Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

A Crack Addict in the Crack Factory

The idea of putting 30 roses on your wine list is really quite absurd...unless you are ready to promote the hell out of rose to your patrons. I assume that's exactly what Campanile does. For this kind of courage and this kind of contribution to the wine industry they should be given some sort of an award.

I flew down to Los Angeles on Sunday for a meeting on Monday. I'm not an LA kinda-guy. I have friends and a wife that extol the virtues of this place, but I've never been able to embrace it outside of my over exuberance for Disneyland. However, it did give me an excuse to spend some time at the Commerce Club where they play low limit poker like it's a contact sport and where they seem to believe that 10-8 off-suit is a raising hand every single time.

After a few hours of patience and sticking the easiest money I've ever won in my pocket, I returned to my hotel to prepare for the Monday meeting. One thing that hadn't been worked out was what wine to serve those in attendance at the meeting that would occur in the upstairs private room at Campanile the next day. I should have called ahead to work this out, but figured I could easily just pick the wines when I arrived.

When I did arrive the next day early enough to look over the room and pick the wines, I was confronted with a beautiful wine list that did include the previously mentioned 30 different roses from around the world. It took longer than I planned to pick the wine because it turned out a NUMBER of those roses were being poured by the glass and it just would not have been right to not taste though...a few.

For those who have been reading FERMENTATION long enough, you know I love rose. So, to be confronted with more than the 1 or 2 deep red, fruity California versions and the obligatory Domaine Tempier on a wine menu is something of delight for me. But 30 roses? That's like asking a crack addict to work in the crack factory.

I did not get a chance to meet Campanile's wine buyer. But I can make some assumptions them. They certainly must understand the benefit of matching their wine selections to the climate they live in, a context not always considered by those who build wine menus. They also must have an over abundance of love for the pink wines among us. They have a strong personality that can stand up to an owner's push back that surely sounds something like this: "What the F*ck are you doing putting 30 roses on my God Damned wine list?!!" And, they likely enjoy being able to look someone in the eye and say, "see, I told you so!" as their project looks back up at them from the glass and says, "wow....that IS great!" (the last trait is probably a character flaw, but if it helps get 30 Roses on a wine list who am I to criticize.

A Noble Event...Despite What the Critics Might Say

I recall reading somewhere, probably in one of his books, that Robert Parker did not consider Zinfandel a "Noble Grape". What a great debate this would make. But that's not my point. What I'm getting to is that if Zinfandel is not a "noble grape" then Petite Sirah probably can't even claim courtesan status.

This of course is not the view of those who belong to PS I LOVE YOU, the Petite Sirah advocacy organization that is gearing up of their first ever consumer tasting: DARK & DELICIOUS.

On their website they are quite clear about their mission: "To promote, educate, and legitimize Petite Sirah as a noble varietal, with a special emphasis on its terroir uniqueness."

What makes a variety "Noble" is probably subject to debate...and a good one at that. However, what I think is undebatable is the unique character of Petite Sirah. If there was ever an opportunity to examine that uniqueness it's probably at DARK & DELICIOUS:

Thursday, February 8, 2007
5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Rosenblum Cellars 2900 Main Street, Alameda, CA
$40 per person

I'm told there are about 100 tickets left and they should be going fast.   You can buy tickets at the PS I Love You website.

The really cool thing about this tasting is that each of the 30 Petite Sirah producers at the event will be paired up with a restaurant that will be serving a dish to match the Petite Sirah. Given the forceful style of the Petite Sirah grape and the wine it makes you can count on some pretty forceful food pairings.

A number of new Petite Sirah producers have come on the scene over the past decade or so. For a while there those of us who really loved this varietal kept going back to the versions created by Foppiano Vineyards, Concannon, Fieldstone, Bogle and Stags' Leap. Happily we can still go back to these long time producers and advocates of this wine as they all continue to make great examples. But there are others now too.

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

Tipping, Bribes and Wine

How much do you tip in a restaurant?

I tend to go wit a standard 20%. If the service is just south of par I give the server the benefit of the doubt and continue along with the 20%. If the service is really bad, I go south of 20%.

The interesting question is, do you apply that 20% to the wine you ordered. I never do, at least if it's a bottle of wine I've bought. Part of the service I'm tipping for is for th waiter to bring me my meal, and the bottle of wine is part of my meal.

