Rebel Rose

Latest developments: Mark Anderson's house has been searched Complex legal mess Eew. Out of the game Some wineries were unaware that their policies included restrictions on wine values stored off premise (elsewhere). In addition, all warehouse contracts that I have seen have teensy-tiny limits on their financial responsibility for your wine, generally as low as $100--which doesn't even cover the value if a warehouse employee drops a case. Locally, Justin Winery and Four Vines were hit.

In today's NY Times: Swiss Chard and Smoky Bacon Bring Earthy Wines Into Focus I do like dishes with bacon and smoky flavors served with syrahs and other deep reds, but I like those flavors to be subtle, not overwhelming--to sort of echo the balance of flavors in the wine itself. These chard and bacon timbales sound like a good way to do that. Hmm . . . Thanksgiving?

There is an excellent and brief summary of the 2004 vintage on the blog Wine Whys. Each varietal has it's own growing requirements, so I can't say, for instance, how it was for local pinot growers, but for Paso Robles zinfandel and syrah, it was a steady, balanced growing season and we are very happy with the 2004 reds we have in barrel. The '04 whites have already been bottled, and while a little higher in alcohol than I would prefer (but they are Rhone whites), they have been very popular. The growing season here started and ended earlier than usual. This was not, as has been reported by some, due to heat spikes during the summer. Heat spikes actually cause the vines to shut down temporarily--transpiration and nutrient exchange grind to a halt in excessively hot weather. The fact that the vines got an early start in the spring allowed for a long hang time. However, high winds and a few punishing rainstorms during fruit set affected pollination adversely, so some vineyards had a lot of the small, green "shot" berries, or uneven ripening. But overall we were very pleased with everything we brought in. I haven't tasted the 2004 barrels for a while. When I do, I'll post some overall impressions of the vintage, as expressed by our fruit at least.

Excellent point, rocketman. Greetings and welome to eGullet. Members are welcome to start threads on any item of interest. Although there has been a little discussion about this in the Rocco DiSpirito threads, I don't think there is a full discussion and a separate thread yet. Please feel free to start one. Edited for bloopers.

I've just learned there will be a Q&A meeting next Tuesday sponsored by the Napa Valley Vintners. Speakers will include attorneys, insurance specialists, and TTB specialists. Plus, the meeting notice states that attendees will "hear helpful advice from Napa Valley vintners who suffered similar losses in the 2000 Frank-Rombauer wine warehouse fire."

Thanks for the notes on the Leonetti. I have been very curious, as I can't get Leonetti around here. After being on their waiting list for two years, I have just received my first allocation offering. Two thousand dollars? Whoa. I just want to try a few wines. I refused that offer and will receive a limited allocation offering in the spring. I hope to just get some cabernet and sangiovese.

Here's a recent article in Hotel News Resource: Are You a Wine Fascist?

I think the question of the chef's integrity as a writer has been pretty well discussed. After fifteen pages, I'm getting bored with those issues, and I hope that any further posting on those issues will include new information. This discussion is beginning to consume it's own tail. It's good to know that the information presented is of dubious veracity, but I agree with other posters here that it's hardly the beginning of a warehouse fire. In fact, I consider it an affront to any intelligent reader that posters here assume the rest of us have never read a politico-autobio or similar work that requires a little mental seasoning with our own grains of salt. I am also amazed, and as a forum host somewhat flattered, by the constant presumption of conspiracy. This is a culinary site, and a site focused on Arts & Letters. And here we have a recently published culinary book. I feel it qualifies as eGullet news, as did the posters who started this thread. So what if there's a relationship between the ED and the author? The nature of eGullet is that we'll probably all end up knowing each other anyway. What's the point of this whole argument? Was someone's submission rejected by the Daily Gullet staff in favor of the Psaltis book? Is there another culinary book of burning immediacy that should have been featured this month? Is there resentment that both Shaw and Psaltis have had books released within a month of each other? Somehow I can't see them churning out a book every two months, so I'm sure the Daily Gullet will be turning to other material soon. If I submit a piece on wine, will I get bashed for being a staff member? I would also like to point out that with the success of Bourdain's and Ruhlman's books, there will undoubtedly be a surge of BOHbios in the next few years. They won't be original, they probably won't be accurate, and they may even be spiteful. Better save some of your energy. I didn't find the excerpts all that thrilling, as the voice of Psaltis' writing simply did not appeal to me, but after all this fuss I have ordered the book out of sheer contrariness. (To be fair, I have just come off a Bourdain reading jag, and I am always impressed by his ability to spread his soul on paper. It's a rare quality.) Those who said they have read and enjoyed the book have not said why, really, except that it was interesting. Were there funny anecdotes? Kitchen insights not included in previous chef autobios? Such as? Did each chapter have a point or lesson, or did the structure of the book just sort of ramble? Was there any sense of suspense, adventure, or discovery? I notice the book has no reviews on Barnesandnoble.com or Booksamillion.com. There are two reviews on Amazon.com, both by posters who have just that one post on their record.

