The Wine Cellar Blog

Moscato, Rap Superstar in a Highball

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:52:10 +0000

What is Moscato? Sweet wine for sugar daddies if rapper Drake is to be believed. In Do It Now he raps: "Lobster and shrimp and a glass of moscato, for the girl who's a student and her friend whose a model." Hey! Serving alcohol to minors is illegal people even if it's a relatively low-alcohol wine (i.e. 5% vs. a typical 12% alcohol by volume wine).

Moscato has the same alcohol profile as beer (also 5% ABV, see link for more details on Moscato wine calories and alcohol equivalents). Even if it tastes sweeter and is more palatable to young people, it's definitely for adults, not for taking advantage of children.

With that said, it's also "Mommy's Little Helper" (i.e. relatively harmless stress reliever for moms). Or, as MomsWhoNeedWine.com puts it:

this is a wine we can imbibe at lunch, with the girls, and still be legally able to drive to collect the kids from school.

which is true, check the legality of this for your state at BloodAlcoholCalculator.org.

Moscato has been enjoying a huge spike in popularity for the last year and a half. Whether because of its rap star status or Americans' sweet palates (for example Americans' love of sugar and high alcohol resulted in the Zinfandel craze about 20 years ago) 2010 Moscato wine sales in the United States have surged by 100.7% compared to the previous year. Barefoot Vineyard's moscato wine sales jumped last year from 3.3 million dollars to 31 million, according to MarketWatch. Sutter Home doubled its moscato sales for the same period to 37 million dollars. And Woodbridge, owned by Robert Mondavi, boosted its own sales by 10 times, hitting two million dollars.

All of this hoopla over a wine that's been around since the end of the 16th century. Known properly as Moscato d'Asti an Italian wine, it is made from what may be the world’s oldest cultivated wine grape, Moscato Bianco, or by the French name Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains. It is a light-bodied, light-colored, lightly effervescent (frizzante), sweet white wine which typically has melon and apricot flavors and aromas.

Note: Other varieties of the Muscat grape can be used to make this wine, in the case of Innocent Bystander, Muscat Gordo Blanco and Black Muscat are used and it's pink because of the wine's very short contact with the skins of the Black Muscat grape during vinification.

Moscato Bianco can be vinified in a number of styles: It can be a rare, rose-scented dry wine, or a syrupy dessert wine. Moscato d'Asti is in the middle of the spectrum. But, don't confuse it with Asti Spumante also made with Moscato Bianco and from the same region of Piedmont, but a wine that has undergone a full secondary fermentation resulting in more pronounced bubbles, a little more alcohol (about 7% ABV) and a little less sugar, and a less complex flavor.

Moscato is a versatile wine, which can be enjoyed in a traditional wine glass, or, as it is popularly enjoyed in Italy, in a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Another popular way to serve Moscato is in wine-based cocktails (especially as a replacement for champagne), such as the Limoncellato. Moscato is a wine meant to be drunk young, and one should never purchase bottles older than one year beyond vintage.

LIMONCELLATO RECIPE

1 oz. black cherry rum
1/2 oz. Il Tramonto Limoncello
1/2 oz. pure cane syrup
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 oz. Luccio Moscato d’Asti

Fill a pint glass with ice. In a separate shaker, combine the first 4 ingredients, cap and shake for 5 seconds. Strain into your pint glass. Top with Luccio Moscato d’Asti. Garnish with a lemon twist and a straw. Go sip by the pool.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Naked Wine Part Deux: The Oak Barrel Strikes Back

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:32:37 +0000

Sometimes the "Dark Side" of wine is as threatening as a shrimp-sized Darth Vader. Is the oak barrel really the villain it's made out to be? Or is naked wine just another slick, new marketing tactic? For a balanced point of view, here's part of an article "Taking a Closer Look at Wine's Conventional Wisdom" written by Eric Asimov of the New York Times in 2007:

ASSERTION No-oak chardonnay is better than oaked chardonnay. TRUTH Oaky may be bad, but oak is good. Back in the 1990's, when the fashion for big, bombastic, oaky chardonnays was at its height, nobody would have taken this belief seriously. Fashion has changed and oak barrels have now been branded the villain for previous excesses. The fact is, for aging wine, no better vessel than oak barrels has yet been discovered. How those barrels are used is another question. New oak can imbue a wine with all sorts of flavors, including vanilla, chocolate, coffee and just plain woody. But many people tired of over-oakiness, and so came chardonnays, mainly from Australia and California, called ''No Oak,'' ''Metallico'' (for the steel tanks in which no-oak chardonnays are made), ''Inox'' (a French term for steel) and the like. The no-oak method can produce wines that are lively, pure and delicious. It's also much cheaper for winemakers than buying new barrels every year. But wines made in this style lack some of the crucial benefits of barrel aging, namely a very slight exposure to the oxygen that passes through the wood, which can enhance a wine's texture and complexity. One way to retain the benefits of barrel aging while avoiding its excesses is to use older barrels, which impart fewer or no flavors to wine. Many great chardonnays in California and in Burgundy are made this way. The bottom line: No-oak is an alternative style, but not necessarily a better one.

This whole controversy over the use of oak barrels is very similar to the argument over the use of cork in wine bottles. Yes, cork can be tainted, and their use creates more expense for the consumer (e.g. having to use corkscrews), but screwcaps (metallic closures) can't compete with cork when it comes to aging and developing wine (for the same reasons explained above for oak barrels). Sometimes naked just means immature.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Anthony Weiner and the Wine Industry Get Naked

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:18:36 +0000

Whether it's personal or business marketing, it appears you need to get naked to get any attention these days. Sexting, sexy wine labels and sexy names all point to the growing need to bare it all to close the deal no matter what your selling. Sex sells, even in (or especially in) the wine industry. Just ask porn star Savanna Samson whose outrageously successful red wine Sogno Uno scored a 91 from Robert Parker and features a side view of her wearing only a see-through gown and high heels. Maybe porn star Ginger Lee can parlay her experience with Congressman Weiner into a wine label of her own. Stupid Bastard maybe (there's a Fat Bastard already afterall), wait that's not sexy. How about No Penetration, there's already a Penetration Cabernet Sauvignon by (you guessed it) Naked Winery.

