Wine Travel Stories

Port of Dubrovnik, Croatia – Plavac Mali and the Island of Peacocks and Cicadas (Lokrum)

2012-01-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

As I drew back the curtains that morning, I’ll never forget the sight of the beautiful Croatian islands that appeared on all sides of the ship as we sailed into the port of Dubrovnik. We sat and sipped coffee on the balcony as we marveled at the beauty of the rocky islands with small fir trees – some deserted and some with houses along tiny sandy beaches. Equally impressive was the port with the large bridges as the ship sailed into the narrow inlet outside the old city walls.

Dubrovnik was the main city was had come to visit on this trip, because it is the homeland of my mother’s great grandparents who lived there and on the island of Mljet before immigrating to California in the 1850’s. She had always dreamed of visiting, and so this was a very special day for us. It was also extremely beautiful with clear blue skies and a forecast in the high 80’s.

Since we were planning on walking the city walls, we paid the $10 per person to take the bus. We were glad we did when we saw how long the walk would have been, but we were surprised at how many people did walk from the ship to the old city. As soon as we exited the bus we were drawn to the stone walls overlooking the ocean. The view was breath-taking with the steep fortified walls rising up high from the crystal clear water. You could see every rock and fish swimming below, and there were people kayaking.

Walking the City Walls

We entered the city walls and turned right to purchase our tickets (70 kuna – about $12 and you must get Croatian money from an ATM because they do not accept euros or dollars). The walk around the city walls is not to be missed, because the views of the ocean and across the rooftops are amazing. However, I would not do it during the heat of the day because it is rather strenuous, and took a little over an hour. We shot many photos, stopped to buy water, and felt sad when we saw some of the destroyed lots that had not been rebuilt after the war. Dubrovnik is also a UNESCO world heritage site, and they have received some money to rebuild, but it is still shocking to think someone would bomb such a beautiful city as recently as the 1990’s. However, much of the beauty still remains and it truly deserves its namesake “Pearl of the Adriatic.”

After the walk, we stopped in a small café for an iced coffee and then wandered down to the harbor, stopping to look in a few shops along the way. I was actually surprised to see how small the old city of Dubrovnik is – completely pedestrian and you can walk around the whole inside area in less than an hour. It is filled with outdoor cafes, fountains, cobble-stone streets and many shops.

The Beautiful Island of Lokrum

My mother had read about the island of Lokrum, so we jumped on a ferry and sailed the 15 minute ride to the island. As we approached I was amazed to see people sunbathing on the large flat boulders that surrounded the shore, as well as jumping off rocks into the shimming blue waves. It seemed like we were approaching one of the islands in Odysseus’s travels and were being lured on shore by the sunbathers.

We decided to explore the island first before determining where to have lunch. It is small, tree covered, and filled with strolling peacocks and the sound of cicadas. I felt like I dropped into a fairytale and was on an enchanted isle. There are only two establishments – the first is a small restaurant near the dock area which is charming with tables set amongst the trees overlooking the water. They serve sandwiches and salads. There is also an old stone monastery with a beautiful garden and a restaurant that serves grilled fish on outdoor picnic tables. The rest of the island is filled with chairs to relax in under trees, a salt pond to swim in, and the beautiful rocky shores for sunbathing and swimming.

After wandering around, the lure of fresh fish was too much to ignore, so we took a table that had a view of the ocean and enjoyed a lovely lunch of grilled local octopus, green salad, and a glass of the house white wine. It was a dry Muscat with a subdued nose, honey and lemon on the palate, with medium plus acid and length – perfect with the fish. Afterwards we walked to the salt pond and watched kids swing out on a rope over the pond and dive in. Eventually we summoned the courage to go in ourselves and found the water refreshing and very buoyant due to all the salt.

Next we decided to try to the ocean so we walked to a place where the rocks formed large terraces near the water and there were ladders attached so you could go in the waves. It was a little bit frightening trying to lower yourself into the water because the waves smashed against the rocks and the tide was high, but eventually I got in for a few minutes and found the water very clean and invigorating. It was more difficult getting out as it was hard to grab the ladder and not get smashed into the rocks. We sunbathed a bit on the warm boulders, and then later walked to the other side of the island near the dock and swam and sunbathed more. After about three hours we caught the ferry back to Dubrovnik and enjoyed the view of sailing into the city from the magical island of Lokrum.

