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I was reminded of this last week when I read Jancis Robinson’s post about Riesling. She rightly talks about how Riesling gets short shrift when compared with top varieties such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. I regard the grape in the top tier of white varieties along with Roussanne, Marsanne and Chardonnay. Each of these grapes make wine of power and subtly which can age for years with the proper terroir and attention to winemaking.

Not surprisingly – at least to me – Steve Heimoff used this post to vent his astonishment about how wine geeks adore Riesling. I’ll give Steve a pass here since I know how hard it is to get good German and the wines of Alsace in California and how many crappy California Riesling must have been in his mouth. But his points are well taken.

Riesling is a grape that can be easy to enjoy but difficult to fully understand. Like all great varieties, it is layered and nuanced. But unlike most of the other great varieties, Riesling has an animal character that can put you off in its youth. It’s strong and undefiant, which is part of the reason I like it so much.

Another reason many might view Riesling as not noble is the stereotype many of us Baby Boomers have of the variety from our youth. How many of us grew up seeing Blue Nun or Zeller Schwarze Katz bottles on our dinner tables in the ’60’s and ’70’s? At some level that has to bring the grape down but I was able to develop a love for the variety even after these indignities. But it took years and a lot of really stellar bottles to convert me.

Bringing this post back to the beginning, Chapter VI of, “Notes on a Cellar-Book,” has these words near the beginning:

…despite the wonderful first taste of the great ‘Auslese’ wines, I think both Hock and Moselle best as beverage drinks; for in these lower quantities, the overpowering and almost barbaric volume of flavor does not occur, and they are fresh and pleasant quenchers, going well with most sorts of food.

“Hock” is an old British term for white German wines much like “Claret” is used as a generic term for Bordeaux red. In Saintsbury’s time Hock was the best of the German Rhine wines. Even then, nearly 100 years ago, Riesling was a niche variety. And I think it will continue for another hundred years.

Until then, more for me!

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Finding distinctive Zinfandel for under $20 is difficult these days and almost everything under $10 does not display much of what makes this variety so special. Occasionally you will find something on close-out that falls within this price band but these are very few and far between. But négociants such as Cameron Hughes regularly bring us wines of distinction that overperform their price point, as is the case with this wine.

Podcast listeners will remember Cameron Hughes from my interview on Winecast 73 seven years ago. Much has changed with his operation over the years but his brands are still as meaningful for wine lovers looking for a bargain. So when I found this wine — a Lodi Field blend of 56% Zinfandel, 17% Syrah, 16% Petite Sirah, and 10% Tempranillo — for $8.99 at my local Costco, I grabbed a bottle.

Lodi has had a long history with Zinfandel dating back to the Gold Rush of the mid 19th Century. I’m sure field blending was also part of this tradition in the region but I’ve never tried any until now. And I don’t think the term “field blend” is regulated so it’s possible some back blending went on to create this wine, but it makes little difference to me since the traditional expression remains in the glass.

Cameron Hughes, Lot 467, Lodi Field Blend 2012 ($9) — Black/purple color with aromas of blackberry jam, fennel, chaparral and sage. Rich blackberry, blueberry and kirsch flavors with white pepper finishing with supple tannins. A bit boozy at the end but balanced currently by exuberant fruit. If you see this at your local Costco, buy it, as this one will not last long. My new go-to BBQ and pizza wine.

Score: 90
13.9% ABV
Composite cork closure

Buy this wine online

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Over the years I have participated in WBW now 49 times and have hosted 6 times and I am pleased to have it return after a hiatus. The theme I chose for this outing is consistent with the wines I drink this time of year. While I do continue to drink reds, most of the time white or rosé wines are what I choose due to the temperatures outside and the food of the season. And while rosé wines such as white Zinfandel have carved out a significant presence in the market their residual sugar makes them more difficult to pair with food. So I drink exclusively dry rosé in the summer.

For the selections made for this month’s WBW I decided to sample what is available under $10 a bottle. After looking at some local stores and big box retailers I settled on a couple of bottles from Trader Joe’s both under $6 a bottle. At this price I wasn’t looking for the best rosé but something that would complement a hamburger or taco. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The first bottle is Trader Joe’s Napa Valley Rosé 2012 ($5.99, 13.7% ABV) – It is a light ruby color in the glass with aromas typical of rosé, strawberry, cherry and citrus. There are bright grapefruit and strawberry flavors finishing dry with a touch of bitterness. I found it refreshing but a bit subdued in character but still a decent value. The varieties used were not disclosed but I assume Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were most of the blend.

My second selection is from Spain, the Albero Bobal rosé 2012 ($5.99, 12.5% ABV) – Also a nice light ruby color the aromas here are all strawberry and grapefruit. In the glass the wine shows strawberry and lemon flavors finishing dry with nice acidity. A very pleasing rosé made from a grape I have never tried before. A win-win!

Both of these wines show how far we have come delivering value even in niches like dry rosé. I’m looking forward to reading what everyone has tried to fill out my cellar for the remaining weeks of summer. You can follow along on my Delicious feed.

Thanks also go to Lenn for asking me to host yet again who I will soon pass the baton to for hosting WBW81 next month. Look for a roundup post for WBW80 Friday or Saturday for all the rosé goodness.

Cheers!

The post WBW80: Dry Rosé appeared first on Winecast.

But the embers of WBW remained and there has been enough interest in the event recently that Lenn and I have decided to bring it back in its original, grass-roots format.

The idea is simple; each month a blogger “hosts” the virtual tasting determining the theme and posting a summary wrap-up some days after the event. On the Wednesday appointed for the tasting anyone can blog a post related to the theme and let the host know so their link can be included in the wrap-up post. Back in the day this literally meant a blog but over the years this has expanded to places like Tumblr and Google+; basically any public-facing spot on the web that doesn’t require a membership to view (so Facebook wall posts are out but you could participate on a Facebook page).

