California Wine Country Tour

“One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”
- Kurt Vonnegut

Original post by Craig Camp

There aren’t many “secret” public wine tastings in San Francisco, but for several years, the Golden Glass tasting was about as close as you could get to a “wine insiders” tasting. Historically under-promoted, and generally not well attended, this tasting was often considered by some of my wine friends to be the single best public wine tasting in San Francisco. It may well still be.

However, this year’s Golden Glass tasting is taking a different approach to its wines. In past years this event, which is a fundraiser for Slow Food USA, has focused almost exclusively on small Italian wine producers — apropos of the fact that Slow Food was founded in Italy.

This year, however, a significant number of the wineries in attendance are from elsewhere. A large contingent from New Zealand, and substantial groups from Spain and Australia will augment a sizable number of Italian producers from all over the country.

As one might expect, the food at this event is local, and quite good. From the Fatted Calf to Chez Panisse, this event will showcase some of the best artisan food purveyors in the Bay Area. I usually recommend to readers that they show up to public tastings with a full stomach, but this is one event that might invalidate that rule.

So if you love good food and good wine, and don’t have a lot going on the first weekend in June, I highly recommend checking out this tasting.

2008 Golden Glass Tasting
Sunday June 8th, 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM
The Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123

Tickets are $50 for members of the public (discounted for members of Slow Food and other associated organizations) and should be purchased in advance online.

My usual tips for public tastings: get a good night’s sleep; drink lots of water; eat along the way; and if you want to enjoy yourself AND learn something….SPIT!

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog

I’ve written before about Steve Plotnicki’s outstanding restaurant guide for serious foodies only, Opinionated About. Now he’s taken another step in listing the top ten most overrated restaurants in New York, the USA and Europe. This is an extremely useful list as these restaurants are expensive, and when I mean expensive I mean expensive. These are restaurants that have main courses that cost as much as filling up your SUV so pay attention. I’ve eaten at a few of these restaurants, especially in Vegas, America’s most overrated dining destination, and I concur with these reviews. Have you been less than impressed with any of these restaurants?

Overrated Restaurant on Opinioned About

Original post by Craig Camp

I’m a big fan of press releases in today’s day and age. They allow us to get out information to a larger number of people than in the past, they can be formatted, sent and posted so that those who want the information are the ones to get it. And it allows me to get out this kind of information:

“According to “FollowTheMoney.Org”, which tracks state campaign
contributions, the lead sponsor of HB 429, Representative Edward
Acevedo, has received $32,000 from alcohol wholesalers since 2000,
including $10,000 since the legislation was introduced last year. One
Senate sponsor of HB 429, James Clayborne, Jr., has received $85,000
from alcohol wholesaler interests since 2000, including $15,000 since
the legislation was introduced. Since 2002, Governor Rod Blagojevich,
who signed HB 429, has received more than $500,000 just from alcohol
wholesalers in Illinois, $50,000 of which was given to him since he
signed the bill into law.”

HB 429 is the Illinois bill that was passed late last year, goes into effect on June 1 and that stripped Illinoisans of their right to have wine shipped to them from Internet wine stores.

The whole story is here.

Although the bill was written by wine wholesalers who really don’t like it when any transaction involving wine doesn’t provide them with their cut, and although it was introduced by those to whom the wholesalers contributed lots of money, the bill actually had fairly widespread support.

Among those supporting stripping consumers of the right they had for 15 years were:

-Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois

-California Wine Institute

-Wine & Spirit Distributors of Illinois

-Free the Grapes

-Beverage Retailers Alliance of Illinois


-Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association

Those who thought the bill unworthy of passage and that a better bill could have been crafted included:

-Specialty Wine Retailers Association


-Illinois Winemakers Alliance


-Consumers

There is a really interesting set of stories that come out of this situation that have to do with consumer rights, pay-to-play politics, relations between wine industry associations, constitutional issues, how best to fight for consumer rights, the cost of justice, etc. All these issues lend themselves to the press release format and, when packaged just right, to media coverage. An enterprising reporter can find in all this a really juicy, compelling, sensational story. And I have such a reporter is looking up this story as we type.

In any case, the real bottom line here is that Illinois consumers just got bent over by a surprising coalition.

Original post by Tom Wark

It was a little sad. Our host pulled out a bottle of 1992 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon and poured it around the table and we all immediately raised our glasses to the memory of Robert Mondavi, who recently passed away. The wine was lovely, everything a mature cabernet should be with a firm elegant character, a wonderful cigar box nose and that long, linear, intellectual finish that defines the variety at its best.

The sad part was not the passing of Mr. Mondavi, who lived a full and meaningful life into his nineties. It’s hard to think of someone who lived a fuller life and no one left a bigger imprint on the American wine industry. The sad part was a wine blog post I read earlier in the day that grumped away about all the coverage of his death, wondered what the big deal was all about and why he should care. Writing a wine blog and not knowing about Robert Mondavi is like writing a blog about American history without knowing who George Washington was. How can a wine writer that doesn’t understand the immense impact of Robert Mondavi provide meaningful commentary on the American wine industry? They can’t and that’s a little sad.

Understanding the sublime art that great wine can become is more than pulling the cork and giving it points. In every bottle of California wine that achieves greatness there will always be a bit of Robert Mondavi. To not understand that is to not fully know or appreciate that wine. It is the human spirit that raises wine from a beverage to an emotion.

We can be assured that there have been thousands of corks pulled from treasured old bottles of Robert Mondavi’s wines in the last week and tens of thousands of glasses raised in his honor and memory. I can’t think of a better tribute.

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Original post by Craig Camp

I drink wine from as many different countries as I can, as often as I can. I firmly believe that the only way I keep learning anything as a wine lover will be through continued exploration.

There are times, though, when searching out new countries, grape varieties, and appellations just takes too much energy. At times like these, usually after a long week, I just want a nice meal and a good glass of wine to go with it. Like most people in these situations of part-exhaustion, I tend to stick to the predictable — the least risky choice that is most likely to yield the most pleasurable result.

