Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

My Top Five Aesthetic Discoveries of 2006

My Top Five Aesthetic Discoveries of 2006

5. Hiromi
This young Japanese jazz artist is...well...remarkable. Her compositions are original and unique in the same way the sound of The Who or Led Zeppelin's compositions were unique. If you are a Jazz fan this woman's work should become indispensable.

4. George Saintsbury
He's not exactly "new". However, in the course of doing work for Saintsbury winery this year I had a chance to read through his work, mainly his "Notes on a Cellar Book. Saintsbury was a very influential English literary historian and critic who possessed a keenly intellectual and, I think, visceral appreciation for wine. In "Notes" you see these two things meshed with his Victorian sensibilities. Reading "Notes" is a real pleasure. Here is a good Post from WineSapian on Saintsbury and his "Notes on a Cellar Book".

3. Aged Sauvignon Blanc
We just don't drink our whites with age on them, do we. My first exposure to a well aged SB that pleased me was a 20 year old Pat Paulson SB that was amazing...for about 10 minutes, then fell apart.  In those 10 minutes it tasted like no other white wine I'd had from the U.S. and I wanted more. But it left the room. This year I decided it was time to test aged SB and went out and found 3 or 4 ten year old examples. These were expressive, subtly fruity, with hints of maderization, a nuttiness and the best still possessed a backbone of acidity. I'm hooked.

2. Kermit Lynch's Palate
The man is  legend and for very good reason. A bit of a tempered iconoclast, Lynch gained famed with his book "Adventures on the Wine Route". MFK Fisher called this book, "   "One of the pleasantest and truest books about wine I've ever read." I never really sought out the wines that Lynch discovers and brings to his store, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants, until this year. I've yet to be disappointed. He brings me discoveries and new wines and new ideas all at the same time when his packages of wine arrive at my home.

1. Old Hill Ranch Vineyard
Bucklin Winery became a client of Wark Communications in 2006. With that relationship came access to Bucklin's 150+ year old Old Hill Ranch vineyard in Glen Ellen in the middle of Sonoma Valley. For those of you who are thinking, "Tom's about to go off on a promotional aside for a client"...I don't care. I've walked throughout this vineyard, through the season, this year and I never failed to be stunned by it's complex, natural and intellectual beauty. Many of the individual vines are so unique they take on personality, particularly if you follow their progression throughout the seasons. Then there is the odd intermixing of varieties throughout the vineyard, a flagrant and promiscuous ensemble of more than 25 different types of grapevines. After harvest this year I was walking through the vineyard. The vines' second crop and part of the first was still hanging on the vines. As I walked through the vineyard I found myself gobbling up and tasting Grenache, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Alicante Bouschet, Carignane, Syrah, Lenoir, Tempranillo, Chasselas, Mourvedre and who knows what else. And many of the grapes hung on vines over 100 years old. A sensual experience of this sort must be what wine lovers live for.

"The Big Lie" About Virginia Wine

I read something Interesting Today:

"The laws that underpin our alcohol controls established a three-tier system to eliminate corruption and chaos predominant before Prohibition. For more than 70 years, this system has served the nation well. What has been called an antiquated system and monopoly, by some, provides a broad selection of affordable products and an orderly market.

This system should evolve, but citizens must be careful not to dismantle it solely for those with recently emerging business interests or those few who are outraged at not being able to find a specific bottle of wine. We must try to accommodate them, but the system was not established to rain on anyone's parade. It has a larger, more important purpose."
James Archer
Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing—Blue Ridge Beverage Co (wine distributor)

It has been a long time since I've seen such a profound and perfect example of "The Big Lie".

"The Big Lie" is a a phrase that refers to a statement that, though false, is offered up over and over and over again until it becomes accepted as the gospel.

In this case the BIG LIE is the idea that anyone, be they wineries, consumers or retailers, are looking to "dismantle" the three tier system of alcohol distribution.

Archer heads up a wine distributor in Virginia, a state in which wine wholesalers were instrumental in removing wineries' 20+ year old right to sell direct to retailers and restaurants rather than being forced to sell their wine to distributors at a much lower price, who then sold to the same retailers and restaurants. Virginia wineries, which exploded in number while able to distribute themselves, now find themselves in dire straights because of the lost revenue directly resulting from the new law that prohibits them from selling to retailers and restaurants.

And Archer claims that people want to "dismantle" the system that keeps HIM in cash???

How could such a law that is so positively detrimental to the Virginia wine industry be passed? Simple.

Between 2003 and 2005 Virginia Wholesalers contributed approximately $1.67 Million to Virginia politicians. James and his company were happy to pony up more than $21,000 in that same time frame. And that doesn't count the 1000s of dollars they contributed to the Virginia Wine Wholesalers Association who gave LOTS of money to politicians.

So let's be clear about what James Archer is talking about. He and his fellow wholesalers are involved in a conspiracy to dismantle the system that allowed Virginia wineries to flourish. When he writes that the 3 tier system of selling only through wine wholesalers "has a larger, more important purpose" he's correct. That purpose is to provide wine wholesalers with as much profit as possible.

If Virginia wineries were given back the right to sell directly to restaurants and retailers, the Commonwealth of Virginia indeed would have to give that same right to out-of-state wineries. Archer and the wholesalers have convinced Virginia's legislators (and how hard is that sales job after $1.6 Million in campaign contributions) that such a turn of events would mean the dismantling" of the 3 tier system.

Not So. Not even close.

All it would mean is that the Wholesalers would have to demonstrate their value in a free market economy where wineries have alternative ways to get their wine to market besides wholesalers. Furthermore, the State of Virginia would have no problem collecting any taxes and fees they'd like to impose on wineries shipping to retailers and restaurants from out of state. It's called electronic transfer. Hell, I'm sure out of state wineries even possess checkbooks.

The only folks capable of dismantling the Wholesaler's Monopoly called the "3 Tier System" are the wholesalers. If they can't demonstrate they offer a valuable service in the midst of a free market then the system will die on its own.