Got it?

I am pleased to announce the return of Wine Blogging Wednesday on August 14st for our 80th (non-consecutive) monthly tasting. My choice of theme was easy given the heat of the summer here in the Northern Hemisphere: Dry Rosé.

Good dry rosé is one of the most versatile wines in summer matching with light to heavy fare. But like some other wines, rosé (here in America anyway) doesn’t get the respect it deserves. So I’d like to see everyone explore beyond their regular summer rosés and try something new. It might be an obscure varietal or a region you haven’t tried before. Or maybe just kicking it old-school and picking up a rosé from Bandol, Tavel or Provence from a new producer.

Basically you can pick up a rosé wine made anywhere from any grape varieties, just make sure it’s dry.

When you post your entry, just send me your link via email (winecast at gmail dot com), Twitter (@winecast and please use hashtag #WBW80) or post here in the comments. A few days after the tasting I’ll write up a summary post and pass the baton to the next host (Lenn will host WBW 81 in September). And you can mark your calendars as all future WBW tastings will take place the 2nd Wednesday of each month.

Hope you can join me next month and beat the summer heat with some dry rosé!

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via The Guardian

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via Hawk Wakawaka Wine Reviews

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via Rockss and Fruit

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To me authenticity starts with the intent of the winemaker and what the site and vineyard manager has provided her or him to work with. Can you make authentic Syrah in Napa Valley? Perhaps but other sites might be more suited to growing the grape. Should anything be added to the crushed grapes to make an “authentic wine”? Some would argue no, but denying scientific advances is similar to not using modern medicine to avoid fatal illness. The issue is loaded with traditional, cultural and political nuances.

No discussion of wine authenticity should lack the obvious mention of low intervention or so-called “natural wine“. My own preference in my single quasi-commercial winemaking venture to date used as few processes as was possible in a shared winemaking facility like Crushpad in Dog Patch. Yes, yeast was inoculated as conducting a native yeast ferment, which was my preference, was not recommended within a winery with dozens, if not hundreds, of other fermentations taking place. Yes, enzymes and a minimal dose of sulfur were used on the must but after pressing only regular stirring of the lees was applied and the wine was only racked once after several months in barrel (it is a Roussanne/Marsanne blend).

Is this not a “natural, authentic” wine? Some would argue one or all of the three additives used makes this wine somehow makes it un-natural and less authentic. A few others might argue that trucking the grapes several hundred miles in a refrigerated container is also unauthentic but that’s another story.

My point is what is authentic wine is highly debatable. What is not is a sea of industrial wines sold that not only use modern science to produce clean wines but also techniques that make the resulting product softer and more approachable (think micro-oxygenation, mega-purple and other such processes or additives here). That doesn’t mean the wine is not better for all the manipulation but what is left is not an authentic representation of the site and grapes harvested that year.

But that’s just my opinion, and as Dennis Miller used to say, I could be wrong.

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via The Telegraph

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via Forbes

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via WSJ

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via Wired

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I was reminded of this Monday when I read a mildly funny post from Alder at Vinography but the best prank post was from John Mariani over at Bloomberg. Only it appears to not have been a prank post. I think, anyway.

My confusion began when I first saw the story tweeted by Dr. Vino as a prank so that might have influenced the context of my first reading. Starting with true facts, the hallmark of the best April Fools pranks, it gets increasing strident and ridiculous. But like my ill-fated Charles Shaw post referenced above the joke was just too subtle and it launched some earnest posts in defense of Washington State wines.

As I write this, I have not been able to figure out if this was a Fools’ Day post or not. It seems like it could be a serious critique of selected Washington State wines as those reviewed actually do exist despite long-winded and somewhat fanciful naming conventions. And I guess the cynic in me could just chalk this up to link-bait, engineered to be controversial and provoke such reaction. But I think it’s funnier as a prank. And until the author comments here to clarify, I’m going with that.

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Wine products have surprisingly been featured a couple times this season but the most interesting was an invention called ‘Wine Balloon’ (later changed to ‘Air Cork‘) that preserves wine with a patented balloon system. Inventor Eric Corti was clearly nervous pitching the panel of sharks but did well enough to garner two offers from Kevin O’Leary and the combined team of Mark Cuban and QVC host Lori Greiner. It was clear that Corti didn’t like the strings attached to O’Leary’s offer to license the invention to a third party for marketing but was surprised when Greiner offered $500,000 for the entire company. Cuban joined the offer which grew to $600,000 but demanded an immediate response. Corti didn’t act fast enough but accepted their final offer of $400,000 for his invention. At the time of the show I thought Corti made the wrong choice as $200,000 of value had been taken off the table in under 2 minutes. And Wine Balloon seemed like a novel idea that might see wide distribution in winery tasting rooms and wine stores (although the reviews on Amazon currently are not encouraging).

So it was good to see an update to this story last week at Wines & Vines. After due diligence, Corti and his partner walked away from the deal and worked on building their business. And it appears to have worked with sales reported at 15,000 units a month. Using the cost of goods disclosed during the show of $6.50 that makes over $260,000 of gross profit a month or $3.1 million annually. It’s good to see an entrepreneur stand his ground and make something work as it was clear during the show that Corti really believed in his invention.

If you want to see the episode of Shark Tank it is available to Hulu Plus subscribers here (season 3, episode 4). Corti’s pitch starts the second dot from the end on the timeline.

via Wines & Vines

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The main reason for my exile from Barossa and most of the wines of Australia of late has been value. There are many great wines made in Australia but far fewer under $30 than in the past (at least it seems to me). Some of this is due to shipping costs; some of this is due to exchange rates. Today the best bang for the (American) buck comes from the Iberian peninsula or lesser known parts of Italy and France. Even California, Washington State and Oregon are bringing the value in these recessionary times. But there still are some producers who are managing to bring the value from Barossa even today.

