Daily Wine News: A Humble Dream

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-23-2012

Alder Yarrow shares his dream of “creating a restaurant wine list. Not a mammoth tome of hundreds of bottles, mind you, just a nice compact list that would fit on a single page and might be appropriate for a neighborhood boutique restaurant with a serious interest in wine.”

Steve Heimoff wonders why “wine snobs” have such a bad name.

“The wine I want to drink reveals a lot about where my head is.” For Tim Fish, wine is his mood ring.

Pancho Campo is back, with a broadside about the wine industry’s current marketing efforts. Tom Wark replies.

Wine Enthusiast reports: “Patrick Ricard, the chairman and former chief executive officer of the French alcoholic beverage conglomerate Pernod Ricard, passed away on Friday in the south of France after suffering a heart attack. He was 67 years old.”

GrapeRadio chats with Maggie Harrison of Antica Terra and Lillian.

On WineBusiness.com, Liz Thach, MW wonders if souther Oregon should wineries “should proclaim a signature grape or two — much like their northern wine neighbors in the Willamette Valley have done with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.” Apparently, vintners in Souther Oregon are producing some tasty Tempranillos and Malbecs.

In Western Farm Press, yet another report on California’s 2012 vintage — which has been a “remarkable growing season” so far.

In case you missed it, WineLines Online has been spending the past couple of weeks exploring California’s Central Coast.

Shanken News Daily reports that David Kent has stepped down as president and CEO of The Wine Group (TWG), a position he has held since 2001. He’ll move on to become vice chairman of the company. Wine Group veteran Brian Vos has replaced Kent.

Tasting Dr. F. Weins-Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett

Posted by | Posted in Wine Reviews | Posted on 08-22-2012

My ongoing exploration of Riesling has (figuratively) taken me to Alsace, where I explored the wines of Domaine Pfister, and Austria, where I sampled Fred Loimer’s 2011 Kamptal Riesling.

So it seemed time to finally visit Riesling’s ancestral home of the Mosel, and more specifically, the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard. So I pulled the cork on a 2010 Dr. F. Weins-Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett.

Once again, my expectations were high.

Wine has been grown in the Mosel Valley since it was under the rule of the Roman Empire, and the region produces many of Germany’s top offerings. The Mosel’s growing conditions are perfectly designed for Riesling — the river helps moderate temperature and protect against frost, the slate soil helps retain heat, and the steep slopes of the area’s vineyards help expose the grapes to sunshine. (Remember that Germany is the northernmost wine-producing country.)

In the Mosel, the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard has been recognized as one of Germany’s top sites for centuries. The vineyard is exceptionally steep, ensuring the grapes are exposed to ample sunshine. Indeed, “sonnenuhr” means “sundial,” as a sundial was painted on an outcrop in the vineyard in 1842. Plus, as British wine writer Jamie Goode once wrote, the vineyard has “virtually no topsoil — just pure blue slate.” This creates ideal drainage.

The Prüm family is a winemaking dynasty. Many accounts suggest the family began tending vines in the Mosel region in 1156. And it gained recognition for its wines under the direction of Johann Josef Prüm, who founded the J.J. Prüm estate in 1911.

As Alder Yarrow explained last year, “The Prum family is to German wine what the Hearst family is to publishing in the United States. Today there are at least seven wineries that bear the Prum name several generations later: including Alfred Prum, Dr. F. Weins-Prum, Jos. Christoffel Jr. (formerly Christoffel-Prum), Studert-Prum, Weingut Steffen Prum, S.A. Prum, and J.J. Prum. Several more Prum intermarriages and mergers are also responsible for several more prominent names in German wine, including Dr. Loosen.”

The Dr. F. Weins-Prüm estate is located, quite literally, right next door to J.J. Prüm on the banks of the Mosel. The wine certainly delivered.