In the meantime, Archer and his fellow wine wholesalers will continue to contribute millions of dollars annually to assure they don't have to face a free market, while at the same time pleading for calm among the Virginia wineries who are currently seeing their 20 year battle to establish their industry dismantled by the checkbooks of the wholesalers.

A Colorful Display of Wine Extravegance

Last week many of us read about the sale over in London of an extraordinary collection of wine: A 135-Bottle Vertical Collection of Chateau d'Yquem ranging from 1860 to 2003.

First off, if you don't salivate at the very thought of obtaining such a collection of wine then, well, then I question your status as even a semi-wine geek.

Steve Bachmann over at The Wine Collector Blog, a member of the board of directors of the society for wine geeks, has a very interesting post on the collection, including thoughts on the $1.5 million price paid for the wines and the custom cabinet it came in.

What interest me about this episode in wine geekery and wine collecting is not so much the price since I'm not in the wine investment or collecting business. Rather, I'm fascinated by the appearance of the youngest and oldest bottle next to each other.

The impact that the appearance of these wines has on someone looking over the collection critically or casually is much more than if we were looking at an ancient bottle of claret next to a new bottle: You can actually examine in detail the change in the liquid that occurs over time. This can't be done with colored glass. And I suspect this unique aspect of d'Yquem has a real impact on its cache, particularly older bottles. I don't care...that's just pretty damn cool.

You can check out images of all the bottles in the collection HERE.

Those interested in a good analysis of the sale and the price should read Bachmann's post at The Wine Collector Blog

Fixing Corked Wines: A Do-It-Yourself Guide

I have to admit that of late it seems I've encountered far fewer "corked" wines than in the past. I've no solid, scientific evidence to know this. It just seems this way.

What's interesting is that as many lower priced wines transition to screwcaps it is the mid priced and higher priced wines more likely to bless us with that unique "hair of the dog" or "wet newspaper" aroma that comes with tainted corks.

I've sent wines back a number of times in restaurants due to cork taint. But when I encounter the problem at home I tend not to take the trouble to go back to where I got the wine and and ask for my money back or something new.

So, I was intrigued when I got an email from Ray Jordon of The Spirit of Wine Blog about his home-based experiments for removing the effects of cork taint. Jordon carried out a series of somewhat controlled experiments. His results are very interesting. It appears that there are ways to avoid tossing a corked wine down the sink, cussing, and tossing the bottle into the recycling at a velocity that will cause that satisfying sound of breakage.

Read about Ray's experiments in fixing cork tank here..

Jazz & Bourbon

America's most influetial living Jazz pianist takes the stage at Yoshi's in Oakland, California today. Guess who will be there.

I'd have bought tickets for each and every night of McCoy Tyner's run at Yoshi's (26th -31st) if I could have convinced my wife there was a compelling reason to see him play six days in a row. While I think I could have made a compelling argument for taking up residence in a Hotel nearby for six days, I don't think it would have worked with Ginny. So, I'll settle for tonight.

The wine list at Yoshi's, which doubles as a Sushi House, isn't that great. But even if it were, I think the best drink to accompany McCoy and his Quartet of Joe Lavano on sax, Christian McBride on Bass, and Jeff 'Tain Watts on drums is bourbon. I've found a simple double of Kentucky bourbon works perfectly well with modal harmonics and breathtaking complexity of Tyner's approach to Jazz. Both jolt the inside at once then transition into something quite comforting.

If you live in the SF Bay Area you may still be able to get tickets to the late shows, though the early sets and the New Year's eve performance is sold out.

Tyner gained fame playing Piano in the legendary John Coltrane Quartet. He's often said that his groundbreaking style of playing his instrument was developed out of the necessity of keeping up with Coltrane as he would go off on riffs that quite new to jazz. Tyner had to adapt with a new way to accompany something else entirely new. After leaving Coltrane's quartet, Tyner went on to produce an astounding array of recordings and become an influence for nearly every jazz pianist who took to the keyboards since.

This will be my third McCoy Tyner concert this year, twice at Yoshi's and once at Rodney Strong  Vineyards in  Healdsburg during the  Healdsburg Jazz Fest. Three times is not enough, but it will do.

A Primer on How Wineries Can Lose 25% of their Profit

If there are any wineries out there who are looking at the prospect of losing their right to self distribute their wines to retailers and restaurants, they should read THIS STORY about the impact of such a turn of events in Virginia.

Wineries facing this possibility should also ask themselves:

-How much of your profit margin should you give to wine distributors to do a job you can better?

-Who is best at representing your wine: a commissioned based distributor sales rep or you?

-What would be the impact of immediately losing 25%-30% of your revenue?

To consumers who like the idea of having access to a wide variety of wines and to wine retailers who like the idea of offering the wines they really WANT to offer, you need to ask yourself if you are willing to sit still as open markets for wine are shut down for the economic sake of a very very small sector of the wine industry: distributors.

There should be a very simple goal in the minds of wineries, wine retailers and wine consumers: A well-regulated, free, open national market for wine.

Virginia wineries lost access to a free and open market for wine sales even in the their own state.

Women Wine Drinkers: What Do They Know?

I've thought about it. Winemakers have and most certainly wine marketers have: Do women perceive wine differently than men. Not "do women react differently to wine packaging than men?" Not, "Do women serve or use wine differently than men"?" Rather, when women smell and taste wine do they have a different reaction than men would to the same wine?

This appears to be the question that Women for Winesense, a national organization of women wine professionals, are attempting to answer with their "National Women's Wine Competition".

The Competition will take place in March in Sonoma County. What sets this competition apart is that only women will judge the wines.

The organizers of this unique competition take no position on the question of whether women perceive wine differently than men. The only comment on the competition website that comes near the question is their curiosity about "what wines would win top honors in the eyes of women."