One of those is Schild Estate, a family run winery in Barossa that over delivers value if judged by the wine I tasted this evening. Established in 1952, this winery produces a range of wines but with an emphasis on Shiraz. And after tasting their entry level Shiraz today, I can see why they lavish so much attention on the variety. It is because it’s delicious.

Tasting Notes:

Schild Estate Wines, Shiraz, Barossa 2009 ($18) – Dark purple in color with aromas of cherry, plum, bacon, and black licorice. Round in the mouth with concentrated blackberry, plum and black pepper flavors finishing with savory tannins. A very nice expression of Aussie Shiraz at a stunning price.

14.5% ABV
Screw cap closure
[rating: 4/5]
Score: 90

Thanks go to Adam for hosting this month and for provoking me to taste a Barossa wine and blog about it. Stay tuned for next months edition of our global virtual tasting to be announced soon.

The post WBW 76: Barossa Boomerang appeared first on Winecast.

That was until this past weekend when I saw someone mention the event on Twitter and decided to take action. The bottle in question is a 1989 Acacia Vineyard Carneros Brut sparkling wine “recently disgorged”. The recently disgorged style was developed by Bollenger in 1961 for their 1952 Bollinger Grande Année. The extra bottle age before the yeast is removed and the final dosage is added gives the wine additional flavor and complexity. And by disgorging the yeast late, the wine also retains more freshness and fruit than if the bottle was aged after disgorgement. Since I received the bottle of Acacia as part of their wine club shipment in 2005 or 2006, I assume the wine was left for a decade or more on the lees in bottle.

Since 1989 is the year of my daughter’s birth, I assumed we would open the bottle a couple years ago as part of her 21st birthday celebration. For one reason or another the bottle remained in the cellar and so I naturally assumed the worst as I plucked the bottle from the rack. I’ve had my share of over the hill wines. Most of the time those blasted plastic corks are to blame but other times it’s simply a bottle left far past it’s proper drinking window. For those of us with collections, this happens more often than you might expect but the Great Recession has greatly depleted my cellar and so these bottles are now much easier to spot. This particular Acacia Brut was a perfect choice for OTBN as there was the chance of magic. I’ve had their sparkling wines before after extended aging and enjoyed them and the promise of a wine disgorged only 8 years ago or so made me optimistic as I eased the cork from the bottle with a satisfying pop.

Pouring the wine in the flute showed a still vigorous bead of fine bubbles through a rich golden yellow color. Since it was still on the light golden side, somewhat like apple juice, I thought that perhaps there might be something left to this wine. All of these hopes were dashed when I lifted the flute to my nose and got the unmistakable whiff of oxidized wine. But there was still some yeasty bread notes, citrus and almond  there so I took a sip over my sink thinking it would most likely be immediately spit out. But the flavors are still actually pretty nice. Some Sherry-like oxidative elements to be sure but also lemon and some green apple flavors that finish clean with bright acidity. The yeast had certainly left it’s mark in palate weight and complexity, as well, with a pleasant nuttiness on the long finish. Overall, the wine has clearly seen better days but is still interesting even with the somewhat off-putting aromas.

Three days later I have another glass siting in front of me as I finish this post. No, this is not a great wine but enjoyable none the less, and I’m quite happy Open That Bottle Night presented an excuse to try it. Otherwise, I’m sure it would have just gone down the drain in 5 or 6 more years. So if you have a long forgotten bottle collecting dust, get a corkscrew and see what you have there. You might just get lucky and discover something interesting.

CellarTracker listing

The post OTBN 13: A Night of Regret & Discovery appeared first on Winecast.

Hosts: Tim Elliott and Jeff Lefevere

Topics

• If the wine is hard to pronounce, is it worth more?
• Has wine lost it’s romance?
• The Slow Wine movement
• 2009 Bordeaux: vintage of the century?
• Will drinking too much wine give you cancer?
• Million Dollar Day for WinesTilSoldOut.com
• Wine’s 2011 Report Card
• Moet Hennessy aims for super-premium red wine from China
• Are Americans’ Tastes Changing?
• Wine discounting trends
• Randall Grahm and The State of the Modest Winery
• Follow-up on QR codes from last month

Events

• 2012 New York Wine Expo: March 2-4, New York City
• 2012 World of Pinot Noir Tasting: March 2-3, Shell Beach, CA
• Paso Robles Wine Country’s 2012 Zinfandel Festival, March 17, 2012
• Wine Blogging Wednesday 75, Single Vineyard, March 21st
• Rhone Rangers, San Francisco, March 24-25
• For events near you check out Local Wine Events

Links discussed on the show

• Consumers pay more for tongue-twisting wines 
• If the wine is hard to pronounce, is it worth more? 
• Wine’s Decline 
• Wine: Is The Romance Gone?
• Slow wine: eco-gastronomy creeps to the fermented grape
• Suckling Hails ’09 Bordeaux “Best Ever”
• Consumers urged to count units
• Two glasses of wine a day ‘triples mouth cancer risk’
• WOW: The ‘Woot of Wine’ Just Had A Million-Dollar Day
• The state of the wine market, 2012 
• Wine’s 2011 Report Card
• Consumer Wine Trends: Overall Consumption Up
• Moet Hennessy aims for super-premium red wine from China
• The Low Alcohol Craze Goes Overboard 
• The debate about high alcohol sometimes verges on insanity 
• Are Americans’ Tastes Changing?
• BERGER: A preference toward lower-alcohol wines?
• Wine Discounting Likely to Continue
• Doon to Earth (Redux) 
• Wine & The Connected Consumer

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By his own admission Grahm has downsized his once considerable enterprise by a factor of ten and the business model of a modest winery today is a lot different than when he got started. Today the consumer has more tools to help them choose a wine in the store using smartphones and apps like Hello Vino. Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook can connect friends from Barstow to Barcelona in near real time for instant recommendations. And wine distributors, who used to be the winery’s “feet on the street”, have become nothing more than extensions of the sales force for large volume brands like Gallo, Kendall-Jackson and, somewhat ironically in this context, The Wine Group.