Back in town, we spent several hours shopping and I bought mom a special necklace to remember her visit to Dubrovnik. She bought me a bracelet and then we stopped in a café for ice cream and a drink before catching the bus back to the ship. As we were standing in the security line getting ready to board – and I was feeling a little regretful that I was leaving Croatia without tasting its most famous red wine – Plavac Mali (zinfandel), I saw a small shop with a large sign in the window stating “Zinfandel's homeland.” Telling mom I’d meet her on the ship, I made a beeline for the shop named “Everything Croatian.”

Tasting Plavac Mali at Everything Croatian Shop

They were only charging $1 euro to taste the wine, or make a purchase from the shop. I bought a coffee mug for mom and was allowed to taste two lovely plavac malis. The shop owner was very friendly and provided a nice overview of Croatia’s signature red grape and its history. He explained that the grape we call Zinfandel in California is originally from Croatia where it is called Plavac Mali. It then migrated to Puglia where the Italians call it Primativo. Rumor suggests it is the Italians who brought it to California during the gold rush where it was planted in the Sierra Foothills and called Zinfandel.

Enjoying listening to his explanation – one I teach my students every year in wine class – I then told him I was from Sonoma, California, home of some incredible zinfandel. Continuing I told him I had just visited Bari to taste their primativo’s the day before, and so it was exciting to be tasting plavac mali in Croatia -- the real home of zinfandel.

The first wine was 2009 Matusko Plavac Mali (69 kuna) with soft velvety tannins, bright berry flavors, medium body, no noticeable oak and quite high alcohol. It was pleasant, but my favorite was the 2006 Potomje Matusko Plavac Mali Dingac with a dark berry nose, spice, intensely concentrated with an elegance you don’t often find on zin, complimented by a very long finish. The owner showed me a map and explained that the Dingac region is known as having the best plavac and is similar to Napa Valley in Croatia wine region fame. He mentioned that Poscip was also a well known region for growing plavac. Next time, I will make sure I can visit these areas and spend more time.

I would recommend this shop as a great place to try plavac mali in a friendly relaxed atmosphere. There are many tourist items for sale, and he has a nice selection of wines. Unfortunately cruise ships do not allow you to bring wine on board, so it is only possible to taste on shore. It was interesting to us to see how many people left the ship and immediately went to a local café to have a beer or glass of wine.

It was difficult to leave Dubrovnik – such a beautiful city by the sea. We stood on our balcony and watched the shore as it faded from sight. The ship then sailed through the islands as the last of the sun was fading and we headed back out into the Adriatic. Good bye Croatia – we will return again!

Funny Video on Plavac Mali, Primativo, and Zinfandel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVaNxB5TN2M

The Port of Bari, Italy – Burrata Cheese and the Famous Primativo Grape

2012-01-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

Sept. 2011 - The ship docked in Bari two hours late because of a strike going on in the city that day. Apparently all the transportation workers were picketing so there was no way to obtain taxis, buses, etc. However, when the strike was over we were allowed to go into the city around 1pm. This is another port where you can actually walk from the ship to the old city of Bari (about ½ mile walk), but as the day was very hot, we decided to pay to take the bus.

Bari is located in the Puglia region of Italy (also called Apulia) near the heel of the boot, and is the second largest city in Southern Italy after Naples. Like Naples, it has a reputation of being rather a “rough” city and we were cautioned to be wary of pick-pockets and to keep a tight hold on our purses. Despite these warnings, we found the city lively, fun, and friendly. It should be noted that many tourists opted to skip Bari and go instead to the Unesco town of Arbelobello with its famous conical stone houses near the sea. I would have enjoyed visiting this town, but wanted to see Bari as well, so it will have to wait until my next visit to the region – and I definitely plan to return to visit the famous wineries of Puglia.

As the day was hot, our first stop was to purchase a delicious Italian gelato, then we wandered through the narrow streets of the old walled city. It was very charming with small shops, restaurants, and laundry strung between buildings. We visited the famous Basilica of San Sabino built in 1035 with its shrine to St. Nicholas – yes, the original Santa Claus is said to have originated in Bari. It was fascinating to visit with some unusual underground crypts. Next we walked along the walls of the old Swabian Castle and visited a few shops, before heading to the wine bar, Blanc de Noir, to meet my friend Antonio.