I'd have liked to see Women for Wine Sense take a more proactive step in trying to answer the question of how women's palates differ from men's. It wouldn't be too difficult. You'd simple have two groups of judges, one all male and one all female, all judging the same wines in the same manner. As it is, the best tool this competition will yield is a set of wines that are endorsed by women. That's not a bad thing. As the Women for Winesense points out, women by far more wine than men do. Personally, I'd love to have a sticker to put on my wine bottle that says, "Judged Superior by Women".

We know that marketers out there have conducted focus groups that try to discover which packaging appeal particularly to women. I'd bet focus groups have also been conducted that attempt to determine which style of wine is preferred more by women. Yet, I've never seen any such results. And the more I think about it, I feel a wholly inadequate as a wine marketer because i don't know the answer to this question. It's fundamental, isn't it...at least from a wine marketer's perspective?

The competition is open to any wine. However there is a sub competition in side the competition that will judge only wines made by women. While another good idea, I'm not sure what information it will yield without there being another sub-competition of wines produced only by men.

Merely observing women and living in close proximity to women for most of my 43 years tells me that women perceive all sorts of things differently than men. They also seem to express themselves differently than men, which might suggest that women approach winemaking differently than men. However, I've yet to notice any particular palate difference between men and women. I'd be inclined to speculate on just what differences might exist, but it really would be useless as these guesses would only be a recitation of stereotypes applied to wine.

I'll be curious to see what the Women For Wine Sense's National Women's Wine Competition comes up with. I'm just not sure I'll know what it means.

Merry Elfmas From Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Fermentation is taking an Elfmas Break until Wednesday the 27th.

In the meantime, Click the Elf to see what Tom will be doing during the Elfmas Break

WineSatPic 3: Aerial Wine Marketing

It's real!

Jost Vineyards, a Nova Scotia-based winery near the Northumberland Strait, has taken to the air to promote their website.

My understanding is that this has not been photoshopped...Making it one coo. Satellite Picture again found at Appellation America.

Oh and yes, there is in fact a Nova Scotia wine industry.

A Revolutionary Time For Wine

The Wall Street Journal's wine guides John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter produced a thought provoking year end article today on the state of wine and trends they see.

Among their most interesting observations is this one:

"The first isn't about wine itself, but the selling of it. This is the most revolutionary time in wine retailing since the end of Prohibition. The combination of the rise of Internet sales and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down some laws concerning direct-to-consumer winery shipping has helped to create more of a free-for-all in wine retailing than ever."

Spot on! This is a revolutionary time in wine retailing. The direct-to-consumer channel, be it winery-to-consumer or retailer-to-consumer, is in a state of mighty flux. Wineries are just now starting to learn how to use the Internet to cultivate a loyal customer base. Consumers are finding their choices are widening rapidly. Yet it is still important to note that we do not have a truly open national marketplace.

In large part this is due to the enormous influence the wine wholesalers across the country have on the regulatory environment. The astounding amount of influence they have purchased through "campaign donations" has resulted in remarkably anti-competitive legislation passing in a number of states, whether it is prohibiting winery-to-consumer sales, winery-to-retail sales or retailer-to-consumer sales.

2007 will be a watershed year for the prospects for consumer access to wine and a national market for wine. Lawsuits, legislation and lobbying will be the tools that either give consumers more access to the wines they want or limit consumer access to wine for the sake of preserving the state-mandated  monopolies and profits of the middle-men wine wholesalers.

There ARE heroes out there that are fighting the good fight on behalf of a nationwide open market for wine and on behalf of consumers:

Inertia Beverage Group
Specialty Wine Retailers Association
Free The Grapes
Coalition for Free Trade

Much of the battle for access to wine and against anti-competitive wine regulations will revolve around the media taking interest in the story. And the story is a compelling one: Just as the entire retail environment in America is changing due to new technologies and new attitudes by entrepreneurs, and just as the wine industry from California to Virginia is expanding choice and quality for wine lovers, the wine industry and wine consumers finds themselves in the grip of the one of the most anti-competitive cabals this nation has ever spawned; a cabal that will pay nearly any price, make any outrageous claim, foment as much inter-industry discontent as possible and buy up needy politicians at a remarkable rate.

I hope Gaiter and Brecher will keep their eye on the progress and machinations that occur during this revolutionary time in wine retailing. If they, or even their colleagues at the Wall Street Journal, exposed the desperate measures that are taken to prevent wine lovers from simply buying the wines they want, we would see an immediate response among regulators, politicians and consumers emboldened by merely reading the truth in a well regarded journal.

The Grape Doesn't Fall Far From The Vine

We always hope that the children we raise will take up some of the interests that have held our attention during our lives. My stepchildren, Trey and Hayley, came in to my life when they were very young. They are both pretty amazing little people.

Now, I had hoped that they would eventually take up my love of wine. At a certain age I began letting them sample wine. I explained that wine should taste like a place ("no, not like dirt, Hayley") and I taught them how to swirl the wine, smell it, sip it and taste it.

From the beginning Trey dove in spouting out, "apple!"  or  "it tastes like raisins." The boy's palate is developing at a swift pace.

Hayley, however, has the same response to most every wine she smells and tastes: Eeewww!

For the moment this bright and beautiful little girl doesn't seem to be following in my footsteps as it relates to wine. I console myself knowing there is still lots of time for her.

My other lifelong interest however is history. It's the subject I took my masters in and almost took with me down an academic path. To this day my wife will stare at me as I lay in bed with an 800 page book titled "Europe: The First 1000 Years" and shake her head: "I'd slit my wrists if I had to read that, Tom".

HOWEVER...yesterday guess what Little Hayley brings home from school: The Award for TOP SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDENT at Alta Mira Middle School!!!

My wife says a tear came to my eye upon seeing the certificate. Maybe it did.

I'm tempted to drag down my stash of History texts from the attic and plop them on her bed. But that might be overkill. For now it's enough to bask in her glory and appreciate the fact that while Hayley hasn't adopted my love of wine, she has apparently found an aptitude for The Greatest Story.

The Annual Wine Auction Wrap Up is Out

Howard Goldberg has released what I believe has become his annual wrap up of the International Wine Auction Market over at Decanter.com. A couple very interesting tidbits are reside in his article.