In the wine world "naked wines" refer to unoaked wines aged in stainless steel instead of oak barrels. This matters because many of the flavors experienced by consumers of the finished wine are created by the oak itself, not the grapes. The vanilla, toast and tannin notes imparted by the oak often overpower the fruity or citrusy elements of the grapes and make the wine more difficult to pair with food. However, oak is traditional and preferred by highly influencial wine critic Robert Parker (the establishment), making unoaked winemakers rebels of a sort. The latest entry into this new wine category is Simply Naked by Constellation Brands. The Simply Naked inaugural collection launched June 1st includes the 2010 vintages of Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, all at a suggested retail price of $9.99. The term "naked wine" may not refer to anything risque, but that did not stop them from promoting it that way in a recent New York City Event complete with a half dozen half-naked men (Anthony Weiner would have been right at home). They probably should have kept the oak barrels.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Mom Will Feel Like a Princess with Kate Middleton’s Sauvignon Blanc

admin — Sun, 08 May 2011 06:03:12 +0000

Mom may be a commoner, but she can at least drink like a princess for Mother's Day without it costing Dad and family a king's ransom. The night before her wedding to Prince William, Kate Middleton (now the Duchess of Cambridge) dined with close friends and family at the Goring Hotel in London’s Belgravia district. According to US Weekly, she chose the rather unpretentious Casa Lapostolle Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (costs about $50) to pair with her salmon blini starter, and entrée of steak Chateaubriand. This Chilean wine and the Lapostolle brand is 100% owned by the Marnier-Lapostolle family. The name Marnier may be familiar to lovers of liqueurs because the Marnier-Lapostolle family are also owners of the world-renowned orange liqueur Grand Marnier. While they are best known for this, the family has also been involved in winemaking for generations. Originally winegrowers in the Loire Valley, France, the Marnier-Lapostolle family continue this vintner tradition by creating world-class wines using French expertise and the superb terroir of Chile. This Mother's Day show Mom she is a "Princess of Personality" and the "Queen of your Heart" with a bottle of Casa Lapostolle Sauvignon Blanc and a salmon dinner, followed perhaps by a dessert of Crêpe Suzette (made with Grand Marnier) which was originally made (as one of the stories goes) for the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VII of England.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Modern Wine Cellar is Expanding!

admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:35:23 +0000

Modern Wine Cellar has a new Wine Refrigerator Reviews section. There will be indepth wine cooler reviews of individual models organized by brand, size, price and type. Wine refrigerators will be rated on things like "price per bottle", "wine protection", and "reliability." The first review is on the Haier HVW18BSS, check it out.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Valentine’s Day – If Only They Made Chocolate Wine

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 00:27:52 +0000

'Cause if someone made chocolate wine you wouldn't have to bother pairing it for Valentine's Day! The problem with both chocolate and wine is there are so many different kinds and so many unique and complex flavorings. How can you possibly anticipate what that box of chocolate truffles from CVS will taste like when paired with Two Buck Chuck? Well, first I hope you can do a little bit better than convenience store chocolate and Two Buck Chuck for your Valentine, and second, they actually do make chocolate wine, or at least wine covered in chocolate. Third, why try to pair what's already been paired for you? Most wine gift / basket sellers put a considerable amount of time into selecting products that pair perfectly with each other, for example: For sharing with or simply indulging your favorite Valentine, the gift of premium chocolate truffles and red wine is a classic gift that always pleases. At the link above, your beloved can receive a bottle of Beringer Founders' Estate Cabernet Sauvignon in a gift-wrapped wine box. Rich and smooth, this California Cabernet is the perfect accompaniment to a dozen fruit ganache (a smooth mixture of chocolate and cream, not to be confused with Grenache the grape) truffles made with exotic fruit and cream purees encased in hand-painted milk and dark chocolates. Combined, the truffles and wine make the perfect gift to say "I love you." And no, this wine gift will not help you or your beloved keep your New Years resolutions to lose 50 lbs. Besides, statistics say that 30% of all resolutions are broken within the first week, and the rest are toast in less than a month, so you're golden. But, if you must torture yourself with the damage you're doing to your health before your go ahead and eat it anyway, check out this article on the calories in wine.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

What’s a Prosecco? Italian Sparkling Wine vs. French Champagne

admin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:21:25 +0000

A new word for the New Year, just don't call it cheap Champagne. But, whether you know what Prosecco is or not, chances are very good you'll have some New Year's Eve. Prosecco is generally a dry Italian sparkling wine made from the grape variety Glera which is grown in the Veneto region of Italy. Up until the 1960s, Prosecco sparkling wine was basically rather sweet and barely distinguishable from the Asti Spumante wine produced in Piedmont. Since then, production techniques have improved, leading to the higher quality dry wines produced today. Prosecco was introduced to the U.S. market in 2000 by Mionetto (still the largest importer of Prosecco) and has experienced double-digit percentage increases in global sales since 1998 (according to a 2008 New York Times article). However, unlike Champagne, its main commercial competitor, Prosecco is produced using the Charmat method, in which the secondary fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks (instead of the bottle), making the wine less expensive to produce. Also, unlike Champagne, Prosecco should not be aged, it should be drunk as young as possible and preferably before it is two years old. Prosecco is mainly produced as a sparkling wine in either the fully sparkling (spumante) or lightly sparkling (frizzante) varieties. Prosecco spumante, which has undergone a full secondary fermentation, is the more expensive variant. Cheap Prosecco frizzante is also sold in cans (see article on Paris Hilton's endorsement of Rich Prosecco in a can).

2010 was a good year for Italian sparkling wine, it will be long-remembered by Italian winemakers as the year it finally surpassed the production of French Champagne. This year's production of "bollicine" ("Bubbles", as sparkling wine is referred to in Italian) primarily Asti Spumante and Prosecco, will hit a stunning 380 million bottles, overtaking France's much more expensive (and much more valuable) Champagne by 10 million bottles, according to forecasts by Italy's wine expert association Assoenologi. Rivalry between the world's two top producers of bubbly has always been great, with France flaunting its brand supremacy and perceived superiority over Italy. But since on average sparkling wine costs much less than Champagne, the price factor has given Italian sparkling wine a distinct advantage in this economic climate. Exports of Spumante and Prosecco rose 17% within the first 9 months of 2010, as reported by the Italian farmer association Coldiretti. In Russia imports soared a hefty 166%. Following the trend, Vinitaly, a festival that promotes Italian wine globally will put "bollicine" in the spotlight in 2011. In addition to Prosecco, another important Italian sparkling wine region is Franciacorta. Franciacorta´s bubblies are considered to be the creme de la creme of sparkling wines in Italy, and it uses the "Champagne Method" of fermentation.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Top Five Wine Gifts for 2010

admin — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:12:15 +0000

1) The Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator:

