This and that...

Like most wine writers, I read a lot and scan web sites and blogs to learn what's happening in the expanding wine world, while trying to stay current on a fast-changing wine industry.

I can say, without exaggeration, that there's a lot of nonsense and useless information about wine circulating around, but there's also items I think help wine drinkers be better informed. 

This blog then contains seven items, both useful and useless, gathered from various sources over the past few weeks.  

Ridiculous Wine Prices:  Wine pricing may be the third rail of wine marketing, but the potential danger hasn't stopped some wineries from charging shocking prices for their wine...and foolish wine drinkers from buying the wines.

Readers with a wine budget and those who get nervous reading large dollar amounts, should skip to the next item.  For those who find high wine prices outrageous and titillating, check this out. 

Not long ago, Krug Vintage Champagne was one of the top expensive bottles of bubbly; today Krug, at $500, is a bargain luxury Champagne.  Compare the price of Krug, though, to these Champagnes: Jacques Selosse Millesime, $2,500 and Salon Cuvee S Blanc de Blanc, $1,400.

                        

Then there's Burgundy, a coveted wine that has always meant big bucks.  Today,  2019 Romanee Conti, a consistently good and highly coveted red Burgundy, will set you back $4,800 a bottle!  

Since the first release of Napa Valley so-called "Cult Cabernets," prices have been astronomical.  Colgin Cellars now sells for a modest $600, but the wine to make your wallet scream is the Screaming Eagle Sauvignon Blanc, listed at $1,200.

All of the above prices were gathered recently from online sites. Since prices vary, the above prices have been rounded down.  Up or down, maybe I have been away from the main stream too long, or someone is pulling my cork.

CAVA Goes Organic: Effective with the 2021 vintage, all vineyards supplying grapes for CAVA sparkling wines, must be organic. The new tiers will be: Cava de Guarda, aged a minimum of nine months; Cava de Garda Superieur, aged more than 18 months; Cava de Paraje Calificado, single vineyard source, aged 36 months. Cava's new move is in response to the success of Italy's Prosecco.  The move by the popular Spanish bubbly strives for "climatological and geological excellence."

Alsace Sweetness Scale:  Also beginning with the 2021 vintage, the Association of Alsace Winegrowers, has agreed to the application of a sweetness scale, that will appear on the back label of all Alsace wines belonging to the association.  For sec (dry) wines, sweetness will not be more than .4% residual sugars; demi-sec (medium dry) will be between .4% RS and 1.2% RS; moelleux (mellow) 1.2% to 4.5% and doux (sweet) over 4.5% RS.  The new sweetness scale will bring Alsace wines in compliance with EU regulations.  Cremant d'Alsace sparkling wines already use the scale.   

                         

South Africa's Wine Problem:  Climate change, a roller coaster economy and a stubborn pandemic are challenging wineries and growers in many parts of the world, but no more so than in South Africa. 

Covid and local laws have placed restrictions on international travel for members of the South African wine community; the industry is just emerging from the third year of a crippling drought; sanctions on trade have meant vast quantities of wine and limited storage for the coming harvest. 

Huge quantities of bulk wine are being processed by large wineries but small wineries are suffering, causing them to sell the excess to the fruit juice industry or abandon a large percentage of this year's harvest.  The final insult: South Africa's President Ramaphosa has placed a prohibition on the sale of alcohol for the third year in a row. 

The good news is that South Africa got substantial rainfall in 2020 and the economy is beginning to open up.  So look for more South African wines at your local wine store.

Aside: For a different take on life in South Africa, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela, read "The Promise," by Damon Galgut.  The book is the winner of the 2021 Booker Prize.

The Future of Capsules: To capsule or not to capsule is an argument that is raging right now in wine circles.  Well, maybe not raging, but it is stirring up enough interest to qualify as a controversy. 

A capsule is the cylindrical piece that goes over the top of the cork and bottle; also known as the foil.

Pro capsule people, mainly traditional wineries and winemakers who like the way a capsule dresses up the package, want to keep it.  Anti capsule folks object to the additional cost, the environmental impact and the fact that there is no longer a need for capsules as most wine storage areas today are not cold, damp breeding grounds for mold and dirt. 

Poop to Wine:  Organic and biodynamic grape growers use animal dung to fertilize their vines, but who would have thought that dinosaur droppings may be the key to unlocking the secret of terroir. 

 

Palentologists at a dig in the Cognac region of France have discovered a razor-thin layer of dino poop on the top of Jurassic rock.  Scientists suggest that vine tap roots may be drawing nutrients from this "herbivore excrement." Similar findings have been discovered in New Zealand's Hawke's Bay and the Burgundy region of France.

Buy Wine Get a Snake:  Actress Elizabeth Banks takes the prize for absolute nonsense. Banks, part owner of Archer Roose Wine, a company trying to sell "luxury" canned wine, made a promotional video saying that if you buy 100,000 cases of ARW canned wine, you get a live snake!  

Yes, you read that right. But not to worry. Banks followed that jaw-dropping bit of nonsense with a second video saying that the offer is against the law. By the way, 100,000 cases of Archer Roose wine would set you back $10 million.  

Next blog: My Life in Wine Episode 29

Leave a comment or write me at boydvino707@gmail.com

The Appeal of Chilean Red Wine

If you're a serious red wine drinker (and who isn't?), and you've been ignoring Chilean red wine, it's time to rethink your wine-buying strategy.

Some of Chile's most exciting red wine comes from a central band of prime vineyard land, between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean.  The most important grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.

Long & slender Chile on the left

Chile, a long slender country along South America's west coast, is a mere 217 miles at its widest point.  The wine magic takes place in a broad central plain,  from a few miles north of Santiago to just south of Talca.  Within this area are seven major wine regions: Aconcagua, Casablanca, San Antonio, Maipo, Rapel, Curico and Maule.

