Rebel Rose

A recent article on the Phelps reminded me that they have, indeed, been around for a long time and continue to produce outstanding wines on a consistent basis, and for very reasonable prices. Comments and tasting notes?

Manischewitz Sparkling Grape Juice Being Recalled It's the sparkling grape juice, not the wine being recalled, but I had this vision of schticky purple bombs going off in random places . . .

This week the San Francisco Chronicle presents a trio of articles on matching Indian wines with food: On selecting wines to pair with Indian food: The Chronicle Pairing Guide: The Spice is Right, written by SF columnist and eG Society member Jon Bonne A list of SF Chronicle wine selections: Wines to Pair with Indian Food And a list of Wine-Friendly Indian Restaurants in the SF area.

I don't know, John. I have accidentally frozen wine (going for the fast chill and then forgetting about it ) and it never tastes right afterward. Pretty awful, in fact.

Several times recently I have heard the argument put forth that if American wine regions want to claim "terroir" in their wines then they should subjugate themselves to the same arcane rules that French vintners are subjected to . . . only specified vines may be planted, only certain blends produced. This is not the same question as "What is terroir?" So if anyone wants to chew on that bone, please visit our ongoing thread, Terroir: Earth vs. Man. Why can't Americans, who pride themselves on being uniquely individual, re-define the concept of terroir? Clearly Mendocino, with its unique topography and organic farmers, has an individualistic character. Wine aficionados claim to understand and identify particular sub-climates of Napa. Russian River zinfandels have a recognizable character. Do we need AOC and DOCG type laws to "establish" terroir? How would you answer someone who insists that: a) American wine regions aren't "old enough" to have terroir b) there can be no understanding of "terroir" without rigid planting/blending rules, or c) France is the prime [only] example of wines that speak of "terroir"

That's interesting. I know Bx futures have been available in New York for many decades, but I had also heard that Sam's was responsible for creating a surge of interest in futures. Maybe they were just better at marketing the opportunity?

What a fantastic idea. We have underground wine storage, so I have no experience with wine cooling units, but I have also heard advice to get a solid, dependable cooler first (as some brands are not so reliable!) and add a source of humidity if desired. Dave, is that your own sausage project?

Well this is certainly expanding my color vocabulary. I've had a few chardonnays that aspire to Ralph Lauren 'surfboard yellow.' Pedigreed, with a sense of fun. The Laura Ashley 'plastered pink' describes some rose's I've had. But I think Sherwin Williams stole our thunder with 'Fine Wine', 'Burgundy' and 'Fabulous Grape.' I might steal 'Bravado Red' however.

I am planning a private event for eG Society members the weekend of September 14-16. The highlight of the weekend will be dinner at Villa Creek Restaurant, but may include private tours and tastings throughout the weekend as well. Please visit the planning thread in the California forum if you would like to attend! I will leave this thread open for comments and questions for a few days as well, as I expect many members are away for the Memorial Day weekend . . .

Alcohol does contribute to a perception of sweetness. I should have been more precise, however . . . California to Washington, winemakers working with zin and syrah will frequently leave some R.S. in the wine to balance it. This practice is not as common with pinot or cab.

I think 'L' will be a fun addition to our wine alphabet game, as there are a number of regions, wineries and productions that begin with 'L'. Feel free to share your reviews and experiences on any wine that begins with 'L'. Which reminds me, I need to get my hands on some more of that fabulous L'Aventure rose' before June! And remember, you can always add to our growing wine alphabet game here: Wine Tag: A to Z

John, the issue is not about selling 'sweet' wine. The difficulty is that a large number of intermediate market consumers think they want dry, elegant wines, when in fact, what they really want are wines with powerful characteristics and some residual sugar to soften and round them out. This is closer to what I was hoping to discuss. Certain levels of sugar make a wine seem fatter, rounder, and the sugar reduces alcohol 'burn' in high level wines. Sometimes, as in the case of Amarone for example, a high-alcohol wine with carefully managed sugar levels will mature beautifully. But frequently, the monster wines that seem initially to be blockbusters--full of flavor, and zing-bam-pow characteristics--are just going to get tired in the cellar. So what I'm really asking is, does anyone else see this trend? It isn't so much a trend toward higher alcohols as it is a trend toward wines that make a bigger splash in the pool. I think the 'high alcohol' argument that goes around and around may actually be a red herring. And if this forum has the aware, articulate posters I believe it does, this would be a good place to carry on a cutting edge discussion.

I was interviewed today by a national news publication about my winery blog, and as the reporter and I were talking, we got onto the topic of being small and creative, even a driving force, yet operating from a rustic little barn. A bit off topic, but what immediately came to mind for me is the young couple that bought my grandparents' historic home in Washington State. Mark and Kari Winsor are one of the driving inventive forces in flat and flexible screen illumination technology, which you are probably using right now. They have converted an old horse barn on the property into their workshop. I used this example to explain what a 'garagiste' is in the winemaking field. Most Americans assume that bigger is better, and that a 'successful' winery will have a tourism center, dining hall and huge barrel chai. But there are many definitions of success, and I think more Americans are beginning to recognize that small, family owned 'wine farm' enterprises, like their European counterparts, can be quite fascinating. Who would you nominate as a "business in barn"? The winery should be: * Staffed by fewer than 6 people, including vineyard workers * Smaller than 3,000 square feet * Rustic in appearance * American * Fairly successful in sales and well-regarded by consumers

"Drink sweet, talk dry," used to be a wine marketing catchphrase in the '70s and '80s for all the people that sucked up major national brands that they perceived to have cachet as "dry, elegant" wines, when in fact those brands had significant doses of residual sugar. Then, for awhile, the marketplace really did become a little more sophisticated and winemakers began to play with truly elegant wines. Now, I'm afraid the market may be swinging back the other way. People talk incessantly about the preponderance of high alcohol wines these days, but no one complains about the residual sugar needed to balance the alcohol in these wines, and these wines have no problem selling out--indeed there are long and serious waiting lists for some of them. I think . . . you like the sugar.