An interesting article appeared today in the SF Chronicle about a group of servers that has formed to convince restaurants to add a standard 20% service fee to the check. If this were done, would you also tip? I probably would not...unless the service were so stellar that it surprised  me.

But here's thing about tipping: There is a big difference between the tip you give at a restaurant and the tip you give in other circumstances. As the article in the SF Chronicle notes, "Tipping is about buying social approval." There is no question about this and the key is that the tip comes after the service has been rendered. In other words, the tip is actually a payment for service. The key to understanding the power of the tip is in understanding when it is offered.

Tips in advance of service rarely happen in a restaurant setting. It's outside the restaurant setting when I really start to think about my tipping practices.

In other words, I'm thinking about the power of the   bribe, er...TIP

A pre-tip in my mind is an investment. You're using it to let a service person know there there is good reason to pay attention to you. There are a number of situations in which bribing pre-tipping is an excellent investment:

1. IN A CROWDED BAR WHERE YOU WILL BE FOR A WHILE
In this case you want to be sure that the server gets back to you on a regular basis. If the first round of drinks costs $20 and I know I'm going to want more rounds an the place is crowded, I'll usually give the server an extra $10 and simply say, "will you check on us in a while?"

2. UPON CHECKING INTO A HOTEL WHERE YOU WILL BE STAYING A WHILE.
If the cost of your room is between $200-$300 per night, a $50 tip to the person checking you in will often get you an upgraded room. It's a simple procedure. Put a $50 bill on the counter and ask if they could look to see if any upgraded rooms are available.

3. THE CONCIERGE
If I'm going to be using the services of the Concierge over the net few days I'll go over to them, introduce myself, ask a very simple question that can be answer with no effort, then leave them with a $20 tip. .

Finally, what about tipping in a winery tasting room? I've done it on occasion to reward really top notch service, but that is very rare. Today's article by Peg Melnik in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat explains it best:

"No need to pester the tasting room staff about its tipping policy. Here's the story, plain and simple: There's no expectation to tip.

"It's pretty much the general rule," said Philippe Thibault, hospitality operations manager of Chateau St. Jean. "Once you pay a fee, you're not expected to tip." Fees typically range from $5 to $20. Of course, if a customer offers a gratuity in recognition of a particularly helpful and informative staff, they won't say no. "We tell the staff to keep it because it's awkward to say 'thanks but no thanks,'" Thibault said."

Looking For a Few Good Wine PR Types

Over at the day job side of my life, we are looking to fill out our database of Wine PR types.

In essence we are looking for folk who have some experience in wine public relations or some experience in PR/marketing/communications and a knowledge of wine that might recommend them as potential independent contractors or even, down the road, as hires.

Here's the kind of person we want to talk to:

-You can write, write well, and write fairly quickly.

-You are familiar with the wine industry, particularly the California wine industry.

-You known intuitively why it's not a good idea to call a wine writer and ask, "Did you get the unsolicited wine sample we sent for XYZ Winery?"

-You are able to look a client in the eyes and tell them, "that's a bad idea".

-You know the difference between "Intriguing", "fascinating" and "commonplace".

-You have the capacity to become authentically giddy when a client succeeds at something.

-You appreciate the upside and side effects of the disability known as "Winegeekosis".

-You are able to confidently pick up the phone, call wine writers and editors and explain without fear exactly how the world will end on a particular date.

-At best, you may have some experience in wine public relations, but not necessarily a lot.

-You have no problem working as an independent contractor, rather than as an employee.

-Computers and the Internet are your friend.

I got into the wine public relations business directly after receiving an MA. I thought I had the talent and skills to work in PR and I knew a bit about wine, but not much. I got a chance to work as an independent contractor at an agency specializing in wine.

We aren't looking for someone like that, but with an itsy bit more experience.

Maybe you work in a winery tasting room. Maybe you've have a low level position in a PR/communications firm or some other communications firm. Maybe you've worked in wine retail or in restaurants. Perhaps you are already an independent contractor who's just starting up your consultancy or you are scraping by. Maybe you are a wine blogger or food blogger with an obscene amount of wine knowledge and moxie and have thought about getting into PR or the wine industry.

