Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Modesty Takes a Holiday

I don't usually take time to use this blog to say nice things about myself or the blog itself or to highlight what others have said about me or this blog. Modesty is a virtue, said the PR Guy.

In fact, I've always said, if my name shows up in the media it's because I'm not doing the job I should for my clients because it's their names and their efforts that are supposed to be of interest to commentators and reporters.

Yet, I used to work at PR agency where myself and 5 or 6 other "associates" busily carried out the work of our winery clients. Every now and then our names would show up in the media a la, "Joe Smith, a spokesperson for XYZ Winery, said...." We used to keep score. Who would have their name show up in the media most between January and December? The person with the most mentions had dinner of their choice paid for by the other associates. I always was buying the dinner.

That said, it sure was nice to see FERMENTATION show up on Typepad's "Featured Blogs" page today. I've never actually seen a review of FERMENTATION before. So, it was interesting to read. Granted, these nice folks are concerned about how some is using their blogging platform as much as focusing on the work of the blogger. Still....

"Tom Wark is a communications specialist in the wine industry, providing strategy for wineries and wine-related firms. So it's no surprise that Tom is passionate about the wine world. But it's the fact that he's an obsessed media junkie that makes him a vintage blogger. Fermentation is a must-read for anyone in the wine business. This is not the place to go if you're looking for someone to tell you what bottle of red you should serve at your dinner party Friday night, but perusing any of 130+ "Wine Blogs You Need To Read" in the right nav bar might give you some ideas. Tom makes good use of his categories. Those interested in the business side of the wine world can go directly to Wine Business and Public Relations and Wine, while those interested in sipping this blog can get a more digestible range of topics from 10 ThingsWine Education. Tom has 17 years of experience under his belt and has been blogging on Fermentation since 2004. Read the whole thing and you could train a sommelier afterward -- or start your own label."

CAVEAT: We don't recommend anyone use Fermentation as a training manual for sommeliers. No one likes a partially cynical, self-indulgent, media-obsessed person pouring their wines for them.

Is Drinking Wine Ethical?

Nearly any topic, once explored, can lead an inquisitive mind into the realm of philosophy as topic eventually leads to issues of truth. Wine in particular strikes me as quite ripe a topic for philosophical exploration. It strikes State Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Kent Bach this way too.

Dr. Kent is the philosopher behind the 2nd "Philosophy of Wine" conference at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on April 4.

Among the varied topics that will be covered by speakers from the wine industry and the world of philosophy are:

"Wine: Consistency of Perception, Variation in Interpretation”
“Do We Taste the Wine?”
“Real Value in Wine” Wine, Aesthetics, and Critical Communication”

Clearly wine here is being used to explore larger issues that occupy the philosopher's thoughts: How we perceive, ethics, the nature of what is good, logic. It's all there.

It would be interesting, for example, to do a survey of the various philosophical approaches to the question: "Is drinking wine moral or good?" I'd be fascinated to know, for example how Kant's Categorical Imperative could be applied to this question? What would be the consequences of willing the drinking of wine universally?

It's in the area of perception and Empiricism where I think wine is most useful for the philosopher. How do we experience wine and what kind of knowledge is gained by doing so and in what way?

If you are inclined to think about wine in ways that go beyond it's cost and if you are in SF on April 4, you should attend the conference on the Philosophy of Wine. You can find more information on the even HERE  while the program for the day's events are HERE.

The Two Faces of Wine

Here's a little trick for evaluating the true concerns of an organization associated with wine: compare the things they like to talk about VERSUS those things they DON'T talk about.

Take the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association as an example.

The other day they issued a press release that breathlessly and near hysterically denounced all on-line retailers for the way they sell wine. The organization's president Craig Wolf said this:

"On-line retailers are playing fast and loose with alcohol laws -- shipping beer, wine and liquor with no fear of being caught doing something illegal -- including selling to kids."

Their press release came in response to a media sting that caught an out-of-state retailer shipping into Iowa where retailers are prohibited from shipping (it's OK for wineries to ship into Iowa).

What's interesting is that the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association doesn't issue  press releases condemning brick & mortar retailers  for the far, far more common occurrence of brick and mortar retailers selling wine to minors.

In fact, WSWA is on record suggesting that direct shipping out to be outlawed by states because it's just too easy, they say, for minors to use the on-line channel to get their hands on alcohol. Yet we all know that minors get alcohol far more often via the brick and mortar retailer. Yet, we here no call for brick and mortar alcohol sales to be shut down.

The difference, of course, is that wine wholesalers make money when a bottle of wine is sold out of a brick and mortar store to a minor, but they don't make money when a bottle of wine is shipped into a state.

The Specialty Wine Retailers Association, of which I am the executive director, made this point today in  a press release that went out nationwide, to wine bloggers and the national wine media.

Does this mean that the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association don't care about underage drinking? Probably not. However, you might conclude that they care a lot more about any kind of drinking their members don't make a profit on. After all, everyone has to rank their concerns in terms of priority. One way to get at that priority if you are an outsider is to look at what kind of folks they want to condemn and what kind of folks they want to coddle.

The Road To Justice

The man accussed of setting fire to a warehouse filled with great wine and causing well over $250,000,000 in damage pled not guilty yesterday in a Sacramento courtroom

It appears that Mark Anderson is using a public defender rather than a private defense attorney. Hmmm?

He has until April 6 to post a $500,000 bond.

This whole episode still makes me sick.

But on another point, a semantic one, I found it interesting how the Associated Press story on Anderson that ran in what seems like every paper in America yesterday identified Anderson as a "Wine Keeper".

I've never heard that term used before. I've heard "Bee Keeper" and "Keeper of the Watch and "Finder Keeper." But never "Wine Keeper". The story only identifies Anderson as a person who was "paid to store wine". Wouldn't that make him a "wine store" rather than a "wine keeper"? I always thought of a "wine keeper" as a 2004 Saintsbury Brown Ranch Pinot Noir or a 1974 Heitz Martha's Vineyard Cabernet.

Stick With Art

Mike Dunne of the Sacramento Bee has written a wonderful article on the Authentication Controversy swirling about the world of rare wine.

The controversy came to the surface when a gentleman who paid $500,000 for wine thought to once to have been in the collection of Thomas Jefferson claims the wines are fake. He filed a lawsuit  in Federal Court in New York claiming fraud. It's a pretty fascinating and complex story which can be found at Bloomberg HERE, while another take on the matter can be found at The Wine Collector Blog HERE.

Dunne gets to the heart of the the matter: How can we tell it's fraud? How can we tell, particularly by tasting the wine, that it's not the wine it's said to be?

Leaving aside the artificial elements of the wine (cork, glass, label), can one simply evaluate a wine and determine if it is what it is said to be? How experienced a taster would you have to be to determine this?