It appears Mr. Grahm is well aware of the current realities in the wine market and his own transformation from selling mostly through distribution to mostly direct to consumer after reading a very revealing post on his blog earlier this week. I have the opportunity in my day job to have frank conversations about the wine business but none of these surface here as they are off the record. Seeing similar issues presented in a long-form post on a winery blog is most refreshing and frankly breathtaking. I’m sure there is a bit of added drama at play here and the Dooniverse is not really on the edge of ruin but if it is that would be most distressing. The wine world with Randall Grahm and Bonny Doon in it is much better than the reverse.

So in the spirit of a friend lending a helping hand I offer the following unsolicited ideas for Mr. Grahm and his team to ponder:

Get social – Dude, you have over 350,000 Twitter followers! No other vintner is even close. Use it occasionally to sell your wine. I’d probably also figure out how to convert some of those followers to Facebook Page likes, too (only 5,000 there now). I know you have a social media strategy and do better than most in the wine business but a bit more wood behind this arrow would pay off handsomely at the very least in positive word of mouth.

Embrace Video – Unlike a lot of winery owners you have a rich story to tell with passion and nuance. Use video to get more of your story onto the social web to get some of those Milleninals exposed to your brand. You are sort of dabbling at this now; commit to a regular schedule.

Open A Bay Area Tasting Room – Hate to say it but Santa Cruz is kind of out of the way for many to get exposed to Bonny Doon wines. I’d take my hospitality closer to the customer and look for a space in San Francisco (SoMa, Dogpatch, Haight, etc.).

Ditch That Flash Website – I mean it’s 2012 and a lot of folks have iPads. All of that cute animation can be done in HTML 5.

Spruce Up The Wines – This is the least important on the list but one that deserves some consideration. I have to admit aside from the occasional bottle of Le Cigare Volant I have not tasted through your lineup in a while but a peek at CellarTracker reveals some improvement can be made. These days a $25 wine better taste like a $35 or $40 wine or people will buy alternatives that over-perform their price point.

Hope this helps, Sir. Let us know how it goes.

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The first post came in a week early from Dave at Toledo Wines and Vines. His choice of a Louis Bouillot Crement de Bourgogne ($18) in celebration of the New York Giants Superbowl win got the tasting off to a fine start.

Another early entry was posted by Jasmine at the Knitting 40 shades of green blog. It’s aways good to see a new perspective from outside the wine blog circle on WBW and Jasmine did not disappoint with a nice review of Barboursville Brut ($17) from Virginia.

Roddy from Sentir le Bouchon! in the UK was next with non-vintage Condesa Blanca Cava (£7/$11) which he enjoyed quite a bit.

Next was the VA Wine Diva reviewing not a wine from her home state but the always dependable Gruet Winery non-vintage blanc de noirs ($15).

Alleigh from A Glass After Work was the second to blog a sparkler from Gruet Winery, their non-vintage Brut ($14). From her review it looks like this will not be the last bottle from this reliable New Mexico producer.

Wine Blogging Wednesday founder Lenn Thompson from New York Cork Report was next with a review of Happy Bitch Wines “Happy Bitch” NV Rose ($12.50). This wine is a blend of 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay from the Finger Lakes region of New York with a bit of sparkle added.

Next to post was Xandria from the BrixChicks blog, the first of three there (thanks Ladies!). She selected a Jean-Louis Denois Brut “Tradition” ($15) from France’s Languedoc. From her review, this K&L exclusive seems like a no-brainer for Bay Area or online value seekers.

The first multi-bottle entry was next from Ben at Colorado Wine Press. First of the three wines tasted was Gruet Winery Brut Rosé ($15) which was preferred over the others. Next up was Trevisiol Prosecco, Extra Dry which didn’t impress. The final wine as Domaine Chandon, Brut Classic which fared better than the Prosecco but didn’t measure up to the New Mexico sparkler.

Girl Meets Glass was next with Fleuraison Blanc de Blancs ($12). Made from Spanish base wine, it is trucked north to the Languedoc where secondary fermentation and bottling takes place. The resulting wine is delicate and might be best used for sparkling wine cocktails.

Next was Bob at 2001 Bottles – A Wine Odyssey who posted a lengthy article covering the non-vintage Evans & Tate “Zamphire” ($21) from Australia and 8th Generation “Confidence” 2010 ($22.50) from Canada’s British Columbia province. While both wines used the bulk process to add the bubbles, BC’s Confidence proved the winner in the flavor department.

Lisa from Wine Muse was next with Pizzini Brachetto 2010 ($17) a Muscato-like sparkler made from the Brachetto grape in the state of Victoria in Australia. The off-dry frizzante-style rose was a hit.

Liza from BrixChicks posted a review of the reliable Napa Valley sparkling wine from Mumm, their Napa Cuvee M ($18). The wine is another winner from this respected Champagne house who has been making sparkling wine in California for 26 years.

Thea from Luscious Lushes was next with a trio of sparklers from California and New Zealand. First up was Trader Joe’s non-vintage North Coast Sparkling Wine ($10) which sounded pretty nice for the price. Next she reviewed the reliable sparking standby from Roederer Estate ($17). And finally tasted Quartz Reef Method Traditionalle NV ($22) from New Zealand. Going for extra credit, Thea blogs another 3 wines in the honorable mention category from Mumm Napa ($15), Gruet ($14) and Gloria Ferrer ($16).

My post was next with another Trader Joe’s exclusive their Albero Brut Cava ($8) which I though was a good crowd pleaser for any celebration.

Shannon from Grape Occasions reviewed the trendy Villa Jolanda Moscato Rosé ($10) and was pleasantly surprised by the off-dry sparkler.