Maipo, the northern most major red wine region, stands out for its top reds.   Unlike Argentina's inland Mendoza Valley, where cool growing conditions are achieved by planting at higher elevations, Maipo, which is just across the Andes from Mendoza, benefits from cool breezes off the Pacific Ocean. 

Chile exports a lot of wine to the United States, so a trip to the local wine shop can be bewildering at best.  Here's a brief region-by-region guide of what to look for when you're looking for Chilean red wines.  

These appellations, from north to south, appear on the front labels, with Casablanca, Maipo, Rapel and Curico being the most common. 

Aconcagua: The interior of Aconcagua is hot and dry, but there are places where red wine grapes grow nicely. Errazuriz, one of Chile's major wineries, farms grapes for its iconic Maximiano Cabernet Sauvignon in Aconcagua. At $20, the 2019 "Max" is possibly one of the best Cabernet values from Chile. 

Maximiano vineyard

Casablanca: First planted in the 1980s, Casablanca and San Antonio, are cool temperate coastal regions, known for Pinot Noir, but more so for Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

San Antonio: Moderating ocean breezes and morning fog are ideal conditions for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, used for Chile's burgeoning sparkling wine business, especially from such producers as Valdivieso and Tabali.

Maipo: Not far from Santiago, this small inland region is famous for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  Some of Chile's best Chardonnay comes from Maipo.  Of note is the region's Carmenere

Rapel: Cachapoal and Colchagua are Rapel's two major sub regions that run east to west, meaning that growing conditions vary from cool coastal areas to warmer inland ones closer to the mountains.  Cabernet Sauvignon thrives in the inland vineyards, as do Merlot and Syrah.  Interest has been building in recent years for Pinot Noir from coastal vineyards.  Promising conditions in Rapel has attracted investment by the French, including Casa Lapostolle and Los Vascos.

Curico: Smaller than Rapel, but no less important, Curico attracted the Spanish vintner Torres to establish vineyards and a winery there in 1979.  Curico is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Maule: Although there are other vineyard regions further south, Maule, for now, is the southern limit for quality grapes, although there is considerable  experimentation in Maule and even further south in Bio Bio.  Carignan is more widely planted in Maule than Cabernet Sauvignon.  

The price range for Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon varies, but the following dozen wines are $12 to $50, most in the low $20's: San Pedas Cachapoal, Toro de Piedra Colchagua, Perez Crus Maipo, Miguel Torres Curico, Undurraga Maipo, Tabal Taluid Maipo, Tarrapaca Maipo, Vina Aquitania Maipo, Arbuleda Aconcagua, Concha y Toro Maipo, Valdiviso Central Valley.

Chilean red wines are solid values in a market that seems to be getting richer by the month.  Cabernet Sauvignon was featured here, but Chile is a good source  for reliable Merlot and Syrah. 

Next blog: This and that...

Leave a comment or write me at boydvino707@gmail.com

My Life in Wine Episode 28

In Episode 27, my life in wine participated in the arm-busting job of raising a wine barrel, attended a session with the inimitable Bernard Hine analyzing the merits of new spirit destined (or not) to be Cognac and  spent an afternoon in Australia's Hunter Valley learning that a little advance knowledge is always helpful when tasting Hunter Semillon. 

The following episodes look back at two occasions in my life in wine when confidence in my wine knowledge and tasting ability were tested under high pressure.  

                                    

Sherry in the Morning.  In 1978, while living in Colorado and writing about wine for the Rocky Mountain News, I got a call from Nathan Chroman, then chairman of the Los Angeles County Fair Wine Competition, held at the Pomona fairgrounds. 

Chroman invited me to be a judge at the three-day competition.  As a new wine writer hoping to bolster my reputation on the national stage, while having the opportunity to taste hundreds of wines, I readily accepted. 

Bright and early the first day, all of the judges and support staff gathered for the chairman's greeting, instructions and panel assignments.  The late David Lake MW and I were the new judges that year. Probably because he was a Master of Wine, David was assigned to the Cabernet Sauvignon panel. Lake went on to make a name for himself as winemaker at Columbia Winery in Washington state.

Because I was an unknown from Colorado, Chroman sent me to the panel tasked with evaluating California brandy and Sherry.  The other three panelists were Phil Posson, an expert on fortified wines specializing in Sherry, another distiller of wine spirits whose name I forget and Daryl Corti, a Sacramento wine merchant with an encyclopedic memory who enjoyed putting new judges to the test.

The first morning, at 7:30 am, sharp, I was at my judging booth, ready to put my limited knowledge of California wine spirits to the test!  Our first assignment was 30 California Sherries, divided into three flights of 10 wines.  I stared at the daunting lineup, then dutifully tasted my way through the wine, made my notes and assigned awards, then joined the other judges at the conference table.  

Only by applying learned tasting techniques and remembering to taste past the higher alcohol, was I able to keep pace with my fellow panelists, defending my opinions and awards, especially under Corti's withering cross examination on why I eliminated one wine and gave a gold medal to another wine. 

Corti's panel went on to judge other wines and I became more at ease with my new assignments.  My performance as a rookie judge apparently impressed both Corti and Chroman enough to invite me back the following nine years.  

                                   

Chateau Y on Maui.  For most people working in the wine business or writing about wine, there are two dreaded encounters with the curious, usually when least expected: You get asked, "What's your favorite wine?"; and someone hands you a glass of wine and asks you to identify it.  

I stopped counting the number of times I have been asked the first question, but there was one memorable evening when I was confronted with the second challenge.

During the Kapalua Bay Wine Symposium, held at the Kapalua hotel on Maui, my wife, Janet and I and a few friends dined at the hotel's specialty restaurant.

As the meal came to an end, Eric Hansen, Kapalua's late wine director and sommelier, came to the table and asked me to participate in a challenge.  Eric and I were friends, so I agreed not knowing what he had in mind. 