1. New York-based auction house and retailer Acker Merrall & Condit bested all other auction houses, including Christies, with total sales in 2006 of more than $60 million.

2. Winebid.com comes in as the fifth largest international wine auction house with $22 Million in sales. They came in behind Acker, Christies, Sothebys and Zackys. Not bad for an on-line only venture. They increased their sales over 2005 by 10%.

3. Of the ten auction houses mentioned in the article, each increased their annual sales over the previous year.

On another note..
I admit to contributing my share to Winebid.com's annual revenue. But I had an interesting reaction to the result of my last set of bids at last week's auction. I was outbid on 4 lots and did not get them, leaving me only with a 1995 Rioja for my haul last week. When I saw the emails explaining that  was outbid at the last moments of the auction and did not have the highest offer for four lots I felt rather satisfied. This can mean only one thing: I've been having too much fun over at Winebid of late and I know it.

The Brilliance of Roshambo Winery

Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time imagining Silver Oak Winery inhabiting the Roshambo Winery facility on Westside Road in Healdsburg? In fact, I can't imagine any other winery successfully occupying this amazing facility.

News broke today that Roshambo Winery sold its facility to Silver Oak Winery. This is the first time in a long time that I've found myself lamenting a sale in the wine industry. The brand is still owned by Naomi Brilliant and will continue on until a new facility is finished. That's good news because the Roshambo wines are terrific and the Roshambo style of presenting wine and wine country is important. Still, this was a case of a facility and a personality (Naomi Brilliant's) matching perfectly and in a rather spectacular way.

Over at the Roshambo Blog Brilliant has put up a post   that explains the future of Roshambo Winery. The post itself is vintage "Brilliant/Roshambo" and worth a read. (how is it that, upon reading Naomi's post and discovering that the winery will operate out of a bus just down the road from their original facility until the new winery is finished, that this seems a perfectly logical interim housing option for their tasting room?)

I worked with Roshambo in the past. The highlight of that entire experience was getting to face an approach to selling wine that I'd not encountered before. Being ogled and flirted with by one of the longest-legged, foxiest guys I've ever seen at the winery's "Drag Brunch" wasn't bad either. But at Roshambo it was the fight against the oppressing pomposity of the "wine culture" with an irreverent attitude and real reverence for progressivism that kept me enthralled (and slightly confused) while working with them.

I guess the take away from todays news is: You can take the Brilliance out of the winery, but you can't take the Brilliant out of Roshambo Winery.

Wine Insight (mostly) From Seattle

Paul Gregutt, the wine writer for the Seattle Times for five years now and the Washington State regional correspondent for Appellation America, stood back today and looked back at the past year through the lens of wine.  What he came up with was some very interesting, insightful and notable conclusions.

Among the notable ideas he mentions is what he infers to be his job as the Times Wine Writer: "praise wines, challenge winemakers and cajole readers into trying something new." I particularly like the idea of the last two elements of his job description. It's exactly what a good wine column should do.

But on to a few of Gregutt's insights:

1. Paul is concerned with the seemingly steady rise in alcohol content in wines over the past two decades. But he has hope: "Despite the apparent popularity of these high-octane wines, my sense is that consumer tastes are changing. Elegance and complexity are becoming more important than sheer power. Wines that are expressive of place, that are true to varietal, that convey as much pleasure in their aromas as in their flavors, and that perform well at the table are in vogue."
I hope he's right!

2. He names Mendocino as the Most Underrated Wine Region. That's spot on!

3. He names Glass Stoppers as The Best Replacement for Corks.

4. He names Canada's Okanagan as the The Most Interesting Wine Region (actually it ties for this honor with Western Australia). Others have discovered this region too.  The amount that has been written about the area has surged in 2006.

Paul has a number of very interesting parting shots and insights about wine in 2006 that are well worth a read. The only place he stumbles is in naming Fermentation "Best Wine Blog". While I'm really very honored that he comes to this conclusion, I can only assume that given the astounding number of really great wine blogs out there Paul must have just finished a tasting of 17%+ alcohol zins before writing that part of the article. Nevertheless, THANK YOU Paul.

Hell, The Generosity of Spirit (and the mall)

As I sat, sipped coffee and read my newspapers this morning I was still feeling the ill effects of last night's foray into consumerist hell: The Mall. Let me be very precise about my feelings concerning enclosed malls: I hate them! I hate them even more at Christmas time. They are Hell.

The other things I hate are needles in my eye, hot coffee spilt on my lap, the sound of a child in pain, Sophia Coppola's tragic demolition of Godfather III and paper cuts on my lips..

Now, I'm not one to drink heavily. But as I stood in numerous lines at this shiny, bright soul sucking place last night, the only thing I could think of is how I might medicate myself with lots of wine. But of course there is no wine at the Mall. That's probably good as I'm sure if there were I'd have done something very irresponsible.

With this heavy dose of lingering despair for our culture hanging over me this morning I came across the words of the Conscience of Sonoma's Food Community: Michele Anna Jordan's  weekly column in the Press Democrat Newspaper wherein today she completely captured the feelings I harbor for a season gone bad:

"As I write, I am listening to a program on NPR that is addressing the question of whether money might not be the best gift. It makes it all feel like an obligation, like a bill coming due, like friends and family are surrounding me with their hands out, with mine in turn  extended to them, palm up.

"I cannot mark the exact moment when shopping eclipsed the magic of the season but it was right about the time I noticed the 12 days of Christmas referred to as a countdown of shopping days rather than an observance that begins on Christmas Day and concludes on January 6."

As always, Michele seems to somehow say what I am thinking.

Michele's attack on this nasty bit of seasonal consumerist frenzy is to make this a time of year when she gathers around her those she loves and adores, cooks for them, shares wine and treats and celebrates the generosity of spirit that inhabits us all and makes us far far better people than the bright, lively and beautiful folks that smile out at us from the pages of catalogs...catalogs that, thankfully, have stopped arriving at our house by now because UPS and FED EX can't guarantee that they can deliver our guilt induced packages to others.