Antonio is wine professor who is from the region and teaches at the University of Bari. I had met him at academic conferences in previous years in New Zealand and France. When I contacted him to ask where to try regional wines in Bari, he suggested we meet at a wine bar near the old city. Blanc de Noir is an impressive, modern style wine bar with a whimsical décor of black and white poka-dot walls. We were met by the sommelier, Jack Lavanco, who proceeded to provide an excellent presentation of local wines, cheeses, and meats. In fact, we were served so much food, we had to skip dinner that evening on the ship.

Amazing Burrata Cheese of Puglia

Before discussing wines, I must first mention the amazing local cheese called “burrata” which we had read about, but never tasted. This is because it is very difficult to export being a delicate creamy soft cheese made of mozzarella and cream. It is designed to be eaten fresh and almost immediately, and it melted in my mouth with the most delightful creamy flavors. There were also many local meats (salami, prosciutto) and other cheeses, along with “tarralli” which looks like a small pretzel and is made from fried polenta.

Wines of Pulgia – Primativo, Negroamaro and Nero de Troia

Antonio provided a brief overview of the wines of the region, stating that Puglia had over 300 wineries, and was the second largest wine producing region in Italy after the Veneto. They have 3 signature red grapes, which the first being “Primativo” – a clone of California’s Zinfandel, which came to Puglia across the Adriatic from Croatia where it is known as “Plavac Mali.” Since Americans love Zinfandel so much, Primativo has become better known in the US. The second signature grape of Pulgia is “Negroamaro” which creates a full-bodied berry flavored wine with plush tannins and is best known as coming from the commune of Salice Salento. The third grape is “Nero de Troia,” which is relatively unknown in the States. I had the opportunity to taste it several years ago when Antonio had brought a bottle to our NZ wine conference. It is a very dark, earthy wine with black fruit and high acidity which I very much enjoyed.

For this tasting, however, Jack our sommelier had decided on showcasing the wines of Alberto Longo (www.albertolongo.it), a small local producer focusing on artisan style wines at higher prices points ($20 euros per bottle and higher). The first was an exquisite 2010 Le Fossette Falanghina made in stainless steel. It was a light yellow in color with melon and floral nose, and an intriguing salty taste on the palate. We also tried a sparkling version made with the same grape, but this was not to my taste – reminding me more of beer than wine. Next was a 2009 Donnadelle Rosato de Negroamara which was lovely, with a light berry nose/palate, very dry and refreshing.

The showpiece was a red wine blend made from Nero de Troia, Montepulciano, Bombino Nero and Bombino Bianco (the last two grapes, according to Jack, being the Italian equivalents of red and white grenache). This was the 2008 Cacc’e Mmitie di Lucera DOCG. It was a massive high alcohol wine with big tannins, dark fruit, and earthy notes. It was very complex with a long finish. As I could see my mother scowling over the big tannins, I asked if we could conclude with a dessert wine. Smiling, Jack brought out a sweet muscat which my mother loved. To end the delightful meal, we tried Il Tartufo Liqour Ice, which was made from liquorish ice cream – quite amazing!

After profusely thanking Antonio and Jack for the wonderful three hour repast, we departed into the still very hot evening and decided we needed to walk more before returning to the ship. As Bari is also known for its excellent shopping and good prices, we walked back to the modern part of the town and spent some time visiting the stores before heading back to the ship for the evening. That night I dreamed of a big platter of burrata cheese with a delight red wine from Puglia.

Port of Ravenna, Italy – Mosaics and the Albana and Burson Grapes

2012-01-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

Sept. 2011 – Our ship arrived in the port of Ravenna in the late morning. The day was overcast with a potential for slight drizzle, but the air was warm. We paid to take the bus into the town because it was too far to walk and the docks were in an ugly industrial area. However, once we were dropped off in the city center, we found the pedestrian-only downtown to be delightful. It was filled with old squares, outdoor cafes, fountains, and small streets lined with shops.