Eric presented a bottle of wine sealed in a brown paper bag, cork removed and poured a glass for me.  "Can you guess what the wine is, he asked with a conspiratorial grin?"

While he was pouring the wine, I had a quick peak at the bottle still in the bag, then I took a good long sniff, followed by a few sips.  Placing the glass on the table and pausing for effect, I said, "Chateau Y, from Chateau d'Yquem."

My table mates looked at Eric, who stammered, "That's right, how did you guess so fast?" 

I didn't divulge my secret that evening, but my guess was based partly on observation and knowledge and partly on luck.  Eric had removed the branded cork so that I didn't see the producer, but he forgot to completely hide the bottle, allowing me to see that it was clear and not green glass.  And, even though the bag partially hid the bottle shape, I could see it was a Bordeaux bottle. 

The medium gold color of the wine narrowed the possibilities further, plus the first sniff said honeyed fruity Semillon, which was confirmed by my first sip of the wine.

So, clear glass Bordeaux bottle, characteristic Semillon aroma with a mineral note and a medium gold color.  Could be a Bordeaux blanc, but the wine was too dark and the smell and taste too rich, for Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of Semillon, so my guess was a dry Sauternes and the only widely available one at the time was Chateau Y, from Ch. d'Yquem, perhaps the best known Sauternes.

A final note on Sauternes.  Years before the Maui dinner, I had the good fortune to taste a Ch. d'Yquem from the 1920s at a wine auction in Denver.  Local press and wine writers were given 30 minutes to taste select wines before the auction began. 

After tasting a few old Burgundies, which I don't remember, I headed directly to the Yquem.  I was in luck, as a small amount of medium-dark gold wine remained in the large-bowl glass.  

The bouquet of this 50-year-old wine was incredible!  Deep, rich, honeyed exotic spice, pineapple upside down cake, ripe apricots and more.  A tiny sip was textured and complex with a long lingering finish.  

I returned to the Yquem a few times and though the glass was long empty, the wine's bouquet was still strong and inviting.

Next Blog: The Appeal of Chilean Red Wines

Leave a comment of write me at boydvino707@gmail.com

 

 

 

Pinot Gris' Ascending Popularity

Pinot Gris is one of those fashionable grapes, versatile enough to reflect a wide range of styles.  Stores are full of Pinto Gris/Grigio, but you needn't look no further than Oregon for a take on Pinot Gris that is attracting a lot of attention.

                              

Pinot Gris is the second-most planted variety in Oregon, behind another member of the pinot family - Pinot Noir.  And there is three times the acreage of Pinot Gris  than Chardonnay, mainly in the Willamette Valley, the state's prime wine region, but also in the Umpqua Valley.

First planted in 1966, Pinot Gris lags behind Pinot Noir in recognition, an irritant that prompted seven wineries (Airlie Winery, Christopher Bridge Cellars, Sartori Springs Estate, David Hill Winery, Oak Knoll Winery, Pudding River Wine Cellars, Terrapin Cellars, Yamhill Valley Vineyards) to form a marketing group to say that Oregon should be known for more than Pinot Noir.

The group's effort is all about promoting the style of Oregon Pinot Gris, focusing on forward and pronounced fruit with bright acidity.  To my taste, honeyed and nutty are the best working descriptors for Pinot Gris.  The sweeter the style, the more the honey comes out, even with a trace of exotic spice. 

Aside: Wine-Searcher, the online wine finder, published two recent articles on Pinot Gris/Grigio.  A close look at both articles shows that consumer preference doesn't necessarily mean quality.  One article lists the "Best Pinot Gris Wines," while the other shows the "Most Wanted Pinot Gris Wines." 

The 10 "best" PGs (no Grigios) were all Alsace wines, seven from Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, and most either Vendage Tardive (late harvest) or Selections de Grains Nobles (a more amped up version of VT).  Domaine Weinbach and Hugel round out the "best" list of Pinot Gris wines. 

Reflecting the market for Pinot Gris/Grigio wines, Wine-Searcher's 10 "Most Wanted Pinot Gris Wines" include nine Grigios and one Pinot Gris: Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos St. Urban, $90.  The Grigios range in price from $11 for Voga delle Venezie, to $34 for Vie de Romans Dessimis Fruili.

Pinot Grigio in Italy

Before Oregon discovered Pinot Gris, the wine was enjoying success with white wine fans in France and Italy.  In recent years, the global wine market has been flooded with vast quantities of what the Brits call "cheap and cheerful"  Pinot Grigio, an unoaked medium-dry Italian white wine with pleasant pineapple  and honey aromas. 

Pinot Grigio

In 1990, there were 8,000 acres of Pinot Grigio in Italy. In just 10 years, that number shot up to nearly 43,000 acres.  Most of it is grown in the Veneto, with substantial vineyards in Alto Adige and Friuli.

Italian Pinot Grigio is fresh, with the scent of apple and mango and lightly spiced with a hint of mineral.  Veneto PGs have a faint copper tinge, while PGs from Alto Adige and Friuli are more aromatic.

Pinot Grigio is the "most wanted" style of Pinot Gris.   So well-liked is Pinot Grigio, that it is the most popular white wine in the world, replacing Chardonnay. 

 Pinot Gris in France

Grigio is the Italian take on Pinot Gris, the French wine made almost exclusively  in Alsace, the eastern region in France on the border with Germany. Alsace is rich in French and German heritage, seen in the town names, road signs, cuisine and architecture. 

On any weekend, especially if the weather is good, a common sight at an Alsace vintner are cars with German license plates loading wine in to the trunk.  Germans appreciate the stylistic difference between sweeter German wines and drier Alsace wines, including Pinot Gris.  In Germany, Pinot Gris is known as Grauburgunder. 