Tired of decanting wine and waiting for an hour for your wine to be just right? Well, the Vinturi Wine Aerator is quickly supplanting the old decanter and wine funnel routine. Not only does it take less time to "open up" your wines, now you can decant as needed or by the glass. Vinturi makes aerators for both red and white wines. Traditionalists might be in an uproar, but if you're dealing with a crabby oenophile, just let them do a taste test. The Vinturi Wine Aerator outperforms in wine tasting after wine tasting, its effect is unmistakable. However, this wine tool is used to best effect on wines that need aeration (see this link for an explanation of the practice of wine aeration). For one-hand operation get the optional Vinturi Tower. It should also be noted that the wine aerator has a tendancy to overflow if you're not paying attention and to drip when not in use, another reason to get the Tower or the Deluxe Gift Set. Price: Under $40. 2) The Oster 4207 Electric Wine-Bottle Opener:

The Oster 4207 Electric Wine-Bottle Opener is true wine opening for dummies. There's no trick or technique for removing the cork, it's push-button simplicity. Often wine gadgets can be intimidating, especially wine openers, but this corkscrew won't make you look like an idiot and it can open most wine bottles. However, what makes it simple and easy to use is also its weakness. This wine opener is electronic, so it needs to be charged after opening 30 bottles. It has cordless operation, but its recharging base takes up counter space. It may also have trouble with some artificial corks, not removing them from the bottle necessarily, but extracting it from the corkscrew afterwards. Efforts to remove the cork may break it, but this wine opener is cheap enough to replace quickly. Price: Under $25 3) The Nuance Wine Finer:

At first blush, the Nuance Wine Finer may seem like just another Vinturi Wine Aerator copycat, but nothing could be further from the truth. It's an effective wine aerator (especially if you trust the recommendations of Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen), but it's also 4 wine tools in one. Danish designers combine an aerator, filter, non-spill pourer, and stopper into one do-it-all instrument the size of a fountain pen. Just insert the Nuance Wine Finer into your bottle and pour. Wine flows through 32 aeration vents while an inner stainless steel screen filters out sediments and cork. Stand your bottle upright and the pourer catches any drips. Top your Wine Finer with the stopper to enjoy a glass later. Wine aeration without the mess, one-hand operation without a tower, wine filtration without extra equipment...and at a lower price, the Vinturi better watch its back. Price: Under $30. 4) Grandi Vini: An Opinionated Tour of Italy's 89 Finest Wines:

It might be overly ambitious to try to distill the very varied and complex Italian wine landscape down to the 89 best, but Joe Bastianich is clearly an ambitious guy. Once best known as the partner of chef Mario Batali and the son of chef Lidia Bastianich, both tv stars, this increasingly influential restaurateur now owns 20 restaurants throughout the United States and 3 wineries in Italy as well as several wine and food shops (including the hugely successful Eataly, Manhattan's new Italian food Disneyland). Grandi Vini is not for novices, for an introduction to Italian wine, Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy, by Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch, is a good choice. Grandi Vini should start more than a few well-lubricated arguments. Sassicaia and not Ornellaia? Fontanfredda and not Vietti? And why are there only three wines from Joe's beloved Friuli? Is Brunello still Brunello? These are questions which deserve to be argued, Italian-style, with lots of shouting and hand-waving, or possibly contemplated with a glass of one of Mr. Bastianich's own wines in hand. Price: Under $25 5) Riedel 'O' Cabernet/Merlot/Bordeaux Stemless Wine Glasses (Set of 2):

As Featured in "O" The Oprah Magazine (April 2007), the Riedel Stemless "O" Wine Glasses are the newest revolution in glassware. Founded in 1756, Austria’s Riedel Crystal is the world’s premier manufacturer of wine glasses for the fine wine connoisseur. However, these wine tumblers are part of the company’s first attempt at producing a lower priced wine glass for casual entertaining. Like Riedel’s prestigious Vinum series of glasses, Riedel "O" tumblers are specifically designed to enhance the flavors and aromas of a particular grape varietal. The only difference is that the tumblers are missing their stems, and they are machine made of lead-free crystal, making them slightly less delicate to handle, more modern in appearance, and easier to fit in smaller cabinets, mini bars, picnic baskets, and the dishwasher. Price: Under $25.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

A Slightly Sweet Thanksgiving: Madeira and Lambrusco Wine

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:16:08 +0000

A bottle of Madeira was probably poured at some of the earliest Thanksgiving celebrations. Madeira is produced on a beautiful volcanic island of the same name which is 360 miles west of Morocco and 700 miles south of Portugal, which governs it. The history of Madeira’s wine is nearly as old as that of the island. The island was first settled by Europeans (led by the Portuguese explorer Zarco) in 1419. By 1455 a visitor from Venice wrote that Madeira’s vineyards were the world's most beautiful. Within a century, the wine from these vineyards was well established in markets throughout Europe and by the 1600’s it had become the most popular wine in Britain’s North American colonies. Madeira is produced from grapes grown on terraces cut into the island's steep mountainsides. Like Port, Madeira is a “fortified” wine to which brandy has been added. But unlike other fortified wines, Madeira is also heated for several months, either in special vats or in the attic lofts of the Madeira lodges. For two centuries, Madeira was the wine of choice for most affluent Americans. Francis Scott Keyes is said to have penned the Star Spangled Banner, sipping from a glass of Madeira. George Washington's inauguration was toasted with Madeira, as was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Wealthy families from Boston to Savannah established extensive collections of Madeiras. Madeira became high fashion, and “Madeira parties” (a forerunner of today’s wine tasting) became major social events. There are four major types of Madeira, named according to the grape variety used. Ranging from the sweetest to the driest style they are: Malvasia (also known as Malmsey or Malvazia), Bual (or Boal), Verdelho, and Sercial. Verdelho is the main ingredient of a medium dry light wine called "Rainwater" which is very popular in the United States. The cheaper wines are made from Tinta Negra Mole. The legend around the name started when the contents of a shipment to Savannah, Georgia, were diluted by a heavy rain that hit the casks left standing on a beach. The recipient of the shipment liked the lighter taste and ordered more. There are many stories around Malmsey which was exported as early as the 15th century. In 1478 the Duke of Clarence preferred death by drowning himself in a cask of Malmsey to the death by sword. In Shakespeare's "Henry IV" Poins accuses the Prince of Wales to have sold his soul for a glass of Malmsey and a chicken leg. One of John Falstaff's drinking friends is named after his Malmsey-reddened nose. Even Napoleon, stopping over on the island on his way into exile on St. Helena in 1815, took some Malmsey to brighten his days. Malmsey remains unquestionably the most famous Madeira wine. Even now, many would agree that a good Malmsey crowns a perfect meal like no other wine. The combination with coffee, cookies or nuts is classic, as is the combination of a good bitter chocolate. But also on its own, Malmsey itself is an excellent dessert. Lambrusco wine has also seen its share of Thanksgivings especially in the 70's and 80's when it was the biggest selling import wine in the United States and over 3 million cases were exported from Italy each year. The Lambrusco grape has a long winemaking history with archaeological evidence indicating that the Etruscans cultivated the vine. In Roman times, the Lambrusco was highly valued for its productivity and high yields with Cato the Elder stating that produce of two thirds of an acre could make enough wine to fill 300 amphoras. The most highly rated of its wines are the frothy, frizzante (slightly sparkling) red wines that are designed to be drunk young from one of the five Lambrusco denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) regions: Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, Lambrusco Reggiano, and Lambrusco Mantovano. Lambruscos are usually made as either Red or Rosado (Rosé). They can either be secco (dry), amabile (semi-sweet) or dolce (sweet). A white version of Lambrusco called Bianco is also made in small quantities. This is made by separating the skins from the grapes before vinification. Although traditional Lambrusco is an almost entirely cork-stopped, dry (secco) red wine, the Lambrusco Reggiano DOC is also used to make amabile (slightly sweet) and dolce (sweet) versions of Lambrusco through use of up to 15 percent of the Ancellotta grape. The first dry, cork-finished, limited production DOC Lambrusco was introduced in the United States in 1995. The wine is noted for high acidity and berry flavors. Many of the wines now exported to the United State include a blend of Lambrusco from the different DOC and is sold under the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) designation Emilia. The amabile styles make for a wonderful aperitif. The secco style can be merged with almost any type of food. It really is versatile. The dolce style makes a nice dessert by itself or perhaps served with a cookie or biscotti.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Wine in the Desert: Blood Into Wine in Arizona and Patagonia