Posting next was Michael from Undertaking Wine with a Long Island selection, the Palmer Vineyards non-vintage Special Reserve Brut ($20). And from his review it sounds like another good option for New Yorkers.

The final post of the night was a blow-out by BrixChicks Liza and Heidi who hosted a tasting of 10 sparkling wines. The standouts where the non-vintage Gruet Blanc de Noirs ($14), non-vintage Piper Hiedsieck Champagne Brut ($15) and 2008 Taltarni “Taché” ($20) but check out their entire post for some entertaining tasting notes including aromas reminiscent of Bath and Body Works.

Posting on Wine Blogging Thursday was Gwendolyn from Wine Predator with pairings of 4 wines with various dishes. Although all the wines seemed to work with their dishes, the Trader Joe’s Blason du Bourgogne Brut Rose, Cremant de Bourgogne ($12) seemed like best wine of the quartet.

Update (I missed a post): The Wine Compass blog posted a review of Yellow Tail Bubbles ($10) which was deemed a good value.

So that concludes the seventy-fourth edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday. Overall, 19 bloggers tasted 39 wines from 8 countries. With only a few repeats there are over 30 solid choices for everyday sparkling wine.

Next month look for Joe from 1WineDude to take Wine Blogging Wednesday in a totally different direction which he will announce early next week.

WBW 74 by the numbers

Bloggers: 19
Wines Tasted: 39
Countries Represented: 8
Least Expensive: $8 – Albero Brut Cava
Most Expensive: $22.50 – 8th Generation “Confidence” 2010

The post WBW 74 Wrap-up: 39 Sparkling Values appeared first on Winecast.

This is the 5th time I’ve hosted Wine Blogging Wednesday and I’d like to write my theme was calculated to take advantage of the bubbly consumed yesterday for Valentine’s Day. It actually had more to do with my desire to find some new values in sparkling wine to enjoy this spring and summer where I intend to drink (and blog) a bottle each week. I chose the $25 price point to keep the wine selections inclusive of the entire world knowing this might be a challenge, but doable, even in Champagne. But it was the under $10 price point that most interested me since this means “everyday” to most of us.

So my search took me to Trader Joe’s, the value grocery store that has a reputation as a decent place to find wine values. While TJ’s might not deliver great wine values since they became the house of Two Buck Chuck, their sparking wine selection is still pretty solid. So after looking at their Crement de Bourgogne choices I have had, and enjoyed before, I picked up a Cava for just $7.99 as my choice tonight.

Albero Brut Cava ($8) is an exclusive of Trader Joe’s here in the U.S. made by Bogedas Iranzo, the oldest Spanish winery dating back some 677 years. Before you think Christoper Columbus drank sparkling wine from this estate, a quick aside to the history of bubbly.

Although wine with bubbles has existed since antiquity as a by-product of fermentation, it was only until glass blowing technology could withstand the pressure in the bottle before this style really emerged. Counter to the legend that this wine emerged in Champagne from the cellar of monk Dom Pérignon, sparkling wine was actually first made on purpose in Italy in 1622. But it was glass blowing technology developed in England in 1662 that made this country the true founder of sparkling wine almost 80 years before Dom Pérignon first drank “stars”.

Cava is the name given to sparkling wine made in Spain. It mostly comes from the Penedès region in Catalonia, just south of Barcelona. Like in Champagne only certain grapes are allowed in Cava but until recently these have only been native Spanish varieties. Keeping it old school, the Albero Brut Cava is a blend of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo.

The wine is golden straw color with a medium bead of fine bubbles that dissipate quickly in the glass. It has green apple, stone and baking bread aromas. Bright apple and citrus flavors finishing dry with hint of minerality and nice acidity on the finish. A nice crowd pleasing sparkler at a good price.

11.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
[rating:3.5/5]

Thanks go to Wine Blogging Wednesday founder Lenn Thompson for asking me to host again. I’m looking forward to next month already.

The post WBW 74: Value Sparkling Wine appeared first on Winecast.

Charles and Lucy Shaw settled in St. Helena in 1974 returning from France where he became fascinated with the production of Beaujolais using the whole cluster fermentation method. Back in those days, the Napa Valley was a vastly different place than it is now with perhaps 50 wineries in the appellation (today there are over 450). Like other new winery owners of this era, Shaw and his wife bought land and planted a vineyard just outside of St. Helena in the middle of Napa Valley. In all, Shaw farmed 70 acres of vines with the majority on the valley floor and about 20 acres on Howell Mountain. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Gamay were produced garnering accolades for quality.

While the winery made other varieties, it was Gamay and Sauvignon Blanc that were the lynchpins of the Shaw lineup when they opened the winery in 1979. Shaw had developed a love for Gamay while in France, particularly the nouveau style made by carbonic maceration or whole berry fermentation. This technique was not used in California in the 1970’s so Shaw was a pioneer in it’s practice. Beaujolais has always flown under the radar with American consumers and continues to be amoung the best values coming out of France today even with unfavorable exchange rates. But their nouveau style, sold with great fanfare on the third Thursday in November, is viewed by most as a curiosity, others as a marketing stunt and a few as a joke. So hanging your hat on making Napa Valley Gamay Nouveau was not the best business plan. And while a more serious version of the wine was also made getting $8 a bottle proved to be a challenge when well respected Cru Beaujolais was selling for the same price or less. Consulting winemaker Ric Forman, who helped craft the style of Charles Shaw Gamay, summed it up later, “It was unfortunate that his idea didn’t work. It was the wrong product.”

Running a winery is a capital intensive business and by the late 1980’s the Charles Shaw Vineyard & Winery was under extreme financial pressure. These pressures took their toll on the Shaws’ marriage and in 1991 the two were in divorce court. Since Shaw’s wife’s inheritance was used to finance the winery she took over and Charles Shaw left the wine business with nothing more than hard won experience. A year later, Charles Shaw Vineyard & Winery filed Chapter 11 and was eventually sold off in pieces to pay creditors.

