Randall Grahm

Steve, We did hit a major snag with the export of Vin de Glaciere, but this is an EU thing, (compounded by the officious zealousness of a certain UK inspector.) In a very complicated trade-deal that I think involved wool, Australia was permitted an exemption for non-fortified dessert wines while France and Germany have been successful in excluding dessert wines from the EU. This was not happy news for our UK importer. RG

Dear Slbunge, I am so there, you have no idea. We have recently found a company that has developed a new technology that has greatly improved the shelf-life of the so-called bag-in-the-box, essentially making it equivalent to a bottle, or so they claim. I am just girding my marketing loins, as it were, to prepare to pounce into the market and to take no prisoners. (I think that this combatative imagery must come from the incipient travesty of the election of the Governator.) There are of course some serious marketing challenges to the introduction of a relatively expensive wine in a box, but I am confident that we will overcome them. Stay dooned. RG.

Dear Michael, Great suggestion. Oddly enough there used to be a stray, wild Furmint vine up in the hills of Bonny Doon. Where it came from, I have not a clue. It would be crucial to find an area that would be conducive to botrytis and such areas do exist in California, but not systematically. I will let the idea continue to furmint. Cheers, R.

Dear Craig, Ah, it is a very slippery slope but I think that there really needs to be some clear differentiation of the moral implications of the various new modern wine technologies. First and second growth Bordeaux chateaux use must concentrators to remove water from grapes that are not as ripe as they could be. Reverse osmosis is used to further concentrate wines that are judged to be lacking in extract. I think that these particular tools are not intrinsically evil but there are certainly moral implications to their utilization. If by the utilization of these techniques, a consumer is being fooled into buying a wine that is somehow less true to what it is advertised as being, then I think that their use is inappropriate. (This is the argument that attacks the use of must concentrators in the domaines that produce blockbuster wines in off-vintages.) If the reliance upon these techniques lead to a general laziness in farming and a general weakening of the expression of terroir (in wines where there is the expectation thereof), then I think that these techniques can be thought of as pernicious. But microbullage, or micro-oxygenation is really just the adaptation of some very old techniques of élevage, where a cellar master would look to monitoring the rate of the maturation of the wine. As a tool, it can certainly be abused and lead to wines that might be thought of as over-extracted and perhaps robbed of their personality. But I think that if it is used wisely, it can actually work towards making wines more expressive and truer to themselves. RG.

Dear Steven, Let's just come right out and say it. California wines (syrah included) just don't have soul. By soul, I mean soil and by soil I mean terroir, or that wonderful dense minerality that you experience when you get a good chewy Cornas from Clape or Hermitage from Chave. I think that California syrahs are becoming more interesting, especially as they are coming from cooler areas and are tending to be more varietally typical, i.e. white pepper and anise rather than just raspberry jam. But in the absence of terroir, we New World winemakers, scoundrels that we are, are compelled to dig into our bag of tricks and yes, I don't think that gives the same deep satisfaction as examples of the real deal. R.

Dear Steven, Alas, we see very few wines from the East Coast here in California so I am really not so well acquainted with them at all. I am told that there are some great rieslings currently being produced in the Finger Lakes area, but I have tasted precious few of them. My friend Dennis Horton is producing some nice wines in Virginia, but growing grapes in such a humid area is a great challenge. Currently my holdings in China would not be measured in the millions or even thousands of acres category, but yes, I am told that there are areas that would be quite appropriate for the cultivation of wine grapes. I now have a little daughter (aged almost 8 mos.) whose first language is certain to be Mandarin. If she can teach me to speak the lingo, I am definitely there. RG.

Dear DM, I think that it is absolutely crucial for a winery to have a warm, gracious location to receive visitors. Not that it need be an awe-inspiring chateau. Rather that customers have the opportunity to taste a range of the winery's products, learn the stories and personalize the experience by meeting some of the people who are involved in the operation. The wine business is so incredibly competitve these days that it is crucial to build a loyal cadre. If you are clever enough, you can follow up the visits with mailings of say, extremely witty newsletters. Cheers, RG.

Dear Andy, I think that we have been relatively fortunate with our sales in the UK, at least relative to other US producers. We have, alas, lost Oddbins (it seems) as a major outlet and while that relationship lasted, that seemed to give us very good visibility. I think that the major hurdle that CA wines face is that they are just too bloody expensive for their quality and the UK is a fairly discriminating audience with access to everything. I think that in general our wines have been distinctive enough and well priced enough to capture at least a small share of the market. And yes, the Brits actually do seem to appreciate our slightly goofy labels and the pretentious literary sensibility that informs them. Cheers, Randall

Dear Felonious, I am quite in agreement with you as to the relative homogeneity of California, indeed of New World wines in general. Apart from the relative standardization of varietals and winemaking styles (cultured yeast, reliance on new oak) I think that one of the chief factors can really be traced back to California's climate and our extremely long and favorable growing season. Because we can harvest grapes that are really ripe, some might say over-ripe, we do. I do believe that highly extracted, super-ripe wines, especially produced w/ cultured yeast tend to really accentuate fruit character over say minerality. Even if there potentially were the expression of terroir in California soils (we will not for the moment talk about all of the viticultural practices that CA grape growers engage in that actively discourage such expression), I honestly don't believe that terroir can really be detected in super-ripe, read 14+%, highly extracted wines that are further tarted up w/ new oak. At 14.5+ w/ lots of new wood, everything tends to taste alike. R.