admin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:31:31 +0000

We all know the Bible story of Jesus turning water into wine, but in the desert, water is the one thing you don't have and must pay an arm and a leg to get if you ever hope to produce wine. Winemaking in the desert may very well require turning "Blood Into Wine" ( as suggested by the title of Tool and A Perfect Circle front-man Maynard James Keenan's documentary), and the results may be just as ghastly. So, why would anybody want to grow wine in the desert when there are so many other well-established wine-producing areas? First, young wine drinkers and sommeliers want the new and obscure. For example, Lagrein red wine grapes from the Italian region of Alto Adige which borders Austria is rare to the point of obscurity and growing in popularity. Patagonia in Argentina however, is both a new wine producing region and obscure. After all, Patagonia is synonymous with Mandalay or Timbuktu, a metaphor for the ultimate or the ends of the Earth. Who doesn't want a souvenir from the edge of the known world?

Second, turning a desert into a garden is a compelling story, and compelling stories are needed by newbies in the competitive international wine market. But still, why go where the deck is stacked against you? The answer: to create a sustainable, local economy. As Keenan said in an interview: "This is an important thing we're doing up here. If we're successful with what we're doing, it's going to set up a future for more families than we can number. ... If you plant vines in this valley, they're going to taste a certain way; they're going to be very specific to where they're from. It's not a business that you can move to Mexico or China. It's from here. This is the definition of sustainable and local." Much of the development in Patagonia has come from a plan put into motion by Julio Viola, who turned from developing housing projects to developing vineyards. According to Viola, "our biggest moneymaker in the area is oil, but we can't count on that. I wanted to find something more sustainable." He claims that studying computer models led him to believe that this northern part of Patagonia would be perfect for winegrapes.

But, once again the water required for both the operations in Arizona and Patagonia brings their sustainability into question. In Arizona, the need to buy land with water rights in addition to the land needed to grow the grapes is a huge expense added to an already risky proposition. In Patagonia, vineyard irrigation in the Chanar Valley (i.e. the high valley of San Patricio del Chanar where most of the vineyards are located) could equal the amount of water used annually by a city of 200,000. That's a lot of water! In Arizona, the wine industry consists mostly of Keenan's Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards in northern Arizona's Verde Valley, and in the south, Arizona Stronghold Vineyard also co-owned by Keenan. It's all hand-picked, a wealthy rocker's hobby really. Patagonia on the other hand, is a much larger operation. In the Patagonian provinces of Rio Negro and Neuquen, new vineyards are being planted at a rapid clip. Most of the activity is taking place in Neuquen, but Rio Negro is the home of the twin artisanal wineries of Bodega Noemia and Bodega Chacra, critically acclaimed for Malbec and Pinot Noir respectively.

The larger operations in Neuquen are centered around Julio Viola and his Bodega del Fin del Mundo (winery at the end of the world). It has a production of up to 1 million cases and is by far the largest winery in the area. In 1999, he got a $2.5 million loan from the Argentine government, purchased 3,200 hectares of land (1 hectare = 2.47 acres), and dug an irrigation canal from the Rio Neuquen. Mr. Viola installed numerous pumping stations and more than several thousand miles of irrigation pipes, creating a “just add money and pour” startup-vineyard and real-estate venture for investors. NQN Winery bought one in 2001. Neighboring Familias Schroeder (it's Saurus brand named for the fossilized dinosaur bones they discovered while building the winery) bought another sizable chunk, and created a showplace winery. Maynard James Keenan and Julio Viola: visionaries, pioneers, entreprenuers or just men sending postcards from the edge?

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Cupcake Wine: Sex & the City, Wine Pairings and Harry Potter

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:02:32 +0000

Is it just me, or are cupcakes (or more precisely cupcake sellers) everywhere? Cupcakes are suddenly everybody's favorite dessert and every baker wannabe is trying to sell them. And if a budding entrepreneur is not selling them directly, they're trying to brand a product with the name to take advantage of the uptrend. It all started with Sex & the City and NYC's Magnolia Bakery. As Sex & the City's rabid fans tried to be more like Carrie and the girls and Magnolia gained exposure on tv and in the movies, it started a gourmet cupcake feeding frenzy. If you're caught in the vortex and the plethora of cupcake specialty shops that continue to pop up are not enough to satisfy your cravings, cupcakes are now mobile and on Twitter. Cupcake trucks like CupcakeStop in New York and Curbside Cupcakes in D.C. have jumped on the bandwagon. Both are partially owned by former lawyers by the way, which I find vaguely disturbing. Especially Curbside Cupcakes' all pink truck which reminds me of the law-obsessed, drenched-in-pink character Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge of the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - a sadist with a raging sweet tooth.