This is when the story of Charles Shaw, the Trader Joe’s wine brand, began. Fred Franzia of Bronco Wine Company based in California’s Central Valley purchased the brand name for a reported $18,000 in the early 1990’s. This is not uncommon in the wine business where wine brands with good reputations are purchased and revived later with bulk wines vastly different from their first incarnations. It is unclear why Franzia sat on this brand for a decade before reviving it for Trader Joe’s in 2001.

There are a number of urban legends about Charles Shaw wines that date from the first limited releases in 2001 and 2002. The first anomaly was the 1999, 2000 and 2001 vintages were nearly simultaneously released and quickly sold out. Rumors of fire sales due to airlines selling off stock after September 11 when corkscrews were banned made the rounds. A nasty divorce forced the liquidation at a loss was another story; somewhat closer to the truth but a decade too late for 1999 vintage wines to be sold. The true story is one of wine economics where a huge wine glut created an opportunity in the bulk market that Fred Franzia exploited.

The initial releases of Charles Shaw wines created a sort of reverse wine snob cult. I remember hearing stories from friends in Southern California of people showing up at Trader Joe’s, buying a bottle of each variety in stock and immediately tasting each in the parking lot before buying what they liked by the case. In those days Trader Joe’s had some fairly drinkable private label wines but it was their branded wines sold at closeout prices that were the real values. I once bought some Ridge Merlot at $4.99 a bottle when we lived in LA in the early 1980’s that was an extremely good value. So the use of the Charles Shaw label and not Trader Joe’s was a stroke of wine marketing genius. And from memory the first vintages of Charles Shaw were actually pretty good, most likely the result of savvy bulk wine purchases and good blending. Today the wines are less exciting but certainly more consistent in style made from mostly Central Valley grapes Franzia grows or controls. Highly mechanized agriculture combined with highly mechanized winemaking keep cost low. Selling directly to Trader Joe’s also eliminates another cut of the profit which keeps the selling price at $1.99 or $2.99 a bottle depending on where you live in the U.S.

The result is over 50 million cases of Charles Shaw wines have been sold in the past 10 years. For many this is their everyday wine and while the wines are not very exciting to a lot of us wine geeks they are certainly almost always worth the price charged. And they have created a market for other extreme value brands such as Cameron Hughes and Castle Rock to bring vastly better wines at somewhat higher prices.

And Charles Shaw did get back in the wine business a few years ago making Riesling in Michigan under the Oerther Vineyard label. Let’s hope this venture works out better for him than his experience in Napa Valley.

What a long strange trip it’s been.

The post Charles Shaw: What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been appeared first on Winecast.

Hosts: Tim Elliott and Jeff Lefevere

Topics

• What’s up with Good Grape?
• Is wine blogging on the decline?
• Wine Trends & Predictions for 2012
• Value Replaces Cheap
• Wine Regulation Reform Continues
• Sweet Wines Continue Growth
• Blends Come Back in Vogue
• Green Packaging Booms
• Chinese Wine Market Continues To Show Influence
• Recovery of Wine Market
• Low Alcohol Wines
• Natural Wines

Events

• Wine Blogging Wednesday 74, Feb. 15th, Value Sparkling Wine
• Dark & Delicious, February 17, 2012, Alameda, CA
• San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting, February 18, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
• For wine events near you check out Local Wine Events

Links discussed on the show

• Good Grape Goes on Hiatus
• Reflections on 8 Years of Wine Blogging 
• Top Ten Wine Trends in 2011
• Wine Trends To Watch in 2012
• 5 things about wine to focus on in 2012 
• Forecast: Wine, grape prices to rise in 2012
• Doug’s 10 Trends for the Wine Biz in 2012
• Top 5 Wine Trends in 2011 
• Bulk-wine inventory hits 12-year low
• China overtakes UK to become fifth largest wine-consuming nation: Vinexpo
• Cool climate wines could grow Aussie volumes 
• Wines Worth a Taste, but Not the Vitriol
• Natural Wines “Not For The Masses”
• Natural wine movement, just noise?
• The Natural Wine Debate Gets Ugly 

Feedback: thismonthinwine@gmail.com
Copyright 2012 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed under Creative Commons.

The post TMiW 1 – Looking Back, Looking Forward appeared first on Winecast.

Sparkling wine is one of the most versatile at the table with styles to pair with nearly every dish. From bone dry to sweet, single variety to blend, sparkling wine is something we should all drink more of. And it’s made all over the world using the classic process perfected in Champagne. In Germany it is known as Sekt, Spain calls it Cava, in Portugal it goes by Espumante, and in Italy Spumante covers a lot of ground. But great sparkling wine is also made in the New World with world class wines coming from California, New Mexico and Australia. I even hear some very nice sparkling wine is being made these days in England, the country who started the style back some 400 years ago.

So the theme of Wine Blogging Wednesday 74 is Value Sparkling Wine.

Just pick a sparkling wine from any appellation, made from any grape but make sure it sells for $25 or less a bottle (€20, £16). This should open up a lot of interesting selections, from Crémant de Bourgogne, to Cava, to California & New Mexico sparkling, sparkling Shiraz, to even well chosen grower Champagne. Just post your notes by February 15th and ping me @winecast on Twitter or email me with your link at winecast (at) gmail (dot) com. I’m hoping we can once again circle the virtual wagons and taste some great bubbly.

Join us.

The post Announcing WBW 74: Value Sparkling Wine appeared first on Winecast.

Have wine consumers switched from dry wines to sweet wines nearly overnight? Is this a sign of The Apocalypse?

Looking a bit deeper into the story there have been signs of consumer preference for sweeter wines. A decade ago tankers of Australian Shriaz with a slight addition of concentrate to add residual sugar weaned Americans off Coke and into wine. If you browse your local wine store or supermarket you will also notice more “sweet red” blends on the shelf than ever. And I’ve seen a rise in sweet Riesling lately as well.