Dear Andy, Thanks for your question. I'm not quite sure that we are officially eligible to be a "standard barrier". Our relative success has definitely been a mixed blessing. In principle, it should give give us (I'm still waiting for the "success dividend") enough financial cushion to work more freely, i.e. do the things that we really want to do - farm vineyards properly, etc. In fact, the commercial success of certain brands, viz. Big House Red and White have turned into a sort of wild ride with all sorts of unintended consequences. For example, we have become or at least imagine ourselves becoming more dependent on larger distributors, the very same ones who are not so clever at selling all of our little oddball, fussy, Ugly Duckling wines - the charbonos and montonicos of the world. So, there have been trade-offs as there always is, but if we remain smart about our growth, it should (some day, at least) give us the freedom to bring more toys to the sandbox. Cheers, R.

Dear Jim, The Vin Gris label and package have undergone a number of changements or mutations, if you will, over the years, including a see-through label, the Lizard King back-label, black and white to colorization a la Wizard of Oz and most recently a change to screw caps. And we're not yet doon, er, done. (I think that its size will be slightly shrinking this year.) But withal, I don't believe that there has been any real change in the actual illustration of the spaceship itself. (I believe that it was originally cribbed from an illustration from an early Jules Verne.) Cheers, RG

Dear Tana, We made a wonderful product from the Van Dyke's apricots called Prunus, which was an eau-de-vie of apricot, cherry and prunes. (It only took 7 years to sell through our inventory; another case of being a little too ahead of our time.) I'm sorry to have missed Paul's wine dinner; I'm sure that it was fantastic. Cheers, R.

Dear Craig, We have been working with the folks at Rivera in the Castel del Monte appellation for a number of years now, producing a wine called "Il Circo Uva di Troia "La Violetta". I visited Puglia a number of times and concluded that Troia was the variety that had the greatest potential for a really full bodied, yet elegant wine. (I brought them the microoxygenation technology, which seems to be very well suited to the troia grape.) My own theory is that the reason the Troia is superior to the other varieties in the region is that it is grown on pergola, which shades it from the fierce sun and cools the vine (due to the higher humidity). The negro amaro and primitivo grown as bush vines get the full force of the sun and tend to get baked to a faretheewell. We are bringing in some other Ugly Duckling wines under the Il Circo label, notably a great Ruché from Piemonte as well as a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. There are plans afoot to bring in an Erbaluce and perhaps a Sagrantino as well. Who knows where it will end? Cheers, R.

Dear DM, Thanks very much for your note and kind words. I think that it is time for me to already start on this transformation. I think that if I couldn't make wine, I would probably try to do something w/ another part of my brain. Whatever talent I have, I think that it is some sort of bricoleur, someone who cobbles things together (a junkman, in other words). Cheers, R.

Dear Brad, Thanks very much for your note. I do have a few winemaking heroes, who have inspired me when I began - principally Gerard Chave, Marcel Guigal and the great Henri Jayer. On this side of the world, Paul Draper has always been an inspiration to me as well as Sean Thackery. But every great bottle of wine is an inspiration to work a little harder and dig a little deeper. Cheers, R.

Dear Katie, Thanks very much for your very kind words. Generally the work on the label is a collaborative effort (except w/ Ralph Steadman, who is a genius sui generis). Sometimes the artist will come up w/ a concept and I will help him work it through or sometimes I will have the idea or my colleague, John Locke, will also come up with a concept for a label. (He has been mostly responsible for the art direction on the DEWN labels.) Generally the wine itself will dictate the content of the label, but it is embarrassing to say, sometimes there is a label concept that is so compelling, that I will have to go out and make a wine to accomodate the brilliant label idea. Cheers, R.

Two Dogs, The problem that you identify is in fact, I believe, a relatively rare one. The following scenarios are possible: a) The winemaker has allowed carbonation to remain in his wine on purpose. Typically riesling producers in Germany will in fact inject a little bit of CO 2 into the wine just before bottlign to freshen it up a little bit. b) It is in fact a fizzy wine, like a Brachetto d'Acqui or Moscato c) Malolactic fermentation is going in the bottle (fairly rare) or primary fermentation has restarted in the bottle (also pretty rare) d) Winemaker bottled his wine cold (and early) and it did not have a chance to properly de-gas before bottling. This is the most likely explanation of bubbles in the wine and is still a relatively rare occurance (maybe 5% max) Hope that this is hopeful. Cheers, RG.