Why not add alcohol to the mix? In October 2008, Underdog Wine Merchants announced the release of Cupcake Vineyards, "a collection of rich, decadent, award-winning wines from the California Central Coast." Marketing Director Nicolas Tucker describes the raison d'etre of the brand as follows: “With the gourmet cupcake trend accelerating and cupcake boutiques opening up across the country, there is an opportunity for a wine that is crafted to invoke the feeling that you get when you reward yourself." But can you pair Cupcake Wine with actual cupcakes, would you even want to? Well apparently there's a big demand for cupcakes and wine, large enough to build a business around. Where else? New York City. I'm starting to think the "Big Apple" should change its name. Enter Sweet Revenge a cupcake, beer, and wine bar in Manhattan's West Village, customers snack on the signature dessert, the Sweet Revenge cupcake, featuring peanut-butter cake, ganache filling, and peanut-butter-fudge frosting, and drink either Weihenstephaner Hefe Weiss, a German beer (which paired with the cupcake evokes a banana-nut flavor), or Callia Malbec, an Argentinean wine. Owner Marlo Scott has put a whole menu of pairings together for those who want to “drink and be merry.”

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

Watkins Glen and Chateau Ste Michelle Party in the Summer Heat

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:28:41 +0000

It's HOT! In fact, climatologists predict that 2010 will be the hottest year on record worldwide, due in large part to El Nino, the tropical climate pattern that warms the Pacific every five to seven years. But, that didn't stop the folks at the Finger Lakes Wine Festival this weekend in Watkins Glen, NY. In fact the Finger Lakes are doing very well in the heat. Winemakers in the region are enjoying advanced ripening in the vineyards this year, compared to the wet, challenging season of 2009. More time on the vine in hot, dry weather may give winemakers a chance to quiet a few more critics of Finger Lakes red wine. But, it's doing great things for Riesling. Global warming has been a boon for Riesling, according to last week's Riesling Rendezvous conference in Seattle. The conference, hosted by Ernie Loosen, Decanter's Man of the Year 2005, and Ted Baseler, the president of Chateau Ste Michelle, was attended by well over 350 professionals from all over the world. Speakers suggested that warmer temperatures worldwide were opening up new regions for Riesling and guaranteeing consistency in more traditional regions, although in time growers will be forced to adapt, or move. Temperatures in classical growing regions such as the Rheingau, Wachau and Alsace have risen by just over 1 degree in the past 30 years, producing a welcome consistency in quality there. At the same time temperature increases have stimulated a rise in production in areas less well known for Riesling, such as the Finger Lakes in New York, Niagara in Ontario and the Old Mission Peninsula in Michigan. And the folks in the Finger Lakes are celebrating appropriately. Once a year, Watkins Glen International transforms from The Soul of American Road Racing into the Finger Lake’s largest wine tasting room, where over 600 New York wines are sampled. The celebration kicked-off Friday, July 16th, with fireworks, wine, and togas at “Yancey’s Fancy Cheese Launch of the Lakes.” Saturday and Sunday the Festival featured a variety of wine, food, arts and crafts from across the state, culinary classes, cooking demonstrations, wine seminars, the Brewer's Garden, pace car rides, comedy, and live musical entertainment. Of special significance was the Riedel Experience which included a private Sensory Exploration class with Georg Riedel, 10th generation and former CEO of the legendary wine-glass-making company. And a special 5 pc Riedel Vinum XL Tasting Set featuring the Finger Lakes exclusive Riesling glass as a souvenir. Not to be outdone, Chateau Ste Michelle's Summer Concert Series continues until the end of September and will include musical artists like Martina McBride, Ringo Starr, the B-52's and Harry Connick Jr. Enjoy the fresh air, delicious wine and perhaps a picnic dinner while listening to live music from your favorite band.

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The Wine Cellars at Corsham – A Literal Liquid Gold Mine

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:37:00 +0000

Forget about wine cellar equipment for their McMansions, the super rich have an underground wine vault 100ft under the Wiltshire countryside in Southern England. Formerly Eastlays mine, a source of honey-colored Bath stone, it is now Octavian Vaults's Corsham Cellars, the place where the rich and famous hoard their most precious bottles of Petrus, Lafite or Latour. It's like a bank storing liquid gold and run by one of the world’s relatively few specialist wine storage companies. Octavian Vaults is the only place you can get a "Certificate of Pristine Storage". Documented wine storage conditions along with provenance is vital to maintaining a wine's value. A wine known to have crossed the Atlantic twice is likely to raise a much lower price at auction than one that has moved only once in its life, from chateau to a reliably cool wine storage facility. Other than the trip to Corsham itself, many of the wines at Corsham Cellars have moved only a few yards between different owners’ stacks in the wine vault, either through sales at auction, via merchants, or from one customer to another. The caverns are 100 ft underground resulting in a constant temperature of about 13.5 deg C/56.3 deg F. They can be reached only by two heavily guarded, half-mile shafts, one of them serviced by a small, lumbering hydraulic-powered train that transports wine in and eventually out of the cellars. Many clients like to visit their wine to check its condition. They have to walk down 157 steps, carrying an emergency underground kit (i.e. gas mask and flashlight since the property is still officially classified as a mine) to get to the heart of the cellar. They can inspect the security measures if they choose, including motion-sensor beams used to protect bank vaults. As buyers become more and more concerned about authenticity and the precise fill level in bottles before a sale (the lower it is the warmer the wine has probably been kept), or if they simply don't care for a trip to Wiltshire to check on their investment, there are three photographic studios underground so that high-quality pictures of the wine can be taken at any time and sent to the client's desktop. And should they have a special occasion to celebrate, customers can ask for a crate or even single bottle to be sent anywhere in the world to impress their guests. Corsham Cellars already stores around 5 million bottles of fine wine, some worth thousands of dollars each. It's the size of 20 football fields with tons of room for expansion. That's good because with 2009 Bordeaux promising to be a particularly excellent vintage and lucrative markets booming in Asia, they'll need it.

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Winter Games 2010: Snow, Sabrage and Salmanazars

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:42:04 +0000

On top of the immensity of the Olympic Winter Games, it appears the Canadians are planning an after party of equally biblical proportions. Thanks to Andre Saint-Jacques, owner of the Bearfoot Bistro and its extravagant underground wine cellar of more than 20,000 bottles (a perennial winner of the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence), the Champagne will flow freely for gold medal winners. And to make things even more thrilling, the Champagne bottles will be ceremoniously decapitated by Saint-Jacques himself - the Guinness World Record holder for most Champagne bottles sabred in a single minute (21). Opening a Champagne bottle with a sword or saber by hitting the lip of the bottle (its weak point) with the blade, thereby severing the collar from the neck is called "Sabrage" and dates back to the Napoleonic Era. Napoleon was quite the lover of Champagne and is credited with saying, "Champagne! In victory one deserves it; in defeat one needs it." Saint-Jacques, also an effusive lover of the bubbly is Canada's No. 1 importer of Moet & Chandon. To celebrate the Games, Moet showed their love for their favorite Canadian with a gift: 100 jeroboams (3 liters) and 30 salmanazars (9 liters) of Brut Imperial (these big bottles are appropriately named for biblical kings). The salmanazars are for Canadian gold medalists and their guests, and the jeroboams will be given to the first Olympic medalists of each country. Saint-Jacques will also offer magnums (1.5 liters) of Champagne to the rest of Canada’s medal winners. Much like the advice Saint-Jacques gives about beheading Champagne bottles - when drinking multiple glasses of Champagne "Its all in the wrist." That also goes for swallowing the aspirin after.

