Rebel Rose

I hide my six-packs of sparkling water in my bedside table-cupboard. We have a drinking water filter, but sometimes I like a little sparkling water mixed with juice, ice tea, or cranberry or black cherry concentrate. I always buy a six-pack for the boys, and a six for me, but they will chug all of them unless I hide my bottles. We have a teener in the house and between him and Mr. Rebel Rose, they will polish off anything that is prepared, spreadable, rollable, or pretty much immediately edible. I even have to hide croutons. I actually buy liverwurst and sardines for quickie lunch snacks solely because I know they will still be there when I'm hungry.

I don't know. Now you've made me wonder and I'll start paying more attention. Soft background music would be enjoyable, but loud or raucous music and juju lyrics annoy me when I'm trying to taste a wine. I think it just rattles my head. Let me see, the five senses are sight, sound, smell, taste and feel. We judge the appearance of a wine, smell it, taste it, and we 'feel' certain characteristics, like the astringency of tannin, or the hot sensation of high alcohol, the glycerin thickness of a full-bodied wine, and certainly a wine's temperature. And of course, my own degree of thirst and body temperature affects my perception of a wine. So I was just wondering if anyone else ever thought about noise. A few weeks ago I dined in town with friends in a restaurant's private room. The room was dark and the group got quite drunk and noisy. I ordered a halibut dish with a simple pesto sauce and garlic potatoes, and I think I appreciated it as fully as I could have, but then it was a very simple, light dish. We had a flight of wines including one white wine from the owner's private stash, chosen by the chef, and I found myself turning away from the other diners with my glass for a moment and tuning out the chaos around me in order to completely appreciate a sip of the wine. Terribly geeky, I know, but I just wanted to fully savor one sip. I allowed myself that one discreet geek moment and then I was back into the party. Maybe I'm just not good at multi-tasking my senses. I wonder if one's sixth sense could be developed and used in the interest of wine tasting. What would we find out?

Sam and Marlene, my hat is off to you! Wonderful dishes and photos. I have developed a powerful craving for creamed spinach now, thanks. I love the volleyblog approach, too. But I can't decide who to root for . . .

I think most of us have noticed that strong odors interfere with our ability to evaluate and even enjoy wine, but I have also found that noise and music interfere with my ability to concentrate on the nuances of wine. For instance, at a wine festival or tasting where the crowds are tight and there is live music--it's really difficult for me to detect nuances. I really think drinking wine, or at least appreciating it deeply, is a whole body experience. Anyone else notice this?

We had a lively discussion about this in the Dover Canyon tasting room this Memorial Weekend. Several local growers and a winemaker stopped in on Sunday, so the topic came up. The consensus is that the whole idea is unscientific hogwash. The local growers were shaking their heads over the fact that Napa growers would even call a summit about it and talk to the press about their goofy idea. First of all, it's ludicrous to claim that raisining compromises the health of the vines. After all, vineyards often throw second and even third crops--not separate cycles, just late-forming clusters that are smaller and ripen later. Second crops are sometimes sparse or the clusters so small that they're not worth the labor of harvesting, so they're left on the vine. They raisin and dry up and are pruned away with the canes in February. Vines also 'shut down' in the fall at the same time that other deciduous trees and plants do. Their leaves color and drop, the sap stops flowing, and the canes become brittle. Daylight hours are the primary factor, and the vines begin to go dormant on their own schedule, whether or not the fruit was picked. And if raisining is so unhealthy, then where do raisins come from? The second argument, that vintners want high sugar, low weight grapes, is just, well, fruity! If you buy raisins for wine production, you end up with raisin wine. Period. You can add water and remove the alcohol, but you can't backtrack to the flavors and balance that a winegrape should have at its peak. You can flow the wine over copper to brighten it, you can fine it with bentonite or egg whites or dried sturgeon bladder, but you are still going to have raisin wine. Yuck. Are Napa vintners and growers so alienated from each other that growers don't have any idea about how their grapes are processed and why quality benchmarks are so important? In Paso Robles we have a Quality Alliance that sponsors regular blind tastings for vintners and growers. We focus on a single varietal at each tasting, and we're looking not only for examples of really good, benchmark wines, but wines with a distinctive Paso profile. Growers and vintners are encouraged to talk about their production--what worked, what didn't, what they might do differently next time. Some wineries have annual grower barbecues and the vintner takes his growers through the cellar to barrel sample from different vineyards and vintages, explaining the why's and wherefore's of what works and what doesn't. I know wineries in other areas also try to foster good communication and relationships with their growers. And actually, the responsibility for learning about wine quality falls on the grower. They should be as attentive to a winemaker's standards and needs as suppliers of corks, glass, and barrels are.

