitude is that it leads to blandness, extreme diplomacy, and cavity inducing courteousness. It's just not fun to watch, read or listen to someone say sweet things about everyone or avoid all possibility of uncomfortable tension.

So the question is: How can one be bold and safe at the same time? The answer is to be astute, learned and experienced in all areas you wish to make pronouncements upon. Richards should have been able to taste his wine and know his wine blind.

TEN THINGS: To Do To Get A High Caliber Wine Education

TEN THING...
To Do To Get A High Caliber Wine Education

1. Get a job at a serious wine shop like K&L Wine Merchants or Zachys

2. Work in the Cellar at Robert Mondavi or Simi in the 1970s or 1980s

3. Agree to be Kermit Lynch's Valet

4. Read the ten fattest wine books by English writers written in the past 20 years

5. Sell wine for a distributor in San Francisco or New York for 10 years

6. Spend a few years inspecting wine consignments at a wine auction house

7. Take your inheritance and buy a well-run winery producing 20,000 cases of wine.

8. Set aside five years and work for six months each in a cellar in California, Oregon, Argentina, France, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

9. Plant, manage, care for and find buyers for the grapes from a 10 acre vineyard

10. Taste and take notes on ten wines per day f