Weekly Wine Roundup: Grenache!

Posted by | Posted in Wine Reviews | Posted on 09-26-2011

Two Terroirists celebrated International #GrenacheDay this week, while others spent the week tasting some pretty remarkable wines — including some Bordeaux all stars. Check out our notes below!

David White
Just one wine this past week. For International #GrenacheDay, I pulled the cork on my third (and final!) bottle of 2006 Rudius Grenache. It was consumed casually — over pizza and salad (and with crappy stemware) at Iggies Pizza in Baltimore. The wine was stunning — plums, prunes, black olives, green peppers, tart cherries, and cocoa don’t sound like a good mix, but all these elements (and tons more) came screaming out of the glass. And the wine was incredibly juicy, so it paired perfectly with dinner. I remain very impressed with everything coming from Rudius Wines. Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Wine News: Food & Wine

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 09-26-2011

Do journalists' opinions matter?

Jamie Goode wonders if wine producers should listen to journalists. (He thinks they should. And I agree.)

In the Wall Street Journal, Lettie Teague concludes that Italy’s wines are also the world’s best food wines. On the WSJ’s wine blog, Lettie catches up with Piero Incisa della Rochetta, “the third-generation scion of the noble Tuscan family who created the legendary Sassicaia, a.k.a the original Super Tuscan.”

The Wine Economist, Mike Veseth, announces his world tour for Wine Wars: The Curse of the Blue Nun, The Miracle of Two Buck Chuck, and the Revenge of the Terroirists. Thus far, the tour only hits the West Coast – but Mike promises to consider all potential book events. (Note to readers: If you can commit to a Washington DC event, let me know!)

In the New York Times, Howard Goldberg highlights Adam Suprenant, the owner and winemaker of Coffee Pot Cellars.

In the Jura, Elin McCoy falls in love with the ancient wines of Domaine Jean Bourdy.

At America’s ballparks, the wine lists are getting better.

Decanter reports that Bordeaux’s trade association — the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux — has been “making random visits to Chinese supermarkets and wine shops in order to compile a database of false bottles, which has been passed on to Chinese investigators.”

IntoWineTV hosts an interesting panel discussion on increasing alcohol levels in wine with Richard Jennings, Bartolomew Broadbent, and wine and travel writer Michael Cervin.

Weekly Interview: NZ’s Frank Manifold

Posted by | Posted in Interviews | Posted on 09-23-2011

Each week, as regular readers know, Terroirist poses 16 questions to a winemaker. This week, we’re featuring Frank Manifold, a New Zealand winemaker who works with a number of different brands including Waipara Springs, Bascand, and Ten Sisters.

Frank came to my attention thanks to Ellie Bartow, who handles just about everything for Ten Sisters aside from the winemaking. (I tasted Ten Sisters’ Sauvignon Blanc at DC’s International Wine & Food Festival, and was quite impressed.)

The story of Ten Sisters begins just after World War II, when Robert and Mary King — third-generation New Zealanders — purchased 750 acres of wild, uncultivated land in Marlborough. The two would eventually have 11 children, only one a son, and plant a vineyard.

Today, all of Ten Sisters’ wine is sourced from that vineyard, where Mary King (Ellie’s grandmother) still lives. The winery produces just Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, and makes only 4,000 cases annually.

Check out our interview with Frank below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Wine News: #GrenacheDay!

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 09-23-2011

On Ridge Vineyards’ blog, Christopher Watkins writes about #GrenacheDay, and shares a fascinating story about Ridge’s Grenache. “We first discovered Grenache in our own vineyards in a rather unlikely fashion; by accident! When harvesting the eastern hills of our Lytton Springs estate back in 1972, we were quite surprised to learn that one of the hills — planted in 1902 — was dominated by Grenache!”

On that note, what will you be drinking tonight? I plan on opening a 2006 Rudius Grenache.

“American beer culture has progressed far beyond what anybody but the most visionary beer fanatic ever imagined.” So argues Eric Asimov in his latest column. Over at Dr. Vino, Tyler Colman comments on Asimov’s piece.

“It is no longer illegal for a California bartender to put a basil leaf in a bottle of gin.” At Diner’s Journal, Robert Simonson has the details.

In Oklahoma, liquor storeowners, wholesalers, and distributors are pushing hard to keep the sale of strong beer and wine in grocery stores against the law. This is insanity. It astounds me that so many states continue to prohibit consumers from purchasing wine while picking up dinner.