So when I found myself dining alone the other night, and not wanting to think much about which white wine I wanted, I reached for a safety wine. I had never had it before, but I knew it was: white, a blend of different grapes, French, and it was from Provence.

There aren’t many sure bets in the wine world. There’s a lot of crap out there to be sure. But if you’re gonna order wine, sight unseen and untasted, I think it’s pretty hard to go wrong with most of the wines in the Cotes de Provence. At least the ones that end up getting imported here.

So there I was, sitting alone at the big communal table, watching the chefs do their thing from behind the pass. I was reading some notes I had taken from a meeting earlier in the day, and only barely noticed when the waitress put the glass down by my plate. I reached out between sentences and took a sip, and in the kind of moment that keeps me drinking wine, I was forced to pause, to savor, and to say a silent prayer of thanks for my luck at living a life in which I get to enjoy good things like this glass of wine.

Don’t get me wrong, this wine was not epiphany-creating-stuff-of-the-gods. It was just darn good, and it really hit the spot.

The family that currently owns Chateau du Rouët purchased the property in 1840 with the intention of harvesting cork from the trees on the property, and selling some of the pine wood that was particularly in demand for shipbuilding at the nearby ports of the Mediterranean. The property encompassed more than 1000 acres of forest, as well as the grounds of a sizable manor that was erected by the new owners in 1880.

Around 1920, a fire ravaged the estate, as well as some of the forest, and the current owner decided to plant a vineyard between the scrubby, fire prone hills and the forest of the estate. Though it was only a secondary consideration at the time, this began the history of wine cultivation at the estate.

Today the descendants of the original three families that purchased the property farm approximately 170 acres of vineyards at the foot of a set of hills known as the Gorges de Pennafort that rise with their red volcanic rocks and ancient caves about 1500 feet above the property. The mostly sandstone terraced vineyards are wedged between the flatlands, the hills, and a swath of Mediterranean forest of cedar, bamboo, cork oaks, maritime pines, and even palm trees. The vineyards run mostly north to south to shelter the grapes from the fierce Mistral winds that whip over the hills at certain times of the year. These winds are not all bad, however. Combined with the warmer breezes off the Mediterranean, they combine to create the cool, dry climate that allows the Cotes de Provence to create wines of great personality.

On the grounds of the winery sits a small chapel that is worthy of mention only because of the unusual doors which adorn its modest facade. These doors were taken from a sailing ship named the Le Belle Poule, which at one time was well known for one of its last voyages — a trip it made to carry home the ashes of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1888, Lucien Savatier, who contributed greatly to the development of Chateau du Rouet’s vineyards, as part of his duties to dismantle the ship, took the doors from the cabin that housed Bonaparte’s ashes during the voyage and installed them on the chapel where they remain today.

In memory of the ship (which adorns the label even today) the winery produces a red, a white and a rose wine, all called “Cuvee Belle Poule.” The white wine is a blend of three grapes: Ugni Blanc (30%), Sémillon (20%) and Rolle (50%) from what the winery refers to as “old vines” but I’m not clear on just how old they are. 1250 cases are made.

Tasting Notes:
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has an appealing nose of pears, rainwater, and very faint melon aromas. In the mouth it is crisp, and light, and bouncy. Great acidity and mineral qualities underlie green melon and pear flavors that along with the chalky stone quality to the wine make it fantastically refreshing. Everything I want in a white wine with dinner.

Food Pairing:
I drank this with a lobster bisque the other night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall Score: 9

How Much?: $18

The 2004 may be tricky to find, but the 2005 and 2006 are readily available for purchase on the internet.

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog

Just a short commercial note that I have launched my own consulting company for fine wine producers. You can get more information at http://craigcamp.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/craig-camp-consulting/. Many thanks to all for the support I’m getting in launching this project.

Now back to talking about wine.

Original post by Craig Camp

Just a short commercial note that I have launched my own consulting company for fine wine producers. You can get more information at http://craigcamp.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/craig-camp-consulting/. Many thanks to all for the support I’m getting in launching this project.

Now back to talking about wine.

Original post by Craig Camp

Original post by Tom Wark

Winemaker Tony Rynders, who has rolled up an extraordinarily long list of highly regarded wines in his ten years at Domaine Serene has moved on to his own business. Those of you who want to follow Tony can now find him at his new website and blog at www.tonyrynders.com. Friends of Tony should drop by and leave their best wishes.

Original post by Craig Camp

Original post by Craig Camp

You don’t see it pointed out much, but here’s the fact the of the matter:

The wholesaler-dominated and controlled system of wine distribution in America hurts small business and hurts family businesses.

A new article in Forbes by Dirk Smillie that outlines why it’s likely that 20% of all American wineries will be sold off over the next five years makes this point in a backhanded sort of way, but it’s a point worth taking not of:

“The expected selloff is
driven by aging vineyard owners bedeviled by how drastically difficult
it is to make a buck in the new landscape of winemaking. “The wine
business today is a funnel,” says Robert Nicholson, head of
International Wine Associates, a Healdsburg, Calif. corporate finance
outfit specializing in vineyard buyouts. At the top are those 5,000
wineries, which produce 7,000 brands. These labels compete with one
another, plus foreign imports, at the bottom of the funnel, where they
must fit through a bottleneck of 450 distributors who decide which
brands get shelf space. In the past decade the number of brands has
nearly doubled, while the number of distributors has been cut in half.
Result: Family-owned microbrands have seen their pricing power and
ability to demand shelf space trickle away.“

Were it not for the direct shipment channel, I suspect that the 20% of wineries that are expected to be sold off would exceed 35% - 40%.