Revolting, aren't we? We also make fun of wine snobs, cork dorks, wine geeks, sommeliers, and ourselves--and Robert Parker is pretty much accused of everything from conspiring to destroy the European Union to arranging cold vintages in odd years. We love newbies. Don't we, guys? But just as there are problem customers in restaurants, there are twits in wine shops. And it's not usually the newbies that give us cause for hilarity--it's the wannabe wine snobs. They're the brown belts of the wine dojo; they know just enough to make them dangerously confident. For instance, here's a guy swirling and sniffing like he knows what he's doing, and he can pronounce "noir" correctly. So why is he asking me (and I kid you not), "So. Do you blend the pinot and the noir?" what to say, what to say . . . So I explained that pinot noir is the name of that varietal, but I'm thinking no, but sometimes we stir the cabernet and the sauvignon! Here are some other questions I need good answers to: Do you have a buttery Cabernet? What's the bird netting for? Is there really wine in these barrels? No, that's where we store the contents of the spit bucket. How many bottles do you get out of a barrel? None. We can't get the bottles through the bunghole! (Correct answer for those who really want to know = 300.) Do you sell all the wine that you produce? No, we throw it out when it reaches its expiration date. No, we throw it out and make a fresh batch every fall. Do you ever go to Napa? No, I go to Kragen Auto Parts.

It might be an inferior grade of cork. Does the cork have a tight, smooth grain, or is it full of "swiss cheese" type holes? The Natural Cork Quality Council A fun site, with a (somewhat oversimplified) visual grading system Cork Facts Llosent & Forschner Cork Suppliers A good description of the different grades of cork available

What happened to the 70%?

She should definitely get her hands on John Platter's South African Wine Guide. Editor Philip van Zyl will be visiting the wine forum soon--I am trying to reschedule his appearance for June. Philip is very personable and will be happy to answer any and all questions about South African wines. She will also enjoy Africa Uncorked: Travels in Extreme Wine Territory by John and Erica Platter. It's informative, interesting and hilarious. The Platters will be joining us for a week long Conversation in September.

Napa grape growers are complaining that Napa wineries are picking later and later, sometimes at 30 Brix, and the raisined condition of the grapes causes financially debilitating losses to growers. St. Helena Star article This isn't the most recent article on this controversy, but I think Alan Goldfarb's piece does the best job of explaining the issues involved, including some of the farming math. However, it is interesting that Beckstoffer called for a summit at the same time that regulations governing the addition of water to fermenting grape must* may increase the amount of water allowed. Recent articles in industry publications that covered this meeting are not available online, which is too bad, because apparently the meeting got a little hot. In essence, growers are accusing wineries of forcing them to harvest late in order to raisin the grapes, thereby reducing the weight of the crop and the payout to the growers. Growers claim that vintners then add water back to the must and use spinning cones to reduce the alcohol. Now this little piece of non-logic has been solidly scoffed at by vintners and non-Napa growers alike. During the raisining stage the grape--and by extension the vine--is simply maturing its seed. Under this logic, all perennials that develop mature seed would wither and die of sexual excess. Thoughts, anyone? (* must = crushed grapes. Red winegrapes are slightly crushed, then inoculated with yeast and fermented with the skins and seeds.)

I’m not certain as to what your point is. What issues? I’m quite certain you have all these things in common with a vineyard: site selection, soil preparation, plant selection, trellising, soil amendments, mowing and tilling, tractor talk, tractor envy, neighbors, birds, insects (specifically leaf-chewing beetles), rodents, mammalian marauders, diseases, row covers, tying and staking, labor, frost, hard rains during bloom and fruit set, selecting a harvest date, staggered harvests according to type and maturity, debris removal, and composting. Now if your experience is limited strictly to Napa growers, that—I agree—is an issue in itself. Napa has become a lifestyle destination, a gollybubble. I don’t envy you the task of farming in such an over-inflated area. Do you know that Napa grapes go for $4,000 to $9,000 a ton or more? Quality winegrapes from Lodi fetch only $700 a ton. Paso Robles (which is three times the size of Napa and has a wider diversity of microclimates and varietals) commands $1200 to $4000 a ton. Some Napa wines cost $150 a case just for the grapes! That’s before barrel aging, processing, packaging (and glass isn’t cheap), and overhead. It’s crazy. So I do agree with you that the issues facing Napa growers are not necessarily representative of most farmers--grape growers included.

Weighing in on the To Deakin Or Not To Deakin issue, I'd like to point out that we have already had one lively discussion here about how tastes in wine vary geographically, and what people enjoy in some areas of the world are snubbed in others. Also, I think you should all know that mega-producers will sometimes have different tank lots under the same label, and although those tank lots may technically be from the same vineyard and vintage, they often have different rows, picking dates, and chemical balances, and may have been adjusted differently. Most importantly, the US, EU and Australian standards for chemical composition are vastly different, and wines designed for export to the US and other countries are most likely designed to meet their standards and will be considerably different than the same labels sold in Australia. This is a global forum, so the specifics of availability are often not pertinent to a wide range of members. However, vinophiles that we all are, we enjoy hearing about wonderful wines even if we can't get them, and vinous adventures that we may someday experience. PCL, can you tell us in more detail about the various regions of Australia wine production?