One ray of light in Lettie Teague’s article is that, “The biggest audience for Moscato is the ‘Millennial’ generation between 21 and 30 years of age,” according to research from Gallo. Further, these new young consumers, “found their own way,” and were not converted by any marketing push for the grape. As I wrote earlier in the week, my wine journey started with Muscat when I was in my early 20’s. Once wine became a part of my life I wanted to learn more which led to other grapes like Gewürztraminer and Riesling. Eventually not all of these wines were sweet and I got into Chardonnay, and later, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon.

I think Millennial consumers are just getting started with wine and will move past this sweet Muscat phase in a year or two. Until then we will see sweeter wines continue to grow as wineries jump on this trend. The sky isn’t falling; the wine market is expanding and for the first time the Millennial Generation is showing its impact.

The post The Rise of Muscat, a Sign of The Apocalypse? appeared first on Winecast.

My story starts in 1979 when I was in college. At only 19, I was under the legal drinking age in California where I was born and went to school but I spent summers in upstate New York where the drinking age was 18 at the time. Over the summers of 1979 and 1980 I tried just about every form of alcohol but settled mostly on beer as mixed drinks never appealed much too me and the wine I had locally was mostly from Taylor and not very appealing. Since I was summering in Rochester, New York just a short drive to the Finger Lakes AVA you might think it was this regions’ wines that sparked my interest first but, sadly, it was not. But my early experiences while in New York did plant the seeds that bore fruit when I turned 21 and was back in California.

After a couple years studying film at UC San Diego, I transferred to California State University at Chico. This was about a 3 hour drive to Napa Valley but as college students we had plenty of weekend time and my Datsun got very good gas mileage. We also heard wineries didn’t charge anything for tasting which fit our budget perfectly. So one Saturday not long after my 21st birthday in late 1981 my girlfriend and I drove to the Napa Valley to wine taste. Back in those days I knew nothing about wine. In fact, I was so ignorant that I mispronounced most of the grape varieties (Meer-lot, anyone?). It was with this lack of sophistication we ventured up Hwy 29 and pulled into our first winery. If memory serves this was the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville where we not only got an interesting tour but a very informative guided tasting. And the wines tasted pretty good, too, particularly the whites (Mondavi Fumé Blanc is still a sentimental favorite). I also remember visits to Sutter Home (pre- “Home of white Zin” days) and Louis Martini on this first visit. We liked a lot of the wines with our favorite being the Sutter Home Muscat (now somewhat ironic given Muscat’s resurgence in popularity over the past year). Anything white and sweet filled the bill. Everyone starts someplace.

Months past and we revisited Napa Valley a few more times. As we gained a bit more knowledge and confidence we visited new and different wineries. One of these was Grgich Hills Cellar right off the main highway that runs north to south on the western side of Napa Valley. This was in early 1982 and the winery had only been open for 5 years. I remember entering the nondescript tasting room and tasting their Chardonnay. And while this wine was very good it was their Zinfandel that first sparked my interest in wine. Poured by a jovial man in a beret, the wine burst with red fruit on the nose and in the mouth finishing with supple tannins that seemed to melt like bittersweet chocolate. I had tried Zinfandel before but this wine was the first that truly spoke to me and compelled me to learn more about the variety. It was a couple years later that I figured out the man in the beret who poured me this Zinfandel was none other than winemaker Mike Grgich.

Four years later the second wine spark happened. By then I was working for Kodak and we had lived in Rochester, New York for a year and a half. This was the time I first discovered Finger Lakes Riesling and we spent many weekends tasting along the wine trails there. But it was not the local wines that produced this second spark but a well-known Napa Valley Cabernet. Over the previous 4 years I had read several wine books and had tasted a lot of wines. And while I still liked Zinfandel quite a bit drinking Lytton Springs vineyard as often as I could afford it, Cabernet Sauvignon was my latest obsession. I read all about the top Napa Valley Cabernets and drank Bordeaux as often as I could. I had received an award at work that was a gift certificate to a nice local restaurant with a very good wine list. I thought I might find a nice red Bordeaux to match with my prime rib as there were not a lot of California Cabernet on upstate New York wine lists even in the mid-1980’s.

So imagine my surprise when I saw Heitz Cellars Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet from the 1974 vintage on the list. And it was even available by the glass at the absurd price of $25 for a small pour ($52 in 2012 dollars according to WolframAlpha). It took me only a millisecond to order this glass since we were spending Kodak’s money and I couldn’t imagine ever seeing this wine by the glass again (I haven’t). And the wine didn’t disappoint. I still remember the aromas of mint and eucalyptus that this vineyard is known for along with tobacco and a pleasing earthiness. In the mouth this wine defined Napa Cab to my developing palate. Cassis, blackberry, and spices finishing long with great balance. I can’t remember the level of tannin but I think they were still settling down as the wine was only 12 years old at the time I tasted it.

I would have liked to have revisited one or both of these wines but I’m afraid the Heitz Cab is selling for $800 a bottle and I would bet the current vintage of Grgich Hills Zinfandel is vastly different than the 1978 or 1979 I tasted at the winery. But I don’t think this matters much as these wines live in my memory as turning points that made me want to learn more about wine. Eventually this led me to start this blog in order to have a place to send friends who were always asking about which wines to buy.

Without Wine Blogging Wednesday I probably would not have told this story. Thanks go to the Corkdork for hosting and for a great theme. A lot has changed in the nearly 7 years I have participated in Wine Blogging Wednesday but there is nothing like it. Hopefully this will again be a monthly feature here if we get enough bloggers participating.

The post WBW 73: My Wine Spark appeared first on Winecast.

Whatever sparked your deeper interest in wine, please join us on January 18th for the next edition of our monthly virtual tasting. All you need to do is post your thoughts and/or tasting notes somewhere online (your blog, Google+, Tumblr, Posterous) and let the host know. I hope we will find many great stories of wine enlightenment in the process.