This is the question at the heart of Dunne's article and what drove him to speak to Allen Meadows, a Burgundy expert who writes The Burghound newsletter and who has been called in to authenticate wines in this manner before. When Dunne questioned Meadows about his claim that 3 of 17 wines he tasted at an authentication session were likely fakes the Burgundy expert responds this way:

"However, I can say that the wines in question were well outside of what I would have expected to find for wines from those specific vintages, from those specific vineyards and from that specific winemaker based on, if I may use the term without sounding ridiculously pompous, considerable experience," Meadows says. "Does that make my opinions infallible? Absolutely not. Does it call into reasonable doubt the authenticity? I believe that it does."

First, I'd be inclined to believe Meadow's assessment of the wines. But think about the kind of palate memory one would have to possess to say about any wine that it doesn't fit the profile of the vintage, vineyard and winemaker. Better yet, think about the confidence one would have to have in their palate to make this kind of judgment.

Now, I don't know what kind of dough Mr. Meadows makes in a year. But I know this. Given the rarity of that kind of ability it's a shame he doesn't make three times as much as he does. How many folks in the world would have the ability and the confidence in that ability to make this kind of judgment?

So here's the takeaway. If you want to get into the business of assessing value, stick with where the money is. It's not wine. The value of the wine Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses sell in a year is considerably less than they make in a one day auction of Contemporary art. Hell, one painting goes for far more than the entire value of their wine auction departments.

No More Wine Media

One of the requirements of my particular job is to consume media...lots of it, hourly, seven days a week. The requirement is dictated by the necessity I feel to have a grip on the general cultural and social atmosphere Wark Communication's clients are working within. There is an ever-changing context of ideas and trends that affects the way most people perceive ideas, products and activities. I feel like a good PR dude needs to have a grasp on this context and its various levels in order to properly represent his clients.

So to that end I consume the delivery vehicle for cultural and social context: media. Once you have the tools on hand,  a good consumption infrastructure set up, and an efficient method for moving through information quickly you'd be surprised just how much information and media you can actually move through. On any given day I'll get through three newspapers in print, two or three print magazines, five different newspapers on-line, and we haven't even gotten to the information aggregators on-line.

Four or five times a day I'll go through my Yahoo homepage where headlines in 40 categories are regularly updates. Bloglines, my blog aggregator, delivers me headlines and partial content for more than 120 different blogs. I check that 2 or three times per day.  Then there are the Google Alerts. I have 26 of those set up that deliver to me constant updates on specific terms I want to follow. Some have to do with clients, others with ideas.

Then there is TV and Radio. TIVO has allowed me to really use this medium in a structured way. In a matter of 30 minutes I can move through 5 hours of news and topical shows before I even get to reruns of the Sopranos. I can find out what is scheduled to be put out over the airwaves concerning wine on any given day in a matter of seconds.

So what's the point?

I tried something this weekend. I went without media. No newspapers, no Internet, no radio, no Tivo, no magazines. It was sort of a toe-in-the-water kind of thing in preparation for a vacation coming up during which I will consume no media whatsoever.

What did I learn?

1. The withdrawal symptoms kick in very quickly.
2. They are easily overcome by maintaining a close proximity to your family and good jazz.
3. Wine tastes just as good (or bad) with or without having  current reports on it nearby.
4. It's true that the only way to give context to one's culture and society is by consuming its media.

I can't be sure what the totality of the impact of my massive consumption of media is on my life beyond knowing that it surely does impact it in important ways. I'm not worried about that only because I feel like I have no choice but to continue the consumption. For me the issue is how to consume this, and more, in the most efficient manner and whether or not I'm properly evaluating what I consume.

Looking only at the issue of how wine and wine drinkers and the wine industry is presented in the various media, I know that today it is much easy to have a broad understanding of these topics due to the Internet. I used to subscribe to six newspapers a day and every wine publication in the world, and read it all. The Internet not only allows me to continue to do this, but do it more quickly. But in addition, the Internet allows me inside the heads of a different group: those who's preoccupation is drinking the stuff rather than selling and writing about the stuff. This is new and a product of the Internet's chat rooms, blogs, bulletin boards and e-mail.

The picture one gets of the world of wine by combining attention to broad cultural and social trends with attention to expressions of wine's meaning in the media and among individuals is amazingly deep. I don't see how any marketer of wine can be anything but better at what they do by diving in to this currently changing whirlpool of ideas, notions, and trends.

What bothers me, however, is what a happy and uneventful weekend I experienced these last two days. It was a weekend like many others with the exception of their being no media consumed. I'll swear to the nearest God that I was brighter, lighter on my feet, more communicative, more wiling to laugh and heard things and people more clearly. Why is this? What are the implications of this?

Now, I don't recommend to anyone that they ever take a break from all their media consumption. At the very least it's imperative you check in and read FERMENTATION on a daily, even hourly basis.   This recommendation is for your own good. That said, I'm wondering what the result of cutting yourself off from all media for a period of two weeks will be. Will my perception of wine and the world of wine change drastically as a result? Would that be bad? Bad for business? Perhaps some of you have more experience with th effects of media withdrawal. I'd like to know what I'm about to get myself into.

Honesty, Virtue & Marketing in Wine Labeling

Honesty. It's perhaps the most important virtue any person can possess.

I've argued for some time that while American Viticultural Areas can have meaning related to the character of the wine inside them, their primary value is as a marketing tool. The Paso Robles wine folk have seen fit to be quite honest about this assessment in looking to pass a new labeling law.

American Viticultural Areas are lines on a map that are approved in Washington,D.C. The area inside these lines purport to have some similarity in climate and soil, which in theory should tell us something about the liquid in the bottle that has one of these AVAs (or "Appellations") on the bottle. This is rarely true. While certain AVAs such as Howell Mountain and Atlas Peak in Napa Valley, Green Valley in Sonoma County and Anderson Valley in Mendocino County, as well as a few others, do offer the consumer a hint of what the wine will taste and feel like, most AVAs don't describe an area well defined enough by soil and climate to really give the consumer this kind of Information about the wine they are contemplating.

The Paso Robles AVA in the Central Coast area of California is like this. This AVA encompasses a huge variety of climates, soil types, elevations and rainfall tendencies. In order to create a set of more meaningful area designations, a committee of Paso winemakers and growers have submitted to the Federal Government applications to carve up the Paso Robles AVA into twelve smaller, more well defined appellations that could be printed on labels to better pinpoint the location where the grapes were grown and theoretically better define the specific influences that affected the character of grapes grown in these areas. All this should help the consumer have a better idea of what the wine will taste like.

I think this is a great idea. The smaller the area designated by an AVA, the more likely the area will have specific characteristics, the more likely wines made from grapes grown in these smaller areas will have a consistent character based on the terroir. In other words, the smaller the area of an AVA the more meaningful it is.

Enter California Assembly Bill 87.

Cyril Penn, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, describes AB 87 this way: "(It) would create a conjunctive labeling law to ensure the Paso Robles name is used on wine labels when subappellations within the region are approved."

In other words if one of these new 12 sub-appellations, such as the proposed "Adelaida District", is used on a bottle of wine—telling us that this is where the grapes for the wine were grown—the winery must also put the term "Paso Robles" on the label next to the words "Adelaida District".