I don’t think anyone would advocate their be regulations prohibiting the severe consolidation that has occurred among wine distributors over the past 20 years. This is simply the way the market and business works. However, policymakers should take a look at the severe impact that the current wholesaler control of wine distribution has on small business and family wineries. Policymakers should ask themselves if it’s good for the economy to allow wholesalers to run family’s out of the wine industry simply so wine wholesalers can continue to control wine distribution and reap enormous state-mandated profits that have no relationship to the actual value of the services that wholesalers provide. This needs to be looked at by policymakers in light of the fact that it is the near nationwide policy of granting distributors unjustified profits at the expense of family and small business that is causing great harm.

The answer to this obscene situation is a simple one: Make wholesalers compete and work for their profits.

1. Allow wineries and retailers to ship wine direct to consumers in order to assure alternatives to the wholesaler channel are open to wineries



2. Allow wineries to bypass wholesalers in bringing their wines to market so that true entrepreneurial efforts are at the heart of the wine industry

At the very least these two changes would give small and family wineries a fighting chance against wholesalers who appear to be doing all they can to run them out of business. We’d also learn whether or not the wholesalers deserve or can actually earn the profits they are currently given by the state.

Original post by Tom Wark

There are just some places that once you’ve visited, they’ve found a home deep within your heart.

The Longboat Key Club has done such a thing to me… And the placement is so deep that I find myself not only continually finding my way back, but also bringing others along for the experience.

This past April, I arranged with Jan Crudele and Sandy Loevner of the Florida Winefest & Auction to allow me to setup a Petite Sirah panel that included the following:

• Jim Concannon (Concannon Vineyard)
• Louis Foppiano (Foppiano Vineyards)
• Mike Phillips (Michael-David Winery)
• Miro Tcholakov (winemaker for Trentadue Winery and Miro Cellars)
• John Monnich (proprietor/winemaker for Silkwood wines)

Honestly, that wasn’t enough for me, either. I also arranged for Greg Lint (president) and Jeff Herinckx (winemaker) of Willamette Valley’s Oak Knoll Winery to sign up for the Florida Winefest & Auction, as well as Black Coyote Chateau (represented by Jose Diaz, their marketing director).

Now that this is a “past” experience, you’d think that this satisfied my need to be there? Absolutely not!

We’ve already begun the panel for 2009, which is going to be called, “Cab is King.” And, the cast of characters is already underway, with some very exciting additions to be announced when finalized.

The bottom line for me is this… It’s taken me a few years to get back there, but it’s time for this to be an annual event again. It’s such a beautiful venue, it’s for a worthy cause (Children’s Charities), and I get to return to this wonderful place that’s become part of my soul… The Longboat Key Club.

Why is this place so fabulous?

• It’s paradise. The tropical experience is like no other in the United States. (Hawaii and Puerto Rico are other options for me, but this one is within the mainland’s borders, which makes it a bit easier to get to.)
• The attention to detail and service amenities are done to perfection by their staff.
• Their Gulf Coast white sand beach is gorgeous, with their aquamarine surf pounding on the beach… More paradise.
• The condo-style living has a home-away-from-home feeling.

This season, because we were sharing a condo with the guys from Oak Knoll Winery, we were given a first floor hospitality suite. It was one that I used to visit in past years, but this year’s was given to Greg, Jeff, Jose, and me. We were positioned right in front of the pool and Jacuzzi, with our own private deck and walkway to the beach.

Okay… I had to pinch myself several times. It was a condo that begged for a party, so we had one on our last night.

While beachcombing, I met a new friend, who also loves the seashell collecting aspects of this area. Her name is Ada Levy, and is a recent transplant from Ohio. Ada now permanently lives on this island, and we got to chatting about the plethora of seashells that litter the beach with each new tide’s offering.

[Pictured left to right: Jeff Hendrickx, Jose Diaz, John Monnich, Greg Lint, Judie Monnich, and Helen Concannon]

Ada asked what brought me to the island. I shared that I’m in the wine business and working at the Florida Winefest. She then shared that Bogle is her favorite wine. I shared that Patty Bogle is a friend, and  decided to invite her to our grand finale vintner party on our final night together. Ada and her husband Lucien Levy were our guests that night on the deck… And, it was their turn to pinch themselves. Several times Lucien said to me, “Jo, this is just so special. So many people go to winemaker dinners just to get close to one winemaker. This just isn’t something that anyone outside of the wine business has access to. We feel so privileged.”

[Pictured left to right: Jim Concannon, Ada Levy, Miro Tcholakov, Lucien Levy]

He was right. He was surrounded by one winemaker after another, but he was also someone who understood how lucky we all were, and I thank Longboat Key Club for having made it all possible for all of us.

If you’re traveling to the Gulf Coast, this is one place that’s worth finding. The comfort, friendly over-the-top service, and lush tropical surroundings are magnificent and worth the drive from the mainland to the island.

As we all headed to the airport, we were formulating our plans for 2009!

Original post by Jo Diaz

Review by Tim Patterson.

Biodynamic grapegrowing and winemaking have gotten a great deal of press in recent years, far out of proportion to the planted acreage involved. Much like the coverage for the adventures of Britney Spears–also wildly outstripping the extent of her creative resume–biodynamics write-ups have tended toward the sensational, even the salacious, emphasizing the ritual usage of cow dung and excursions into pop astrology.

At the same time, there is no denying that the international Who’s Who of biodynamic growers and winemakers turns out some mighty tasty wine–Chapoutier in the Rhone, Zind Humbrecht and Ostertag in Alsace, Domaine Leroy and LeFlaive in Burgundy, Nikolaihof in Austria, Sinskey and Araujo in California, the list goes on and on. Chances are these folks are doing something right.

So when, in the midst of this perplex, there comes a book written by a leading Franch practitioner of the biodynamic arts, Loire winemaker Nicolas Joly (somehow Americanized as Nicholas with an “h” for this edition), and it bears the tell-all title, Biodynamic Wine, Demystified, inquiring minds may want to snap it up.