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Empress Josephine’s Wine Cellar

admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:01:29 +0000

Bordeaux wine lovers may credit the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris and Emperor Napoleon III's "Official Classification" with putting Bordeaux wine on the map. But, it turns out that his grandmother the Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte may have ignited French passion for the wine. Prior to Josephine raising the status of Bordeaux to an elixer fit for nobility, it was seen as an inferior product suitable only for the English who had been stubborn lovers of claret, or red Bordeaux wine, for four centuries. At the time of the French Revolution, Burgundy and Champagne reigned supreme, in fact, not a single bottle of Bordeaux is known to have been kept in the wine cellars of King Louis XVI. When Marie-Josephe-Rose de Tascher de La Pagerie (aka Empress Josephine) died in 1814, she left a heap of unpaid bills and a golden legacy to social historians. Marie-Josephe-Rose, was among other things, a great connoisseur and collector of clothes, and an innovative gardener and botanist. The written inventory of her final possessions at her chateau west of Paris has inspired studies and exhibitions on subjects as varied as the fashion trends and gardening styles of the early 19th century. Josephine was also a celebrated hostess and, although not a great drinker, a great collector of wine. The official inventory of her possessions at her death includes more than 13,000 bottles of wine from all over the world, from Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal as well as South Africa and Hungary. The empress also kept hundreds of bottles of rum from her native Martinique, which she used in rum punches and served at dinner parties in gilded bowls. Josephine's chambermaid described her as a "very sober woman." She was partial to very sweet wines including champagne, but drank it all with moderation – like Napoleon. The Emperor Napoleon's favorites were Burgundy and Champagne, but he also grew fond of South African wines during his time in exile on Saint Helena, the South Atlantic island where he died in 1821 at age 52 – not far from Cape Town. Study of Josephine's 1814 "wine list" reveals something that may seem unsurprising but was, at the time, extraordinary. Almost half of her bottles and barrels came from vineyards around Bordeaux, little known chateaux that later would become some of the greatest names in wine: Latour, Lafite, Margaux and Haut-Brion. Was the Empress Josephine the cause of the great switch in French wine tastes which allowed the vineyards of Bordeaux, and especially the great chateaux of the Medoc, to emerge by the mid-19th century as the most prized wines in France and the world? This is one of the subjects explored in an entertaining exhibition, La Cave de Josephine (Josephine's Cellar), which has started at the Chateaux de Malmaison, where Josephine lived for the last 15 years of her life, and died in June 1814, aged 50. The exhibition, which will move to Germany and Italy next year, also examines other changes in the art de vivre of the French nobility which followed the fall of the monarchy. Before the Revolution, an aristocratic French dinner-party was a kind of immense, stand-up buffet in which all dishes were served at once. Wine glasses were kept on trays by servants and topped up as required. After the revolution, France gradually adopted the "Russian" style, now universal, of serving different, sit-down courses one after another. Wine glasses began, to be placed permanently on the table. These changes were driven partly by the post-Revolutionary lack of legions of low-paid servants. France had also finally cracked the "industrial secret" of how to make crystal wine glasses, something previously known only to the British.

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To Boldly Go Where No English Winemaker has Gone Before

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:52:09 +0000

At least since the Middle Ages. Due to warmer temperatures, a few British wineries have revived a red winemaking tradition which died around 600 years ago. Wine critcs' opinions about the wine have been mixed, but some seem convinced that the finest red wines may in the future come from north of the English channel if this warming trend continues. With soils similar to Champagne and an edgier climate, England is already producing world-class sparkling wines like Nyetimber (which recently won the International Wine & Spirit Competition Denbies Trophy for the Best Worldwide Sparkling Wine for the 3rd time), Ridgeview and Camel Valley. But, red wine is a different story. UK vineyards still struggle to ripen popular red grape varieties like Pinot Noir. They are rarely able to produce enough for a single grape variety wine. As a result, for the past decade or so UK growers have been making reds that blended Pinot Noir with other grapes such as Dornfelder, a Germanic variety which ripens in colder climates but isn't as tasty. So far, English winemakers have not managed to master the varieties behind the famous full-bodied wines of Bordeaux, such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, although some have tried to grow these under plastic sheeting. This has yielded reds that are generally lighter in color and taste, and less alcoholic than wines from warmer regions. No wonder the English are looking up for help. A number of English vineyards have signed up for a satellite imaging service to optimize grape harvests, and hopefully wine quality. The Oenoview system, first launched in France last year, analyzes the images to determine vine leaf density, soil water content and grape bunch sizes. The imaging system gives growers an idea of grape quality based on the quantity of foliage which is an indirect measure of the amounts of sugars and tannins contained in the grapes. It also tells winemakers which parts of the vineyard are ripening earlier than others so they can be harvested accordingly. Unlike the French, the English are not afraid of technology and see it as a large part of their industry's future. According to Julia Trustram Eve from English Wine Producers, "Innovation is at the heart of the English wine industry and vineyard owners are keen to use technology that complements their winemaking skills."

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Chateau Lafite-Rothschild is a Mountain of Gold

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:56:52 +0000

I don't know if they still do, but at one time the Chinese called America Gum Shan, the mountain of gold, a symbol of opportunity and the chance to get rich. Today, the Chinese have found another symbol of opportunity whose very name beckons the ambitious. In French Lafite means small hill, in Chinese it is very similar to the word lai-fat or "come get rich." It is this association with wealth and opportunity that has made Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and it's second wine Carruades de Lafite the currency of choice for negotiating Chinese business deals. Which bottle you get depends on who you are and what is "requested". In China, anything with Lafite in the name sells be it Bordeaux or Burgundy. As such, both wines are becoming literal mountains of gold for owners of bordeaux futures. Chateau Lafite and its second wine, Carruades de Lafite, continue to defy the fine wine market, with prices of both continuing to rise week on week. Lafite 2008 is currently trading at around $6,000 per case, rising in price by around $140 per week, even though it is not due to be bottled until next year. Margaux 2008, in contrast, is trading at just over $3200. Carruades 2008 is still at around $1600, but it is predicted to keep climbing closer to the other first growths once in bottle. Gary Boom, managing director of the Bordeaux Index, told decanter.com, 'Today a case of Carruades 2004 would set you back $2900, which is considerably more than the $2600 you would pay for a case of Mouton 2004. The September Liv-ex report also looks at the phenomenon of the "seemingly unstoppable Brand Lafite", reporting that Carraudes has bucked the trend of price drops during the financial crisis, and that on average, recent vintages are now 22% more expensive than they were at the peak of the market in June last year. "Asia has made up its mind on this brand," said Boom, "and completely ignores either vintage effect, or Parker scores."