Why?

"We're still driving and getting awareness for Paso Robles as a wine region," Paso Robles AVA Committee spokeswoman Stacie Jacob said. "That's where the conjunctive labeling comes in. It will help ensure Paso Robles remains the dominant AVA while the subappellations can truly tell the story."

So here's my question? Of what value to the consumer or wine drinker is there in keeping Paso Robles the "dominant AVA"?

I suppose it might give consumers unfamiliar with the Adelaida District some reference as to where that small sub appellation is located in California, assuming they know where Paso Robles is. It occurs to me though that it should be the winery that decides whether or not it WANTS to make that association. What happens if, heaven forbid, the reputation of  "Paso Robles" takes a nose dive while the Adelaida District comes to be perceived as a source of great wines? Why should the vintner be forced to hold on to the use of the "Paso Robles" designation on their label when the Adelaida District appellation not does more to market the wine but also better describes the actual location where the grapes were grown?

What's going on here is honesty.

The folks behind this legislation, The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, are protecting the investment they've made in promoting the idea of "Paso Robles". Although the appellation known as "Paso Robles" is so diverse one can make only limited assumptions about a wine bearing that appellation, a great deal of time and money has been invested in raising it's visibility among wine drinkers. This legislation helps assure that 1) the Paso Robles AVA won't get forgotten when all the other, better-defined and more useful, sub appellations are approved and 2) the money that has been invested in the promotion of the Paso Robles AVA won't go down the drain.

The legislation says that the term "Paso Robles" must appear "in direct conjunction" to any smaller appellation that is on the label. That means "right next to". The legislation also says that the term "Paso Robles" may not be more than 1mm smaller in size than the sub appellation listed on the bottle that it appears next to. In essence, all the newly proposed sub appellations are having additional words added to their name. It won't be the "Adelaida District". It will be "Adelaida District-Paso Robles".

I'm a big advocate of slicing up California's AVA into very tiny pieces mainly because I have this idea that consumers are better served when the geographic appellation on the bottle corresponds to well defined climatic and soil characteristics. Slicing things up smaller is the only way to achieve this. However, I don't favor forcing a winemaker to put another appellation on their label that only serves the purpose of letting the larger appellation suck up the prestige that the smaller appellation may have for the purpose of marketing.

It is already legal for a winery to put both the small sub appellation on the label as well as the name of the larger appellation inside of which the smaller one fits. For example, some wineries in the Atlas Peak region are labeled like this: "Atlas Peak - Napa Valley". This means the vast majority of the grapes that made this wine were grown in the Atlas Peak sub appellation of Napa Valley.

This new law would further degrade the meaning of American Viticultural Areas. However, it would virtue insofar as the folks behind it are being honest about their view of what they believe AVAs are for: marketing, not information.

Winery Vs. Retailer: What's the Difference?

Here's an interesting question:

When you buy a case of wine over the Internet from a winery website and when you buy a case of wine over the Internet from a wine shop website, are the two transactions different in any substantial way?

We are finding that both wine distributors and state alcohol regulators are attempting to make the case that they are substantially different transactions. In fact, according to these two groups, these two transaction are so different that the retailer transaction should be banned.

In states across the country legislators are redefining their direct wine shipment laws as a result of the 2005 Supreme Court decision, "Granholm v. Heald". In most cases these states are creating "permit systems" by which an out of state entity wishing to ship to consumers in that state need to pay for a permit do do so, submit themselves to that state's jurisdiction, pay appropriate taxes and abide by a variety of laws.

Yet, there is a move to treat transactions different if the consumers is buying from a winery versus a retailer. In fact, there is a move among some in these states to bar the retail transaction all together.

Both Oregon and Illinois have bills being considered now that would allow out-of-state wineries to ship to folks in these states but prohibit out-of-state retailers to do the same.

Now, I'll admit upfront that I'm no genius. I get things wrong often. So I need someone to show me how a wine purchase from a winery isn't a RETAIL transaction in the same way it is a RETAIL transaction when it happens with a wine shop.

It's true that states issue different types of permits to wineries and retailers that confer different privileges upon these two sorts of businesses. In every state a retail permitee is not allowed to PRODUCE wine. And in many states a winery is not allowed to SELL wine to a retailer, but rather must sell their wine to a wholesaler.

But, when the winery and retailer sell wine direct to the consumer, whether at winery or wine shop or via the Internet the transactions are identical.

In some cases the opponents of retail to consumer, cross border wine sales have argued that allowing retailers from across the country to ship into a state will open floodgates. While the evidence from across the country doesn't prove this out, the question remains, OK....and that's a problem why?

If anyone is watching the direct shipping wars closely, they'll note that wineries seem to have won their battle: states are no longer attempting in any great measure to prevent out-of-state wineries from shipping. They may put up odd restrictions. But for the most part the move to prohibit such sales by wineries just isn't happening anymore.

Today the battle has shifted to two fronts: Winery direct sales to retailers and cross-border sales of retailer to consumer. Both these kinds of transactions are being fought tooth and nail by distributors almost everywhere and by regulators in many states.

In order to bar retailers from shipping into a state, distributors and alcohol regulators must make the case that a winery-to-consumer sale is substantially different than a retailer-to-consumer sale. I simply don't know how this argument is made. Yet, it is made.

Wine Blogging's Coming Out at the James Beard Awards

It's a big year for Tyler Colman of the Dr. Vino Wine Blog.

First he takes home Best Overall Wine Blog and Best Writing on a Wine Blog at the American Wine Blog Awards and now he finds his blog nominated in the "Best Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant or Nutrition" at the prestigious James Beard Awards." (PDF)

A couple other nominations really pleased me. Wine & Spirits Magazine once again had one of its authors nominated. This time is was for Fiona Morrison's article, "Chambolle-Musigny" in the "Best Magazine Writing of Spirits, Wine or Beer" category.  Wine & Spirits seems to a consistent nominee at these awards.

It was also nice to see the San Francisco Chronicle 's Food & Wine section nominated in the "Best Newspaper Section" category. This is a nice achievement for Jon Bonne, the Wine Section's new editor who took over the wine section last year.

On a personal note, I was disappointed that AppellationAmerica.com did not receive any nominations. Yes, I work with them. But I think unarguable that some of the most progressive and insightful wine writing in 2006 came out of that site.

For wine bloggers and readers of wine blogs you've got to be happy for Tyler Colman of Dr. Vino not only because a really fantastic writer is getting recognition but also because it suggests that wine blogs are fully part of the wine writing establishment--something many of us have know for a long time--and their status is being recognized through this nomination. Congratulations to Tyler.

UPDATE
I'm not sure how I missed it but king of Wine Podcasts, GRAPE RADIO, was also nominated for a James Beard Award in the Best Webcast Category. It was a long list, so I'll give myself that out for not mentioning it. Congrats to Brian Clark and Jay Selman! The Wine Blogosphere is cooking.

Some "Scum of the Earth" With that Wine?

