Rebel Rose

It depends partly on the variety (or main variety) of the wine. Some grape varieties have more of a brick-red color, and less garnet-plum pigment. This does not mean that they are lesser wines. You should judge a wine on its flavor and aromatics--and ironically, some of the lighter-pigmented varieties are also the most perfumed. However, if the wine looks blood red in the center, but butterscotch on the edge, that may be a sign of oxidation, heat stress, or age. So it really depends on where the wine came from, the vintage, and what the wine is supposed to be . . . Do you have a question about a specific wine, or perhaps a wine that we could use as a classroom example?

When you are just starting out, it can indeed be overwhelming. And you're right, people in the trade, such as your instructor, will normally confine themselves to what I call a "tasting quest" when approaching these large tastings, as it's easier to compare and calibrate when you're tasting from the same variety or region. But you did the right thing by asking for recommendations from the pourers. That's the best way to taste the wines they are exceptionally proud of. As for the "buttonholers," those guest who grab the lapels of every visiting winemaker or winery rep and won't let go . . . my advice is to be rude (and relish the opportunity while you're at it). Okay, maybe not rude, but at least assertive . . . the pouring party will THANK you for rescuing them from the clutches of drones!

Great notes, mallet. Thanks for posting.

This week it's supposed to climb to the high 80's, low 90's. So much for our rain window! We have yet to finish pruning the syrah, but we'll accomplish that chore immediately after bottling. The syrah is on an easterly slope, facing away from the afternoon sun, and sloping down into our creekbed, so it will be exposed to frost if we have a sudden reversion to cold April weather. The late pruning (while not exactly planned to be this late) will help to delay budbreak past our last anticipated frost dates. The zinfandel was pruned in Februrary, and the cover crop is just starting to get leafy. In addition to our multi-purpose tractor with its handy-dandy accessories, we maintain an old riding lawnmower for mowing the cover crop, as our 14-year-old likes to earn money driving something with a motor and wheels (he's not as interested in the vineyard as he is in the concept of transportation.) He's been in charge of mowing the cover crop and mowing the walnut orchard cover crop for extra parking during festivals since he was 8. There are no buds on the zin yet, just hard-headed, stubborn nodes.

Here's a new podcaster, BerlinKitchen, who features interviews concerning German wines, vintages, terroir, etc. Mostly in German but also two in English with the wine-journalist Stuart Pigott and Becker-Köhn from R.Weil/Rheingau. Cheers!

Excellent, mini! It will be great to have some more in depth coverage of the WSET coverage, and the requirements for your culinary courses as well. We've had some brief threads on WSET before, but they were only asking if the course was worth taking, and there has not yet been any in-depth notes on the experience of taking the courses. Maybe Brad can chime in with some more links on related learning literature--I was able to find this thread: Wine Literature for the Serious Student It's also still fairly brief, so I hope our members can add to the list for our budding wine-savvy chefs like minichef! Good for you for tackling this extensive topic! I hope if you have any questions that are not covered in your course materials, that you will ask them here, and I hope you will feel welcome to share the full range of your wine learning experiences with us. (We're particularly fond of really embarrassing stories!)

Yes! I guess they didn't want to lose the rest of it as well! Still, very sad for Kathleen Inman and her husband. They settled out of court because they didn't have the funds to fight Foster's (Seven Peaks in the US). But the very thing that Foster's/Penfold's was complaining about--brand confustion--has now been created for the Inmans. Their customers are confused by the label change from Olivet Grange Vineyard to OGV, and it's creating extra work for them to communicate that it is still the same vineyard, same wine. I hope they get some great press and new customers out of this debacle!

Powerhouse wine producer Penfolds has succeeded in forcing a small (2,500 case) family owned California winery to drop the word "grange" from the front label of their Olivet Grange Vineyard production--even though the term grange is a generic term that refers to a farm. Story here. Apparently Penfold's was granted an international trademark on the term. When I was young, I was a member of our local Grange (see Wikipedia), which as many of you ruralites may remember, was a network of local associations representing the interests of farmers and ranchers. I wonder how this lawsuit presented by Penfold's would be viewed by the California State Grange.