Review: 2010 Dr. F. Weins-Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
The nose explodes with tart stone fruits (pear, fresh, green apples, and white peaches), apricot preserves, pie crust, a hint of orange rind, and lots of slate. The palate opens with bright and intense acidity and presents a wonderful, granular texture. Despite the laundry list of descriptors, the wine finishes rather simply, leaving little but Green Apple Jolly Ranchers and more residual sugar lingers than I would have expected for a Kabinett. A very enjoyable wine right now, but I’d love to revisit this in a few years to see if the palate gains complexity. (91 pts.)

Daily Wine News: Natural Connection

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-22-2012

“What can the experience of a wine teach us about being human? What does it teach us about beauty? How does it help us connect to the natural world?” Randall Grahm posts his exceptional speech from this year’s Wine Bloggers’ Conference. In case you missed it, check out my latest column, inspired by Grahm’s speech.

Meanwhile, in Entrepreneur, Joanna Krotz spotlights Randall Grahm’s “vision quest that could seriously eat his lunch — or make viniculture history.”

In the Press Democrat, Virginie Boone profiles Fabiano Ramaci of Mora Estate and William Allen of Two Shepherds, two California winemakers who are “bucking the trends.”

“Fine wine today truly is a democracy. Anybody can gain citizenship. But you’ve got to want in. And you’ve got to make the necessary effort. Beware the populists, the sorts who say that you can learn a foreign language in 10 days with no effort. Or that you can know about—and find—fine wine without any effort. It’s a Big Lie. And that’s the truth.” So proclaims Matt Kramer.

Mike Veseth explains why so many “industry groups, wine producers, public relations firms and individual Oregon wineries” attended last week’s Wine Bloggers’ Conference.

Most wine books bore Creators wine columnist Robert Whitley. But he highly recommends the just-released New York Times Book of Wine, “whether you are a wine connoisseur or not.”

From the Oregonian’s Katherine Cole, a collection of quotes on wine from Julia Child.

There’s more to Oregon wine than the Willamette Valley. On a mystery bus ride, Jameson Fink recently wound up at Phelps Creek Vineyards in the Columbia Gorge.

In the Wall Street Journal Asia, Gavin Lower looks at Penfolds’ “2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon presented in a limited-edition crafted vessel,” which can be yours for $168,000.

In Boise, Idaho, W. Blake Gray found a wine list that notes the distance between each winery represented and the restaurant.

Can’t decide between Napa and Sonoma for your wine country vacation? Tom Wark offers a handy comparison.

From Grapefriend, a Gruner disaster!

Marriage may drive a woman to drink.” So concludes a new study being presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.


In Praise of Originality and Strangeness

Posted by | Posted in White's Wines | Posted on 08-21-2012

As regular readers know, I write a free, twice monthly wine column that’s distributed to newspapers across the country.

If you don’t see my column in your local newspaper, please send an email to your paper’s editor and CC me (David – at – Terroirist.com).

My latest column — in which I praise the “originality and strangeness” of vintners like Randall Grahm — went out this morning.

In Praise of Originality and Strangeness

Last week, nearly 400 wine writers gathered in Portland, Oregon, for the fifth annual Wine Bloggers’ Conference.

The event opened with a keynote speech from Randall Grahm, the legendary vintner behind Bonny Doon Vineyard, who urged attendees to “support originality and strangeness, two features that the wine business, especially in the New World, desperately needs.”

It’d be hard to ignore the fact that Grahm was urging the audience to embrace more winemakers like himself.

Grahm rose to fame in the 1980s thanks to his originality — he was among the first American winemakers to embrace Rhone varieties like Syrah and Grenache. And Grahm is proudly strange. For most of his career, he was best known for his flamboyant and irreverent marketing campaigns. Six years ago, he famously decided to cast aside his three biggest wine brands in order to focus on small-production wines made with minimal intervention.

Such originality and strangeness should be applauded. And fortunately, more and more winemakers are following in Grahm’s footsteps. Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Wine News: Moon Wine

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-21-2012

“Do I think wine can be grown on the moon? Probably not. But would I be thrilled to taste it? Absolutely.” In Newsweek, Alice Feiring writes about her search for the world’s most unusual wine regions.

Andrew Jefford is “trying to kick the note-taking habit at mealtimes.”

I can’t wait to peruse the wine list at Restaurant Gougé. The HoseMaster is a big fan.