Be forewarned that the book delivers nothing resembling the promise of its title. You might well want to read it, but not in hopes of figuring out, say, what science may lay behind the alleged effects of the phases of the moon on the growing cycle or the soil chemistry findings that validate the cherished cow plops. Very few of the 174 pages of Biodynamic Wine, Demystified are devoted to the examination of practical, hands-on techniques, fewer in fact than in Joly’s earlier book (1999), Wine from Sky to Earth. Rather, the purpose of the volume is to advance a philosophical perspective, a central tenet of which is that if there is nothing mystical left to enrich the process of making wine, there’s no point in doing it.

The chapter on The Cellar, the longest in the book, is a good example. Judging from the title, you might expect here some explanation of what difference it makes when wine movements are timed to the lunar calendar, or perhaps some tips on avoiding spoilage without the use of chemicals. Instead, we get disquisitions about Euclid and Hippocrates, ramblings about the nature of gravity, electricity and magnetism, an exegesis of the Platonic theory of Forms, a detour into the law of harmonies, and much, much more.

These arguments don’t read like anything recognizably scientific (let alone relevant) until we realize that Joly–like Rudolf Steiner, the early 20th century founder of biodynamics, before him–has an entirely different view of what science is. For Steiner/Joly, ancient science was on the right track and medieval science was better yet. But when the Enlightenment hit, bringing rationalism, empiricism, and the experimental method with it, True Science got lost in the shuffle. Perhaps Joly’s most dismissive epithet comes when he calls an idea “Cartesian,” that is, in the manner of the 17th century French philosopher Rene Descartes–known to history for helping invent the calculus, not for his winemaking skills.

Along the way, Joly does take impassioned swipes at a number of contemporary commercial winemaking practices–the use of cultivated yeast strains that change a grape’s inherent aromatic profile, injecting tiny amounts of oxygen to speed up the aging process, or condensing grape must by removing water in order to make a more concentrated wine. All these practices are, for Joly, inevitable outgrowths of adopting the mechanistic, overly materialistic worldview that passes for modern science. He issues a call to return to the winemaking practices of the 1940s and 1950s–a terrifying thought to most anyone involved in the wine industry.

As an exercise in armchair philosophy and amateur intellectual history, Joly’s book is a captivating read. He’s intensely committed to the positions he argues, and he constantly surprises the reader with yet another excursion into something unexpected. What other wine book (since the 12th century) offers a refresher on The Four Temperaments, Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Melancholy?

The fundamental reason Joly is so worked up is that he’s convinced that modern winemaking obliterates the power of terroir, the expression of a place in its wines and other agricultural products. He’s got a point, and nearly all of the practitioners of biodynamics I’ve interviewed over the years say that’s what got them intrigued by the system in the first place. Biodynamics takes organic farming practices and wraps them as broader conception of the farm / the vineyard as a coherent organism, where inputs and outputs of resources work in harmony. It’s a stark contrast to the industrial, agro-chemical model–first sterilize the land, then pump it full of petroleum derivatives.

Signing on for the program in no way requires embracing Joly’s ideas about Platonic Forms, nor does it require, according so some prominent biodynamic winemakers, staying awake during Joly’s periodic lecture tours. There’s the philosophy–and then there’s a winery to run.

If you haven’t had a Humanities 110 refresher for a while, read this book. If you want to understand the nitty-gritty of natural winemaking techniques in the vineyard and the cellar, keep browsing.

Nicholas Joly, Biodynamic Wine, Demystified, Wine Appreciation Guild, 2008, $24.95 (Paperback).

Tim Patterson writes for several wine magazines, blogs at Blind Muscat’s Cellarbook, and co-edits the Vinography book review section.

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog

The American wine industry is pretty excited these days. Sales are up, and the demographics are looking good: the youngest generation of alcohol consumers (known as the “Millennials”) are much more interested in wine than any other generation before them, and there are a lot of them — almost as many as the Baby Boomers.

In many ways, the Millennial generation has caused the wine industry to finally realize there’s a market in younger wine drinkers, a group that has long been ignored by both the wine media and most wine producers. While the beer and hard liquor industries learned long ago that marketing to twenty-somethings was a golden goose of an opportunity, the wine industry has been slow to figure out that there was another market for their product besides old white men.

Change is coming though, as events like the upcoming Wine & Spirits Hot Picks tasting clearly demonstrate. Focused on folks under 35, this tasting of some of the magazine’s top wines, hosted by some of Los Angeles’ youngest wine professionals, will likely be a great opportunity for younger wine lovers to taste great wine, at an interesting venue, with lots of cool folks to interact with.

Frankly, I wish I had sought out more events of this sort when I was single. Now that I’m married, I realize that I probably could have gotten a lot more dates hanging out at wine tastings than I did hanging out at the rock climbing gym! Singles take note.

Wine & Spirits knows how to put on a good tasting, and the wines showcased are usually extremely high quality. Their Top 100 tasting is certainly one of the best events of the year in San Francisco, and one I try not to miss under any circumstances. That bodes well for this event, which I haven’t ever attended, but which I certainly recommend as probably worth the $75 entrance fee.

Lots of different wines will be served, along with food from some of LA’s trendiest restaurants, including Osteria Mozza, which I hear is quite the scene these days.

If some of you readers attend, let me know how it goes.

Wine & Spirits Hot Picks Tasting
Thursday May 22, 2008
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
MODAA Gallery
8609 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

Tickets are $75 and should be purchased online in advance.

Don’t forget to wear dark clothes, drink lots of water, eat food along the way, and if you want to actually learn something…. SPIT!

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog

Welcome Aboard!

KGO’s Gene Burns and Dr. Dean Edell are hosting a sunset dinner Cruise on Monday, May 19, on board Signature Hospitality’s yacht the California Spirit. It’s a benefit for the 28th Annual KGO Leukemia Cure-A-Thon (March 28-29).