I'm not sure how much satisfaction will be gained by those who lost wine in the 2005 Vallejo warehouse fire that destroyed millions of dollars of old and new wine as a result of the news that a Sausalito, California man has been charged with arson in the case.

Nonetheless, if Mark Anderson is guilty as  charged and if he is forced to pay for his deeds that will be some measure of justice. It just won't bring back wineries' entire vintages or twenty years worth of library wines that were lot in the the 2005 blaze.

If guilty of all the charges against him then I think we can say in an objective manner that this person is "scum of the earth"....a technical term for...scum of the earth.

Images of what this act of arson resulted in can be found HERE.

Criminalizing "Merlot"

I've reported before how the mainstream (not blogs, not wine media) media tends to cover wine almost only when there is a prurient angle. Here's another example.

Yesterday ABC Radio News was reporting that a citizen of Utah who's license plate read "Merlot" will have it revoked because "intoxicant words" are banned from vanity plates in that part of the United States. The owner of the plate has had it for ten years now, but recently someone anonymously informed the Utah Tax Commission that a dangerously descriptive car was traveling the state's roads using its license plate to promote licentiousness, boozery and drunkeness.

You get the sense from reading the Salt Lake Tribune's reporting of this incident that they find the policy every bit a ludicrous as I do. But rather than say this (all journalism is objective of course) they jab the Tax Commission with this account of just how the offending license plate could have been missed for ten years:

"Tax Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts said it's understandable that the offending word could have gone unnoticed for more than a decade.

"I'm a little rusty on my French, too," he acknowledged.

Roberts added that another Utahn has been ordered to remove a plate from his vehicle. This one spells out "chianti," although he said the owner will be given the option of picking another region from France less well-known for its wine. The problem: Chianti has been famous for its red wine for nearly 300 years, but it's located in Italy."

The owner of the license plate is going to appear, arguing that the word refers to the color of his car. I have a feeling that's not going to go over too well.

The whole incident reveals a number of things. Certainly it reveals that as a varietal wine, Merlot has become every bit as well known as Chardonnay. It confirms the suspicion many of us have had: Utah regulators and state officials have too much time on their hands. It reveals that by reporting this incident on its national news, ABC Radio is willing to make a backhanded attempt at ridiculing the state of Utah for its prudish approach to alcohol.

It should be noted that alcohol references are not the only ones that are banned from Utah licensed authomobiles' plates. Among the others are plates that reference :

-vulgarity
-obscenity
-gangs
-organized crime,
-illegal activity
-certain body parts
-certain functions of body parts
-contempt of a race, religion, gender, or political affiliation.
-the numbers six and nine, combined

TOP TEN LIST: Places To Drink Wine

TOP TEN PLACES TO DRINK WINE ACCORDING TO FERMENTATION: THE DAILY WINE BLOG

-In a 102 degree hot tub on a cool spring evening

-At the edge of an old Petanque court watching old men play the game and smoke their Gauloise

-In the skybox overlooking 3rd base

-From a table at the cafe at the Piazza della Republica in Florence

-Direct from the barrel in an underground aging cellar

-From a tumbler, in a comfortable leather chair, watching Godfather & Godfather II back to back

-In your car, in the parking lot and out of the bottle while preparing to attend  your cousins 4th white wedding where cousin Derrik will give the same toast as he did the last two times before he break dances to Billy Idol's "White Wedding".

-Sitting on a lake shore at dusk waiting for the fish to take the bait.

-At a long dimly lit table, surrounded by many friends with nothing to celebrate other than a dimly lit table surrounded by many friends

-In a plane, with your significant other, with nothing but two weeks ahead of you.

Help Save James Laube

Wine Spectator writer and wine reviewer James Laube is one brave man!

I was sent word of a local event and wine auction benefiting The Young School, a Montessori school in St. Helena. Like many local schools in wine country, they organize grand events to raise money through sales of tickets to the event and through an auction. The Young School's event, "Forever Young" at Quintessa Winery on the 17th has a great line up of auction lots.

The Young School's event takes place this weekend and indeed they will have an auction at the event to help raise funds for the school. But being in Napa Valley, their auction lots go a bit beyond the usual magnum of of Cab from a parent's cellar. Take a look at Auction Lot # 24:

"Lot 24        Lunch with James Laube
Tour The Wine Spectator's beautifully restored Victorian mansion-headquarters in Napa with Senior Editor James Laube and continue on to lunch with Mr. Laube. He has written for The Wine Spectator since 1980 and today reviews 5,000 California wines a year; he has written four books, one of which won The James Beard Award for the best wine book of the year in 1996.

I can think of a number of winemakers and winery owners who would LOVE to have the chance to get Mr. Laube locked into a private lunch where they get to go on and on and complain and complain about the 89 point score they were given for their Cabernet or the 86 point score they got for their $50 Chardonnay. And there's poor Mr. Laube. Obligated to sit across from them and listen to their rant. They bought the right to rant throughout lunch and James agreed to be there.

Living in the community where the wines are made that he reviews, Jim Laube almost certainly gets stopped on the street by folks who want to complain, thank him, "get to know" him and generally just try to know "how could you score that wine that way?" The fame that comes with being a well regarded and influential critic must be different than the fame that comes with being an entertainer. Imagine being the restaurant critic for the New York Times living in a town made up of only chefs. This must certainly be odd, if not a little disconcerting at times.

Whatever price Jim Laube or other critics pay for the attention they pay to creative works is one they chose. And if they put themselves in a position to be tapped on the shoulder as they shop for groceries it's only because they've done their job well enough to be taken very seriously. But still, Jim Laube is brave.

If you are a fan of his and want to save him from being subjected to to what might be 2 hours of rants and ravings of a winemaker who didn't get the score for their wine they think they deserve, you can bid on Auction Lot #24 without going to the auction. You can find bidding forms and the entire Auction catalog HERE. There's some other very cool lots too.

Check out Lot #8...Dinner with Gerald Asher, the long time wine columnist for Gourmet Magazine who may be America's best wine writer.

My Own Personal Barrel Tasting

There are lots of "Barrel Tasting" events here in Wine Country. These are fun events on a number of levels. You get to taste wines still maturing in  barrel, sip from bottled wines, take advantage of discounts, eat good food, enjoy music and entertainment at the wineries and generally just party.

This weekend is the barrel tasting for wineries in my neighborhood: "SAVOR SONOMA VALLEY: A BARREL TASTING AND CULINARY EXPERIENCE."

The name of the event is a bit grandiose, I'll admit. (an "Experience!!!"...cleaning up after my dog that lays one next to the pool is an "experience too.). But the fun thing about this event is that it really is "local". It's a bit of a community event as it tends to bring out neighbors who get in their cars and drive from winery to winery. After about the 6th winery you are seeing the same people you saw at winery #2 and #4. You are talking about the local school, asking about neighbors, and eventually, at about winery #8 you find yourself on the lawn of a winery with a bottle of wine, a plate of something grilled and about 6 other people comparing notes and thinking life is pretty good.