I'm not really a religious person. I have my own spiritual notions, some of which match up with the point of Christmas, some that don't. I like this season though and I want it to be a celebration of the Generosity of Spirit, rather than a celebration of the spirit of giving...and giving and giving and buying and standing in line and buying and buying. 

I've figured out that the best way to celebrate the generosity of spirit that inhabits us all is to do exactly what Michele suggests: gather around me this time of year those who I love, rather than those who just want to pay for those iTunes gift cards. This is a good time to pour lots of wine for your friends and family who have lived through the past year with you. It's a good time to share your table with them.

It's a good time to stay as far away from the Mall as possible.

Wine Info, Commerce & the Club

Ours is a culture in which information almost always serves commerce. This is particularly true of wine information. Nearly all of the wine information we consume leads us in one way or another to disposing of our income or our capital.

The critical question, then, is how good is the information we consume and use?

Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours and Appellation America as well as other information venues seems to me to have combined good information with commerce with the creation of THE NEW YORK CORK CLUB.

Lenn is best known for his Lenndevours Blog, perhaps the best source of information on the Internet about New York wines. The blog is a perfectly rendered example of NarrowBlogging, where the blog takes on a narrower strip of subject matter inside a larger category of information. Lenn has come to own the NY Wine category on the Internet. He's done this by having others determine his information is good and useful.

Combine this base of authority with a wine shop that carries NY wines and you get a wonderful confluence of information and commerce that should generate confidence among those ready to sample the wines of New York State on a regular basis.

The New York Cork Club works like this. Members of the club receive either monthly or quarterly shipments of wines from the  Green Grape Fine Wine Company in  New York. The wines for each shipment are chosen by Lenn, who is not making any money on the sale of the wines shipped. Members rely on Lenn's seasoned palate to deliver to them the best and most interesting New York wines he can find.

The first shipment, for example, includes the 2005 Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling and the NV Shinn Estate Red. Each shipment comes in at $40-$60 plus shipping.

The New York Cork Club is similar to the Appellation America Wine Store and to other wine clubs around, with the exception that it builds on this narrow, specialized niche. In fact, the choices of wine clubs abound into near infinity it seams. The question comes down to what kind of authority and information comes with this club that should inspire you to join.

The New York Cork Club has the authority necessary to inspire confidence. If you don't believe me, read Lenn's Blog or his wine reviews and articles at Appellation America. It all comes together nicely.

Covering all the Champagne Bases

I was thinking about naming this post "The Difference Between Forbes and BusinessWeek." But after thinking about it, I don't think that makes sense. The readers of both Forbes and BusinessWeek articles probably belong in a similar demographic.

So, let's call it..."Covering Your Bases on All Fronts".

Nick Passmore has certainly done this.

For Forbes.com Passmore penned "The Most Expensive Champagnes of 2006," an interesting piece on the prestige Champagnes that will set you back upwards of $750 per bottle. The take away line in this article, for cynics, is this:

"For many of the top-of-the-line bottles here, the price is controlled not so much by the production cost as by what marketing executives believe the market can bear."

Yet for those wondering what the qualitative status is of these upper echelon sparklers, Passmore makes that clear too:

"But make no mistake: This doesn’t mean that the champagnes included here aren’t good--they are; in fact, they are all superb and utterly delicious examples of the winemaking craft."

But then, in BusinessWeek Online, Passmore writes the article meant for the rest of us: "Most Affordable Holiday Champagnes".

These are the wines, sourced from all over the globe, that most of us will be drinking come December 31. They range in price from $15 to $43 and many of them are in fact very good bottlings.

Here at the end of the post I'm again tempted to consider why Forbes.com gets the "most expensive" champagnes and BusinessWeek Online gets the "most affordable" versions. That's another subject. For now it's enough to take these two stories and consider which sparkler best suits us for the upcoming celebration of one more year in the bag.

SatPic: Craggy Range, New Zealand

Here's another gorgeous Satellite Pic, this time of the Craggy Range Winery's "Giant's Winery" located in Hawke's Bay's Tukituki Valley. This photo was sent in by a fellow who knows a bit or two about wine...and clearly about beautiful settings.

Craggy Range's Giant's Winery From Above

From Way Above

From the Entrance

A Winery Deserving of a Book

We PR folks are known for cooking up all sorts of wild things for our clients. Some ideas are better than others...to be sure. One idea that I've occasionally suggested to clients is the simple act of publishing a book about the winery's history.

There are very few California wineries out there that could pull this off and have genuinely good reason for doing such a thing. So, this kind of a suggestion is rarely offered up.

Recently I received a book from a winery who most certainly has great justification for publishing a book on their history and their influence:

Concannon Vineyards

The book is entitled "Concannon: The First One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years". It is written by Jim Concannon and Tim Patterson with photographs by Andy Katz.

My real introduction to Concannon came in the early 1990s when I was doing work with Foppiano Vineyards. In particular, I was working on an explanation for them of just exactly what "Petite Sirah" was...as variety. Petite was the Foppiano's specialty, and still is. Only a few other wineries in the world had as much experience with the grape called Petite Sirah. One of those wineries was Concannon.

An entire chapter in the "Concannon" book is devoted to Petite Sirah. Concannon was the first American winery to label a wine "Petite Sirah".

The Concannon's themselves have been at it making wine since 1883 in the Livermore Valley. Their story is more than one of longevity. This family created the Cabernet Sauvignon Clones 7 & 8, work houses of the industry.

The book, by the way, is beautiful. Stunning really. Andy Katz is a wonderful photographer and it shows in this work. The oversized book truly shows off his seasoned eye. The writing has a reverential tone to it that is appropriate. The Concannon's take their history seriously while recognizing that the industry has changed and they've had to change with it.

The "old time" California wineries don't get nearly as much attention as they should. Much of what is covered today in the wine media and much of what is interesting to wine drinkers is what's new. Concannon is one of those wineries that deserves much more attention.