Pinot Gris in Alsace

Alsace Pinot Gris, formerly known as Tokay d'Alsace, is more commonly seen as a dry wine, although the high profile fruit of Pinot Gris, often gives the dry style a sweet impression, especially in the finish. 

Richer and more decadent are Alsace Vendange Tardive Pinot Gris.  The Alsatian concept of Vendange Tardive (late harvest) was explained in the last blog (March 25, 2022).  Alsace VT wines are made under strict regulations, including the forbidden use of additional sweetness or chaptalization. One step up are Selection de Gains Nobles, sweeter than VT wines, SdGns also contain botrytis (the "noble rot").

With all that richness, Pinot Gris needs acidity.  In the vineyard, PG tends to be a little low in acidity.  Knowing that, the winemaker must look for a balance between natural acidity and natural sweetness, without the aid of acidification. 

Aside: Acidification is the wine making process of raising the acidity in a wine.  While it sounds easy, knowing how much acid to add and when to acidify is crucial.  Acids that are normally added to wine are tartaric acid, malic acid and citric acid.  As tartaric is the natural acid of ripe grapes, it is the most commonly used. Citric, on the other hand, is less expansive and thus is more commonly used in inexpensive wines. Acidification is not used in cool climates where there is usually sufficient natural acidity.

The opposite of acidification is deacidification, a process that removes excess acidity, sometimes found in cool climate wines, such as those from northern Germany and Tasmania.  

Some wines you need to work with to develop a liking, like Zinfandel, while other wines, like Beaujolais, are not taken seriously by some red wine drinkers.  Pinot Gris, however, is not demanding and has immediate appeal.

 

Next blog: My Life in Wine Episode 28 

Leave a comment or write me at boydvino707@gmail.com

 

The spicy Traminer

Gewurtraminer ready for picking

If there is a grape and wine that has it all, it would be Gewurztraminer.  Opulently aromatic, exotically flavored, broadly textured, Gewurztraminer is a naturally full flavored white wine with a character that doesn't seem to fit in today's market. 

The thing is, with one notable exception, the personality of Gewurztraminer runs against the grain of those people who want subtlety and dryness in their white wine.  

Born in northern Italy, near the village of Tramin, Gewurztraminer is a clone of the less aromatic Traminer. The new clone eventually came into its own in Germany, where it became known as the Spicy (Gewurz) Traminer, although some translations have it as "perfumed." 

In time, Gewurztraminer would spread throughout the wine world, taking root most notably in the Alsace region of France, but also New Zealand, Austria, the Alto Adige region of Italy, Germany and California.

Alsace and Geurztraminer

Mention Gewurztraminer in wine circles and Alsace is the most common reaction.  Makes sense since the region in eastern France is , by most standards, the best known (and arguably the best) Gewurz in the world. 

There are four main grapes in Alsace: Riesling, Pinot Gris (formerly called Tokay d'Alsace), Gewurztraminer and Muscat.  Each of the four is used to make dry and sweet wines. 

Dry Alsace Gewurztraminer is what defines the variety in the wine world.  For Gewurz lovers, the bouquet and elegant balance of the wine allows them to claim that Gewurztraminer is greater than Chardonnay.

Of course, there are those who rightfully say that dry is not the only way to go. Sweet styles, known as Vendange Tardive (VT), or late harvest, are made only from the four main grapes, with Gewurztraminer the most common since it attains high grape sugars easier than the other three grapes. Requirements for VT are strict and numerous, including informing the authorities before harvest of the intent to produce VT wine.

Botritised Geurztraimer

When grape sugars are higher than that required for VT, wines may qualify as  Selection de Grains Noble (SdGN), the last word referring to the presence of botrytis (the "noble rot"), which is not a requirement for Vendange Tardive. SdGN wines are always sweet.

Although some producers continue to make traditional dry wines, the trend in recent years has been toward white wines with, at least, the impression of sweetness. However, climate change has moved the needle back to a "drier" finish with little to no detectable residual sweetness. 

California and Gewurztraminer

Interest in California wine was growing fast in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Blends with fanciful names were big in those days.  Beringer Vineyards had a white wine money-maker called Traubengold (gold raisin). The Traubengold flavor was kicked up a notch by Gewurztraminer.  But, more often than not, Gewurz dominated most blends.  

As a varietal, though, Gewurz had success in Mendocino County and other cool spots in California, such as the Monterey coastal vineyards. However, the story of California Gewurz would be hit and miss.  

The hits were (and are) mostly in Mendocino's Anderson Valley, from such noted wineries as Navarro and Lazy Creek.  The misses, and near misses, were in warmer places like the Napa Valley.  Louis Martini was the exception, selling a medium gold, highly aromatic wine called "Gewurz Traminer." 

Other Gewurztraminer

There's not an extensive amount of Gewurztraminer and Traminer grown in other places.  Traminer is popular in parts of Germany and Austria and northern Italy.  Torres has had success with Vina Esmeralda, made from Traminer. And some Gewurztraminer is grown in Washington state and Oregon.

Making Gewurztraminer

Production of Alsace Gewurz is pretty straight forward: controlled cold ferments in stainless steel, native yeasts, no acid adjustment and no malolactic fermentation. The wines are matured in neutral vessels.  Oak flavor is not desired, so the wines are often kept in old oak vats coated on the interior with thick tartrates.  White wine that has not gone through a cold stabilization may precipitate tartrate crystals that collect on the bottom of the cork.

Tartrate crystals on a cork

Aside:  Tartrates are the harmless natural deposits of potassium salt of tartaric acid. The deposits coat the insides of barrels and vats with crystals that have been called "wine diamonds," and have been mistaken for glass shards. The purified form of wine tartrates is made into Cream of Tartar.

Tasting Gewurztraminer

Gewurz has an aromatic profile that includes such diverse things as crushed rose petals, lychee, honey, exotic spice, citrus peel and even an old descriptor like shaving lotion or facial cream, although the latter probably would not resonate with younger tasters.  