If you decide to come to this event, know that it's not ALL of Sonoma Valley's wineries that participate. Actually it's only those wineries that live in the northern part of Sonoma Valley around the towns of Glen Ellen and Kenwood and are part of the "Heart of Sonoma Valley" organization.

These wineries and co-op  tasting rooms include:
Audelssa Wine Estates/Navillus Birney Winery & Vineyards
B.R. Cohn Winery
Benziger Family Winery
Blackstone Winery
Chateau St. Jean
Eric Ross Winery
Imagery Estate Winery
Kenwood Vineyards
Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards
Landmark Vineyards
Ledson Winery & Vineyards
Loxton Cellars
Mayo Family Winery
SL Cellars
St. Francis Winery & Vineyards
VJB Vineyards & Cellars
Valley of the Moon
Wellington Vineyards
The Wine Room

You can find tickets and get more information about the SAVOR SONOMA VALLEY BARREL TASTING HERE.

Contextual Wine Labeling

I wanted to bring this issue out of the comments section because I think it is an interesting issue. A reader commented earlier that this statement on the back of a bottle of California Malbec is probably done to try to piggyback on the Bordeaux's well deserved quality reputation: :"Malbec is one of the five red varieties traditionally used in Bordeaux wines."

In fact the commenter said this:

"So, why then does the producer want to put it on the label (or back such)?

My guess is that the producer wants to benefit from the high reputation that Bordeaux wines have (deservedluy or undeservedly, as you wish). To put it in a different way - the producer wants to get a free ride on Bordeaux reputation. A wimp producer who cannot stand up for what he does himself perhaps?

I think that it is poor judgement and poor marketing from that producer and I cannot say that I feel much pity for him - or the label designer."

This is not an unreasonable interpretation or evaluation. Let's face it, marketers have been known to copy or otherwise use whatever works and try to get any upper hand so they can to sell their particular product. And this tendency applies to wine too. Whyhy not try to piggy back where you can if the down side is minimal. This, however, is exactly the kind of "unfair use" that the EU has been complaining about for years when it comes to American marketers whether we are usurping words such as Roquefort or Chablis. It's not fair. It's dishonest and it's the kind of thing that has great potential to reduce the value of the place-name in question.

So, it's far from out of the realm of possibility that the winemaker that made reference to Bordeaux on the back of their Malbec label was just trying to benefit off the long, hard work done by others in Bordeaux over the centuries.

But there's also another possibility.

Malbec is hardly a well known grape in the United States. It would make sense to use the back label to educate the buyer on what they are holding in their hands so the negative aspect of them likely not knowing anything about this type of wine is reduced. So, how does one describe Malbec?

Well, you can say it is red. You could also describe the variety's characteristics. You might also give some historical context to the wine. If you tried to offer this kind of context, what would you do. I don't think it's possible to do this without referencing the fact that Malbec is one of the five red grapes that have for decades been those designated for use in Bordeaux. It would be the same way I'd give context to Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc. All three fall into the same general "Unknown" category as Malbec.

Is this either an intended or unintended case of the winemaker suggesting the wine in the bottle will TASTE LIKE Bordeaux? 

What about the winemaker who on their back label writes, "there is a line of latitude that runs across the globe which seems be the line of wine; the location on the globe where wine grapes thrive. Surrounding and right on the 45th degree of latitude you will find the winemaking regions of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and, right smack in the middle of the line, our little vineyard here in Oregon."

It seems to me that in the case of this back label the winery IS playing on the reputation of these other, famed winemakng countries they mention. However, the nugget of information they offer is also pretty compelling. It's exactly the kind of thing a wine lover would want to know. It makes a connection between this wine and the broader world of wine on a geographic scale. It puts the winery in some context. It seems entirely legitimate.

In the same way, our client's vague reference to Bordeaux, which doesn't even have the same direct connotations to quality that our imaginary Oregon winery does, puts Malbec in context for the wine buyer.

But there is something else to this logic.What if our client wrote of Malbec on the back label: "Malbec is a red grape that can be found in a variety of regions where grapes are grown, including Sri Lanka."  Since Sri Lanka is not known for making wine, let alone wine from Malbec, should this also be considered out of bounds for a marketer? It doesn't seem so bad when there is no cemented history of the grape being planted in a particular region but nonetheless has once been planted there.

I think the reference to Bordeaux on the Malbec's back label is entirely legitimate. Clearly it would not be legitimate for a winery to put "Bordeaux" on their label, suggesting what is in the bottle is in fact from Bordeaux. The front label, however, clearly states where the grapes were grown and it says on the back label where the wine was bottled.

So while it is possible to write a back label that would clearly be a case of trying to ride on another region's reputation, I think we need to also entertain an alternate possibility. I think it's entirely legitimate and good marketing to reference another region when attempting, in particular circumstances, to give context to a product that might not otherwise have much of a context at all.

Vineyard Pests: And You Thought Birds Were Bad

Pests. They are the things that give grape growers fits. They tend to be insects, birds and even the occasional wild boar. However, you rarely here folks who grow grapes in CA, or nearly anywhere, make this complaint:

"One of the pests that we have to contend with are baboons"

All in the service of a good bottle of wine, I presume. Apparently baboons are big fans of ripe grapes.

The folks worrying about Baboons are the Leakey family. Yes, THAT Leakey family...among The most famous paleoanthropologists in the world. They have vineyards in Kenya and make wine there. Hugh Johnson called their wines "certainly the most drinkable red we'd tasted in the tropics".

Their label is IL MASIN.

But Baboons? In order to keep the baboons from eating their ripened grapes they've put up an electric fence that does not merely stop the critters but apparently throws them 15 feet up into the air when it is touched.

The daughter of Richard and Maeve Leakey maintains a blog about her grapegrowing and winemaking experiences in Kenya: ZABIBU. It's fascinating. After reading through it I can't tell you have much I'd love to taste one of their Kenyan Pinot Noirs.

Tip of the hat to Amy Lillard of La Gramiere Winery Blog for the heads up on ZABIBU

Bordeaux "Style" vs. Bordeaux

Remember that agreement that was brought together last year between the U.S. and E.U. in which a variety of semi generic place names were finally declared off limits? This is the agreement that no longer allows most use of the following names for wine on an American label:

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

The idea is that if the wine you've made isn't produced from grapes grown in Chablis, it shouldn't be called "Chablis". Reasonable.

However, I just got word that one of my clients labels was turned down. And here's why.

The wine they were looking to get label approval on was a Malbec. The front label simply said "Malbec", have the vintage and the appellation. The back label, in part, read this way:

"Malbec is one of the five red varieties traditionally used in Bordeaux wines."

The label was not approved because it was an inappropriate use of a place name from which the grapes that went into this wine did not originate.  Does this seem a little stringent? A little anal? A little over the top, even for a regulator? It does to me.

But hears the really wacky part of the story. Having spoken with a very knowledgeable compliance person I discovered that the label would have been approved had it read this way:

"Malbec is one of the five red varieties traditionally used in Bordeaux-style wines.