If you think you fit the bill, E-MAIL ME. Send me your resume. Contact me. Make me think about you. You know someone like this? Send them a link to this post.

Wark Communications is a Boutique Wine PR Firm. We provide communication and design services to small and medium-sized companies in and around the wine industry. We work long hours. We go to wine tastings. We read an obscene amount of wine related materials. We listen to our clients and the media. We lay down in the road for our clients. We are looking to fill our our database of potential independent contractor types who have wine knowledge, the ability to learn, and the willingness to lie down in the road for clients.

Expectations of Averageness

Expectations! 

They can "do in" a wine or elevate it to heights we never expected. But sometimes our expectations for a wine are met so perfectly that there can be no lamenting, no elation...just acknowledgment of what we expected. Personally, I prefer to be elated or disappointed by a wine.

This was driven home this past weekend as I broke open a couple bottles of wine:

1996 Rochioli Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (Russian River Valley)
1996 Mondavi To-Kalon I Block Fume Blanc (Napa Valley)

Ten year old Sauvignon Blancs.

My expectation for these wines was that while they would be drinkable, they would not necessary be mind blowing in any way. I expected they would have lost their fruit, but retained much of their acidity. I expected that they would throw of interesting secondary aromas and flavors that fell into the realm of coconut, old hay, caramel, and maybe a little lychee nut or unripe mango.

This is exactly what I got.

My partner that night, an unabashed advocate of fruit forward, silky powerhouse wines couldn't figure out why he'd ever want to drink these wines after a decade in the bottle. My suggestion that they would be magnificent with a bit of Flan fell on deaf ears. However, my contention about this possible pairing pushed him (out of pride of his opinion?) to go to his cellar and pull out a recently released late harvest wine to demonstrate exactly what would go well with Flan.

The Rochioli had held up better than the Mondavi. It showed a bit more fruit, more acid and experienced less oxidation. I suspect there are ten year-old Sauvignon Blancs out there that have held up better than these two, both of which were considered at the time among the best California SBs produced. I'll be looking for those other well-aged SBs and I'll bring only moderate expectations to their consumption. It's the prudent thing to do. One the one hand, It's likely my moderate expectations that the wines will be average. But on the chance that they really soar, I'll have the opportunity to revel in something far beyond what I expected. Which is really what I like about trying these older wines that are not expected to be great.

The Science & Marketing of Wine & Slurpees

What wine do you drink when it's 115 degrees?

That was the official high temperature in the Wark Family backyard yesterday, and the record high for my life.

The answer is not wine. Believe me, you're sluggish enough without putting any alcohol in your body.

The correct answer to what you drink is obviously The SLURPEE.

Now, when it comes to Slurpees, I'm a "Cola" kind of guy when it comes to Slurpees. It has a refreshing "bite" that gets you on the back of the palate with a flavoring that seems to match affect that freezing slushiness has on your palate. I've always been a "cola" imbiber when it comes to one of my favorite drinks. But a few years ago the flavor was not longer "cola". It was "Pepsi" flavored. That's OK because really, it just tasted like "cola" anyway.

But did you know that today Slurpees have contracted with the likes of Hawaiian Punch, Sobe, Sprite and Mountain Dew to help market their Slurpee flavors? As I watched that icy goodness flow into my cup yesterday this licensing of well known flavors to help sell an already famous branded product I got an idea:

Why not "Sprite Wine" or "Hawaiian Punch Pinot Noir" or "Sobe Sauvignon Blanc"?

It occurs to me the licensing of flavors in the pursuit of new wines just hasn't happened. We've had other wine based drinks like Wine Coolers and Arbor Mist and the like. But no one has utilized the power of brands to create a new kind of wine. We might get some flack from those convinced we are marketing alcohol to children or teens, but that charge, will uncomfortable, clearly wouldn't stick.

I don't know. Maybe the heat got to me yesterday and as I write this at 8:00am and the temperature is already 81 degrees outside and getting ready to head toward 110, I'm just not in my head.

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That said, I want to offer you my best "Slurpee Tip"

The amount of air that comes into your Slurpee cup along with the Slurpee when you pull that magic handle is pretty significant. You are in effect paying for lots of air along with your Slurpee. If you want to get more Slurpee than air you must do this....