Ravenna, established in the 400’s, is a UNESCO world heritage site famous for its amazing mosaics which decorate many of its ancient churches and buildings. We made our way immediately to the Basilica of San Vitale and had to wait in a long line to purchase tickets to see the mosaics – but it was worth it. Commissioned by the Emperor Justinian who ruled Ravenna when it was part of the Byzantine Empire in the 700’s – and one of the few bright places during the Middle Ages – the mosaics in the church are a glowing massive work of art. They cover most of the ceilings and walls and are incredibly bright and realistic with scenes of Jesus and other religious stories. A definite must stop place for all who love art and history.

Piadina Bread with Albana and Longanesi Burson Grapes

After the tour we made our way to a small wine bar and restaurant called La Mariola Casa & Bottega which was recommended by the Ravenna tourist office as a good place to taste local wines, cheeses, and meats. Ravenna, being located in the region of Emilia-Romagna, is one of the few parts of Italy that is not known for any particular wines, but is instead, world famous for Parmesan cheese and prosciuttos. Despite this reputation, we found that the owner of Mariola was very proud of the local wines he offered, and indeed we found them quite delightful.

He served us a large plate filled with different cheeses, meats, and the local flat bread called “piadina.” These were all delicious and fun to try, and paired beautifully with the DOCG white wine made from the local Albana grape. It had a lemon citrus/floral nose, and on the palate had a crisp acidity and some minerality. It was unoaked and refreshing. The brand was Zerbina 2010 Albana Secco DOCG at $12 euros per bottle. Mom had the Tremonti Chardonnay Ciardo 2010 with a hint of botrytis. It was full-bodied and off dry ($16 euros per bottle).

Probably most interesting was the red wine made from Longanesi Burson, which the owner said was an ancient Italian grape. This was a big complex earthy wine with some oak aging. It was blended with a little sangiovese and graf noir. As it had been open for two days, I found it a little oxidized with some strange carmel notes, but it was pleasant with big, smooth tannins, full-bodied, and dried cherry tones. The brand was Augusto 2003 IGT Ravenna Rosso for $17 euros per bottle.

We spent a delightful two hours at the bottega and then visited a few tourist shops in Ravenna before making our way back to the bus and ship. After visiting Ravenna, I swore that when I returned to the States I would buy a mosaic kit and try to make a small patio table top – to commemorate my visit to such an amazing place.

The Unique Refosk Grape of Slovenia in the Fairytale Port of Koper

2011-11-16T06:03:00.000-08:00

Sept. 2011 - Our first port of call was Koper, Slovenia. It was delightful to wake up in the morning on Royal Caribbean and have coffee on the balcony while we watched the shoreline of Slovenia come into view. Koper is a small city and there is no need to pay for transportation from the ship. It is only a five minute walk into the charming old town - albeit you do have to climb a hill.

The city has cobble stone streets, an old castle with high walls, a beautiful old church which we ducked inside to attend part of a mass, and a lovely town square that was set up with a small farmers market on Sunday morning. Most of the shops were open for the ship tourists, and there were some good sales on shoes and clothes. A small play with two donkeys was taking place in the square and I found the town charming and delightful -- rather like a scene from a fairytale.

After shopping for an hour we went to a pub called Isrska Klet Slavcek Pub to taste the locals wine. This was a recommendation of the local tourist office. I have found in my travels around Europe that the best place to get good wine advice is by stopping by these offices with the sign of "I". In Italy some of them even host wine tasting! In Koper they were very friendly and recommended this pub as the best spot for local wines. This is how I was introduced to the Refosk grape.

The pub owner was also the wine maker and he provided a tasting of three local wines for less than 2 Euros. The first was a bone dry malvasia with a subdued nose -- not the normal floral aroma - and a refreshing high acid finish.

Next was the Refosk grape which makes a red wine which is only grown in this part of Slovenia--no place else in the world, according to our host. It had a ripe red berry nose, high acid, no oak, and a medium body. It reminded me very much of a barbera, but when I voiced this opinion out loud, I upset our host who told me once again that it was only found in this region and it was not barbera. He said it was similar but different and was also known as teran and refosco. I really enjoyed it and would buy a bottle if I found it again.

We ended with a sweet muscat which had the typical floral grapey nose. It was semi-dry and also had a high acid. This was my mother’s favorite wine.

This was our second trip to Slovenia. We had visited three years ago and drove through the mountains in a rental car staying at a remote village high in the hills on our way from Croatia to Austria. It was an equally wonderful visit, and Slovenia seems to me like a perfect jewel of a country hidden away in the mountains with magical unspoiled villages and friendly people.