In neither case could the wording even approach the inference that the wine in the bottle is FROM Bordeaux. The version my compliance expert friend suggested was likely to be approved changes the meaning from Malbec being a grape often used by those who make wines from Bordeaux to Malbec being a grape often used by those who make wines they want to taste like traditional Bordeaux wines.

I'm guessing the folks who approve labels are pretty busy. I was on hold with the TTB today for 20 minutes waiting to talk with someone before a recording came on telling me to leave a message. I'm guessing they might be involved with really pressing matters over there. Yet, they have time to look closely enough at a back label and write up a denial of approval on these grounds.

I think some real clarification is in order.

My Version of "Spring Cleaning"

For those of you who live in the Northern climes or in regions where the snow still sits on the ground and the temperatures hover around 10 degrees, this post might appear a case of rubbing it in. That's not my intention and I apologize for any distress this post might create for you.

It's March 12 and here in Glen Ellen it is 78 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. It may as well be spring. My trees are budding. My perennials are pushing. Barry Bonds is hitting home runs in spring training. The only thing that would make this more spring like is the opportunity to dwell on Dry Rose.

But wait.....in steps Kermit Lynch:

2006 Gris de Gris-Domaine de Fontsainte--$12.95
"Value of the Month? Value of the Year? Of the Decade?
And I don't single out Fontsainte 2006 for special honors. Every vintage I have tasted is right on the market, deserveing a Value of the Year award....This rose speaks aromatically, and it seems to say, 'Live it up, pleausre is good for you, too."

Leave it to Kermit Lynch to confirm that, yes, it may as well be officially spring.

I used to be a "Fall Guy". It was that season that most took my breath away. In this neck of the woods we had everything in the fall: warm weather, cooler weather, color in the vineyards, harvest. But over the past few years I've replaced Fall with Spring as the time of year I most look forward too. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps it has something to do with aging. "Hope", always more associated with Spring, seems a commodity more appreciated by us as we age.

It may also be that I LIKE to drink light whites and Rose more than any other wine. It didn't used to be that way, but it is now and Spring facilitates good drinking weather geared for these wines.

Upon seeing the new Kermit Lynch newsletter this weekend and seeing this amazing bargain on the Fontsainte Rose I made a point of looking through my wines to see just how many whites needed to be drunk up now, rather than later. I set them aside and plan on going through them one by one. This will be pleasurable, but also offer the added benefit of making way for the Fontsainte. My version of Spring Cleaning.

Who Says This Wine's Not Good?

Who's to say?

That's the question that Ryan over at CalWineriesBlog  asks about whether a wine is good or bad or average. It's a good question. His answer is is YOU. That is, if you are drinking the wine all that really matters is what you think of it.

But this is really beside the point. The real question is who's opinion will you take in helping decide if you buy a wine?

While I subscribe to the idea that in the end all that matters is what your own palate determines, that still doesn't answer the question of who do you rely on before the bottle is bought. Ryan thinks the emergence of blog-generated wine reviews is a good thing, a democratizing force that moves more folks away from relying on critics, who I think he considers to be wine snobs:

"Fortunately, over the past couple of years, things have been changing. The development of the wine blogosphere, although still in its infancy, has enabled a more democratic take on wine and the wine industry. Instead of reading a wine publication, many people are searching blog posts for wine reviews. These reviews are a better representation of public opinion because they are not corrupted by the forces influencing major wine magazines."

Ryan is correct. Many folks are reading wine blogs and other user generated wine comment venues for advice. I agree, too, that these kinds of reviews are better representations of the "public opinion" on wine. But let's not write of critics as either corrupted or useless.

I think Ryan is referring to the fact that many well know sources of wine criticism comes from wine magazines that take advertising. As I've said before, I don't believe that these critics are influenced by advertisers when they review a wine. But I'd also note that these critics are often among the most experienced wine tasters on the planet.

I don't think it can be denied that the more wine you taste, the better wine taster you are. The experience alone of sampling many different wines from different appellations, from different vineyards and from different winemakers provides one with a important perspective which is vital to good, honest criticism. I'm more interested in the opinion of a movie reviewer who has sat through thousands of films and understands the history and benchmarks of slapstick, film noir, anime, westerns, horror, thrillers and activist cinema than I am someone who might only have a passing acquaintance with these genres. For me the same goes for wine.

That isn't to say that one must be a professional critic to have this kind of experience. But it's more likely you do. From the consumers' perspective, you need only test the critics opinion with your own to determine if there is an agreement. If not, move on to another source...perhaps a blogger, a wine lover who posts reviews, a Kermit Lynch, a friend or another critic.

I'm not sure bashing professional wine critics is a good idea. However, I do know that Ryan at CalWineriesBlog has delivered an interesting set of ideas to consider

Who Reads Wine Blogs & Why? Boredom?

Who's reading wine blogs...and why? I've done a variety of survey's of FERMENTATION readers on a number of topics and always ask a few demogaphic questions. So, I have a general idea of the generalities of our readership. However, it's difficult to know more than things like age, location, income, etc.

But every now and again I pull up the ISP stats for FERMENTATION to get an idea of the source of FERMENTATION's readers. This is limited in its usefulness. But I do like to wonder why an ISP identified as "Universal Studios" came to FERMENTATIONS. Is there a movie in the works on business and culture oriented wine bloggers? I'm guessing it's someone in the "prop" department who's eating a sandwich and surfing around for wine info and stories. Still, it's kind of interesting.

I took a look recently again at the ISP log for FERMENTATION. It's kind of interesting. What are these folks looking for at FERMENTATION:

Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority--That can't be good for me.
Lockheed Martin Corporation---bored, wine-loving engineer?
Fleishman Hillard--Nope, no job offer yet from the PR firm of PR firms.
Internal Revenue Service---Ouch!!
Oxford University---Maybe they are getting around to that application
U.s. Fish And Wildlife Service---What wine to drink with Largemouth Bass?
Dixie Sales Company--Bored Sales Rep at a Parts Replacement company?
Heineken Nv---Now this would be an interesting client. I wonder if they are looking for PR Help?
Husky Injection Molding Ltd---I don't even want to know
Philip Morris Companies Inc---Don't they own some wine brands? Hmmm.
E&j Gallo Winery---Maybe they are looking for Advertising Services

No worries anyone. Your privacy is safe. I can only see Named ISP names and most of those are ISP companies. It is interesting though. Wine, as an interest, seems to infect all types.

Pitching Advertising Services to Ernest Gallo

When I was growing up mine was a "Sebastiani House", rather than a "Gallo House". That's not to say my mother and father were wine drinkers, but just that the jug of wine my mother always kept on hand was Sebastiani. However, there are some people, many people (millions?) in fact, that were and are "Gallo Homes". I suspect its not just the folks in the wine industry who stopped for a moment of reflection at the news that Ernest Gallo died at the age of 97. I suspect a whole lot of people felt like they lost someone very familiar to them...if only because his name was constantly in their home.

Ninety-seven years old! Do you think it was the wine?