You are too modest. Your operations shall henceforth be known not as a cornfield, but as a maizerie. And those who work the hallowed earth of Nebraska shall be known as a graintner (pronounced grantner). You are all Rich Beyond Belief, and yet you choose to squander the wealth of your soil on tortillas, booze and corn syrup, which I do not consider food. (Popcorn, however, is okay in my book.) Please repent immediately and send me a CSA Popcorn Sampler.

From the 2004 Q&A with Andrea Sottimano: He must be an InFielder.

Anytime! Actually, you're probably familiar with some of our 'ranch rules.' Visiting dogs must be on a leash, and if you show up when there's work to be done we're likely to put you to work. Customer Nancy Commerdinger is helping me roll a delivery of new barrels aside. Dan wasn't here to take possession of the barrels, and the driver was kind of a jerk. Nancy's husband Ted is in the tasting room pouring wine for other customers while we roll the barrels out of the parking lot. The only time we definitely do not accept offers of help is during harvest. Aside from the dangers of working with machinery, we have a very efficient groove to our crush work, and high standards of hygiene on the crush pad. So we've learned that it's just not a good idea to let people jump in and try to help for an hour or two. Unless they are willing to just hose out picking bins. Offers of steaks and beer are gratefully accepted, however.

Lo-carb, lo-cal, lo-IQ wine for women: Beringer Blass is coming out with a low-carb wine this month called "White Lie."(LA Times, registration required.) Industry sources, however, claim that during the past two years, women are buying more wine than men. Oh well, I think it's an idea that is going to going to go over well. Now if they would just come out with a Red Chardonnay, we could get more women to drink red wine!

Well, I'm going to edit this post, because I was tired last night and my post makes no sense to anyone but me. Let me see if I can address some of the issues we've discussed so far: It is a common misconception, and I thank several members here for pointing this out, that winemakers and grape growers are inherently the same thing. There are many of us foolish enough to attempt both, but they are essentially very, very different operations. In Paso Robles there are 60 brick-and-mortar wineries, but over 200 vineyards. Eighty percent of the fruit grown here is sold to Napa and Sonoma wineries. There is also life outside of Napa. Vineyards exist in almost every size and in every corner of the world, including the heart of Africa, as we will discover when we chat with Philip van Zyl next week. Napa has become a lifestyle destination and is indeed rife with vanity vineyards. But we have them here, too. I'm sure there are quite a few vanity market farms, as well. That's not really an issue that defines a farmer. If you choose it as your own personal definition, that's fine. However, we do get about 10 tons of confection-grade walnuts each year. I also grow flats and flats of tomato, pepper and basil starts each spring which I distribute to my neighbors and friends. Sometimes I even give them away to customers. I also harvest baskets and baskets of rosemary and lavender at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I give them away and tie them with raffia to wine bottles. In addition to raised beds next to my greenhouse, I maintain a 1/2 acre garden. I think anyone who works closely with the land enjoys and takes pride in productivity. Well I'm doing better than that. I've moved up from a 1975 blackberry Mercedes to a more practical 1989 Ford Bronco. It requires a special alcohol license, hardly worth the bother. Also, wine must be kept cool, so selling it out of the back of a truck is not generally recommended. We show our support for our friends at the farmers' markets by shopping there. Grapevines are a perennial vine, like blackberries and raspberries. It takes about four years before they even produce fruit. So we do not rotate crops seasonally, and we get only one crop per year. However, vineyards require far less water than annual vegetables, and create far less dust and erosion than fields that are constantly worked. We also handle biodiversity by maintaining an annual cover crop, green mulching (basically mowing the cover down and leaving it on the ground), composting our used grapeskins and seeds for return to the soil, and maintaining natural areas and corridors for wildlife and beneficial bugs. We are also a certified wildlife habitat. (Basically we figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.) An excellent example of enthusiastic and responsible farming. I also love their website, by the way. My garden and greenhouse are not open to the public, but people occasionally wander in, anyway. Heck, we've even had people walk in the house while we were making dinner and the kid was doing homework. That's the problem with being so rich and famous. They refer to themselves as "growers." As in, the Paso Robles Vintners' and Growers' Association. They refer to their vines specifically as a 'vineyard,' the same way that a farmer will refer to his 'pasture,' his 'orchard' or his 'barnyard.' We don't call them pasturedists, or barnyardists. Wine is considered a luxury item, but as Dave sort of pointed out, a bottle of Renegade Red at $10 offers more fruit than a $6 box of organic blueberries, and just as many proanthocyanadolic oligomers. Duh. This is the wine forum. You're assuming, and this is somewhat amazing to me given the hundreds of farmers you know, that every farmer has the perfect site and soil for vegetables. I assure you that my moist little garden spot is one of the few spots on our acreage where I can successfully grow vegetables. Our soil is so rocky and limestone rich that our planting crew broke three pickaxes planting the vineyard. There are boulders between the zinfandel vines. We have oak root fungus in our soil. Gophers and star thistle. That's why you don't find market farms along swaths and ridges of limestone. Wine grapes are perfect for this little piece of the earth, however, because their roots penetrate deeply, they need little moisture, and they produce quality fruit from mineral-rich soils. Nut trees also thrive because their roots go deep enough to search out moisture and nutrients. Our area is well known for its peach, apple, walnut and almond orchards. And bless you for that.