Carema, That was and remains a great idea (the off-shore distillery), but to do it, I think you need to go all the way and produce absinthe. Alas, that particular plan is still on the shelf for the moment as I am already up to my ears in aligotés these days. Hope that this finds you well. Cheers, R.

Dear Quajalote, I believe that there are a couple of good dry white zins. Doesn't DeLoach produce one? I know that Ridge has occasionally produced a dry white zin for their ATP program. In principle, there is no reason, why there can't be good dry white zins. (The only problem w/ zin is that it does tend to be a bit alcoholic and when you ferment it as white, the alcoholic conversion goes even higher, so one might perhaps approach dry white zins w/ a little caution.) RG.

Dear Hollywood, I'm afraid that I agree rather completely w/ Craig, that California wines at least the ones on the lower end do tend to enjoy a rather dreary sameness. For one, winemakers are often timid about making a bold stylistic statement, especially one that is at odds with the current acceptable (i.e. Winespec and RP approved) winemaking paradigm. Alas, I don't really have the opportunity to try a lot of California wines so I'm afraid I can't really help you there. I have had good luck w/ the Saintsbury Pinot Noirs over the last few years but I'm not sure they would qualify as everyday drinking wines. I think that one is actually far better off finding a great southern red from the Midi from Kermit Lynch or some of the other fastidious importers. (I'm really liking Neal Rosenthal's selections a lot these days.) RG.

Dear Futronic, Don't be too sure that we (the collective we) will not someday hit a homerun w/ sangiovese, barbera or nebbiolo. Stranger things have happened. I am in fact holding out more hope for the southern reds - nero d'avola, negro amaro, malvasia nera, uva di troia, aglianico etc. and not necessarily for "great" wine but for wine that is good, honest and good value. Granted, we will likely not be able to improve upon the terroir of the indigenous area, but every so often, one comes across an "underachiever" grape variety, that for whatever reason is just not that successful on its native turf. Perhaps the variety has had a lot of virus (as was the case w/ viognier a few years ago in Condrieu) or the clonal selection has gone to hell (which was the case throughout Europe in the '60s and 70s and '80s) or people have just lost interest. Occasionally, I will run across (and this is always serendipitously) something that just works in a strange and different way. Not necessarily better than the Old World counterpart, but different (and that is a miracle!). It really just takes a tremendous amount of trial, error and imagination. RG.

Dear Max, Thanks very much for your question. It is really one that I ask myself on a daily basis. Why make one wine and not another? For me it is really a very personal, subjective call. Do I feel that a particular wine really makes a contribution to the world? Is the world really a better place for it? For example, the malvasia bianca. Does it in any way, shape or form express terroir? No, absolutely not. Is it a great wine? Probably not. But the world is definitely a better place for its existence. If I feel that I am making a wine that is just banal or working with a grape variety that I don't really care for or feel I have nothing new and distinctive to add to the world's appreciation thereof, I will (after at least an iteration or two) place myself on the sidelines. As far as pinot, I just don't think that I have the time and attention right now to do it justice. Maybe you will ultimately see a winnowing in the BDV portfolio as I take the time to really be rigorous with myself and look myself in the eye. Best, RG.

Dear Steve, Good to hear from you. You asked about sourcing distinctive grapes. There really is a lot of hit and miss these days. We will often audition grapes on a single year contract and see how they do; worst case, they end up in Big House Red. But to really to it properly, we have to work closely with the grower and make sure that we are all trying to end up in the same place. Historically, it has been very difficult to find growers who would be completely cooperative. Growers are farmers and ergo, very stubborn people, who generally believe that they know what's best. The recent grape glut has compelled growers to slightly revise their attitude and we have found more people who are a lot more open to our slightly unconventional approach. We just harvested some Montepulciano from a vineyard in Tracy, CA that is absolutely delicious. Who knew? But for every success, there must perforce be the occasional failure. Hope this finds you well. Cheers, Randall

Vserna, You are absolutely correct, but as you point out there is definitely governmental help in modernization and rationaliztion of vineyards. Cheers, RG.

Dear Priscilla I do indeed drive a French car, a 1972 Citroen DS-21 (pronounced Déesse, or "Goddess"), which I have been driving for the last 15 years or so. I did go a few years without the DS (It was having a new engine put it and that took about a year) but I am feeling so much better that I am back on the road with a proper car. One never knows when you will break down (it's an adventure) and if you do, you should psychologically prepare yourself for a long ride back in the tow-truck. There was one vintage a few years ago where I basically visited all of my vineyards in a towtruck. That was ignomity. RG.