To respond to Daniel's comments first, I had to laugh at the last paragraph! How sad, but funny. I have only had good experiences with reputable wine critics. I don't mind sending two bottles of each wine. However, I am very selective about submissions, and I expect requests to be submitted in writing, by email, or by a qualified print source. Jon, to answer your question, yes, it's very true that distributors fulfill a worthwhile role. Even as a tiny winery, we are happy to be in the portfolios of reputable distributors in several states. There are many, many wine distributors who focus exclusively on domestic and imported fine wines. Their personnel are educated and passionate about wine, and these firms are generally popular with fine wine stores and restaurants. It's the larger wine and spirits distributors with huge portfolios of inexpensive plonk and hard liquor that tend to be pretty sleazy. And some internet wine sites are questionable, too. Wine.com presented us with a carefully prepared portfolio including warehousing specs and other details. I was very impressed by their presentation even though we decided not to go that route. Another firm sent reps to see us with no written proposal, just a verbal sales pitch along the lines of, "You send us a few pallets of wine, we keep it, and we own it on paper, maybe sell some, and send you a drop ship invoice when and if we do." When I questioned their practices and presentation they said, "We're the future of wine sales, and you'll be sorry if you don't do business with us." They are now out of business. For a winery, there are three levels of sales: retail/direct, brokered, and distributed. Each level offers important advantages. Direct retail, wine club, and mail order sales offer immediate cash flow, but the trade off includes a high percentage of samples poured, human resources, physical infrastructure (tasting room, storage, shipping supplies, driveways, signs, etc. etc. etc.), training, daily sales paperwork and reporting. Brokers act as independent wholesale reps for the winery. For instance, we have a broker in the San Francisco area who calls on all our accounts and fills orders. We store wine in a warehouse in San Francisco, and he processes all the delivery orders, handling everything except invoicing. Brokers will have other wines in their individual portfolios as well, and can present several winery selections to each account, but still--the amount of time brokers spend on the road and just looking for parking is staggering. Not to mention cooling your heels in line waiting for a restaurateur to meet with you on "wine tasting Wednesday." The purchase orders are sent to me, and I am responsible for all billing, follow up, storage and delivery fees, and commissions back to the broker. Distributors pick the wine up at the warehouse, and accept ownership and total responsibitlity for it from that point on. At the FOB (freight on board) price, you might think that we're receiving less money per case than we would selling through a broker. But after you add in the additional inventory costs and commissions to a broker, the end price to us is about the same--without any more hassle. The only trade off is that traditionally a broker would work closely with the winery as far as preferred placement. Distributors, who now own the wine, would just place it wherever the easiest selling point was, and artisanal wines would, more often than not, end up upright on a lower shelf of a warm supermarket. Now, however, there is a growing segment of small distributorships committed to representing small wineries, unique and limited productions, and fine wines. Here are some highly regarded wine distributors: Adventures in Wine HarvestGate J & L Wines Kysela Pere et Fils I suppose (XX) Distributors will always be with us. I hope the increasing number of small, quality distributors will now provide significant competition. Straighten your ties, gentlemen. Edited for spelling, address, grammar, and logic.