Over the years of being in the wine business I have been in close proximity to Ernest Gallo on a number of occasions. However, I only spoke with him once and this encounter resulted in my only "Ernest Story".

Very early in my career I was tasked with creating and producing a very large "industry-party" for a client that had opened a brand new winery facilty in Sonoma County. I was working at a PR agency at the time and the client was the best known personality I'd ever worked with . Organizing one of these events really amounts to getting the guest list together, creating invitations, taking RSVPs, designing the pace of the event and dealing with vendors. I hadn't done much of this sort of thing before, but really it's not brain surgery.

Ernest Gallo was on the guest list. About 2 days before the event a secretary "from the office of Ernest Gallo" calls and says, "Mr. Gallo will be coming to the event and wants to let you know he'll need to arrive by helicopter. Any patch of concrete or grass on the property can accommodate the helicopter."

Now, one would want Mr. Gallo at your big event. The idea was to have an event that demonstrated that the person giving it was in VERY good standing with industry mucky mucks. Ernest Gallo was Chairman Emeritus of Mucky Mucks. However, I had a vision when the secretary gave me these instructions: A large helicopter invading the party, everyone turning to look and listen to it and the Chairman getting out of the helicopter and making a grand entrance, thereby way overshadowing my client, putting the focus on him instead of my client and me and my firm getting fired.

"I'm sorry, we can't accommodate a helicopter on the property," I said. There was a bit of silence then, "please hold for a moment." A few minutes later a man got on the phone. To this day I don't know who it was. He said to me, "Mr Gallo will be at the party and would like to land his helicopter somewhere on the property". It was as though the previous conversation never happened, as though I was mistaken in my response to the secretary and that this mistake only needed to be cleaed up.  "I'm sorry, we can't accommodate a helicopter on the property," I repeated.

"Thank you". They hung up. Later the secretary called and simply said, Earnest Gallo is RSVPing for the party.

I really didn't like saying no to Ernest Gallo. You have this idea if you can do something for someone like Ernest Gallo maybe it will pay off in the future so you want to accommodate them. But, I thought keeping the client was more important.

Later at the party all was well. I was simply mingling, walking, keeping an eye out. I finally spied Ernest Gallo. He was standing outside on the landing of some stairs, holding a plate in his hand putting food in his mouth like everyone else. He was alone too. I thought I may not have another chance so I walked straight up to him and introduced my self.

"Mr. Gallo, my name is Tom Wark. I just wanted the opportunity to introduce myself to you," and I extended my hand. The expression on his face was nearly a blank.

No shake.

"What do you do, Tom," he asked without putting any expression on his face.

"I work for Gracelyn & Burns. It's a small firm that provides public relations and advertising to the wine industry."

Nothing. No expression. Then he said, "Hmm. Advertising. We do a little bit of advertising."

I didn't know if he was being sarcastic or that's just how he tended to describe multi-million dollar advertising efforts. I assumed he was being sarcastic and realized this wasn't going well for me. So I decided to go for broke: "And I'd love to talk to you about your advertising." That's when he finally cracked the smallest of smiles.At least I think it was one. The last word I heard from him before he slowly walked away from me and toward another old gentleman was, "Hmmmmm".

So when people asked if I knew Ernest Gallo I always tell them, "Know him? I had a private meeting with the man to pitch him on advertising services."

It's a lie, of course.  But there's a half truth to it.  Maybe an 1/8 truth.

No matter what you think of Gallo wines, the Gallo way of doing business or Ernest Gallo the man it's hard to argue with the fact that this was a person of enormous importance to the American wine industry and American culinary history. Hopefully you'll find others writing about their experience with Ernest. The stories abound.

My Hero

The measure of a person's commitment to an idea must surely be the length to which they are willing to go to make their point. When a person is willing to go the distance, and do so with the kind of delicious satire that Darryl Roberts of Wine X Magazine does, you really have to step back and marvel at the brilliance.

As we recently heard, Roberts shut down his subversive Wine X Magazine after years of publishing. In doing so he criticized, shall we say, in no uncertain terms, the lip service we in the wine industry give to younger drinkers that doesn't come with a commitment to support efforts to reach out to these consumers. In other words, they applauded Robert's Wine X Magazine but never supported it with advertising. Darryl hit his closing volley into the cheap seats way up top. He minced no words.

He's been criticized for this by a number of folks who thought his outburst was tinged with bitterness. Some pointed comments were aimed his way in the same acerbic fashion that Darryl level is aim at the industry.

Maybe his comments were bitter. But the real parting shot that Roberts has left the Wine Industry with is not his words of criticism but one of the most brilliant acts of satire ever to hit the wine industry.

But first some background.

For years Darryl has been out to get the 100 point rating system for wine. He's mounted argument after argument about the way he sees it subverting the appreciation of wine. He's ridiculed those who use it to rate wines and dismissed those who use it slavishly to buy wines as "wannabees". Few people have been as opposed to the 100 point system as Darryl. In fact, much of the message of Wine X Magazine was you only need your own palate. His unique, pithy, pop-culture-referencing reviews made this same point.

Still, it seemed the wine industry didn't want Darryl's message. They never supported the magazine and his message of personal liberation from the scores and the wine industry's message that wine makes you a better person seemed to fall on deaf ears.

In the end, Darryl decided to give them all what they wanted: Scores. And not just any scores...we're talking BIG TIME SCORES.

Out of the ashes of Wine X Magazine came JustWinePoints.com, the motto of which is "because nothing else matters." We are talking 99 point Sauvignon Blanc, 98 point Zin for $10, 96 point Grenache Rose. Why, it's a virtual parade of 99 and 98 point wines coming out of JustWinePoints.com. It's what everyone seemed to want. Well now they have it. A source for perpetually high 90 point wine reviews for nearly any wine you can imagine.

How do the proprietors of JustWinePoints justify this?

"we’ve decided to take a different road and value a wine on what it’s supposed to be. For example: if we taste a Bordeaux that’s a wannabe “First Growth” than we judge it against a First Growth ideal. If it’s a $10 red blend from California that aspires to be a $10 red blend from California, then we value it on that ideal. Honestly, why judge a $10 red blend from California against a First Growth Bordeaux if the $10 bottle just wants to be a nice, easy-drinking, everyday red wine? If it lives up to everything it’s supposed to be, why devalue it just because it’s not a First Growth?"

Read this carefully. It has the benefit of being both incredibly subversive and at the same time as fair as any wine rating system you've ever seen described before. And, it's an approach to rating wine that lends itself to 99 point wines. It rewards how well the winemaker nailed their INTENTIONS for the wine, not the relative quality of the wine.

Knowing Darryl's thoughts on the 100 point scale and understanding his view of the industry's response to his original attempt to undermine the wine industry's happy self perceptions, you have to admit that JustWinePoints is a brilliant piece of performance art that literally wreaks of irony and satire. It the kind of send off that only Darryl could deliver.