While I was student-teaching in Blaine, Washington--on the Canadian border--my boyfriend owned a fleet of fishing boats (no small achievement for a man of 26) and was engaged in gun battles with Indian fleets and the nefarious practice of throwing boulders in each others' nets. My roommate's fiance, a Lummi Indian chieftain, had been murdered in a fight over fish. My father is a retired manager of Farm Credit, and I grew up on a Christmas tree farm and Indian reservation. When I was a grasshopper, I toured berry farms, oyster beds, and timberland, in his shadow. I learned farming, farm finance, farm dynamics, and farm failure, at his knee. I saw women who had been widowed or abandoned running fishing fleets and timber operations in a world and a time where women had little influence. They had to fight with their own employees in order to succeed and feed their children. Like all proud dads, my father was just carting me around for the dubious value of my company, but he would also look me in the eye and say did you learn something from this? My line-of-credit lender is Farm Credit and they are golden to me. The County of San Luis Obispo has also confided that it prefers horse ranching and vineyards to other enterprises, because of water and development issues. Celery and salad growers, who prefer sandy, riverbed soils, also require extreme amounts of water which quickly drain through their soils, depleting local aquifers. Vineyards, as opposed to wineries, do not have concerts or cause traffic congestion. They use less, if any, water, and are ecologically friendly, as well as sustainable.

You know, I was thinking of that when I responded to your post. In wide open farming lands, there is more direction toward specialization, as on the dry eastern side of Washington State, which I believe is more similar to the mid-West. On the rainy, mountainous side that I grew up in, diversity is key, because of the short and perilous growing season. So the 'definition' of farming might vary from place to place. Tell that to the tractor.

What are those issues, Tana?

Thank you! However, that's kind of a tight definition. It excludes berries, oysters, small-scale livestock production, asparagus beds, artichokes, olives, etc. And what about the multitude of small farms that wisely diversify among animals, orchards, perennials, vines, and annuals? By the way, a grape is technically, a berry. Wine grapes are also used in production of jellies and grapeseed oil. By far their most glamourous incarnation is in wine, but as Craig has pointed out . . . wine is food!

Does anyone here agree? Disagree? Original discussion here. This is a myth--or misconception--that I encounter frequently, so I can understand these comments, if not embrace them as a definition of who we are. Should I allow my customers to visualize Dover Canyon as a spreading land grant with untended vines gracefully waving in gentle breezes? It would probably be a smarter marketing move. Actually, I think I will. But I am passionate about the challenges and drama inherent in farming. And I love our farm. I am proud to call our vineyard a "farm." Somehow I don't think we'd ever convince Andrea Sottimano that he's not farming . . .

Oops. My apologies to Ms. Governor. I think the future looks promising with this decision. It appears that the court is saying that all in-state shipments will be considered, including retail wine stores. So a state has two choices: ban all shipments of wine within and into the state, which will anger a lot of businesspeople, or allow all shipments within and into the state. And you're right, shacke, it's still round one, or actually more like the fourth, but the opposing arguments are getting wimpier with each round. Fortunately we have a strong ally in the Wine Institute, which is assisting consumers and producers in this battle, and taking the fight into each state. The Institute is headed up by a strong legal team and executive director Bobby Koch (pronounced Cook). And the statement from the Wine Institute (Free the Grapes!) is now up: A hearty thank you and a woop-woop to the Wine Institute.

He'll be shooting himself in the foot financially, which is no insurance against stupidity, unfortunately. I pay, and other California wineries pay, sales tax on our customers' orders to states like New Hampshire, Montana, Wyoming, etc. We're too small to interest distributors in those states, so we will not be sending pallets of wine through the three-tier distribution system in those states, but we do collect and pay sales tax on individual orders to the states that require it. If Gov. Granholm says that MI can only collect taxes if wine is subjected to the archaic three-tier system, how is he going to explain that other states are merrily pocketing taxes generated by online interstate sales?

Hear, hear.