If you are interested learning more about Concannon, my suggestion is buy one of their Petite Sirahs. Their two best Petites are sold out at their web site. However, they are selling a 1999 Reserve Petite for $29.00. Though I've not tasted it, my bet is you could lay it down for another 10 years before it peaks.

Wine Fraud...What's a Reviewer To do?

For as long as I've been in the wine business I've heard rumors of "specially bottled" versions of wines that get sent on to reviewers and tasting panels. These special bottlings are supposedly designed to meet the palate preferences of particular reviewers or they are wines bottled up from the very best barrels that are supposed to be blended in with a number of other lots. I've never confirmed this actualy happening. But in all honesty, I believe it has happened...and probably often.

The recent Competition Scandal that was uncovered in New Zealand of late has led to me to consider the consequences of special "competition bottlings" or "Reviewer Cuvees". When it comes to competitions, it is easy enough to go out and buy "off-the-shelf" bottlings of the award winning wines at competitions to check if they are similar to that bottling submitted by the winery for the competition. In the wake of the scandal in New Zealand that saw the award winning wine to be something other than what was generally on the store shelves, this kind of checking up is likely to be much more common in competitions in New Zealand, Australia, America and elsewhere.

But what of simple reviews from newsletters, magazines and other's who evaluate wine for publication?

I suspect at the offices of the Wine Spectator in Napa upwards of 50 to 100 bottles, if not more, arrive daily. Robert Parker, Connoisseurs Guide to CA Wine, The Wine Enthusiast, Wine News all likely get a similar number of unsolicited samples from wineries and importers every day.

These reviewers and tasting panels taste 1000s of wines  a year.

It simply is economically and logistically impossible for these wine reviewers to confirm the integrity of each bottle of wine that UPS and Fed Ex delivers to their doors. This begs the question, should we believe that the wines that get high scores from reviewers are in fact the same wines we'd be drinking when we buy the wines from the store?

I'm unaware of this kind of chicanery every being exposed in the United States. There have been scandals, but I'm unaware of this sort being exposed. I recognize that it would be difficult to uncover this sort of thing. An individual reviewer or panel would have to expect something, then buy a bottle off the shelf and test it. To even suspect this kind of fraud was being attempted you'd first have to be very familiar with either past vintages of the wine in question or with the character of the fruit that tends to be produced from a single vineyard or region. And even then you'd have to discount the possibility of cellar manipulation that might easily alter the general character of a region's or vineyard's fruit. Furthermore, you'd have to be inclined to go checking.

What would cause a reviewer or tasting panel to be inclined to start buying wines off the shelf and checking for similarities between bottles sent as samples by the winery and the same wine on the shelf? The answer is a crisis of confidence in the review process.

I think it very unlikely that the New Zealand Affair will cause any such crisis in America's wine reviewing community nor within the trade or with consumers. Out side the wine industry there has been very little talk of what went on over there.

So, yes, I do believe it happen. Some wines are bottled up special for reviewers. However, don't think it makes much sense worrying about it. It's uncommon. And in the scheme broad scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Very little can be done to combat it.

SatPic: God's (Twisted)(Wine) Country

The first SatPic comes from Twisted Oak Winery. It's located in a part of California many call "God's Country", AKA the Sierra Foothills.

I've spent a bit of time in this part of California and more than anything it's the rolling quality of the land that strikes you. Wineries first made a hit in the region via very nice and compelling Old Vine Zins as well as lovely Sauvignon Blanc. The Twisted Oak Folk are doing it a bit different:

Albarino, Verdelho, Viognier, Tempranillo, Grenache, Syrah, Petite Sirah....just to begin with.

It's also the folks at Twisted Oak that maintain El Bloggo Torcido, a killer winery blog

Send Me Your Satellite Wine Imagery

More fun with Appellation America's Satellite Imagery and Google Earth.

This is fun.

Let's do this, EMAIL me your best wine related satellite imagery  and I'll post it here at Fermentation with credit. Try to keep  the images relatively small in file size and no more than 6 inches wide.

Atlas Peak vineyards above Napa Valley

The heart of Carneros

Dominus Estate in Yountville

Piesport in th Mosel

Chateau Lafite Rothschild

Mondavi Woodbridge

Domain Drouhin, Oregon

Now THAT'S! A Winery

I was moving through the various satellite imagery of wineries and vineyards at Appellation America today and came across these images of what is surely the largest winery facility in America, if not the world.

Talk about a "Tank Farm". Gallo's production facility in Modesto, California is more like a "Tank County". I'd love to tour this facility. By all the accounts I've ever received, this is but the tip of the iceberg.

WOW

Now, THAT'S a Tank Farm!!

Just how big are these tanks??

Wine Books You'll Be Reading in 2007

Which wine books will you be reading in 2007?

Here are a few of the more interesting books, courtesy of Amazon.com, about wine set to be released in 2007...in case you need to start planning.

Adventurous Wine Architecture
By Michael Webb

The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine
By Andrew Jeffords and Jason Lowe

Wine Clubs of Sonoma County: A Guide to the Pleasures And Perks of Belonging
By Jim Arnold

Educating Peter: An Everymans Guide to Getting Educated About Wine Or How a Famous Movie Critic Learned to Distinguish Cabernet from Merlot
By Lettie Teague

Oz Clarke's Bordeaux: The Wines, the Vineyards, the Winemakers
By Oz Clarke

The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
By Julia Flynn Siler

First Big Crush: The Down and Dirty on Making Great Wine
By Eric Arnold

Wine Marketing: A Practical Guide
By C. Michael Hall and Richard Mitchell

Keep The Port, Lose the Champagne

I think we can all agree that wine labels should not misrepresent what's in the bottle by printing place names and appellations on them when none of the wine in the bottle came from that place or appellation.

This is the position of The Center For Wine Origins, an organization begun by the vintners in Champagne, Portugal and Jerez, takes and promotes.

In fact, just today they released a statement concerning the Federal Governments most recent pronouncements on the issue of use of semi-generic names on food packaging. The Center liked the fact that in the most recent legislation concerning this issue the U.S. affirmed it's earlier agreement with the European Union to prevent use of European place names on American wines.