The fullness of the spicy Traminer is proof that what you taste is a confirmation of what you smell. 

 

Next blog: Oregon Pinot Gris

Note: There will not be a blog on April 1, 2022.  "Gerald D Boyd on Wine" returns on April 8, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

My Life in Wine Episode 27

The last episode of "My Like in Wine" (25 Feb) was about the joys and disappointments of winery touring and included a visit to Fetzer Vineyards and a tasting of Zinfandel with Barney Fetzer, then at a wine dinner in Denver, the adults got an evaluation of a Chardonnay from a young taster.  

Both occasions were learning experiences.  What follows are three episodes, from MLIW that further show there is always something new to learn about wine. 

                   

How hard can it be?

Working with wood has always been a personal passion.  A carefully wrought chair or table can be an exquisite piece of art and rare woods that are transformed into objects that seem to be alive are a wonder.  Just the process of bringing to life the beauty of wood gets my juices flowing.

So, I didn't hesitate when an invitation came to attend the "College of the Oaks," held at Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage, to learn how to build wine barrels and then to raise my own barrel. Not exactly the same as making fine furniture, but it was working with wood.

Select a stack of presawn oak staves, fit them together, knock on the hoops and viola!  How hard could it be?

Very hard.  Especially if you don't have arms like Dwayne Johnson and the disposition to work in an environment that resembles hell, with machinery clanging and open fires blazing non stop.  This was woodworking like I don't remember in high school wood shop, or anywhere else.   

"Take the staves from the rack, hold the iron working hoop with one hand, then stand the staves inside the hoop, one at a time, forming a circle," explained the cooper (who had upper arms like Dwayne Johnson) showing us how it should be done.  In no time, my left arm felt like it was ready to fall off, as I attempted to hold the hoop steady while lining up the staves. 

Eventually, I managed, with help from the cooper to raise my barrel to the stage where a finishing hoop is hammered in place, with a short-handle sledge and a heavy iron wedge.  

The barrel wasn't finished, but I was.  Still to come were drilling the bung hole, toasting the interior and inserting the heads.  But, at least, I now  understood  that things are never quite what they seem and never as easy as they appear.

Mastering the black glass tasting 

Professional wine tasters and spirits blenders use a device called a "black glass," to allow a proper evaluation of the liquid without being influenced by color.  In place of a clear tasting glass, tasters use an opaque glass that is either black or cobalt blue. 

    

A number of years ago, I had written to Bernard Hine, director of Hine Cognac, expressing an interest in the art of Cognac tasting and blending.  So, he invited me to join him and Hine's master blender for an early morning tasting, when your taste buds and senses are the most acute.

There were a few ground rules I didn't expect: Do not eat breakfast or have coffee or tea, do not brush your teeth, do not us after shave or skin creams, do not use deodorants.  These guys were serious!

We gathered in a brightly lit white tasting room, with three sets of blue tasting glasses in a row on individual tables.  The glasses were capped with glass discs (I was at a similar tasting in Scotland where they capped the clear glasses with the bases of broken glasses), capturing the aromatics.

The task was to decide what was in each glass: colorless raw spirit, or various aged distillates that would be used in a finished blend.  I removed the glass cap from the first glass, put my nose into the glass, took a good sniff and immediately realized that without knowing the color and hue of the liquid (clear, light brown, yellow-brown), I didn't have a clue. 

Hine and his associate were intently smelling and tasting, while I stumbled through the remaining glasses, without forming any solid opinions.  It was clear to me that I didn't know as much about Cognac as I thought.  

Homework is important 

Followers of this blog may recognize the following anecdote, but in the interest of having a little advance knowledge to avoid being a complete neophyte, it bears repeating. 

               

On one of my visits to Australia, I met with Len Evans, at Rothbury Estate in the Hunter Valley.  At the time, the bigger-than-life Evans was one of Australia's legendary wine authorities, so I felt lucky to get a few minutes of his time.  Len Evans died in 2006.

Little did I know that in addition to the usual tour and tasting, Evans was about to spring one of his favorite Hunter Semillon tastings on me.  My knowledge of Semillon was limited and I had never developed much interest in the variety in California, but I was about to discover how much I didn't know, at least about Hunter Valley Semillon. 

Evans and I were seated at a table in the Rothbury cellar, with four glasses in front of each of us.  "These are four different Semillons and I'd like to hear which you think are oak-aged and which have no oak," Evans said.  

I look at, sniffed and tasted the wine in each glass and then proudly proclaimed they all had seen oak, numbers three and four the most. 

Evans let my words hang in the air for a pregnant moment and then rocked back in his chair with laughter and yelled, "No oak on any of the wines!"

Had I done my homework before visiting Rothbury, I would have known that unoaked mature Hunter Semillon, smells and tastes like it was fermented in oak, aged in oak, or both, and that Len Evans delights in playing the "Semillon trick" on unsuspecting writers.

The above three experiences, in my career as a wine writer, happened at different times over a period of 15 years and hopefully show that there is always something new to learn about wine. 

Next Blog: The spicy Traminer 

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The Birthplace of Australian Wine

                         

What a difference a few hundred years makes in a city.  It's 1791 in the Governor's garden in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  On one side of the garden are a few grape vines brought to the British outpost from vineyards in South Africa.

It's now 2022 and the site where that garden once stood is now an international hotel on Macquarie Street.  Today, that simple urban garden is recognized as the birthplace of Australian wine. 

Of course, saying that someplace or something was first can be challenged, but it is generally accepted that when James Cook sailed into Botany Bay in 1770, he was bringing various necessities, as well as comfort items, from home. 

Eventually, settlers moved inland from the coast, with their seeds, plants and vines, to claim their own piece of land and build a future in the Hunter Valley. Besides dealing with animals and reptiles they had never seen, the settlers had to deal with often hostile Aboriginals.  