Those who sign up will enjoy the spectacular cuisine of Walnut Creek’s best chefs from Va de Vi, Lark Creek Walnut Creek, The Walnut Creek Yacht Club, Prima Restaurant and Signature Hospitality. Only 40 couples, with a maximum of 80 people, may attend, at $500 per couple or $250 per individual. The lineup of restaurants and chefs guarantees an evening to please those with discriminating tastes for food and wine.

Although this on Monday, and time’s a wasting, you should check for available space… just in case you might get lucky!

If you don’t get onto the cruise, the 28th Annual KGO Leukemia Cure-A-Thon is on March 28 and 29, 2008. Just listen to KGO, and pledge what you are able.

When Gene Burn’s producer Joel Riddell contacted me about this cruise, I went into overdrive. Unbeknownst to Joel, Louis Foppiano lost his brother Rod Foppiano to a very untimely death to leukemia. Also, my friend and colleague Patty Bogle is currently recovering in Texas from a in bone marrow transplant to cure her leukemia… And all is looking well for her recovery.

I knew that both of these wineries would be more than willing to furnish wine for this important fund raisingcruiset.

Also, Concannon Vineyard is a wonderful source for philanthropy, when I approach them for something that’s proven to be a worthy cause.

It’s been very rewarding to be in the background with my pal Joel, helping to make this Gene & Dean cruise a great success.

Signature Hospitality ~ Owners Garrett and Danielle O’Doherty with Executive Chef Rolando Paz

Walnut Creek Yacht Club ~ Executive Chef Kevin Weinberg with Proprietor Ellen McCarty

Va de Vi Bistro ~ Executive chef Kelly Degala

Lark Creek Walnut Creek ~ Executive Chef Scott Wall

Prima Restaurant (Walnut Creek) ~ Executive Chef/Owner Peter Chastain

Bon Voyage!

Original post by Jo Diaz

Today the United States lost one of its living legends, as Robert Mondavi died today at the age of 94. It’s hard to understate the impact that Robert Mondavi had on the wine world. His name itself was, and still is, one of the most well known brands in America. His family’s (and his own) success in the wine business was a prototypical example of the American dream.

Robert Mondavi moved to Napa in 1930’s to work in the post-prohibition wine industry of the region, having grown up making wine with his father and brothers in Lodi, California, before attending Stanford University in Palo Alto. Mondavi convinced his father to purchase the Charles Krug winery in 1943, a decision that would prove fateful for the entire family. Under the Mondavis, Charles Krug would become one of the most successful Napa wineries of its time.

This success was not without its trials however, as Julia Flynn Siler chronicled in her history of the family last year. In 1966, after essentially being kicked out of the family, Mondavi founded his own winery in Napa. Through a combination of passion, savvy marketing, and sheer force of will, Mondavi built what can only be called an empire. The rising tide of Mondavi’s success, coupled with his own tireless promotion of the place he believed wine should hold in the modern American lifestyle, helped to forge Napa’s identity as one of the world’s great wine regions.

While the Mondavi name has perhaps lost some of its luster, just as the wines that continue to bear his name have diminished in quality and reputation, these should not and cannot detract from the accomplishments of the man himself. Most wine lovers today owe him a debt of gratitude, if only for helping make America a little more friendly to wine and those who care deeply about it.

Cheers, Robert!

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog

“Visionary vintner helped usher in a new era for California wine, writes,” Jim Laube. Continuing, “Robert Mondavi, a visionary winemaker and brilliant marketer who helped lead California wine into international prominence, died at 9 a.m. today at home in Yountville, Calif. He was 94.” Go to Wine Spectator for Jim Laube and Marvin Shanken’s stories… It’s a sad day for the wine business. I’ll be writing about the legend who made a chapter of my life so amazing, and helped my career in so many ways he didn’t even understand.

Original post by Jo Diaz

The Great One Has Gone

Original post by Tom Wark

The passionate Alice Feiring and her new book, The Battle for Wine and Love, have fanned the flames of the natural winemaking debate. In particular she has bruised the feelings of the California wine industry, to which she has not been very complimentary. This has resulted in some lively back and forth on the side of the Californians in The Los Angeles Times, hardly a surprising forum for the pro-California view. I applaud Alice’s spirited attack on industrial wines and support of wines with personality and a sense of place. Her intensity has helped keep the debate a debate.

Extreme positions help sell books and it looks like Alice has done a good job in riling up the Californians and keeping her book in the headlines. I’m sure if the truth came out Alice, like me, has a long list of California wines she loves.

It’s becoming the spoofulators vs. the natural movement and the main spoofulators seem to be in California. Yet this raises the question of what’s really natural or not and at what point the line is crossed from one to the other. It’s not as clear as it may seem. At some point it is just as bad to do too little to the wine as it is to do too much. Bad wine is bad wine, natural or not.

Let’s take a look at the revered (I agree) wines of Josko Gravner in northeastern Italy on the border with Slovenia. Gravner ferments and ages his white wines on the skins and seeds for six or seven months in terra cotta amphorae coated with beeswax. This has a somewhat dramatic (to say the least) impact on the flavor and color of his wines. Is this natural winemaking or a kind of natural spoofulation? The wines of Gravner are extreme wines manipulated to that style by the hand of the winemaker. Are the techniques of Clark Smith more intrusive than this? I’m not sure this is a question that has been answered.

There are a few buzzwords out there that seem to define the natural wine forces: biodynamic, indigenous yeasts, little or no sulfur and never, never any machines.  Yet there are a whole array of interventions other than these that winemakers impose on their wines either because they dream of crafting great art like Gravner or because they are commercial winemakers that must put out a good tasting stable wine year-after-year to keep their jobs. It seems a bit preposterous to return to primitive methods of winemaking that more-often-than-not have the potential to produce faulted wines. Not all progress is inherently bad and any good winemaker will do everything needed to improve their wines. Many winemakers resolve this conflict between their desire to be part of the natural movement and the realities of putting better wine in the bottle by forgetting to talk about certain things when they talk to the press.

