Rebel Rose

Oops, so 'tis. I was in too much of a hurry to start reading, I guess! Thanks for pointing that out. They did a fine job . . . frankly one of the best dissertations on terroir I have ever read.

I agree. I think Talk Dirt to Me is a really well-written article on the topic, although I am sure those who insist that you can "actually taste the soils in a wine" will criticize it, having to now defend their previous staunch (and unfounded) opinions. It's interesting that when (some) people encounter pleasant minerality, like flint, wet stones, etc., they will insist that it is due to the soils. But you never hear anyone attributing flavors of clay or mudstone to the wine . . . yet some of the finest wines in the world are grown on subsoils of clay and mudstone/siltstone. So the concept that the soils somehow travel like like little brown clots up through the vine, into the berry and into the resulting wine, is a nonsensical, romantic notion. It's the interaction between the soil and the vine that create a particular, recognizable character in a wine. This character can be carefully emphasized, or completely overwhelmed, by viticultural and winemaking choices. All in all, another pleasantly written, yet definitive essay from Asimov. Sometimes I wonder if people don't take him seriously because his writing style is relaxed and approachable--however when he takes the time to tackle a difficult or highly technical subject I think he does an excellent job of explaining these subjects.

A wine writer with an apparent agenda against screw cap closures has issued an undocmented warning about cancer-causing agents in screwcap closures on wine. Wine Screwcap Cancer Links Hotly Disputed I think the NZ news publication did themselves no favors by quoting interviewees in the past tense . . . Past tense was used throughout the article, which is probably just their editorial style. But it creates the question: Is PVDC currently approved as a food grade material? That question was never broached nor answered in the article. Perhaps one of our food technicians can provide more information? And of course, the article raises one question that makes real sense to me. What about the screwcap closures on our vodka and gin bottles?

Well, it's rather good news for Pernod-Ricard, at least. Australia has been drowning in a wine glut of millions and millions of gallons, which is the driving force behind the low prices here. A drought, or the rumor thereof, will help to stabilize prices. It will be sad for the growers there, however, as vineyard owners do not have a "glut" stockpile to draw from, like the wine brokers do. If yields are significantly decreased, they will be hit hard. Farming is a tough life, and it's not idyllic unless you're making top dollar. I think over the next decade we will see a lot of vineyards there being ripped out to make way for more financially stable crops, perhaps olives.

Lines are being drawn and tempers are heating up as the TTB considers two separate petitions for new AVA's in the large Paso Robles region. Full article at Appellation America. For anyone interested, here is an excerpt from an interview with soils scientist Dr. Tom Rice about the soils of Paso Robles:

Very interesting notes, gaucho, thanks. Are the points you mention your own scores? The "with room for improvement" sounds as though they might be Parker scores? Was there any discussion about the reason for the high alcohol levels? Not whether they were balanced or not, but the possible viticultural effects of the extremely high altitude . . . I am guessing that it would be difficult to get the pH levels up to 3.5-3.7 without a long hang time, which would likely result in picking at a higher Brix level. A long, cool growing season might also contribute to exceptionally intense pigments and tannins. Is there a link to more information about the vineyard? Fascinating stuff.

At Appellation America, wine writer Alan Goldfarb interviews . . . or tries to . . . Clark Smith of Vinovation, "a prime winery outsource which performs what it calls wine quality enhancement which involves adjusting alcohol levels and flavors in wine." The interview follows in the wake of a discussion about Vinovation in Eric Asimov's New York Times blog, The Pour. Part One - The Man They Call a Blowhard, a Technocrat, and the Anti-Christ of Wine Speaks Out Part Two - Clark Smith is Vilified for Changing the Way Wine is Made Please, if you are going to comment, take the time to read one or both parts of the interview first, and include a quote from the article if you are referring to specific comments!

True, to an extent, but I would rather the conversation not devolve into a criticism of what people should or should not do, as I don't want to discourage anyone from learning to taste and evaluate wine. . . Personally, I'm more interested in the phenomenon where tasters immediately and subjectively decide they "like" or "don't like" a wine, but then revise their opinion when asked to elucidate their reasons. I think, as in the jam experiment, when people find themselves confronted with a lack of terminology, then they may think, "Well, I can't explain why I didn't it like it, so I guess . . . I do like it?" This is what the researchers (who were market psychologists, not brand research) discovered. Food tasting pros have something like eight categories and 55 specific taste tests for jam, everything from texture, appearance, viscosity to specific types of flavor, and finish. They have well-defined reasons for their rankings. And college students, asked to simply taste and rank, matched the experts' choices closely. But when asked to explain their choices . . . these non-professionals could not elucidate their reasons, and in an effort to score and review the jams, their rankings were all over the map. Totally wonky. Of course, this comes back to what you were saying about non-professional reviews. I don't think people should not share tasting notes. But it would be wise, I think, to keep this phenomenon in mind.