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Sauterne’s Test Tube Baby

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:10:10 +0000

Chateau D'Arche, a Grand Cru Classe producer of Sauternes (dessert or sweet wine of Bordeaux) has started bottling its La Perle d'Arche wine in 100ml test-tube shaped bottles aimed at young drinkers in nightclubs. On the whole this seems to be a good idea since Sauternes is not well known outside the wine community, not to mention that french wine sales are on the decline so they've got to do something to shake things up. But what's troubling is their marketing, once again targeting women. Managing director Jerome Cosson told decanter.com: "We want to work with nightclubs to give customers the choice between vodka for the man and Sauternes for the lady. The idea is to put lots of them in a big ice bucket on the bar." A winemaker targeting women usually goes the low calorie wine route, like the just released French Wine Research Center's "So Light" at 60 calories a glass and 9% alcohol. A 100ml serving of Sauternes is about twice the calories and 13% alcohol minimum. So while women may be relieved that they don't have to deal with yet another winemaker trying to jam tasteless wine down their throats, seriously, do women have a problem with choice in alcoholic beverages at a bar? If a woman wants a glass of wine instead of vodka, she can simply order it.

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The American Idolization of Wine

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:38:19 +0000

The public is going to choose wines for top London restaurant L'Anima using Twitter. I hope they like Yellowtail or anything else with a critter label. Maybe Fat Bastard: Even worse:

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Are Wine Snobs Right About Plastic?

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:31:18 +0000

As more and more wineries go green, they are increasingly turning to plastic (PET) to bottle their wine. Boisset, the second-largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau is a recent convert. But many premium winemakers refuse to jump on the Carbon Neutrality bandwagon even though they are often the worst offenders when it comes to using big, heavy glass bottles that require lots of energy to make and transport. Premium winemakers argue that plastic is inappropriate for their product because it is seen as cheap, not to mention that it can't be used for long-term wine storage. A recent study supports their argument. A study commissioned by Australian plastic wine-bottle maker, Portavin revealed the green alternative to glass was only good for wines that are drunk within a maximum of 12 months after bottling, with some wines starting to oxidize as early as 8 months. "Simply put air travels through plastic but not through glass," according to Portavin's Managing Director Ian Matthews. "PET is fine for wine you plan to use under 12 months, but not for wines that are designed to improve in the bottle. It's highly unlikey plastic will ever take over from glass because the PET format doesn't suit every style of wine."

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Are You A Wine Dummy? There’s An App For That!

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:22:54 +0000

There's a book too, but apps for your iPhone are cooler, assuming you have an iPhone. Apps like Wine 101 by FuzzyBeta claim to educate the uninitiated and remove the stress of wine selection. At the cost of $3, (of course not including the cost of the iPhone and service) Wine 101 provides a list of names for red wine when you launch it. Tapping on a varietal opens a window detailing where the grape comes from, how the wine smells and tastes, and foods it might pair with.

A similar service is provided by Hello Vino, a free app, available through iTunes, which selects the perfect type of wine to go with a meal or occasion, or to give as a gift. Wine shoppers need only install the app, and answer a few simple questions to get a specific wine recommendation.

These days, I hope the only stress you have is which wine to serve with dinner. But if you're concerned about ordering wine in a fancy restaurant, I have one word for you, Sommelier. Providing this information is their job. Ditto for a manager in a wine shop. Tapping on your iPhone for a wine recommendation while on a date is not very suave.

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Drink to Healthcare Reform

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:00:39 +0000

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is considering raising taxes on wine, beer and liquor and imposing a new levy on soda and other naturally sweetened drinks to help pay for overhauling health care. Committee members believe the so-called “lifestyle tax proposals” would help pay the $1.5 trillion tab over the next decade to revamp the system while slowing sales of unhealthy products that contribute to rising medical costs. All alcoholic beverages would be taxed at the same rate, based on their alcohol content, eliminating the lower rate that beer and wine now have. The tax on a six-pack of beer would rise from 33 cents to 81 cents. The tax on wine would increase from 21 cents a bottle to 70 cents. The tax on hard liquor would rise from $2.14 to $2.54 for a 750-milliliter bottle. Overall, the higher taxes would raise an estimated $60 billion over 10 years. Another set of taxes would hit sugar-sweetened drinks, which are not currently taxed by the federal government. Although the exact rate has not been set, the Senate Finance Committee has proposed taxing per 12 oz container of these beverages. It would cover carbonated and noncarbonated drinks sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrups and similar sweeteners. These would include sodas, iced teas and coffees, energy and sports drinks, fruit and vegetable drinks and flavored milks. It would not apply to artificially sweetened drinks. The Congressional Budget Office estimated a tax of 3 cents per 12 oz container, which would raise an estimated $50 billion over the next decade. Rep. Mike Thompson is dubious. The St. Helena Democrat and co-chairman of the congressional wine caucus said the proposal “would be trading tax dollars for jobs and makes absolutely no sense for the wine and wine grape community, health care reform or our economy.” So, why not tax fast-food instead of further damaging an already frail California economy or slugging a wine industry that's already on the ropes? Because at this point, McJobs are the only avenue left for job growth, and the Big Mac is subsidized food for the poor.

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What Do Women Want? Wine With Taste

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:46:43 +0000

The first comprehensive survey of women's attitudes toward wine has overturned several preconceived notions. Over 4,000 women in the UK, France, Japan, Germany and the US responded to a survey commissioned by Vinexpo, revealing a preference for red wine and skepticism for marketing campaigns that target them specifically (e.g. White Lie and Slender Wines). Among the more surprising results were that women prefer red wine to both white and rose, and consider wine compatible with a balanced diet. 79% of the women said they drink wine because they like the taste – as opposed to its compatibility with food or fashion status. Of the 1300 UK-based respondents, 80% choose the wine for their household, with price as the main criterion, followed by varietal and country of origin; and 54% said they were undeterred by government health warnings. Consultant and presenter Angela Mount said other results, notably that women continue to be more price-led than brand or quality-led, was worrisome, with only 10% choosing wine over $15 a bottle.