Great wines are made, they don’t just happen. That’s why they call them winemakers. There is an incredible array of tools and knowledge available to today’s winemakers. To not make use of any of these tools and techniques does not make any sense. However, what you do with these many new tools is all important. You can’t make wine without manipulation, but without a doubt you can’t make great wine with with over-manipulation. I believe in terroir. I have tasted it in wines way to often to have any doubt.  As long as a winemakers manipulations are designed to enhance that terroir I don’t have any problems with them.

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Original post by Craig Camp

Alice Feiring….You GO!

I think it’s great that the San Francisco Chronicle and the LA Times would give Alice a fairly large stage to bitch and moan about California wine not being to her tastes and the contention that a single, Maryland-based Palate is the reason for her California Discontent.

Alice is in the midst of promoting her new book that takes the art of bitching and moaning into a book length format. Feiring’s “The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization” has a whimsical looking cover design that might just as easily be translated to a publishing effort on how pandas and tulips can save the world. But it seems behind the happy cover lies another approach:

“Join her as she sets off on her one-woman crusade against the tyranny
of homogenization, wine consultants, and, of course, the 100-point
scoring system of a certain all-powerful wine writer.”

Just for the record there is no tyranny of Homogenization in the world of CA wine. There is only disappointment that most wines don’t appeal to one’s palate. It’s also true that Alice’s call for more “natural” winemaking and “natural” wines is really just a a reflection of her philosophy of life and not a critique of winemaking. It’s highly doubtful she or most others could consistently identify wines that are made with and without “natural” winemaking techniques.

Still, I love to see Alice, this artful writer, make a full frontal assault on those wineries and critics who like
to drink and make wines that don’t appeal to her. There is a passion here that transcends and makes secondary work of the disappointment that is at the heart of her recent screeds and editorials. It’s good writing, it’s controversial, it engages the reader and it demonstrates that the politics of preference is alive and well in the world of wine.

As I read the good news today that the California Supreme Court overturned the law prohibiting same-sex marriage, I saw similarities between Feiring’s position that California wine should be more subdued and natural and the opponents of the California Supreme Court ruling who believed marriage should be what it always was, between a man and a woman. Both Alice and the conservative, anti-gay camp believe there has been some brainwashing going on. But in the long run, both the opponents of same sex marriage and Alice will lose their battles. America is not, and never was, a place where traditions were forceful enough to squash the aspirations of those who choose to simply do what they want as long as it’s not hurting anyone.

The big, bold wines that Alice believes are imitations of what real wine should be will be with us forever and will continue to be made because California’s climate allows this as does technology, and because other people like them. But she should take take heart. There will always be Cathy Corisons, Steve Edmunds, Stony Hills and many, many others who, if Alice wants to seek them out, will demonstrate that there is no winemaking region in the world more diverse in the style of wines it produces than California.

UPDATE:

Nice review of Feiring’s New Book at The Women’s Wine Critic Blog.

Original post by Tom Wark

Nothing’s more exciting than to have a new kid on the block, when that kid’s brought in all kinds of new, fascinating toys…

Enter Chinois Asian Bistro in Windsor, California, offering Pan-Asian cuisine… Right in the heart of Sonoma County’s wine country, just minutes from downtown Healdsburg.

Their menu is so delectable that I feel like the culinary gods just blessed my life with the gift I’ve been long waiting for. Their food menu that steps right out of what I used to prepare for my kids when I was a stay-at-home mom. I did all things from scratch, including breads, jams, canning tomatoes, baking beans on my Jotel woodstove while the kids shot down the hill on sleds to the icecovered pond… I made sure my girls never had “fast food” slow their fast tracks to healthy happiness.

Pictured to the left is one of my favorite dishes: Mandarin Orange Glazed Chicken Drumsticks ~ Crunchy chicken drumsticks tossed in sweet honey, chili, and tangy orange sauce.

Quoting from Jeff Cox’s entry on the Santa Rosa Press Democrat blog entry regarding Chinois: “On the opening menu are several types of dim sum (finally come to SoCo), small plates of everything from panko prawns with wasabi-honey, chicken satay and Singaporean Roti Prata (a sort of flat bread with curry dip) to sautéed mung beans, garlic egg noodles and what you’ve come here for–seafood Nonya Laksa.”

There’s a person inside of me that wants to keep this a best kept secret. This way I can continue to enjoy not having an overcrowded restaurant, and we can’t go on having such a personal one-on-one dining experience with the new owners.

The other person inside of me, however, wants to give them all kinds of free marketing advice, so they do succeed. This way they easily make ends meet, and they don’t simply go off into the sunset.

Last night at dinner, I asked proprietor Debbie Shu if I could have a paper copy of her wine list. It’s such an amazing international list that I wanted to share a sampling of its contents with you. Why? Because they’ve dared to do in this area what no other restaurant has done… Step outside of the nativism trap that all other restaurants around here have fallen into. [The image of Debbie is one that’s on the Santa Rosa Press Democrat food blog site.]

While, on one hand, it’s good business to feature all of your neighbors’ wines, it’s still good business to offer those neighbors who are more adventurous new international flavors. It allows me to explore new flavors that I might otherwise have missed in life… It simply broadens my perspective.

So, last night, when I asked for their wine list so I could share with you, I was told that their lists have been stolen almost down to not having any. Can you imagine? Their list is so great that people have been stealing them in order to study it further. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but I guess not being in the restaurant business these sorts of things escape me.

What I can share with you is this… If you’re headed to Sonoma County and you’re looking for exotic Asian cuisine, Chinois Asian Bistro is absolutely delicious, with a wine list that has no parallel in close proximity, and is certain to totally delight your palate.

I’m the world’s most Finickie Foodie. I make Sally, in “When Harry Met Sally,” look like she’s easy to please. I have food allergies, food aversions, and a hard time finding just one favorite item on any restaurant’s menu. Chinois offers so many foods that I find absolutely delightful that I now have choices (a first time for me).