1)Fill the Slurpee cup about an inch from the top of the cup with your favorite flavor.

2) Walk away from the Slurpee machine and get a straw.

3) Start stirring the Slurpee then gently pound the bottom of the cup on the counter.

4) Repeat this process about ten times until the air in the Slurpee mix pushed out and the Slurpee comes together in a thicker mix. You should now have just over half a cup of Slurpee, rather than nearly a full one and more room to pour in more of that cool icy concoction.

5) Return to the Slurpee machine and add more Slurpee. You can repeat the process but due to the concentrated nature of the Slurpee you've already created you won't gain much more room. But, you'll gain some. So Repeat the process.

6) Put the domed Slurpee Cup with the opening on top on to your Cup and fill it with Slurpee to the top of the dome.

If you do this correctly you will have obtained almost twice as much Slurpee Happiness than if you just filled up your cup.

The Role of the Wine Critic

I sat back in my chair. Somewhat stunned. I had just read what amounted to a "hit piece" on a few wineries by a wine critic. The gist of the article was, "these guys just don't cut the mustard". Being the sensitive type I had to wonder what the point is of raking these wineries over the coals. It's a question that could only be answered if I knew the inner workings of the wine critic's mind. Who knew how deep the reasons went.

But it also leads to an even better question: What is the Role of the Wine Critic/Reviewer?

This is not the simple question it seems. It's just too easy to suggest the role of the wine critic is to pass judgment. It might help get to the bottom of the issue by looking at what others have said about critics in general

"What I ask of a critic is that he usefully show the impact on his own consciousness of another's artistic power."
ALFRED KAZIN

"The spectator, untutored, stands unmoved; he sees the work of art, but it fails to make any intelligible impression on him; if he were spontaneously sensitive to it, there would be no need for criticism. But now comes the critic with his catalysis. He makes the work of art live for the spectator; he makes the spectator live for the work of art. Out of the process comes understanding, appreciation, intelligent enjoyment -- and that is precisely what the artist tried to produce."
H L MENCKEN

“The critic is not a straw-poll merchant, a tipster or a second-guesser of audience taste, simply an individual paid to record his or her reaction. Throughout history this has been a source of creative tension between artists and critics.”
THE GUARDIAN

"''I love criticism just as long as it's unqualified praise.''
NOEL COWARD

THE DIFFRENCE BETWEEN WINE & MOVIE CRITICS
It's important to note that all those speaking of critics and criticism above were referring to criticism of the arts. Wine is different in a number ways. In the first place, the wine critic evaluates with senses the art, book or movie critic will never use to make an evaluation: the nose and palate. Another difference is that wine plays a quasi-utilitarian role in our lives. It quenches our thirst. A book or movie, no matter how much we yearn for a good one, does not do this. A wine review is almost always a very short affair, usually no more than a few sentences.

Finally, consider this: The full time wine critic will probably write more reviews in a year than other types of critics will undertake in their lifetime. Does this speak to the importance of wine versus the importance of, say, a book or play or movie or dance recital?

Clearly the role of the wine critic is as varied as the wine critics' own varied views of their roles. The critic/reviewer that spurred this post clearly sees themselves as a prod. Unless they are simply mean spirited, and I don't think they  are, the only reason to write a scathing set of reviews is to prod the object of their reviews into doing better winemaking. The need of the consumer is clearly secondary to their goal.

But this brings us to the heart of the matter of the wine critic's role today. It clearly is defined by their responsibility to the consumer.

THE LIMITED ROLE OF THE WINE CRITIC
In the case of nearly every wine critic I know, they would say they are acting as a consumer advocate, guiding consumers through a sea of bottles and pointing them toward the good stuff and, sometimes, make a point of telling them which is the "bad stuff". Inherent in this effort is passing judgment. This should go without saying.

It's this rather limited mission of the wine critic that surely leads them to write reviews usually of only a few sentences which in turn allows them to churn out 100s of reviews each year. It also happens to be a fairly dismal definition of criticism. And it certainly isn't a role that elevates the wine critic to the level at which Mencken and Kazin expect them to reside. Yet it appears that by churning out 100s of short reviews each year, wine critics achieves what is expected of them: identifying wines that taste good.