From Decanter: Is anyone here a fan of the Languedoc?

News is news. Other sites are just as entitled to discuss it as we are and vice versa. I appreciate your participation and particularly your enthusiasm in starting new threads on timely topics. This podcast is hosted by Ageless at Talkshoe, and features an interview with Francois Audouze, an amazing wine collector and gracious poster on other boards. Mr. Audouze is known for having a cellar of extremely old wines, which he frequently and generously shares, in person and in tasting/impression notes.

John, which podcast was this? Or at least which podcasting group?

It looks as though at least one person at Oregon State University is serious about this: Reuters News Release I don't know . . . somehow I just find this all so depressing . . . This release was sent out last fall. I wonder how the product research is going?

Russell Bevan is in the house! Greetings, Russ, and thanks for joining us! I am ashamed to admit that I'm not that familiar with your source vineyards . . . where are the Alban and Estrella clones planted? And what is the importance of each?

Exactly. China is a huge country, geographically, with many different styles of cooking. And some regions which are affluent . . . or not. Just as in America. To those of us who are unfarmiliar with China, which regions would be the most affluent? The most likely to have Bordeaux collectors? What are those regions/cities like?

Fengyi, what do think of Wu's comment that Bordeaux "are the least compatible with Chinese food"? Isn't there a wide range of food that would pair well with Bordeaux? In fact, I would think the emphasis on quality ingredients, and the frequent use of fruit sauces in Chinese cooking would actually go well with Bordeaux, and perhaps blow our girdled Western cuisine of steak and potatoes out of the water.

This article is merely reporting on what the speakers at this Mondavi-sponsored event were saying: And it looks to me, from the complete list of speakers, that they were going more for crowd-pleasers and attention-getters than true industry experts. They have Leo McCloskey, for pity's sake, beating the drum about establishing a cru system in Napa. But not elsewhere? And Randall Grahm complaining, again, that terroir will never be found in the "new world." Like he expects it to come up to him and kick him in the shin?

From a press release I received today: "europe's wine label of the year 2007" Now it's the public's turn to make the choice under the 10 finalists of 4260 submitted wine labels. The wine label contest "europe's wine label of the year 2007" which is presented by awc vienna 2007 - international wine challenge and by VINUM - Europas Weinmagazin is the greatest wine label contest of the world with 4260 submitted wine labels. A main reason for participation may be the grand first prize of 12000 Euro, sponsored by Marzek Etiketten and awc vienna 2007. A panel of experts has selected 10 wine labels, and now in a world - wide public voting - online (www.awc-vienna.at) or with VINUM - voting ballot (issue 6/2007) - the winner "europe's wine label of the year 2007" will be elected. Also the voters can win a lot: 10 one-year-suscriptions of VINUM, 10 admission tickets for the "Wine Gala Night" on October 30th at the city hall of Vienna and 20 wine-packages (3 bottles) Deadline for the voting is June 25th, 2007. Each participant can only vote once. Link for the voting: www.awc-vienna.at

Casey, you are amazing. I hope you are getting some naps in during the afternoons. Dan also starts his day early (not that early) and he prefers to finish his vineyard work later in the day, so he likes to take a nap mid-afternoon. Many of our friends think he's always sleeping, because they tend to stop by in the afternoon. I tell our friends that Dan keeps "Mediterranean hours." I've been meaning to post pictures of our syrah and zin shoots, but I dropped my camera (again) so it will be a day or two before I get some shots up. With the warm, dry spring we've been having, the weeds came on strong and we hired a small crew of three to tackle hoeing before the weeds went to seed. We asked them to just hoe around the vines, but they did an amazing and very precise job of hoeing not only around the base of the vine, but all along the vine row and out about a foot on each side in perfect strips. We have also been seeing a lot of gopher activity, and we lost about 30 of our best vines in the center of the zinfandel vineyard, as well as some more struggling vines near the vineyard border, and yet more in the syrah. Generally gophers are very active in the spring when they are breeding, and when the neighboring walnut orchards are tilled in late spring, that also drives gophers toward our vineyard. But gopher activity is much worse this year than in the last two years, so we purchased a whole box of gopher traps and put one of the crew to work catching the critters. He caught 20 in one day on one acre. Eight of them were huge . . . mutants with fangs . . . if I were a cat I wouldn't mess with them.

TCA can infect a winery as well as corks. The compound is created by airborne fungi, and it can exist in barrels, hoses, even buildings if they are comsistently moldy and damp. Building infections are most frequently found in very old structures in cool growing regions, and where producers typically use very, very old barriques and equipment . . . who are also generally the smaller, independent producers in France, Spain and Italy. Some people claim to encounter cork taint in ratios as high as 20%. Frequently these people are very excited about screwcap closures and blame their TCA rate solely on cork closures. One outspoken critic of cork is a German wine reviewer/importer who tastes mostly Austrian wines. So there you go. I open hundreds of our own bottles each year and in working through our production and other California releases (although not at the same rate! ) my personal TCA rate is more like 3%. See Cork Taint - Wikipedia and TCA Fact Sheet - Wine Institute. We also have an ongoing thread, Looking for Closure: Screwcaps vs. Corks, for general discussion of closures and TCA taint. By the way, I have heard from George Taber, and he will be joining this discussion later this summer as we approach the release date for his book!