There ought to be a catalog called the Ultimate Wine Geek. First, there are the tasting room visitors who bring their own glasses, wrapped up in a soft-sided carrying bag designed for them. But now, there's Metrohm Titrators. I have no idea what one costs, but the company's press release is called "Enjoy a Glass of Wine with Metrohm Titrators." So . . . now you can check your glass of wine for the following values: pH value. Total titratable acidity. Free sulphurous acid. Total sulphurous acid. Volatile acids. Fixed acidity. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Reducing sugars. Carbon dioxide (CO2). Ash and ash alkalinity. Calcium and magnesium. Chloride. Total phosphorus. Sulfate. Na, NH4, K, F, alcohol. How . . . useful . . . .

In this week's news, two excellent opinion pieces . . . In Indiana, the Tribune Star speaks up: And in Minnesota, the Free Press says: As more and more states are beginning to fight these laws, the arguments seem to be getting shorter and clearer.

I've heard that "buttered popcorn" description of the Mollydooker before . . . what did your group think of the wine overall?

Here's an article in BusinessWeek.com on DIY Winemaking: The article closes with 5 links to winemaking suppliers and newsletters. Check it out!

Elin McCoy has just published an article on Biodynamic vineyards and wine productions in Bloomberg.com: Her article includes a list of 12 biodynamic wines to try.

A new study in the UK News says Men 'Pretend To be Wine Buffs To Impress'. So, do tell. Have you ever tried to bluff your way to connoisseurship? Did you bluff or bomb?

It's all head pruned, 2 of the 3 sections are planted from the original cuttings. The Dusi Ranch, first featured by Ridge in the 1970's--Ridge was also the first extra-terrestial winery to declare 'Paso Robles' on a wine label--is now comprised of three family plots. Benito Dusi still lives in the house he grew up in, in the middle of the 80 year old vineyard planted by his parents, Sylvester and Caterina. Across Highway 101 lies an adjacent vineyard owned by his brother Dante. But in the 1960s, when zinfandel had to be trucked to San Francisco on a 2-lane highway for a piddling amount per ton, Dante became discouraged and ripped out his vines--except for 2 rows of vines which are currently 60 years old. In the family home there is an oil portrait hanging over the piano of the original vineyard as it existed in the 1950s. Fifteen years ago Dante's son Michael (Beni's nephew), replanted Dante Dusi's vineyard, and also planted his own acreage, contributing more vineyard land to Dusi Ranch. So now "Dusi Ranch" consists of: Benito Dusi (80 year old vines) Dante Dusi (15 yo vines, plus a small amt. of 60 yo) Michael Dusi (15 yo vines) Ridge purchases the lion's share of Benito Dusi grapes. All Dusi Ranch fruit is dryfarmed and headtrained, planted from original cuttings and all high quality. Until 2005, Beni also sold to Kathryn Kennedy and other central coast producers, but as of '05 only Ridge and Dover Canyon receive the old vine fruit. (Unless there is more than we can take.) When we first began to bottle Dusi zinfandel, Dan wrote 'Benito Dusi Vineyard' on his rough draft of the label. I said, "Honey, isn't the official name Dusi Ranch?" Dan called 72-year-old Beni to clarify, and he said in his charming Italian voice, "It's my fruit, you go ahead and say 'Benito Dusi Vineyard' if you want, okay?"

Thanks, Raoul! I'm glad you were impressed with the 2005 Cujo Zinfandel. We've been producing that blend for 10 years--this release has a high percentage of Benito Dusi 80-year-old vine fruit in it. Twelve hundred trees is a large "grove." Do you sell some to Pasolivo? Where do you market your fruit? Will the olive trees recover from the freezing temperatures that have damaged our citrus crops so heavily? Ten minutes ago, a gorgeous rainbow busted loose over the vineyard. The sun was shining, but we have been blessed with sporadic and colorful drizzles off and on all day. You can't easily see the vineyard from the house for the trees, but if you squint, you will see a few rows of syrah down the hill, and the roof of our wine barn. The town of Paso Robles proper lies 15 miles directly behind the rainbow.