Yet, consider that most professional critics utilize one or two of their senses to take in the object of their review. The music reviewer (different from the concert reviewer) uses only their ears. the book reviewer uses only their eyes. The drama critic uses both eyes and ears. But consider the wine critic. They must use their eyes, nose, and mouth. This broader array of input should argue for something that has potentially more girth when the filtering is done and the writing begins.

Unfortunately, most wine reviews fall short when it comes to bringing all this input through the most important filter: the brain. It's as though wine critics operate on a sort of simple word association principle whereby the first adjective that comes to their mind upon seeing, smelling or tasting a wine is quickly jotted down on paper and with that, the review is finished.

This works quite well if your goal is to simply describe what is in front of you with a little added judgment of whether there is "too much" of this or "too little" of that.

THE MEANING OF THE WINE
What's missing from most wine reviews is what's essential to good criticism: The meaning...of the wine.

This sounds a little silly, I'll grant you. It sounds particularly silly if you understand wine as something that is there to help get the steak, fois gras or pasta to go down in a slightly enhanced fashion. And this is in fact the role of wine in most people's life. But, since we are talking about criticism, a celebrated and ancient form of literature that, at its best, has the ability to connect laymen to the spiritual and intellectual secrets inside the artist's mind, then it might do to consider exactly what a serious wine critic can do and what they might have the potential to produce for both readers and drinkers alike.

There is in fact "meaning" in every wine. But more important, every wine represents an idea in a winemaker's mind. What is that idea? Where did it come from? How well was it articulated in the wine? Is there a connection between this idea and the popular culture that surrounds the winemaker? Could the idea that we glimpse in tasting the wine have been better told if the winemaker used different tools to express it? The questions that can be provoked by a wine are, if the critic is open to venturing outside the limiting model we have of wine reviewing, limitless.

WINE CRITICISM AS LITERATURE
I'm arguing for a form of wine criticism that tells the whole story. For a review that enlightens me as well as makes me a more informed consumer. For something that at least strives to be literature.

It's unlikely that there is any significant demand for this kind of wine criticism. Yet how much demand is there for reviews of ballet recitals? How much demand is there among the general population even for art criticism? Not nearly as much as there is for reviews of Tom Cruise's marriage. Yet, reviews of these things are written and often come with real insight and thought-provokingideas. And they are read by aficionados.

The main difference between those who write reviews of dance, fine art, and drama and those who write review of wine is their view of the subject matter. Wine critics don't view the object of their judgment to be art. This is what prevents us from reading wine review that might be called "literature".

The wine critic who thrashed a few wineries in print for not making good wine would have been justified in doing so, I think, if they only had some way to connect the failure they saw to a bigger, more important, even more engaging, idea. To suggest that some wineries fail from time to time is not the kind of revelation that rises to the level of interesting. What I want to know is why did they fail? What led them to failure? Is redemption possible? What's at stake due to their failure. What does it mean if the wineries in question believe that they in fact have succeeded wildly rather than failed, as the critic states so emphatically?

Beyond drinking wine, the only way to experience it is to read about it. This make the critic/reviewer a very important person with a very important role to play. I'll keep looking for those that step up and tell the whole story, who seek to inspire me as well as guide me down the right aisle.

The Trouble With Screwcaps!

As a rule we don't like to make fun of people here a FERMENTATION...unless they deserve it.

So in that spirit, the name attached to this email I was forewarded will be left out. That said, a winery forwarded me an email they got from a customer who has a very important inquiry. The message is short and to the point:

"I would like to ask how you recommend opening the bottles that have a very heavy foil that I had to pull off with the pliers and no cork. They have a plastic bottle cap liner. The corkscrew does not work because the foil is too heavy. Thank you."

I have not received the response the winery sent back to this pour reader who clearly has never seen a screwcap bottle before. Perhaps we ought to take the high road here and note that the wine industry might want to do more education with regard to how drinkers should treat the growing number of screwcap closed bottles that are appearing on the shelves.

The Soul of Wine?

I'm not real sure what to make of Sondra Barret's "microscopic portraits" of wine beyond the fact that she is completely sincere when she wonders if these art pieces truly are "expressions of style, personality, and perhaps the 'soul' of the wine."