My daughter Melanie is wheat intolerant… There are so many items that it’s not an issue for her, either.

My daughter Lyla is a vegetarian… There’s so many items that she’s never at a loss for what to have.

My husband Jose is quick to add that he eats anything… His body and palate are so tolerant that he enjoys everything - I mean everything - on Chinois’ menu.

So, I’m taking the high road on this one, and sharing this new Sonoma County culinary delight with you, because even though we might have to eventually wait to be seated, at least I’ll be bale to continue to enjoy this fabulous food and wine experience.

Chinois Asian Bistro, 186 Windsor River Road, Windsor, 707.838.4667

Original post by admin

Brilliance is a word that can mean many things: luminosity, intelligence, perfectly executed and, when it comes to flavor, lively and electric. All of those things come together in these two seductive, brilliant wines that are great values to boot coming in at under $25.

• 2005 Clos de la Roilette, Fleurie, Imported by Louis/Dressner Every time I’ve served this wine each person at their first sip is taken back for a second as they ponder what has crossed their palate. Each knows that they have experienced something special. This is an extraordinary wine is that is is just so alive that it makes you take more pleasure in living. Concentrated elegance and finesse.

• 2005 Bourgogne, Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Joseph Voillot. Imported by Vintage ‘59 Imports – Anybody who thinks there are no great values coming out of Burgundy be prepared to be proven wrong. This racy, bright pinot noir also comes packed with loads of flavor and complexity on its rather electric acid frame. Here’s a pinot that can both sing and dance. A short stint in your cellar of two or three years will give you quite a bottle of pinot.

A pair of 5’s may seem a long shot to those that think a lot of chips are required to get great wine, but sometimes a pair is all you need. These days it’s hard to imagine such a winning hand at this price range from anywhere other than France.

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Original post by Craig Camp

Our June 15th edition of the Wine Spectator arrived in our mailbox with a special wine country section focusing on five different California wine venues including the town of Yountville in the Napa Valley. We happened to have been there last week taking advantage of a $150 a night mid-week special at the Yountville Inn. After reading the Wine Spectator article we thought it would be a good idea to add our “two cents” to Wine Spectators take on Yountville.

One of the great things about staying in Yountville is having a great choice of restaurants within easy walking distance. No need to worry about a designated driver or calling a taxi. We have eaten at all the restaurants in the main part of town except the French Laundry and PJ Steak. At the top of our list is Ad Hoc and Bistro Jeanty. Ad Hoc is owned by Thomas Keller of Bouchon and the French Laundry fame, both also in Yountville. The menu at Ad Hoc is price fixed and it is a four-course meal that changes nightly. Whatever is on the menu for that night is that; there are no other selections. Bistro Jeanty serves up a fine French menu of comfortable food. What we like about both restaurants is the festive, casual, and not so serious atmosphere. Redd’s is our favorite spot for sitting at the bar and people watching.

Mustard’s Grill is a few miles away on Highway 29 and is a great choice for lunch or dinner. Famed chef and restaurateur, Cindy Pawlcyn, opened Mustard’s in 1984.

As far as wineries, there are some very close ones that were not mentioned in the Wine Spectator. It is possible to rent bikes and stay off Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail and see plenty of wineries. Bicycles can be rented at Napa Valley Bike Tours at 6488 Washington Street. Within easy riding distance is Domain Chandon, Elyse Winery, and Havens Wine Cellars, on the West side of the freeway. North on Washington Street in Yountville is Bell Wine Cellars.

Best winery for a picnic is Robert Sinskey on the Silverado Trail, just south of the Yountville Cross Road. The Bouchon Bakery has sandwiches prepared with their delicious breads that you carry out for a picnic lunch. If you are not staying at a B&B, Bouchon Bakery is a must for a morning cup of coffee and a pastry.

A few other fun things to do: Walk up and take at a look at the French Laundry’s vegetable garden. It is directly across the street from the French Laundry restaurant. Check out the boutique shops in the V Marketplace at Vintage 1870. For exercise, walk or bike ride on Yount Mill Road. It is a quiet road, where you can get some wonderful views of the vineyards and the Vaca Mountains to the east.

We have included all our suggestions on this Google Map.

View Larger Map

Original post by joe

Randy Hall, in response to our report that American Wine Wholesalers claim they are saving lives by making sure no tainted wine hits the shelves, answered the question I forgot to answer. Namely, How exactly do those amazing wholesalers actually check each and every bottle of wine to make sure it isn’t tainted, thereby saving countless lives?

His Answer? X-RAY WINE GOGGLES!!

And he’s right. Why it’s downright amazing the kind of space age technology that can be developed when you are flush with dough due only to your state-granted monopoly. And now you can have your own, genuine set of WSWA X-RAY WINE SPECS.

Original post by Tom Wark

In my career as a wine publicist, I’m a link between a winery and the wine writing community. What I’ve learned in this “getting to know you” process is that many Ph.D.’s enjoy writing about wine as much as they enjoy their day jobs.

Perhaps it’s because they’re already in the groove with having learned more than the average person regarding their given field, and that’s the way they operate; i.e., always digging deeper?

Perhaps it’s because they already know that life is a constant, evolving learning process , similar to wine?

And, it could be that they love learning so much that it’s just natural for them to want to pass along their particular passion?

I’m thinking it’s all this and more, and only something that they could possibly explain to you… And so, I’ve queried a few of my favorite professors, and was going to blog one long story.

Today, however - in the midst of Mother’s Day Week - one of my Ph.D.’s just said something that’s so inspiring during this time, that I asked permission to launch this “Wine Academics” early; so you, too, could learn “why” about the “who” in the process of Wine Academics.

Dr. Robert Stahr Hosman, who holds a Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University, is a former executive assistant to the Florida Secretary of State, chairman of the English Department at the University of Miami, and dean of development and public affairs at Miami-Dade Community College. Bob is also an internationally syndicated columnist with a home base at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel; a senior editor at The Wine News magazine, and a regular contributor to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. The following is our Q & A process:

Q: What is your academic area of expertise?