Reading this thread about chefs and writers expecting comps, made me think about some of my early encounters with wine distributors, who shall in these comments remain unidentified because basically, some wine reps act like sleazeballs. Dress like them, too. I was at a recent restaurant opening in Costa Mesa, co-hosted by my central coast distributor, HarvestGate, for others in the local restaurant trade. For some reason that I can't fathom, everyone in this sunny, palm-studded, rich coastal town wears vampire black, but even so, a knot of three men stood out. Their coats were limp and shiny, and their hair sort of butch-grease wannabe cool. My broker, a beautiful woman, leaned over and said to me, "Can you believe it? I know they've gotta be (XX) Distributing. And they're crashing our party. I'm going to mess with them." And she was right, and she did. When I first started working in this industry, as a wine room attendant, (XX) Distributing reps would arrive unannounced and bully the wine staff into giving them armfuls of comps--hats, shirts, jackets, even grappa and wine (which is completely illegal). On theory, they should be using these comps as gifts to the winery's retail clients, but they never did. Butt pinching and breast grazing was not unusual, either.

Humph.

An article this week on sulfites at Newsday.com: Little risk in wine's sulfites

Okay, now I'm getting confused. In Italy (see above) wine is confiscated during a fraud investigation. But in France, wine is confiscated during a fraud investigation, and then Customs is investigated for filching the fraud confiscation. French customs accused of stealing wine

As there are tannins and pigment in the grapeskins, and additional tannins in the seeds, I would imagine that in a well balanced pick the tannins in those elements might perfectly balance the fruit acids and flavors of the pulp. Therefore, is deciding on bunch-and-stem fermentation based on the condition of the stem, or on the potential of the grape?

We have begun getting the Benito Dusi old vine zinfandel. This is the same fruit that Ridge purchases. The Dusi Ranch vineyards encompass three sites, owned by the Dusi brothers and one son: Beni, Dante, and Michael. The other two sites are younger, as Dante got discouraged and tore his vineyard out in the sixties, later replanting. Only Beni's portion, and I believe some rows around Dante's home, are over 80 years old. The vineyard was planted by Beni's grandfather and has been in the family continuously. Beni grew up on the vineyard and has worked it all his life. Ordinarily we use a 24 foot Morgan trailer to transport fruit, but for the Dusi, Beni loans us his little trailer and we bring the half-ton bins over two at a time. It's easier for Beni as his crews can pick our lot directly into the bins while they are on the trailer. Here's an inside shot of the crusher-destemmer. The paddles rotate counter-clockwise, while the drum rotates clockwise. We can set the speed high to macerate the berries, or low to simply knock them off the stems for whole berry fermentation. The Dusi is set to whole berry. As soon as we started crushing, Dan and I looked at each other in amazement. Normally you can smell a certain grapeyness while crushing, but this fruit was amazingly aromatic. Very zinny. After the fruit is crushed, I reach in the bin with a small beaker and take samples of juice from several different spots, then run upstairs to do a pH reading. The Dusi is 23.5 Brix, and 3.5 pH. Perfect. Although as zin always includes some raisins when ripe, the Brix may rise after the raisins hydrate in the must. I wasn't able to photograph the process of inoculating with yeast as by that time it was 8:30 pm and I scampered up to the house to light the barbecue and start caramelizing some onions. This weekend is Harvest Wine Affair, a local wine festival. But we also have fruit arriving every day this weekend. Dan avoids processing fruit during the heat of the day, and especially on weekends, when people tend to wander onto the crush pad and peer into the machinery while it's operating. So we will be hosting visitors and barbecuing during the day, and crushing at night. It's going to be a looong weekend.

Craig, I know some pinot noir producers utilize whole cluster fermentation. Would you explain the difference between whole cluster and whole berry fermentation, and why Anne Amie uses one method over the other?

From The Independent: What's next? Velvet Draper?