On eRobertParker.com, an update (subscription required) on the disastrous Mosel hailstorm from David Schildknecht. “The good news is that after the horror of hail was over, everything happened as close to perfectly as one can call the aftermath of such a hideous natural wonder. First off, precisely because the stones were so huge, they generally cut-down entire clusters. Absent was the buckshot or even grapeshot effect that is more familiar and leaves wounded berries almost everywhere including, insidiously, inside clusters. Then, it rained so hard beforehand as to completely soak the plants, which cuts down on damage; and so hard nearly all night afterward that any juice bled through wounds was completely washed away. This, together with cool, clear, and breezy weather for a week thereafter insured that this incident did not engender rot.”

Wine Enthusiast’s Steve Heimoff reports that Sterling Vineyards has named Harry Hansen senior winemaker.

If you’re feeling lucky, head to the facebook page for the San Luis Obispo Visitors and Conference Bureau. The organization is giving away a wine country getaway.

Social Media and Wine Marketing

Posted by | Posted in Out of the Glass | Posted on 09-22-2011

During my speech at the Nederburg Auction, one point generated quite a bit of interest:

“A wine company can hire a full-time employee, for an entire year, to engage with customers on twitter, facebook, message boards, blogs, you name it — for the same price it would cost to purchase a single full-page advertisement in Wine Spectator.”

(In case you’re wondering: A single, full-page color advertisement in Wine Spectator costs more than $30,000. A full color page ad in Wine Enthusiast runs over $11,000. The Wine News charges $7,700, and Decanter charges just $5,200.)

I went on to explain how wineries can also prove a return on investment when they utilize social media. If you take out an ad, there’s no way to prove how many people actually looked at it. If you engage online, you can point to a specific number of existing and potential consumers you identified and interacted with.

This matters because of the huge changes that are happening thanks to social media platforms. As VinTank’s Paul Mabray recently wrote, “Whereas in the past producers pretty much entrusted retailers with the task of managing consumer relationships on an ongoing basis, they can now connect directly with friends, fans, and followers.”

Today, Neil Pendock, the acclaimed and controversial South African wine journalist, said it was the “most useful suggestion” I offered.

Anyway, I talked a bit about this topic on camera at the auction. The video runs just two minutes.

Daily Wine News: Tomorrow is #GrenacheDay!

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 09-22-2011

A Grenache vineyard in South Africa. Uploaded to flickr by FairviewSA.

“Hello, my name is Nick and I’ve got mildew. There, I’ve said it. It wasn’t easy to admit and you won’t often hear other growers come clean about it.” From Nick Peay at Peay Vineyards, a winemaker’s perspective on the natural wine movement. It’s an excellent piece, and well worth reading.

Tomorrow is #GrenacheDay! William Allen provides the details — and issues a call to action for American producers of the grape.

“We are resigned, as a footnote, to selling a little less Domaine de la Romanée Conti next year than last, since it seems unlikely that younger male members of the Gaddafi family will be dining out in London much over the coming year – and they were devoted customers. But if any of our clouds has a silver lining, that’s the one.” Decanter columnist Andrew Jefford discusses a restaurant wine program with which he consults.

Mike Steinberger writes about the history of Ridge Vineyards – and tastes dozens of its wines.

The Drink Local Wine movement is really taking off. A new study finds that the economic impact of North Carolina’s wine industry has increased by 58 percent in the past 4 years. Meanwhile, in honor of Regional Wine Week, DLW is hosting a contest: Write 47 words about your favorite local wine, producer or region, and win terrific prizes — tickets to DLW 2012: Colorado, copies of Todd Kliman’s Wild Vine and Laurie Forster’s Sipping Point book and DVD, and Wine Shields. The deadline is October 15.

Sommelier Interview: Jeff Benjamin & Vetri

Posted by | Posted in Interviews | Posted on 09-21-2011

Once upon a time, before I moved to New York and my life became consumed by balance sheets, net present value, and supply curves, I had the luxury of weekends. On one of these weekends, I went to David White’s house to write tasting notes for 21 (!) wines that we’d been sent by generous Terroirist readers. It was on this fateful day, and about ten wines deep, that another guest at the tasting party began raving about a sommelier that she’d encountered at a restaurant in Philly. Of course, I had to track this unsuspecting guy down…and without further ado, meet Jeff Benjamin, sommelier at Vetri Ristorante in Philadelphia, PA.