A: My Ph.D. is in British literature (the Victorian Age); and while I served as chair of the English Department at the University of Miami, for the past 17 years I have been a Vice Dean in the School of Communication, where I teach public relations.

Q: What about your academic life most intrigues you?

A: Making a difference on the lives of so many young people—and seeing them succeed in fulfilling their ambitions and dreams.

Q: When did you start, and what prompted you, to start writing about wine?

A: I began writing the wine column for the Miami Herald in 1977, motivated my a personal interest in teaching others about what I saw as one of the better things in life.

Q: What aspect(s) of wine do you most enjoy covering?

A: Discovering new wines, new varietals, and new bargains.

Q: Do you also teach wine classes?

A: No

Q: What’s your most memorable wine or wine tasting experience?

A: Tasting a 1961 Latricieres Chambertin from Remoissenet in 1975. It was the first time I truly understood the expression: “like liquid velvet.”

Q. Do you have a favorite variety? If “yes,” which one?

A: No

Q: What’s your favorite wine region in the world?

A: No one favorite

Q: Do you believe that there are better quality, lower priced wines today, than in past vintages?

A: Absolutely!

Q: What’s your favorite innovation in the past few years?

A: The application of screw caps to bottles of good wine.

Q: What’s your favorite food and wine pairing?

A: A Grand Marnier soufflé with a glass of Chateau d’Yquem.

Q: Who inspires you (wine business or outside of it, it doesn’t matter)?

A: My late mother was my inspiration. She encouraged me to never be hesitant in doing what I wanted to do and let me know that, should I fail, she would help me pick up the pieces.

Isn’t it lovely to know post-Mother’s Day that the thought still lingers in the best of us?

Original post by Jo Diaz

Original post by Tom Wark

I wrote this post in advance, knowing that I’d probably have to throw it up here at the last minute and sprint. Things might be a little erratic around here for the next couple of weeks, thanks to a new addition to the Vinography family.

See what happens when you drink wine? Let this be a lesson to you. A few good nights with a few good bottles, and nine months later? Pop. Just like a cork.

So we’re off to the hospital with a bottle of Krug, and you probably won’t see a post here for a few days while we get to know our daughter, Sparrow Lieu. I know it will be tough, but you’ll just have to hang in there without your daily dose. Perhaps you can wait in anticipation that my tasting notes will go off the deep end as I’m making them in a state of complete sleep deprivation when I resurface. Lord knows I’ll need a good glass of wine.

Cheers!

Alder

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog

You can feel safer in your bed tonight knowing that the United States government is protecting you from another danger. That new evil is, of course, Brunello di Montalcino that might have a bit of cabernet or merlot adulterating the sangiovese grosso. These are the same consumer protectors that brought you the 75% rule for American varietal wines, which requires that the stated variety make up at least three quarters of the named wine. So while it’s fine for an American producer of pinot noir to blend in 25% syrah or anything else the missteps of a few producers in Brunello will bring down the wrath of the TTB on all producers.

It’s great to know that our government is always on the watch.

US threatens to block all Brunello imports - decanter.com

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Original post by Craig Camp

California Pinot Noir lovers take note. Wine lovers with a free weekend, listen up. It’s Spring, and the wine events are coming fast and furious. It seems like every week there’s a new wine tasting to go to. But some are more worth paying attention to than others.

Anderson Valley is known for two things in California, and not coincidentally, it has more or less two major wine tasting events per year. The first, the International Alsace Varietals festival took place a few months ago, and I was sadly prevented from attending.

The second is the annual Pinot Noir Festival, which it looks like I’ll also be unable to attend, much to my disappointment. But if you’re a fan of Pinot Noir and you don’t have plans this coming weekend, I seriously recommend it. It’s definitely worth the three hour drive.

Not only is this a gorgeous time of year in the Anderson Valley, but the Pinot Noirs on offer include a few of the better ones in the state. This isn’t a huge tasting, and consequently you’ll find very few huge wineries there. Instead you’ll find a bunch of small, dedicated growers and producers pouring their (mostly) small production wines.

The event includes a technical conference and BBQ on Friday May 16th. One of the guys speaking at the technical conference is John Winthrop Haeger, author of North American Pinot Noir, which is one of the definitive works on the grape. Saturday features the grand tasting and winemaker dinners, and those who choose to stay through Sunday can wander around to the many open houses hosted by the valley’s wineries.

Participating wineries include: Baxter Winery, Black Kite Cellars, Breggo Cellars, Brogan Cellars, Cakebread Cellars, Copain Wines, Drew, Elke Vineyards, Foursight Wines, Goldeneye Winery, Greenwood Ridge Vineyards, Gryphon Wines, Handley Cellars, Harmonique, Husch Vineyards, Jim Ball Vineyards, La Crema, Lazy Creek Vineyards, Londer Vineyards, MacPhail Family Wines, Madrigal Vineyards, Navarro Vineyards, Phillips Hill Estates, Philo Ridge Vineyards, Raye’s Hill Vineyards & Winery, Roederer Estate, Roessler Cellars, Saintsbury, Scharffenberger Cellars, Standish Wine Company, Toulouse Vineyards, Williams Selyem and Zina Hyde Cunningham Winery.

The full conference details can be found on the event web site.

11th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival
Grand Tasting
Saturday, May 17th, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Goldeneye Winery
9200 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
707-895-3202

The $85 tickets to the Grand Tasting can (and should) be purchased in advance online. The Friday technical conference will cost you an additional $100 (yes there is wine to taste at this event), and winemaker dinners vary in price.

If you are driving up for the event, I recommend giving yourself a bit of extra time to get there. Perhaps drive up in the morning and have some breakfast before the tasting.

Original post by Vinography: A Wine Blog