In Decanter, October 4th: Mondovino effect still present May require free registration And Jancis Robinson blasts French "superiority" in An English defense of the New World San Francisco Chronicle, may require free registration

Lessons bear fruit Santa Rosa High agriculture students undertake first harvest from school vineyard

And just when we thought farming couldn't possibly get any harder: Police swarm vineyard near high school after false sniper report Those poor guys!! Anyone enjoyed a Chianti Not So Classico recently? Chianti: 9m bottles seized in fraud investigation Links require free registration.

Oh, my God! I was just thinking, "Surely this guy doesn't drink wine or he'd know that young plonk becomes old plonk," and then I reached the clincher.

Jso, you are always a breath of fresh and fragrant air from the midwest, reminding us that we are not all so fortunate as to live on the west coast wine corridor, where one can road trip Sideways-style from Baja to British Columbia, or on the east coast, where European imports are plentiful and reasonably priced. Your point is well made. There is still a huge geographical swath of the United States where wine consumption is an intimidating experience. Restaurants with wine lists still ignore women and women's tastes, and on the other hand, women still do not have enough confidence on their own to say, "what I'd really like is an Oregon pinot noir with this dish, but as I see your wine list does not include any, would you please ask the chef for his wine recommendation?" Indeed, there are still places here in central California, and in my home state of Washington where I cannot order a glass of zinfandel, and not have the waiter say, "Well, you know, that is a red zinfandel and not a white?" Especially if I'm wearing the ponytail, jeans and boyfriend shirt ensemble, which is also when I'm most inclined to forget my ladylike manners and squash said waiter like a beetle. I will pass your request on, with considerable enthusiasm, to the group. There are a lot of great women wine writers and reviewers out there, but they don't seem to be reaching a demographic of women who would appreciate wine confidence-building skills.

The last ten days have gone by in a blur. I apologize for not posting pictures more frequently. Beginning tomorrow, we will be visiting the Dusi old vine zinfandel vineyard. In the meantime, we have brought in and processed carmenere, petit sirah, three lots of syrah from four sections/clones, grenache, mourvedre, and two lots of zinfandel. Because we are not processing much fruit this year, only about 15 tons so far, it's been a relaxing harvest. However, Dan has still found enough for me to do on our crush days that my hands are either full or sticky or both, so I haven't had much opportunity to snap photos during the daylight hours. We picked our estate syrah quickly as this is our first harvest of syrah. Two tons off of our small 2 acre parcel, and finished before 10 am. I was kept hustling all morning. We set the crusher at a low speed for whole berry destemming. When we finished, Dan was so excited by the color and quality of our first pick that he insisted I take a picture of the syrah after it had been crushed. "Look at the ladybug," he exclaimed, pointing out a little lady who had survived being dumped into picking bins, spun through the destemmer screw, and bounced and sieved through the crusher. Dan gets excited by "healthy bugs," like ladybugs, earwigs, and spiders, in crushed fruit. They're a sign of successful organic and sustainable farming. So far we haven't seen any tarantulas yet, but it may be a little early yet. Tarantulas in the vineyard are an omen of a fruitful yield and a quality harvest. In the meantime, Rebel Rose has quickly learned that the forklift and pallet jacks do not roll over hoses and cords.

On Saturday I was rushing home from errands, and as I came around a corner on Vineyard Drive about 500 yds. south of home, I saw Mollie and just had to stop. Mollie, age seven, was wearing her hat, apron and sunglasses. When I came around the corner, a breeze blew her sign backwards and she was struggling valiantly to righten her hat, sunglasses and sign all at the same time. I had to turn around and come back, but it was certainly worth it. Her bright yellow cart was well stocked with two varieties, "big tomatoes," and "cherry tomatoes," for $2.25 per pound or basket. Her dad had put blue price stickers on the scale to help her figure out prices.

We now have a blogsite: Women Wine Critics Board and email, wwcb@tcsn.net We have our first subscribers, and we're off and rolling. So far, there is only a brief welcome message on the site. I hope to add more material after this week, but if anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to add them here.