Ah, my tasting notes resurfaced! Here they are: 2004 Leonetti Sangiovese Walla Walla Valley, WA 14% Aroma: heavy cherry, evident oak, cinnamon, roast beef and a smoky, herbal quality. Flavor: Pie cherry, rhubarb, cranberry and a little blackberry in the background. Lots of oak on the palate and some sweetness but you have to work your way toward it. Very full mouthfeel. I wouldn't be disappointed to pay $35 for this retail, or $55 on a wine list. Very soothing. I can imagine serving this with a balsamic-glazed pork tenderloin and garlic mashed potatoes. 2004 Seghesio Sangiovese Healdsburg, CA 14.8% 375 ml. bottle Aroma: Initial impression of candied VA, followed by mossy, herbaceous aromas--summer hay and geranium leaf. Flavor has less evident fruit than the Leonetti, more one-dimensional with a simple cherry mid-palate and more tannins. However, I found the combination of moss and cherry inspirational and enjoyed drinking it while planning dinner. Second night: What a turnaround! (The first night I let both wines air for about 20 minutes.) On the second evening, the Leonetti tasted flabbier, the fruit was softer like overripe dark cherries, with strong oak (not overbearing, but not subtle, either). It lacked the gypsy character I love about sangiovese. The Seghesio blossomed into a very layered, textured, and spritely wine.

A refreshing 3+" of rain were delivered this week. Today is a rain-washed, sunny morning with more rain predicted for the next 10 days. But now I'm watching the forecast flow anxiously--we need it to be clear on March 8th for our bottling. Praying for rain before and after the 8th. We also have a major wine festival in two weeks. So it would be nice if it rains at night and is sunny in the morning. Off to write my "Dear Weather" letter.

Quick update: I just received two sample labels and a business proposition from Cleavage Creek. Their concept is still for sale for a mere $150,000. Dan said we could use my cleavage for free. I told him the price had just gone up.

The latest buzz is about the upcoming National Women's Wine Competition to be held in Santa Rosa in March. Fees from competition entries will benefit Women for Winesense. The judges are all professional wine women, and the winners will be designated "Wine Women Want." And today, I received a press release for an international women's wine competition to be held in Monaco . . . The "Femmes et Vins du Monde Concours International" at the Hotel de Paris. Looks like the ladies are getting assertive!

We had visits this weekend from winemaker/enologists from Monterey and Napa, and the conversation turned to biodynamic and organic certification. It seems more and more West Coast growers are seeking certification--some out of true passion for the growing practices, and some, unfortunately, for the marketing cachet. One interesting thread in the conversation is that Demeter, the organization that certifies BD practitioners, has no allowance for "community" applications. One of the requirements is that the grower have livestock, or ruminants (hooved animals), on the property. But if, like us and many small Napa vineyards, you only have 10-20 acres on which to grow grapes, there is no room to have an income-viable crop AND livestock. And grapevines don't generally fare well with ruminants between the rows. But if, like us, a grower is sandwiched between a market farmer with rotating crops, a walnut orchard with natural cover crops, and a small farmer with cattle and horses, and if the farms trade "product," like wine for firewood, composted manure, peavines for green manure, etc.--and presuming all the farms agreed to strict BD principles, why couldn't the four farms file a communal application? We enjoyed the brainstorming, and the consensus was that Demeter should be moving forward in their thinking, with services and research geared for the future of biodynamic farming, instead of being rooted so entirely in the past.

An olive grove, eh? How large is your grove? What type of olives? What do you do with them?

Maybe look at this thread, Pedro Ximenez. On page two, there's a pumpkin bread pudding pairing that sounds sublime, as well as some other original suggestions. I like the idea of squash puddings, and would also suggest the introduction of a subtle amount of grated ginger root, to keep the pairing choice lively. I agree you should taste the selections first, and then perhaps celebrate with some pairings that match and challenge the sherries.

There are some interesting articles on the progress of wineries in the Midwest and East Coast at Appellation America. I believe they have regular correspondents in several areas, so if you live near Midwest wine territories you may want to find your region and bookmark it in order to follow stories on the local winemakers and vineyards. I met with the staff last year for a tasting of ten different wines produced from the Norton grape. Some were very similar to a cabernet franc--plummy, a little tobacco. Still some work to be done, clearly, but very interesting stuff.

Yes, it does indeed happen, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the wine--it can occur in any bottling. The bottles move through the line fairly quickly and every once in a great while a bottle slides through without a cork. Foils are then slipped over the bottles by hand, so theoretically the line foilers should be able to spot an open bottle and pull it off the line, but more often than not they're chattering away in Spanish about their boyfriends.