“Dornfelder, Blaufrankisch, and Zweigelt. Sounds like a German law firm, but in reality they are wine grapes that may be the key to unlocking New York’s wine future.” So writes Dan Berger in his latest column.

From Tom Wark, “The Top Ten Things I learned at the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference.”

Alfonso Cevola explains why he isn’t yet finished with blogging.

With harvest just around the corner, the Napa Valley Vintners “asked some of its winemaker members to tell us how things are looking in the vineyards.”

The best red wine for pizza? According to Jameson Fink, it’s Lambrusco.

On Friday, Levi Dalton chatted with Gregory Dal Piaz of Snooth about “the past, present and future of online wine writing.”

According to a new Gallup survey, two in three Americans are regular drinkers — and beer just barely edges out wine as the beverage of choice.

Decanter.com has the details on Wine Grapes, a 1,200-page guide to the world’s wine grape varieties co-authored by Jancis Robinson MW, coming out this fall.

In the summertime, Dale Robertson’s preference is for wines closed under screw caps. Meanwhile, The Onion Wine Spectator has some advice on how to open screw caps. (Thanks to @EricAsimov for the joke.)

 

Revisiting Older Rieslings: Tasting Through Some 1997 German Wines

Posted by | Posted in Out of the Glass | Posted on 08-20-2012

The 1997 Schaefer Kabinett

Young German Riesling can be absolutely thrilling. At their best, the wines have a remarkable vibrancy and energy with the fruit tasting incredibly fresh and nervy acidity beneath adding a sense of precision, freshness, and clarity to the flavours. In many of the off-dry examples, the youthful sweetness often makes the wines very appealing to drink early and it can be a challenge exercising patience with wines that are as enjoyable in their youth as a Kabinett or Spätlese from a fine producer.

Yet patience can yield amazing rewards, as I recently experienced at a dinner featuring several German Rieslings from the 1997 vintage. I don’t own or open as much older Riesling as I’d like to, and it was a pleasure sitting down with several maturing wines over a few hours. None of these were close to mature. German Riesling can age effortlessly over decades, and the 1997s we opened had years ahead of them. Yet they had shed some of their youthful brightness; the fruit flavours remained incredibly pure and fresh, but for the most part were augmented by the start of developing smoky, creamy and other savoury elements.

One of the most striking differences between German Riesling on release and several years later is the sense of harmony that seems to develop. The floral or mineral expressions that they show on release aren’t as vivid several years later, but rather they converge with the fruit and the nuances of development into a seamless whole that’s greater than the sum of all parts in the best examples. While most of the top young examples from 2011 and 2010 I’d tasted recently were wines that dazzled with their youthful exuberance and the interplay between sweetness and acidity, and fruit and mineral flavours, the 1997s at this lineup were thrilling for very different reasons – they were calmer, more understated and delicate, and showing a remarkable range of flavours that kept unravelling with time and air.

It was a reminder of what great Riesling can offer at different stages of maturity. I haven’t come across other styles of wine that offer the same range of pleasures that Riesling does at almost any age, whether right on release, several years after when the wines are beginning to slim down and lose some of the exuberance of youth while still retaining much of their primary character, or when more mature and entering more savoury phases. And it remains a relief and wonder that many of the top examples are still remarkably inexpensive (the most recent vintage of Willi Schaefer’s Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett still retails for under $25!).

Tasting notes follow below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Wine News: The Winners!

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-20-2012

On Saturday night in Portland, the 2012 Wine Blog Awards Winners were announced! Huge congratulations to Evan Dawson (Best Post of the Year); Julia Crowley (Best New Blog); Monique Soltani (Best Original Video or Photography); W. Blake Gray (Best Industry Blog); Ken Hoggins (Best Wine Reviews); Alder Yarrow (Best Writing); Alfonso Cevola (Best Single Subject); Lisa Mattson and the Jordan Team (Best Winery Blog); and Jamie Goode (Best Overall).

Alder Yarrow highlights the efforts of some Chilean winemakers to revive the country’s old vine Carignane.