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5 Random Facts About Wine

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:38:27 +0000

1. The longest recorded Champagne cork flight was 177 feet and 9 inches, 4 feet from level ground at Woodbury Vineyards in New York state, on June 5, 1988. 2. Marilyn Monroe was said to have once taken a bath in 350 bottles of Champagne. Vintage not confirmed. 3. The largest cork tree in the world is known as The Whistler Tree. This tree is located in the Alentejo region of Portugal and averages more than 1 ton of raw cork per harvest, which is enough to cork 100,000 bottles of wine. Or one really big keg of beer. 4. Demi Moore tried to seduce Michael Douglas in the 1994 movie Disclosure with a bottle of the limited edition Pahlmeyer 1991 Chardonnay (Napa Valley, California). She seduced Ashton Kutcher in real life with a case of Red Bull. 5. A jar of red wine was found in Tutankhamen's tomb, inscribed with the winemaker name, Khaa, and the vintage, "Year 5." Those who tasted it remarked that it was "kinda funky."

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Ricasoli’s Recipe

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:33:50 +0000

According to an obituary published yesterday by the Corriere Fiorentino, Bettino Ricasoli, 87, the great-great-grandson of “Iron Baron” Bettino Ricasoli and steward of one of the leading families of Chianti Classico, has died. Although he never published a “formula” or “recipe” for Chianti (as many erroneously claim), Bettino Ricasoli (1809-1880) reshaped the history of Chianti and Tuscan winemaking in the 19th century when he famously declared that Sangiovese (or Sangioveto, as the Tuscan clone of Sangiovese was known then) was the ideal grape for the production of fine wine there. In an often cited but rarely revisited 1872 letter to Professor Cesare Studiati of Pisa, Ricasoli described the process of study that led to the replanting of his Castello di Brolio estate in Gaiole in Chianti (one of the core townships of Chianti Classico).

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Wine 2008: Black Blue and Green All Over

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:26:21 +0000

The wine industry was battered and bruised in 2008, the astronomical prices for top-level wines plunged, and as if in an act of repentance more winemakers went green. For example, Boisset, the second-largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau, bottled its entire 2008 harvest in lightweight plastic bottles. Biodynamic and organic wines increased. Yet many still doubt the wine industry's sincerity when it comes to carbon neutrality because they still ship wine in wooden crates as opposed to the much lighter corrugated cardboard. The Liv-Ex 100 Fine Wine Index, the wine world's Dow Jones Index, has fallen more than 20 percent from its all-time high. Among the hardest hit was Domaine Romanee Conti 1990, which commanded more than $20,000 a bottle in November 2007, but sold last fall for $6,500 - a 67.5 percent drop. The global credit crisis has threatened Bordeaux's en primeur sales. And as wine buyers search for bargain-priced bottles, Bacchus seems to be favoring Chile and Argentina.

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Winemaking Facility Offers Wine Buyers “Bailout”

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:18:17 +0000

A San Francisco cooperative is selling futures in a new wine called "Bailout," inspired by the economic crisis. Crushpad, a custom crush facility, will sell the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $39 per bottle. But there's a twist, for every 100-point drop in the Dow Jones from the date of purchase to the projected bottling date of 14 August 2009, the final price will be discounted $2 per bottle. If the Dow is higher on the bottling date, the price is still $39 a bottle, making Bailout futures a minor hedge on the economy. Only 500 cases will be produced. Crushpad is doing this for fun and exposure, but it may be instructive for high-end Bordeaux winemakers who refuse to lower their exorbitant 2008 futures prices given the current environment. According to those in the wine trade, Bordeaux must lower it's prices by 50% or the 2008 en primeur campaign could be a disaster. Crushpad is an urban winemaking facility that enables budding entrepreneurs to make their own wine with the expert help of the staff.

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Red, Red, Wine….

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:13:39 +0000

Recent research indicates that different types of music stimulate different parts of the brain, and prime us to taste wines in a corresponding way. For example, powerful rock music like Jimi Hendrix or The Rolling Stones is a good accompaniment to a Cabernet Sauvignon, while opera buffs might prefer a 2006 Syrah. "This is the first time it has been scientifically proven that music can affect perception in other senses and change the way wine tastes," said Professor Adrian North of Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. The idea for the study was triggered by Chilean winemaker Aurelio Montes, who plays Gregorian chants to his maturing wines, arguing that the gentle vibrations improve the quality of the wine. Researchers recommend the following wine / song pairings: Cabernet Sauvignon - All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix; Chardonnay - Atomic by Blondie; Syrah - Puccini's Nessun Dorma. Merlot - Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding. Sorry, no Reggae.

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The Presidential Palate

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:41 +0000

When People magazine reported seeing an unopened bottle of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay in the Obamas' kitchen, the California winery fired off a couple of cases to No. 44. Just another gift? Hardly. Winning over the presidential palate is a big deal for the wine industry, leaving vintners and vinophiles curious about what's on tap for the next occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Wine and the White House go back to No. 1, who tried his hand growing vines at his Mt. Vernon estate in Virginia. But it was Thomas Jefferson who really embraced enology, building and stocking White House Cellars. He also introduced guests, not always successfully, to fine, dry vintages vs. the sweet, fortified wines then in vogue. Kendall-Jackson hasn't heard back about its shipment. But Lettie Teague, executive wine editor for the magazine Food & Wine, said K-J chardonnay seems a good choice for modern times, popular and reasonably priced at around $11 a bottle.

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The Palin Debate

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:51:02 +0000

Who woulda thunk it? That a small organic wine from Chile would cause such an uproar. Palin Syrah, now in its second release, and named for the ball used to play Chilean field hockey is losing sales, at least in San Francisco. The reason? The similarity of its name to Sarah Palin, the now famous hockey mom and Vice-Presidential candidate. Before politics played a role, Palin Syrah was described as a good organic, affordable wine, now it's likened to moosemeat and gunpowder, and it doesn't help that it's red. Perhaps a white wine would do better. Obama Sparkling Wine, made by Larry Mawby in Suttons Bay, Michigan might fit the bill. However, unlike Palin Syrah, this wine has political purpose. For every bottle of Obama sold one dollar is donated to the Obama campaign. I wonder if San Franciscans are also boycotting Budweiser. Given Cindy McCain's family business, there's no doubt Sen. John McCain's a Busch man.

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