So those of you who dismissed Darryl as bitter, you've got to give him is due. This is man who knows how to make a point and is willing to go the distance to do it.  That makes him my hero.

Soviet Style Economics Didn't Die: Just Look at American Wine

The state of Indiana has a new organization that is trying to draw attention to the remarkably anti-competitive and monopolistic laws that wine wholesalers there have bought to protect themselves from having to compete in a free market.

The new organization calls itself Vinsense and they are telling it exactly as it is. One of the most telling failures of Indiana's wholesaler-controlled monopoly on wine sales is spelled out in this simple comment on the Vinsense web page:

"The wholesalers in Indiana have decreed that of all the wines produced in the world, Hoosiers are allowed to buy from less than five percent of them."

Five percent. What they are referring to is that since nearly all the wine that Indiana residents may buy must first go through the wholesaler, and because direct shipping from an out-of-state retailer or winery into Indiana is nearly impossible, it is the wholesalers that decide what wines can be purchases in that state. They give residents access to less than 5% of the wines available in states where consumers may have wine shipped directly to them.

The Vinsense group is working hard. They were instrumental in helping get written a brilliant story on the state of wine sales in Indiana in the Tribune Star. But most important is the very existence of this organization. It appears that across the country folks are starting to challenge the assumptions and credibility of the remarkably inefficient tier of the wine distribution system   that has been granted control of sales for over 75 years.

You have to wonder how a group of wholesalers that are incapable of delivering to Hoosiers any more than 5% of the wines available can stay in business. The answer is two-fold. Wholesalers are nearly identical to many of the State-Directed industries that used to exist in the Soviet Union. Moscow would dictate to whom products would be sold. A very small group of state supported companies would have a monopoly on the sales of certain products in certain regions. Wholesalers in America represent the last vestiges of the old, corrupt Soviet system.

The other reason they survive as monopolists is money. When the state mandates that wines must go through you, regardless of whether or not there is benefit to the system, you are bound to get rich. How rich? In the past 10 years Indiana wine wholesalers have contributed over $1.2 million to Indiana politicians.

$1.2 Million!!

The folks over at Vinsense have a real battle on their hands. They least they deserve is to have folks go look at their efforts by visiting the website. You can find it HERE.

Is Napa Really Ripe for the (blog) Pickings?

Napa and Sonoma seem ripe for the picking.

Maybe I'm just not aware of it, but I don't know of a wine blog that focuses its energy and words on either Napa Valley or Sonoma County exclusively. It's not as though these two rather large regions, home to immense amounts of winemaking energy, wines, and wine lover focus, don't have enough going on in them to justify the attention of a single blog.

I couldn't stop marveling at this seeming omission in the blogosphere when I came across The Cork Board blog. It's new. But it wants to be THE blog of Napa Valley. How could the authors of this new, well written, interesting blog possibly find themselves in a position to quite easily be the blogging voice of Napa Valley wine without having to compete with any other similarly positioned blogs?

I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the people I'm personally aware of who, if they chose to make the effort, could easily post with authority three or four times a day on one of the most dynamic winemaking regions on the globe.

So does the Cork Board have what it takes? They just might. A quick look at the site will show that a whole variety of Napa-related topics are covered without spending much time at all reviewing wine after wine, which would be the easy way out for a blogger focusing on a region. Yet all one needs to do to realize there is a better way to cover a region is look at Lenndevours' approach to covering the world of New York Wines.

The Cork Board has a similar feel to it as LennDevours. That means it has great potential. I've added it to my blog reader because I'm very interested to see how this new Napa-centered blog will develop. I'm curious to see if the folks behind it have the potential to explore Napa Valley in a probing entertaining and enlightening way.

I love these kind of finds. Nothing is more inspiring than real, honest-to-goodness potential.

Does A God Of White Grapes Exist?

What is moral?
Does free will exist?
Is there a God?
Why are there white grapes?

Thanks to geneticists it seems we have an answer to the last question. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was geneticists that answered the first three questions, with perhaps a little help from theoretical physicists.

According to research conducted by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) white grapes developed 1000s of years ago only after the rare occurrence of two genes having mutated to create a mother plant that produced white grapes.

According to Dr Mandy Walker from CSIRO Plant Industry’s Adelaide laboratory, "Our research suggests that extremely rare and independent mutations in two genes produced a single white grapevine that was the parent of almost all of the world’s white grape varieties. If only one gene had been mutated, most grapes would still be red and we would not have the more than 3000 white grape cultivars available today."

The implication of this discovery is that the future creation of new grape varieties will be much more highly controlled. It appears we are moving closer to the day when geneticists and plant breeders might be able to create new varieties of grapes that can produce wines of very specific characters.

Again, Dr. Walker: "The discovery also has great potential for producing interesting and exciting new varieties with novel colours in the future, through genetic modification. One of the areas of future study is to determine if these two genes control the amount of red pigment made, so the colour of grapes can be improved.”

Wine drinkers and winemakers don't take too readily to new varieties. We have newer ones. Many of them in fact. But they don't really take off. Clearly this has to do with marketing. But what if plant breeders in league with geneticists created a grape that produced a wine with remarkably deep color, with the mouthfeel of Cabernet and the aromatics of Pinot Noir and that at peak ripeness delivered only 12% alcohol?

I'd like this! A lot!

However, one can't help but wonder if such a grape would ever make its way past the anti-GMO contingent. But that's another post.

Suffice to say, it appears we live in an age when the geneticist is the groundbreaker, the source of hope on many fronts. I'll be rooting for them to create me a 12% alcohol, full bodied red wine with the earthy, bacony, raspberry aromas I love so much. And along the way, if they help cure cancer or find a way to retard the progression of Alzheimer's, or confirm that there is or is not a God, that too would be very very nice.

The Amazing Wine Drinking Ass

My email box tends to be full most of the time. Not as full as others, but full enough. The cool thing about FERMENTATION is that most people who want to write an email about something I've written tend to just post a comment.

But sometimes they send an emal and don't comment. Sometimes they don't leave a name either. Sometimes there vocabulary is, well, descriptive. For example:

"You and your F*cking wine blog awards can kiss my wine-drinking ass. You are nothing but a self promotional whore who's opinion is worth about as much as the ones and zeros they are delivered by. Nothing!!!

"How coincidental that that two of "wark communications" clients won awards. What a scam. The least I can say about you is at least you didn't give one to yourself. How did that happen Mr. Fermentation?

At least folks like the Wine Spectator and the other wine rags are up front about being bought out. Their ratings are their payback. But your little awards are deceptive, there to promote your clients, and just another way to get your name on the Internet.

I have an idea on how to change them: Junk them."

Is it just me, or is anyone else curious top see this e-mailer's "wine drinking ass" in action? Maybe that's not exactly what he meant.

I'm not sure what to make of this e-mail other than someone is angry. I understand that. I get angry too. But it might also be an indication that there are others who have questions. So for the record, no Wark Communication clients won any of the Amerian Wine Blog Awards. As for the "self-promotional" part of the charge, There's no question that visits to Fermentation jumped as folks w