A former medical researcher, Barret's technique for exposing the "soul of wine" seems pretty straightforward. Apparently she uses a microscope to photograph wine on a molecular level, revealing what are some pretty nice looking images. However, I'm not sure they are reflective of anything beyond the microscopic image of wine. But then, we bring to art our own experiences and expectations so her work might mean different things to different people. Clearly, they mean something to Barret:

"As an educator to wine lovers, children, health professionals, and people challenged by health problems, I discovered that images through the microscope open a doorway for people to appreciate life at a deeper level. Living with large prints of the wine portraits, I became inspired by nature's hidden beauty."

Clearly there are many different avenues for wine lovers to indulge their fascination with the drink. The pace at which tasting room trinkets move out the door is just one confirmation of this. Some will see Barret's "wine art" as nothing more than another tasting room add-on. And that seems a legitimate way to view her microscopic images. But some people, the ones Barret knows are out there, will look at these images and see something much deeper.

The Soul of Wine? Perhaps.

Barret's Website Is Here. Decide for yourself.

Wine Industry Destroyed!!...News at 11

Who writes these headlines? Chicken Little?  Jonathan Swift?  Publicists for the beer Industry ?

"Global Warming Destroys Wine Industry"

I say we just pack it up and pull out the vines...whadda ya say?

I almost detect a sense of glee in this headline that comes from a story produced by the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center.

The above headline communicates a slightly different story than this headline, doesn't it:

"Napa Threatened By Global Warming"

The story that goes along with the second headline, written by a "weather person" at ABC in San Francisco, is also far more instructive and illustrative with its interviews of local winemakers and grapegrowers.

The story on global warming and wine has some real legs as you can see if you simply do a search of Google News on the word "wine". Occasionally a story comes around that actually spurs people into action. This might be such a story. Talking with a gentleman who makes wine in and around Napa he told me there is a move afoot to get wineries and growers to "get out in front" of the Global Warming issue and make strides to do what can be done to reduce the affect that even the normally very environmentally conscious wine industry has on our planet.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, getting people worked up about something that isn't tangible or won't happen until far into the future is often a very difficult thing...until you start talking about how it will affect their own industry.

There's a lesson here for those looking to generate action on a variety of issues. Bring it home. Demonstrate as starkly as you can how something affects people personally. Particularly their pocket book and that of their offspring.

Just don't abuse the art of headline writing in the process.

10 THINGS...That Keep Me Living In Sonoma Valley

10 THINGS....That Keep Me Living In Sonoma Valley

1. AN EPICUREAN LIFESTYLE
We all set priorities, some more important that others. The idea of putting epicurianism high on the list is a choice that is better than many. Just recently a cheesemonger and a chocolate maker opened up not more than 3 minutes from my house. I can purchase the best meat in the world at local markets. The restaurants in Sonoma Valley rival those of any town north of San Francisco. These are not the most important things in life. But they take the edge off in a lovely sort of way.

2. THE CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT
Sonoma County has always been a retreat for those wanting to remove themselves from the faster pace of the city and the suburbs. Amongst those who have been attracted to element are the artists and the artistic minded. Sonoma Valley has benefited from this continual influx of the artist and the mindset they seem to have blanketed the communities in which they live.

3. CLIMATE
It's the essential reason why the cost of housing is so high here. Our climate is near perfect. Not too hot in the summer, not too cold or rainy in the winter. No snow. We are able to grow nearly any plant we want here given the right microclimate

4. FRIENDS AND FAMILY
At some point you realize your friends and family are the bedrock of your life. Mine are here.

5. VINES AND WINE
After you live in wine country a while, and I mean in the middle of vines and wineries, you begin to realize that you are affected by the cycle of the seasons in a most comfortable way. Not by the coming of the snows, the thawing of spring or even the falling of leaves that many locations experience. Rather the subtle changes of the vineyards around you is something that gets inside your mind and body's cycle. Add to this the delight of seeing the results of this seasonal patter in the form of new wines made from the vines you live amongst. It's all pretty compelling in a "biopsychological" sort of way

6. SMALL TOWNS
Sonoma Valley is somewhat different than most of the other regions in Sonoma County insofar as it is broken up in to small, but very identifiable and historic communities. The town of Sonoma is the largest community at about 14,000 people. Yet it is decidedly small in character, even as it swells with tourists. Up Valley is my hometown, Glen Ellen, and farther north the little village of Kenwood. For those of you who have not or don't live in small towns it's hard to explain the draw. The intimacy of the small town acts as a regulator on people's more base instincts. That intimacy also creates the kind of bond amongst neighbors that simply cannot be found in larger communities or cities.