Vetri offers only a tasting menu and diners are treated to an orchestration of Italian courses. It looks delicious. One Yelper described:

Vetri is out of control.  It’s like someone went to Italy, ripped a restaurant out of the ground, took a handful of impeccable servers, a cellar full of wine, and foraged for fiddleheads in March, and then flew it all back to America, and then decided to smush it all into a brownstone in Philly.

Jeff joined Vetri in 1998 and has since expanded Vetri’s wine cellar from a 60-bottle starter list to its current stable of more than 500 labels and 5,000 bottles. Read more about Jeff below:

Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Wine News: Roussillon!

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 09-21-2011


For most of its history, Roussillon has produced “staggering amounts of mediocre wine.” In Business Week, John Mariani makes the case that Roussillon’s wines are getting much better. .   Thanks to a new generation of vintners, that’s changed. Food and Wine’s  Robert Camuto is also getting excited about the region.

Moscato is the fastest-growing wine variety in the United States. So Dave McIntyre decided to see what’s out there, and sampled several non-Italian Moscatos, all priced from $5 to $9. The winner? Yellow Tail. Nonetheless, McIntyre urges readers to spend a bit more money and instead go for Moscato d’Asti. “For a few dollars more, you’ll get more complexity and subtlety, more verve and more fun.”

“For decades, liquor laws in Massachusetts have tilted in favor of the only group with the money and organization to shape them — the wholesalers who distribute alcohol to bars, restaurants, and package stores.” In the Boston Globe, a wonderful op-ed from Paul McMorrow on the need to reform the Bay State’s liquor laws.

W. Blake Gray poses a provocative question to biodynamic and natural wine producers: “If you believe in making a local, low-environmental-impact product, why use French oak?”

In Britain, wines from India are flying off the shelves.

Jon Bonné and company conclude that “there is solid, dependable Cabernet [in Sonoma] for under $30, often under $20.” He’s right.

Yesterday, I highlighted the International Herald Tribune’s recent article on terroir and what it means. Now, there’s a video — filmed at Romanée-Conti.

Twilight of the Gatekeepers

Posted by | Posted in Out of the Glass | Posted on 09-20-2011

Fortunately, the Springboks won on Saturday!

The gatekeepers’ days are numbered.

In the very near future, wine consumers won’t turn to Robert Parker, Wine Spectator, or Wine Enthusiast to determine if a wine is worth buying – they’ll turn to one another. Whether it’s on a site like CellarTracker or at the local wine shop, tomorrow’s consumers won’t need – or want – global arbiters of good taste.

Similarly, the long-established media elites will no longer wield the influence they do today. Many wine consumers will continue to subscribe to Decanter, of course, but many more will rely on local resources. In Colorado, consumers might turn to Kyle Schlachter of ColoradoWinePress.com. In Washington DC, drinkers might turn to Dave McIntyre (or me!). And consumers will expect the media elites to be much more plugged in – and engaged with their readers – than they are today. (In the Steve Heimoff model.)

These changes represent a remarkable opportunity for everyone in the wine industry – because both will drive consumer demand down the Long Tail. And consumers will reign supreme.

This is the argument I laid out on Saturday during my keynote address at the 37th Nederburg Auction in South Africa. Check out my full speech below – and chime in with your thoughts in the comments! Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Wine News: Remembering Joe Dressner

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 09-20-2011

Joe Dressner.

Acclaimed wine importer Joe Dressner, “a tireless defender of honest, simply made bottles,” passed away this weekend. A number of wonderful tributes have now been written, including postings from Jon Bonné, Eric Asimov, Tyler Colman, Mike Steinberger, Alice Feiring, Lyle Fass, and Tom Wark.

In the International Herald Tribune, a wonderful piece on terroir and what it means.

Jonathan Beagle heads to Burgundy to visit Ray Walker of Maison Ilan – and helps with part of the harvest!

In Wine Spectator’s report on California Pinot Noir, “a whopping 55% of the 350-plus wines from the 2009 vintage had scores of 90 points or higher, including 15 wines that scored a classic 95 or better. It’s the category’s best performance ever.”

Want some 3-Isobutyl-2-Methoxy-Pyrazine? I don’t – this “chemical gives Cabernet Sauvignon its herbaceous green pepper aroma.” In Wired, a look at what’s inside red wine.

Chang-rae Lee buys wine online, even though he doesn’t want to.