So who’s with me?

The post Just 2 Weeks Until WBW 73 appeared first on Winecast.

Watch Paul Giamatti’s eyes while Virginia Madsen is speaking. Great acting in the best wine scene ever in film.

You might need to click back for the video… Happy New Year!

The post “Why Are You So Into Pinot?” appeared first on Winecast.

This is really not a wine story but one of perseverance and the inner workings of Hollywood. But I find the story absolutely fascinating. It also appears this story might be told in a documentary film; I have embedded the spec trailer below. If you are a fan of Sideways, I suggest you check this series out.

via Stage 32

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY3n5rK_AyY[/youtube]

The post Rex Pickett’s “Life on Spec” appeared first on Winecast.

So I offer a short list of last minute gift ideas sure to bring a simile to the face of wine lovers in your life.

Corkscrews: While some wine lover collect corkscrews most of us accumulate them over time. I just went around the house and counted 10 corkscrews of various kinds in drawers. So clearly I don’t really need any more corkscrews but like with cars appreciate design and elegance. The BMW or Mercedes of corkscrews are made by Chateau Laguiole in France. They are literally works of art made from fine materials and well balanced. Go to most any fine restaurant and 9 times of out 10 the sommelier is wielding a Laguiole. Like many luxury goods there are Laguiole-style corkscrews for as low as $20. The genuine article starts at $140 and goes up to over $200 depending on the materials used.

Decanters: There are a plethora of wine aerator gadgets on the market and I have tried nearly all of them. Some are nicely designed and look cool while you pour your glass out of the bottle. But none of them in my testing has really done the job of opening up a young wine like a plain old decanter does. And that same decanter does double duty of making a vessel for fine old wines who require separation from their sediment. No wine lover can have enough decanters and they don’t have to cost a lot of money. Here are a couple of options to get you started.

Books: No wine lover can have enough books on our favorite subject and I have several listed on the right sidebar of my blog (just scroll down). The most essential is Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine which is my go-to resource for any wine subject. There have also been several well reviewed new wine books published this year such as Authentic Wine and Naked Wine which are on my reading list.

Wine Away: Wine lovers eventually spill red wine on clothes, furniture or carpet. Wine Away makes these inevitable disasters easy to clean up.

Preservation consumables: Either Private Preserve or Wine Shield would make a nice stocking stuffer.

Cleaning accessories: I use a brush and cleaning solution to care for my glassware but a lot of people this time of year use their automatic dishwasher. To give wine stems a chance of survival you need something like the cool looking Tether stemware preserver.

Whatever gift you choose, you best get it ordered soon since we have slightly less than 6 shopping days left until Christmas and Hanukkah begins on Tuesday!

Disclosure: There are a ton of Amazon affiliate links on this post. Help a blogger out

The post Last minute holiday gift ideas for wine lovers appeared first on Winecast.

The idea of Wine Shield is so simple I’m surprised it wasn’t invented a long time ago. Essentially it’s a round disk made from food grade plastic with a decorative grape design stamped into the middle that doubles as its mechanism to assure the disk floats on the top of the wine. An obvious and brilliant idea to protect the wine from oxidation. And my testing confirms the claim of protecting wine for a full 5 days before the effects of oxidation can be detected. In fact, I got 6 days from a robust Napa Valley Cabernet that tasted as fresh as the day I opened the bottle on day 6.

The only flaw I can see with Wine Shield is how you put the disk into the bottle is an acquired skill. You can see how this works about 17 seconds into the Wine Shield promotional video embedded below and it is a lot more difficult in practice than it looks.

I will definitely be ordering more Wine Shield disks to have on hand for special bottles but will continue to use Private Preserve for most of my wine preservation needs since I rarely keep an open bottle more than a couple days and using gas is still quite a bit less expensive per bottle than Wine Shield. But for many wine lovers who only occasionally drink wine or restaurants who don’t have an expensive gas system already something like Wine Shield is a no brainer. If it was closer in price to gas, I would use Wine Shield everyday. But I will be using it the next time I open 5 or 6 bottles for a Twitter tasting.

You can order Wine Shield here to try them for yourself.

Update December 18, 2011: In preparing my gift round up post I noticed Wine Shield had significantly lowered their prices to be much more competitive with gas preservation solutions so I have changed the end of my review and have updated the Amazon affiliate links.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bc5fL4OEC4&t=17s[/youtube]

Disclosure: The Wine Shield folks sent me a 3-pack for review.

The post Wine Shield: A Simple Idea That Works appeared first on Winecast.

Luckily my enthusiasm for Wine Blogging Wednesday is shared by other bloggers and I’m pleased to report that the event will return on January 18, 2012 hosted by the Corkdork. And the theme our host has chosen is one that should produce a lot of interesting posts: what wine sparked your interest in wine? For me, that would be a wine from a certain vineyard in Dry Creek Valley but since I have told that story here before I will revisit another tale from my path to wine geekdom with stops in the early and late 1980’s. The wines are long gone, or prohibitively expensive, but I will track down some more recent bottlings of these wines to share.

I hope to see a lot of wine bloggers participating this time. Join us if you can next month with your own story of what your wine “spark” was.

via The Corkdork

The post Wine Blogging Wednesday Returns January 18, 2012 appeared first on Winecast.

Unlike nearly every movie where wine plays a central role this 17 minute short film did not treat wine as a prop or the obsessive vice of the protagonist. In short montages invoked by wines from a single estate over a lifetime a dying old man and his daughter share one last blind tasting. A thoughtful and simple story is told not unlike the grace and harmony of the best wines of the region.

It is well worth your time to have a look and if you don’t understand French there are English subtitles.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23583653[/vimeo]

You might need to click back to the site to view the video.

via Luc Plissonneau/Vimeo

The post Wine is a thread running through our lives appeared first on Winecast.