Despite these hardships, the pioneers established a wine culture that would expand south and west to Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and much later, Western Australia.  

The Hunter Valley ( known simply as "The Hunter" locally) today is divided into the Lower Hunter and the Upper Hunter.  Outside of Australia, the Hunter is perhaps the best known wine appellation in New South Wales.  But it produces less than 5% of the country's total crush. 

Weather not conducive to fine wine is the main reason The Hunter languishes behind other Australian wine regions such as the Barossa Valley.  High temperatures and humidity are the main culprits, so the search was on for more temperate zones at highly elevations and cooler conditions.

Cowra, Mudgee and Orange, in the Central Ranges, are west of The Hunter and  generally more temperate.  The Southern zone includes the Canberra wine zone within the Australian Capital Territory.  Both the Central Ranges and the Southern Zone produce far more wine than The Hunter. 

There are numerous books that cover The Hunter in detail, but we'll limit this brief survey to the Lower Hunter, Mudgee, Cowra and Orange.   

Lower Hunter:  In this region a few varieties, like Chardonnay, Semillon and Shiraz, seem to have adapted to the hot and humid weather.  Hunter Semillon has established a reputation for rich, honeyed nutty wines, but it takes bottle age to arrive at that stage.  Aged Hunter Semillon is known for fooling tasters into thinking the wine has been aged in oak, when few are.

Hunter Shiraz, starts out thin and astringent in youth, but with age is smooth and rich with a touch of spice.  It is a characteristic of youthful Hunter Shiraz that has affected sales for the unwary.

Look for these Lower Hunter wines:  Lindemans, Brokenwood, Tyrell's, Rothbury, Tulloch, Wyndham, Hungerford Hill, MGuigan Wines.

Mudgee: Located on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, Mudgee (which according to Aboriginal lore means "Nest in the Hills"), is marginally cooler and less humid than The Hunter, on the coastal side of range.

Mount Kosziusko, Australia's highest mountain

Grape growing in Mudgee goes back to the late 19th century and for years the bulk of the grapes went east across the mountains for blends.  In the 1990s Orlando-Wyndham moved their operation from The Hunter to a new Mudgee winery in Montrose.  Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are the main grapes. 

Besides Montrose, brands with a Mudgee appellation you might see include Rosemount, Robert Stein, Huntington Estate, Robert Oatley Vineyards and Lawson's Hill Estate.

Cowra: Vines were not planted on these rolling hills west of The Hunter until the 1970s.  Cowra is in a broad valley bracketed by the Great Diving Range and two rivers. Cowra is mainly white wine country, with Semillon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc the principal grapes. Chardonnays are peachy and honeyed, with ripe fig notes and good acidity.  

There are few wineries in Cowra, as most of the grapes are sold for blending at larger wineries outside the area. Look for Wallington and Kalari.

The rolling vineyards of Orange

Orange: Due to a scattering of micro-climate areas and the upper slopes of Mount Canobolas, Orange is one of the cooler growing areas in New South Wales.  However, the area is a flyway for numerous birds, which cause problems in the vineyards and spring frosts can be a threat. 

The principal grapes are Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Chardonnay from Orange shows citrus and melon. Shiraz has noticeable red fruits and spice and Cabernet Sauvignon is more herbal and dark berries.

Much of the grapes are sold to wineries outside the area, but Bloodwood Estate, Ross Hill Wines, Highland Heritage and Armour Wines are Orange wineries sometimes seen in export.

While the current buying trend favors substantial red wines from South Australia  and Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Victoria, the time couldn't be better to try the wines of New South Wales, the birthplace of Australian wine.

 

Next blog: My Life in Wine Episode 27

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A Different Sauvignon Blanc

 "I think its fair to say that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc changed the wine world by changing our ideas of what wine could be like, just as the Chardonnays of California and Australia did."  Oz Clarke, English wine writer

Consumer tastes have changed since Clarke made that claim, prompting me to ask: Is Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc an anomaly?

In the early 1980s, when New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc hit U.S. wine shelves with a loud bang, the accepted standard for dry Sauvignon Blanc was either Bordeaux or the Loire Valley. 

California had only a passing interest with Sauvignon Blanc then, until Robert Mondavi released his Fume Blanc, a clever take on Loire Pouilly Blanc Fume.  The story goes that Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc wasn't selling, but when Mondavi changed the name to Fume Blanc, the wine flew off the shelves. 

Aside:  I've always been puzzled with the part of that story where sales went up after the name change.  Most Americans are mono-lingual and have an aversion for foreign words and names, especially French.  Fume Blanc is no easier to pronounce for Americans than Sauvignon Blanc, so why would the new name translate to increased sales?  A mote point, I guess, since Fume Blanc helped American wine drinkers discover a "new" white wine.

Interest in California Sauvignon Blanc grew slowly, post Mondavi, because consumers didn't know what to make of this white wine that didn't taste like Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Grey Riesling, or French Colombard.   

Then, New Zealand entered the wine scene.

Planting Marlborough

In 1973, New Zealand wine giant Montana (pronounced as Mawn-tawna by the Kiwis), planted the first vines in Marlborough, at the north end of the South Island.  Sauvignon Blanc was among the plantings, but it wasn't until later when the world first took notice of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

                   

For the United States, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was unknown until Kevin Judd brought the wine to the World Vinifera Conference, in Seattle in 1996. The conference focus was on Sauvignon Blanc, so this Marlborough Sauvignon was an an attention-getting addition to the usual suspects from France and a few California wines.  

My first taste of Cloudy Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at the conference  and it was immediately evident to me that this was a different Sauvignon Blanc.  The tropical aromas were clean and fresh like guava and passion fruit, with underlying citrus notes.  It had bright and bracing acidity and only a trace of the base minerality of French Sauvignon Blanc. 

Reactions of others at the conference were similar and the buzz for this new and different Sauvignon Blanc predicted that the wine soon would be in demand across the country, while opening a floodgate for more Marlborough "Sauvies."