The 16 names that can no longer be placed on American wines are:

Burgundy, Chablis, Champagne, Chianti, Claret, Haut Sauterne, Hock, Madeira, Malaga, Marsala, Moselle, Port, Retsina, Rhine, Tokay, Sherry.

In applauding the recent legislation that put into affect the results of the U.S./EU wine accords, the Center For Wine Origins did offer the backhand as well:

"However, the progress is extremely limited, and much more needs to be done. American consumers know that location has a direct impact on the quality and character of the wine in the bottle, and they use that information to make their purchasing decisions. Therefore, place names need to be clear and protected to better inform consumers about the true source of their wines - - not just on future labels, but on those that already exist as well."

In case it's unclear, the Center for Wine Origins is pissed that the terms "Champagne" ands "Port" may still be used on American wines if they existed prior to the recent Accords. What that means is a HUGE amount of the wine sold in the U.S. that is labeled "champagne" is in fact NOT from champagne. The same can be said for the use of the world "Port".

The Center for Wine Orignins as well as Europeans will continue to push for the complete banning of the 16 terms above, as well as others. But will American firms like Korbel ever agree to stop using the term "Champagne" to describe their sparkling wine?

I don't think so.

"MILITANT" is the  best way to describe Korbel's position that the term "champagne" is a generic one that they should be allowed to use. It's sort of  a shame they take this position. They don't need to. Nor do they need to even use the term Champagne. Americans could easily understand the terms "sparkling wine" or "Brut" to mean this is a wine that has bubbles just like those from Champagne. I'll grant that by removing the word "Champagne" from their vocabulary, Korbel would be giving up an advantage in the market place. Valid or not, Champagne is considered around the world to be the best form of Sparkling wine.

Firms that use the term "Champagne" on wines that do not originate from that region of France are, in my opinion, ripping off the equity real Champagne producers have built for their appellation after centuries of hard work. We can be hopeful that in the future the U.S. agrees to make changes to their Accords with the EU that will lead to the outlawing of the term Champagne on any American Sparkling wines, whether they've used them in the past or not.

Now, those folks using the term "Port" have a much bigger problem on their hands. Like "Champagne", the term "Port" can not be used on new wines of this type while those using it before the Wine Accords earlier this year may still use it.

What would you call a Zinfandel Port if you could not use the term "Port"? I suppose you could go with "Fortified Zinfandel". There's not much of a ring to that is there? How about "Tawny"? Zinfandel Tawny. Better, but not truly discriptive.

In the end I think their is a much better case to be made that "Port" is a generic term. In the first place the term "Portugal" is not being used. I'd also be surprised to learn that the term "Port" is what this style of wine originally brought out of Portugal by the English actually equates to a place name or appellation at all. However, I'd be open to hearing arguments either way.

The Center for Wine Origins recently commissioned a poll on the issue of American's feelings about and relationship to appellations and place names on wine. The results support their arguments and don't seem too surprising:

--80 percent want policymakers to correct the problem of misleading wine labels, which the current tax package only addresses partially

-- 85 percent believe that the region or location where a wine comes from is an important factor in their decision to buy a particular bottle of wine.

-- 81 percent agree that wines should only be allowed to use a specific geographic location on their labels if they are actually made in that location.

   -- 78 percent agree that the region or location from which  wine comes is extremely important in determining its quality.

Though I've not seen the questions they asked of the survey-takers I'd have a hard time imagining any serious questions that produced opposite results. The fact is this is a fairness issue for anyone who isn't making money off using someone else's place name.

FOOD Blog Awards

I know for a fact that a huge number of you who read this blog and other wine blogs also frequent food blogs. You really should take the time to head over and take part in the

THIRD ANNUAL FOOD BLOG AWARDS.

Over the past couple of years these awards have exposed me to various blogs, writers and other talented folks that I would not have known of otherwise. They are a real benefit.

So go...NOW...over to Well Fed Network...and nominate your favorites in a variety of categories.

And indeed there is a category for wine blogs.

The American (English) Wine Blog Awards

When I was playing Little League Baseball every year there would be an awards ceremony at the end of the season. The winning team would get an award. "Coach of the Years" would be awarded. "Most Valuable Player" awards would be given out. Then, at the end, they'd give this award: "Friendliest Player Award".

The coaches decided who would get this award. I never really understood why it was given. More importantly, I couldn't understand how the coaches could possible determine who was the friendliest ballplayer. They were, so to speak, out of their league.

That's the same way I feel about judging non-English writing and non-English Wine Blogs. Neither I nor the judges of the American Wine Blog Awards could possibly judge the quality of a wine blog written in Spanish or Italian or French or German.

So, since there has been a bit of discussion on the issue of what the "American" in "American Wine Blog Awards" means, let me clear up a few things.

1. The "American" moniker refers to the geographic place of origin of the Awards. Myself and the judges all reside in America. Plus, i like the alliteration of these four words strung together.

2. The Award categories are open to any Wine Blog written and presented in English. If that Blog originates in Spain, Iraq, China, India, France or Switzerland and if it is written in English, it is eligible for nomination in any of the categories.

I should note that I considered another category: "Friendliest Wine Blog". But not being much of an expert on friendly, and never having won "Friendliest Player Award", I decided against it.

The Sparkling Wine Post

I love sparkling wine.

If it weren't intoxicating, I'd keep a mug of it on my desk while I worked.

Folks are beginning to think about their annual foray into the world of sparkling wine as New Year's Eve approaches and it's for this reason that Charles Olken has written what must surely be an annual column for him as well as other writers about the various sparkling wines on the market.

Olken, the publisher of Connoisseurs Guide to CA Wine and a regular contributor to a variety of Bay Area newspapers has focused his annual Bubbly column on California-made sparklers as a substitute for Champagne. His main point is gracious and true:

"while our bubblies will still take a back seat to France in terms of cachet, it is no longer true that we are outclassed when it comes to quality for the money."