7. BACKROADS
I'm a sucker for a slow, winding backroad. Sonoma Valley is home t a number of truly inspiring sort of routes: Warm Springs Road, Bennett Valley Road, Trinity Road, Dunbar Road, Sonoma Mountain Road.

8. INVESTMENT
More people want to live here than we have homes. And the process of getting homes built in this neck of the woods is mired with all sorts of problems. I'm not saying that's good or bad. However, I know my home and its continued increase in value will play a large role in my retirement.

9. SAFETY
If I were ranking the reasons that keep someone living somewhere, "safety" must surely be near the top. But this isn't a ranking kind of list. Nonetheless, I've never felt unsafe in this community. We have crime, but it's insignificant for the most part. I like this. It makes everything else about one's life a little easier.

10. THE PEOPLE
I think it's the pace of life here in Sonoma Valley, though I can't be sure that's the thing. Still, I've never lived anywhere in which the neighbors and people are more accommodating and helpful and caring. It's down right weird. I've spent long periods talking with people whom I've just then met at the meat counter of the Glen Ellen Market. I can't recall a frown or grimace pointed my way by anyone on the streets. It might be the water. Maybe the wine.

Blog Model Adapted For Wine Sales

I continue to be amazed at the various and new ways by which entrepreneurs are figuring out how to sell wine on the Internet. And I get the impression that it's only the tip of the iceberg.

RadCru.com is a new and pretty cool concept. We met them via their work with Inertia Beverage Group and have helped RadCru just a little bit with their upcoming launch of what looks to be very interesting.

What they are doing is pretty simple stuff: Offer one wine per day and sell it for 24 hours or until it runs out. That's it. One wine for each day of the week (Friday's offering goes through Saturday and Sunday)

THE BLOG MODEL ADAPTED FOR SALES
The whole idea has a bit of a blog quality to it. It becomes a place for wine lovers to check into once a day to see what the story is. Then, return the next day to see what the next story is. They are planning to present their one-a-day-wine via e-mail, directly on the website and via your handy-dandy RSS feed.

The idea is not to discount to get people to buy the wine, but rather to offer something hard to find, something new, somethings small, something unique. And this is what I most liked about the concept, even more than the one-a-day. Let's face it for wine lovers price is an issue, but not the main issue. The real thing is satisfying our urge for something that will intrigue us and take us farther down the path to wine oblivion.

THE STAGGERING AMOUNT OF WINE INFO ON THE NET IS A GIFT TO WINE LOVERS
I've seen a list of some of the wines they'll be offering. It's good. But again, it's really a wine lovers' world out here on the Internet. The amount of wine information, wine offers, wine people and...well...wine available to us is staggering. Given it all I for the life of me can't figure out what the hell you are doing reading this blog. There's so much more out there to consume (don't get me wrong...my day is often framed by ways to keep you satisfied with your venture into the world of FERMENTATION.

So, go check out RadCru.com. Sign up and see what they have to offer beginning July 10.

We Need More From Wine Reviews

Can you spare 10 characters in your reviews of wine?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is absolutely nothing to validate that conclusion.

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

Attention: Winery At Play!

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

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

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

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

How To Taste 1200 Wines in 2 Days

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

St. Barts VS. 2005 Lafite

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

Decanter has the story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is Wine.Com irrelevant?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heat, Vines and Restaurants

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just something to consider....

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

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

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

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

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

Ouch!!

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

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

The Old World May Embrace a New Wine World

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rather, the proposals now on the table include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pinot On Ice

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

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

Oh my god!!!!!!  Ice cubes.

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

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

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

Yes.

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

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

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

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

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

More reasons to Drink Wine

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

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

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

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

Why Farmers Pray

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

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

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

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

Those Who Help the Cause

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

Check them out. Visit their websites and businesses.

They include:

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

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

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

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

Depending on Score Whores: A Cautionary Tale

A Cautionary Tale

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

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

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

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

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

The strategy has worked.

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

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

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

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

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

NY Times On Wine: A Motivational Tool

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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