Before long, New Zealand Sauvignons were showing up in U.S. wine shops, from Nelson, the region west of Marlborough and from Canterbury/Waipara on the South Island. Marlborough vineyards are divided into two sub-regions.  The main area is the Waiaru Valley, with its pungent tropical fruit.  Awatere Valley Sauvignons are more herbaceous, with a hint of minerality.

Hawkes Bay, a warmer site for Sauvignon Blanc on the east side of the North Island joined the list, along with Gisborne, where Sauvignon Blanc had replaced Chardonnay as the most planted white grape.  

It seemed that American wine drinkers couldn't get enough of this new style of Sauvignon Blanc.  Then, interest tapered off.  So what happened?

The fall and rise

Conclusions from an informal survey I conducted indicated that people were tiring of the Marlborough style, with its monotone tropical fruit.  Some even said the wines lacked complexity and one glass was enough.  

So, I checked the listings at a large wine store in California.  Of the 201 Sauvignons in stock, 27 are from Marlborough, but there were nearly as many Loire and California Sauvignon Blancs.  

Further, Wine-Searcher.com lists more than 100 Sauvignon Blancs, many of them from Marlborough.  In November 2021, Wine-Searcher ran one of their "Best" articles, this time the "10 Best Sauvignon Blancs."  Five of the wines were from Austria, four from France and a lone Sauvignon (Lail Georgia) from California. Marlborough didn't make the cut.  

Then, four months later, Wine-Searcher published the 10 "Most Wanted Sauvignon Blancs."  Key word is "wanted," not "best." Five of the wines were French including Dagueneau Silex Pouilly Fume, $166; Marlborough had four, including Cloudy Bay, $30 Cloudy Bay Te Koko $52 and Kim Crawford, $16; Screaming Eagle was the California pick, at the ridiculous price of $6,212.

Why the disparity?  Brand loyalty for one thing. Once wine buyers find a wine they like, the tendency is to remain faithful to that brand.  And they continue to drink the wine they know, because it's easier to stay with what you know than it is to find something new.

                           

Consider Kim Crawford New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Once a small struggling brand owned by the man who's name is on the label, Kim Crawford eventually sold his name, but the wine went on to become one of the largest and most recognized New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs...and at just $16! 

It would seem then that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, especially those from Marlborough, set a new style for the wine, offering consumers a choice between the French Sauvignons from Bordeaux and the Loire Valley and the tropical-styled Sauvignon from New Zealand.

Next blog: The Birthplace of Australian Wine

Send a comment or write me at boydvino707@gmail.com

My Life in Wine Episode 26

Episode 25 (Feb 4) was all about the joys and disappointments of wine travel, such as rounding a corner in a Barcelona neighborhood and finding a fill-it-yourself wine shop or watching a young couple in a restaurant outside Florence, rely more on a magazine's wine ratings than the recommendations of a local sommelier.  

 

Winery visits can be instructive or boring.  But the inquisitive visitor seeking information not part of the tour spiel, should beware.  Most winery tour guides have a script and when asked a question not on that script usually sidestep the question and continue with the prepared tour.

As a writer, I always entered a winery hoping to learn something new and most times I did.  But there have been disappointments, such as the obligatory viewing of the bottling line. 

Bottling lines are usually Italian-made and expensive, like a precision Italian sports car. During a visit to a winery, the tour would always veer off  as the owner or winemaker would proudly say, "We want to show you our bottling line." Always  gleaming and beautiful, like the sports car, but one bottling line (well, maybe two) would hold you for a long time.

As a rule, wine writers and people in the wine trade, have an advantage when it comes to winery tours (we can say no to viewing the bottling line).  Winemakers, gregarious or not, are hoping to get a retailer to carry their wine and a wine writer to say something nice about the wines.  So, winemakers put their grumpy face away, smile and try to answer questions in non-technical language.

Okay, grumpy may be an unfair generalization, but after talking with hundreds of winemakers around the world, my experience is they are either extroverts who enjoy explaining things to people, or loners who don't relate well to people and are unhappy at being interrupted from the business of making wine to answer questions.

Then there's this: Winemakers often look at the visitor experience as being like an artist showing his contemporary work to someone only to have them quip, "I could do that!"

I've been at tastings in winery cellars when some self important visitor, who apparently was trying to impress anyone within earshot, made such a pronouncement.  The winemaker would usually resist commenting, but from the grim look on his or her face, they wanted to shout, "Really, well step up here and give it a try." 

Unless a winemaker intentionally pours a wine that is flawed to test a visitor, they already know the wine is sound and, in most cases, like what they made, so they don't want someone telling them what they already know about the wine. They are looking for honest opinions, good or bad. 

                   

Many years ago, I had an appointment to interview Barney Fetzer, a retired lumber executive and father of 11 children, who started one of Mendocino's best known wineries.  After visiting the winery in Redwood Valley, Fetzer invited me and my wife and youngest son to a tasting and dinner at his oldest son John's house in the valley. 

Before we sat down to eat, Barney and John poured a few Fetzer Mendocino Zinfandels.  I expected Barney to ask me, the wine writer, for my opinion, but in stead, he turned to my son Sean, who was then 11 years old, handed him a glass with a little wine and asked, "What do you think, Sean?" 

After looking at me for permission, Sean (now a Washington state winemaker) took a small sip, thought about it for a moment and then said, "It tastes like peanut butter."

Barney and John both laughed and I started to say something, but Barney said, "That's very good, Sean."  Adding, "I have my kids taste our wines all the time.  They have an unbiased opinion, not influenced by prior knowledge and experience." 

Many years later, while living in Colorado and writing about wine for the Rocky Mountain News, Janet and I were invited to dinner at the home of Mel and Janie Masters; he then the sales director for Jordan Winery, she a chef.