Olken names a number of outstanding CA sparkling wines but I'm wondering why he didn't include what I think is by far the best value in sparkling wine in California: Roederer Estate from Anderson Valley. You can get it for about $19.00.

LIVING RIGHT WITH SPARKLING WINE
Every now and then you meet one of those folks who ALWAYS have a bottle of Sparkling Wine in their fridge, read to go. There's a certain message sent with this practice that may or may not be true of the person: "I'm ready to Party"...or, alternatively, "Life is short and it's best to have the best on hand." I've found that these ready-to-party/just-the-best folks are not often posers, as you might assume. They are what they are.

EDUCATE THE KIDS
Sparkling wine is one of the best wines to use introduce wine to your kids. I've written before on this blog that at our house our kids get to taste the wines we open. They are now 13 and 11.  It will be a familiar experience for them if they drink carbonated drinks. One very nice way to lessen the chance you'll see a turned up nose when you do let them try sparkling wine for the first time is to pour a small portion into a flute, then add a touch of grenadine to sweeten it up for them. Show them what it looks like before the grenadine but color it up. Not too much. Just a nice dark pink. While they sip it you have the perfect opportunity to explain to them the difference between "Champagne" and "Sparkling wine", a bit of information that will aid them in years to come.

BEFORE YOU DIE
Before you die, saber a large bottle of Sparkling wine. This is a must. Yes, it's dangerous, but so is skiing and driving a car. The experience is exhilarating. Here are instructions on how to Saber a bottle of  Sparkling Wine.

A GREAT SOURCE FOR SPARKLING WINE
You need a great source of Sparkling Wine. Not just a place that has 8 or 10 choices. If you are really going to explore the world of Sparkling wine, and there is a world beyond Champagne, you need real selection. One of the greatest sources of Sparkling Wine is D&M Liquors in San Francisco. They specialize in th stuff. Check them out.

More About Spakling Wine

Sonoma: From Home to "Lifestyle"

How do you know when your hometown has officially morphed from a place to live into a "lifestyle"? When a magazine is published that is named after your town.

We have a new magazine in this neck of the woods. It is named, simply, "Sonoma".

It is aimed mainly at tourists, though it is distributed to subscribers of the local newspaper, The Index Tribune. It will also be delivered to the rooms at "The Valley's Finest Hotels".

It's a good looking magazine. Nice thick paper, glossy, lots of color. In the end it sells the idea that everything in the town of Sonoma and about the town of Sonoma is beautiful, refined and unique. This is the nature of such magazines. All is beautiful.

The fact is, Sonoma and Sonoma Valley is a pretty cool place to live. The biggest controversy or problem we currently have is where to build and how to finance a new hospital. In general, the 13,000 or so inhabitants sustain themselves and their mortgages by working in the wine industry, hospitality trade or commuting to other areas for work before coming back home to their "lifestyle".

Sonoma is not a cheap lifestyle. This 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home will run you over $1,000,000.

Nevertheless, the new magazine has a lot of fodder for its pages if creativity, hedonism, natural beauty wine and food is enough to sustain the content demands of a quarterly publication.

If you actually live outside the town of Sonoma, as I do, you can avoid the constant reminders that the region is a tourist destination...though not if you head to the Sonoma Plaza on a weekend. Napa is still the big tourist attraction around this neck of the woods, but towns like Sonoma and Healdsburg are attracting more and more tourists and visitors every year. And even though I live here and would as a result not be expected to advocate for more tourism, I can't help but recommend you visit. This area can be a very relaxing place to hang out for a few days and the fact its...it's not overcrowded or overrun by cars and tourists.

That said, I just hope the next publication is not named "Glen Ellen".

Fire & Wine: The French Way

There was a time when Wark Communications wasn't doing to well. Wineries seemed to be choosing other public relation firms over ours. In the face of this difficulty, I seriously considered attacking and burning down the buildings that held the offices of competing pubic relations firms. You know, really punishing them them having the audacity to compete with me. That would teach them!

In the end I chose a different strategy to overcome the difficulty my firm was having. I chose to work a bit harder and alter the way I approached the business.

However, I could just as easily taken the building-burning approach...Like These Folks In France.

THREATS OF MORE VIOLENCE
CRAV, the militant French wine industry group in the South of France warns they may again take up violent means to protest the problems they are having selling their grapes. At the moment, global economic conditions are making it difficult for many French grapegrowers to sell their fruit at a profit. For these farmers the situation can genuinely be called a crisis.

The European Union has announced a series of measures to address what is a serious over production of grapes in Europe. The group of militant French grapegrowers warn they have another plan: burn buildings and vandalize. You've got to admit, it is a plan.

World Beverage.com reports that next year will be the 100th anniversary of the wine crisis of 1907 when, like today, grapegrowers in the south of France took to the streets to protest a plummeting market for wine grapes. Troops had to be brought in to quell the violence.

The prospect of more CRAV-initiated violence worries many of those working on behalf of the French wine industry:

"I hope we don't see more violence. It destroys our promotional efforts,” said Denis Verdier, head of France's Wine Co-operatives' Union.

THE "FRENCH" RESPONSE
The French are not violent people by nature. However, their modern history is filled with example after example of demonstrations and violence prompting the government to make changes. The fact is, those French grapegrowers who over the past two years have taken violent action against wine importers and brokers have good reason to believe these actions and threats of direct action will result in change...or at least direct more government payments to failing businesses. It has in the past.

The European Union is debating proposed sweeping changes to reform the European wine sector. Among the proposals is ripping out huge numbers of vineyards and reducing the amount of wine that is purchased and turned into industrial grade alcohol. Response to the proposals is divided. The traditional wine producing countries such as France, Italy and Spain are against the plan. They will be hit hardest by the reforms while newer European wine industries that have less to lose have generally embraced the plan.

Meanwhile there seems to be talk of another plan that some winemakers in the south of France have embraced: Enjoy the current difficult condition by the light of a flaming bonfire.

American Wine Blog Awards Background