Good comments, John, and thanks for the suggestion. Dan Panico is the majority owner of Dover Canyon, and the winemaker, cellar rat, vineyard guru, wine club packer and my significant other. He is, in fact, Dover Canyon, and his signature is on the back label of every wine we produce. But he's a humble man who is always surprised when his wines are reviewed well. He is incredibly bright. Other local winemakers sometimes come to Dan when they have problems like stuck fermentations. Dan has a phenomenal memory and a sensitive palate--he once picked out a corked wine when we were dining with eight other winemakers, when the others had previously thought it was okay. But Dan has always been very uncomfortable with public speaking and formal tours. When he worked for his former employer as a full-time winemaker he was required to give stand up presentations at black tie dinners every month for eight years. It was torture for him. Dan is actually very friendly and funny, as many media-shy winemakers are. He just prefers to deal with people in small groups. He grills lamb racks for hundreds of people on wine festival weekends, but he's so unassuming, everyone thinks he's the caterer or the cellar help. (In fact, visitors usually think our ebullient, white-goateed Papa Eddie is the owner.)

Particularly more California artisanal productions, and more international selections. If you know of anyone who posts notes regularly online, please ask them to include the eGullet Society in their list of online tasting notes. Don Giovanni's post on the origins of riesling reminded me that this is a good time to stock up on summer rieslings, and I haven't seen any posts lately on currently available vintages!

Good list. Din, have you had an opportunity to try any of the above producers' wines?

Oops, and of course our eGullet member Casey Hartlip of Eaglepoint Ranch! Casey is both an accomplished Mendocino grower and a winemaker, who posts frequently in our California Wine Blog 2007 thread.

Casey, I never claimed that there are winemakers who don't enjoy wine. I know quite a few winemakers and growers who shun media attention, but are still very, very passionate about what they do. Take, for instance, 72-year-old Benito Dusi, who still farms the 85-year-old vineyard that his grandfather planted. (I have mentioned Beni before in the California Wine Blog 2007 thread.) Beni has never married, and shuns any contact outside of family, close friends, and his buyers. But he will come over to look at our vineyard, kick the tires, and talk "dirt." His vineyard is his life, and he tends it like a park. His workers adore him. I think of that as passion in action. I agree whole heartedly with your other statements, however. People really enjoy getting to know the people and the back story of their favorite wines.

Wow. What an incredibly detailed report of a fascinating wine tasting. I particularly enjoy that you shared your perceptions from first to last, including the surprises and changing perception to acid.

Ah hah. Here's a clue. So according to these claims, the straw wrapping was devised as a way to safely transport flasks in the 19th century, and probably continued as a tradition.

I remember reading or hearing somewhere that the original flasks were clay, and the straw wrapping was used to strengthen the bottom half and prevent chipping. Those noisy Italians . . . always banging their bottles on the table!

Can you name winemakers that have a lively online presence and are available to answer questions about their wines, and wine production in general? Of course we'll have to start with eGullet Society member 'Don Giovanni.' * John Zuccarino (aka 'Don Giovanni') Silver Springs Winery, Finger Lakes, New York John not only answers questions online here and elsewhere, but posts interesting and thought-provoking topics gleaned from our industry news feeds. * Mel Knox, barrel broker and winemaker Mel is well known in the industry for his quirky sense of humor. See our Guest Conversation with Mel. Mel also produces wine, and posts frequently online.

How funny . . . I was thinking of Ed Kurtzman as I typed my post, although Ed did not inspire the question. Ed is highly intelligent and talented, and a super nice guy who loves kittens and music. He was the enologist at Chalone before moving on to August West and other projects. In fact, when I recently tried to order some August West (they've been sold out since Feb. 15), Ed responded in person. John, I know that you and Max have a more in-depth knowledge of the wine industry than most and are aware that winemaking is often a grubby business, but I work in the public arena, and trust me, the winemakers and winery owners most people see create what the public expects to see when they visit a winery. Gina Gallo, for instance, is the poster girl for vineyard glam. Gallo had one ad with language about how Gina is so deeply involved in the vineyard . . . and there she was, crouching by a vine, holding a cluster of grapes next to her downy face . . . and dressed in an expensive butter-yellow suede jacket and the softest of deerskin gloves. And they were purple grapes. Quite a few winery owners/winemakers have their own planes. And you are right, it is mostly the owners as opposed to the winemakers, who travel frequently, but some winemakers are also required to do: *monthly black-tie winemaker dinners in the cellar *restaurant sponsored winemaker dinners in other cities *appearances at major food and wine festivals like Florida Wine Festival and Taste of Vail *wine cruises Plenty of winemakers may be busy, but are certainly not media shy. They'll give interviews and photo opps frequently. Also, some new wannabe cult winemakers are very generous with personal tours and barrel sampling, which sets up an expectation among certain buyers that every winemaker should do this, or they're not as friendly. So it's often the winemakers (or winery owners) who are grabbing for press attention that get it, but there are plenty of unsung winemakers out there who have great talent and are really fun to talk to. And it becomes an extra-special experience to become one of the few who find them. Hence, my question: Who are your favorite media shy winemakers, and why?