The Masters were a talented couple, born and raised in England, who somehow settled in Denver.  We were among other guests of the Masters, including a flamboyant French friend who worked in fashion design and changed outfits between each course.   

Mel had plenty of wine on the table and between courses, he poured a Chardonnay and asked for opinions from his guests.  But, before anyone could reply, Mel summoned his young son, Charlie to the table, gave him a glass with a little wine and said, "Tell us about the wine, Charlie." 

Leaning his one arm on his father's knee and swirling the wine in the glass with his other, Charlie proceeded to describe the wine's bouquet and flavor.  Both father and son beamed as Janie brought the fish course to the table.

The point of this rambling stroll down memory lane is to offer a reminder that wine always seems to taste better in the place where it was made and with good food and company.

Next blog: A Different Sauvignon Blanc

Leave a comment or email me at boydvino707@gmail.com

 

 

 

An Argentine Resurrection

                    

In Argentina's Mendoza Valley, at the foot of the Andes mountains, a resurrection in the vineyard has been taking place, breathing new life into a grape that was slowly losing favor. 

Malbec in France

For years in France, Malbec struggled to be a part of the Bordeaux blend.  Known by the Bordelaise as Cot, the Malbec grape played a minor role in Bordeaux to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. 

While it was losing ground in Bordeaux, Malbec held on as the principal grape of the famous "black wines" of Cahors, an ancient region about 120 miles southeast of Bordeaux. In Cahors, Malbec was called Auxerrois, until the grape's success in Argentina, then growers and wineries in Cahors changed the name to Malbec.

In 1851, a Frenchman exiled from his homeland, came to Argentina and began importing grapevines, including Malbec, from France.  The timing was crucial for the Argentine wine industry, since the vines left France before the phylloxera scourge, first noticed about ten years later, destroyed many of the vineyards.

Malbec bounced back and became a favored grape by some Bordeaux chateaux until 1956, when a severe frost damaged many of the vineyards.  But Malbec never recovered and the grape's  soft juicy fruit and deep color where replaced by Merlot, a grape more likely to survive poor fruit set (The French call it coulure) and rot, than Malbec.   

Fact is, Malbec never accounted for more than 15% of a Bordeaux blend and growers were not planting more Malbec vines.  That didn't deter wineries in the southwest regions from preferring Malbec's plummy richness as a blending component.  And in Cahors, where a Malbec must contain 70% of that grape.

Malbec in Argentina

The evolution of Malbec from France to Argentina is an impressive story.  But it wasn't by chance.  In 1852, French immigrants from Bordeaux brought vine cuttings with them to Argentina and planted the first Malbec in the Mendoza Valley. 

A snowy Andes backdrop to Mendoza Vineyards

Mendoza growers and winemakers like Cabernet Sauvignon for its structure and age ability, but the variety they chose as a prime blending partner is Malbec and not Merlot as it is in France.  In fact, Malbec, which accounts for about 18% of the total wine grape plantings, is Argentina's most popular grape today.

Aside: Before the middle of the 20th century, Argentine (and Chilean) growers sold their grapes on weight.  On my first visit to Argentina and Chile, I was told by Miguel Torres, the Spanish scion who had established a winery near Curico, Chile in 1978, that the most resistance he encountered when he first set up shop in Chile, was from old growers who wanted to flood the vineyards before harvest to get the weight of the grapes up.  The vines sucked up the water, plumping the grapes and jacking up grape cluster weight, while the growers grew richer. 

These four wine regions are the most important in Argentina for their size and scope of wines produced:

Mendoza, in the far west of the country, against the eastern Andes, is the largest and most important wine region in Argentina. The sub regions of San Rafael, Lujan de Cuyo, Valle de Uco and Maipu, are prime locations for Argentina's best reds such as Malbec.

San Juan is the second largest region and while it is not known for Malbec, I mention it here because Syrah and Bonarda do well in this region.  More to the north and hotter than Mendoza, San Juan is known for table grapes and raisins.

Salta is the most important wine region in the northwest.  Many of Salta's best vineyards are at high altitudes. Colome Altura vineyard, owned by Donald Hess, of the Hess Collection in the Napa Valley, is at 10,000 feet.  Red varieties like Malbec and Bonarda do well at these altitudes.

Rio Negra, in the south, is a cooler region, better known for pears and apples.  A lighter version of Malbec is produced from Rio Negra grapes.  Also popular are Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, as well as fragrant whites like Torrontes and Riesling. 

Aside: Regular readers of this blog are aware of my interest in wine grape names, especially the many synonyms for the same grape. For example, Torrontes is known by three names in Argentina: Torrontes Riojano, Torrontes Sanjuanino, Torrontes Mendocino. Not only are the names different, but so too are the grapes, although all three produce an aromatic, Muscat-like wine.  In Spain, Torrontes has four different names and is known by a variety of names in Portugal.

There have been big changes in the culture of Argentine wine making as well.  Old timers didn't talk much about how they made wine amongst themselves.  But today's young guns taste, evaluate and comment on each others wines, improving the breed and appealing more to the international taste for fine wine. 

And young winemakers are often trained abroad, usually in France or California, and they travel extensively, observing how grapes are grown and wine is made in other regions.  Its all being part of the international wine community. 

Catena Zapata

Argentine Malbecs are priced between $19 and $40, with a few special bottles hovering around $100.  Here are a few Argentine wineries representative of their regions: Trapache (Mendoza), Zuccardi (Mendoza), Catena Zapata (Mendoza), Wapina (Rio Negro), Bodegas Bianchi (San Raphael), Colome (Salta), Salentein (Vallle de Uco), Susana Balbo (Valle de Uco).

Argentine Malbec shares some of the characteristics with its French cousin, but is probably more like Bordeaux Malbec than the bigger more rustic wines of Cahors. 

Next blog: My Life in Wine Episode 26

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