“At long last,” contends Eric Pfanner in the International Herald Tribune, Soave appears to be rebounding in export markets. Pfanner offers more thoughts on “default white wines” on his blog.

In the Wall Street Journal, Lettie Teague writes about “The Unique Charms of ‘Miscellaneous Wines’

Jon Bonné tastes through 40 Pinot Noirs from the Sonoma Coast’s 2010 vintage. The lineup is “wobbly.”

“New York, especially the Finger Lakes region, may have the greatest concentration of good values in the United States.” So proclaims Eric Asimov.

In the latest newsletter from Weygandt Wines, Terroirist blogger Sarah Hexter spotlights Domaine de la Pinte, one of the most prestigious producers in the Jura.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Nicholas Boer pens an essay on the history of Concannon Vineyard.

Weekly Interview: Marion Ebner-Ebenauer

Posted by | Posted in Interviews | Posted on 08-17-2012

Marion and Manfred.

Each week, as regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we’re featuring Austrian vintner Marion Ebner-Ebenauer.

Most Austrian winemakers are born into families with long histories of winemaking. Marion’s family didn’t have such a history, but she knew from an early age that she wanted to move to the countryside and make wine.

So while a teenager, she pursued an internship with Fritz Wieninger of Weingut Wieninger, one of Austria’s most successful wine brands. She landed the job even though she was just 16.

After graduating from school, Marion decided to remain in the industry by working at a wine shop in Vienna. While there, she started saving money to purchase grapes – and released her first wine, bottled under the Melusine label, when just 20. Her wine quickly garnered critical acclaim.

A few years later, Marion met Manfred Ebenauer, whose family had been making wine in Austria’s Weinviertel region for generations. They married in 2007 and today run their wine estate together.

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

Daily Wine News: American Bargains

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-17-2012

In the New York Times, Eric Asimov struggles (but succeeds) in finding some bargain wines in America.

Uploaded to flickr by buggolo.

W. Blake Gray wonders if Antonio Galloni can “rescue California Syrah’s image with a $1000 tasting?”

In the Wall Street Journal, Lettie Teague praises the selection at Grand Wine & Liquor in Astoria, Queens.

“‘We are knotty. We are nice. We are Sonoma County.’ So goes the tag line of a new ad campaign designed to promote Sonoma County’s wine and tourism industries.” The Press Democrat reports on a new ad campaign from Sonoma County.

In Wine Spectator, Tim Fish contends that California Merlot redeemed itself in 2009.

According to Ed McCarthy, Charles Heidsieck is the “world’s most underrated Champagne.”

Elsewhere in Champagne, Herve Augustin has resigned from his post as president of Champagne Ayala.

In the Washington Post, nine reasons to visit Virginia wine country.

Daily Wine News: Little Overlap

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-16-2012

Steven Seagal.

“[Robert] Parker and Alice Feiring would find very little overlap in a Venn diagram these days, but there’s probably a lot that was important to Bob that led to somebody like Alice.” W. Blake Gray chats with New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov.

Paolo Lucchesi discovers “The Celebrity Guide to Wine.” It’s awesome.

Lily Elaine Hawk celebrates the release of Hardy Wallace’s Dirty and Rowdy Wines.

Thanks largely to Chateau Musar, “Lebanese wine has been on the radar for some time.” But, as Amanda Barnes explains in Wine-Searcher’s Magazine, “the country’s vinous reputation” is changing. In just the past ten years, the number of Lebanese wineries has grown from five to 40!

This summer, Mike Veseth is reading Creating Wine for “serious fun.”

Patricia Kluge breaks her silence in an interview with Wines & Vines.

The Tennessean reports: “A federal court ruling against a Kentucky law prohibiting wine and liquor sales at grocery stores could energize efforts to loosen similar regulations in Tennessee.”

As part of its effort to solicit “several different perspectives on wine bloggers,” Palate Press talks with wine importer Bill Deutsch, “whose portfolio includes important brands like Yellowtail.” (Earlier this week, Palate Press chatted with three Oregon winemakers.)

City Winery Chicago is now open!