I’m reading Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point . . . in the middle of the book he spends a few chapters on food tasting and market research. The results are very interesting. In tests of 44 jams, researchers asked tasting experts to rank the jams. Then they asked a group of college students to rank 5 jams chosen from the list. The students’ rankings were very close to that of the experts, until . . . they were asked to enumerate their reasons. The results? “Disaster.” According to the researchers, students then put the top ranked jam, Knott’s Berry Farm, second to last, and Sorrell Ridge, ranked last by experts, in third place. Gladwell goes on to say . . . And that got me thinking about some of the wine reviews I read on the internet, where the poster will say something like, “This wine has raisiny, pruney, overripe flavors and 16.5% alcohol, with aromas of cola and chocolate. More like a Port than a dinner wine. 82+4+3+5=94 An excellent wine! Will buy more.” Sometimes the wine jargon we have learned does not address hard-to-define but nevertheless sensory components that we register and process when we taste wine. In the case above, I suspect the poster would have mentally ranked this wine a lot lower in his personal preferences if he hadn’t subjected it to his ranking “formula.” So if a poster is using a limited, numerical scale that assigns points for color, aroma, flavor, secondaries, and finish, that poster’s opinion of a wine may change because now he has convinced himself that it is, indeed, an excellent wine. Is it possible that in the act of “evaluating” wine we sometimes lose track of our initial, real, impressions and become mired in justifications?

As I mentioned in another thread, The Act of Description, How do you thin-slice your wine? I’m reading Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point. In taste tests involving Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, researchers learned that Pepsi did so phenomenally well in taste tests because it was sweeter, and slightly citrusy. But when tasters were given a case of each cola and asked to report back, they preferred Coke. Unfortunately, this was discovered long after the Pepsi Challenge drove the venerable Coca-Cola Company to produce New Coke—a marketing and product disaster. Also, to really differentiate between two products, Gladwell says we need three samples. Have a friend pour three samples of two wines for you—two of one wine, one sample of the other. Your task is not to identify each glass, but merely to point out the wine that is different. According to Gladwell, “You will find this task incredibly hard.” He tried the triangle test on a group of his friends, all “well-educated, thoughtful people, most of whom were regular cola drinkers.” None of them got it right! He goes on to say, “With three glasses, we have to be able to describe and hold the taste of the first and then the seond cola in our memory and somehow, however briefly, convert a fleeting sensory sensation into something permanent—and to do that requires knowledge and understanding of the vocabulary of taste.” So, given two very similar wines, can you do the Triangle Test?

We have DC lawyer Sonadora at Wannabe Wino to thank for this interesting article:

Has anyone else had a chance to read Natalie's book yet?

A mouth-watering evening of food and wine, to be sure. I love the presentation . . . and the plates.

I've had some reason to think about this lately, as our winery is one that suffers from a winemaker so media shy that some of our customers think he's another one of my urban myths, like the story of our label. I think many people have a perception fostered by winetastings, winemaker dinners, and advertising, that winemakers as a rule are a glamorous group who like to jet around the world promoting their wines. And there certainly are quite a few who enjoy, even thrive on, being in the limelight. But there's a subculture of winemakers who avoid talking to the media, detest being in front of a crowd, and resent having to wear grown up clothes and comb their hair. But if you are fortunate enough to corner one with a small, non-threatening group, they often turn out to be funny, entertaining, knowledgeable, and wise. Have you ever had the opportunity to talk to someone like this? Or is there a reclusive winemaker you would really like to meet, and why?

Hard to say. Vineyard plantings do follow fashion--it's surprising how many new vineyard owners don't do any serious market research. They jump into the business with stars in their eyes and just plant whatever is trendy at the moment. According to this article: I had lunch with Matt Turrentine recently, and he also related that they can't keep pinot noir in stock. He said that wineries that don't normally produce pinot want to add it to their portfolio to catch some of its current popularity in the market. One thing to consider, however, is how this wine ends up in the hands of bulk brokers. If vineyard owners can't find a buyer for their fruit, they sell it to a broker, who vinifies it and stores it in tanks for resale. If a winery considers a lot of wine to be sub-par, they will sell it to a broker to recover at least a part of their grape and processing costs. So much of the pinot noir being resold is poor to average quality. I think with the growing US market for wine, the Sideways effect, and the growth of the millenium market, that there is no glut of pinot noir on the horizon. I would still caution anyone considering planting a vineyard, however, not to plant pinot unless they have the right site, are willing to work with a notoriously difficult grape, and are going to be committed to top quality.