I really enjoyed our two hours in Koper, but after our excursion we headed back to the ship to relax for the rest of the day. We were both still jet-lagged from our long flight from California to Venice where we boarded the ship the night before. So we took a nap, lazed the pool, and then got ready for another great dinner and entertaining night on board the ship.

Visiting the Wineries of Sedona Arizona

2011-07-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

(July 13 - 21, 2011) Ironically, the most difficult issue with winegrowing in Arizona is frost. Most people find this surprising because Arizona is known for very hot temperatures, but since most of the vineyards are located in the high desert at 4200 to 5200 feet in elevation, it can get quite cold at certain times of the year. In years where the frost arrives during bud break, a large percentage of the crop can be at risk.

Arizona now boasts 45 wineries, and though I had visited wineries in the Sonorita region south of Tucson several years ago, imagine my delight when I arrived in Sedona this week (one of the most beautiful places on earth) and discovered they have 8 wineries within a 30 mile radius of the town. Sedona is already very magical with magnificent red rock formations, numerous hiking trails, great restaurants, and a mystical aura due to its vortexes. Now with the presence of small family wineries producing some very high quality wines, Sedona, located two hours north of Phoenix, is even more alluring.

Three Main Wine Growing Regions in Arizona

In addition to the Sedona region (also referred to as the Verde Valley area), there are two other grape growing areas. The oldest is the Sonorita/Elgin region south of Tucson. It has the largest number of wineries and also boasts the only AVA in Arizona at this time (Sonorita AVA). The third region is southeast of Tucson near Wilcox in Cochise County. Both of these more southern regions have larger vineyard acreage than Sedona area wineries, which often purchase the southern grapes to supplement their smaller vineyard production.

Major Grape Varietals in Arizona – A Focus on Reds

Like many newer US wine regions, it appears that Arizona is currently experimenting with many types of grape varietals. I tasted everything from nebiollo to gewürztraminer, but the wines that I preferred (and that also seem to be gaining high scores from the critics) were their reds.

I came away very impressed with several 100% grenache wines, as well as GSM’s (grenache, syrah, mouvedre) from all 3 regions. It is logical that with daytime temperature soaring into the 90’s and low 100’s that they would produce such excellent warm climate varietals. Fortunately the temperature in the high desert drops dramatically at night, so the grapes are able to preserve their flavors and acid.

Red Italian grape varietals also appear to be doing well here – especially in the Sedona area. I tasted some very nice barbera, sangiovese, and a blush nebiollo. At the same time, there were also some very decent merlots, cabernet sauvignons, blends of such, and even zinfandel.

In terms of whites, I tasted several chardonnays, but found them to have bitter finishes. Two white varietals which appear to do well here are viognier and malvasia bianca.

Favorite Arizona Wines on This Trip & Kudos to Arizona Wine Tourism

Though I must admit that I spent more time hiking in Sedona than I did tasting wine, I did manage to visit some wineries and wine-tasting rooms. One thing that very much impressed me was Arizona’s focus on wine tourism. There were several generic wine tasting businesses in Sedona and one in Cottonwood that allowed you to taste a wide variety of Arizona wines. In addition, every place I turned I found an Arizona wine brochure, map, or magazine, and the wine signage along the roads was great.
Altogether I tried 14 different wines and came away with six favorites:

2009 Dos Cabezas El Norte from Cochise County ($40) – A GSM (23% grenache, 42% syrah, and 35% mouvedre) with a bright berry nose and palate, complex spices and long finish.

2009 Page Spring Cellars from Sedona area ($40) – blend of 6 red varietals. Dark red fruit, cloves, earthy notes, complex with good acid and long finish. Similar in style and taste to a medium-bodied Super Tuscan

2010 Caduceus Cellars Dos Ladrones from Sedona area ($25) a delightful blend of malvasia bianca and chardonnay with floral nose, peach notes, good texture on palate and medium-high acid. Very refreshing.

2010 Caduceus Cellars Lei Li Rose from Sedona area ($40) –a rather unusual, though very delightful, rose of nebiollo with fragrant cherry nose, dry fruit palate, chalky tannins and a nice high acid finish.

2008 Oak Creek Vineyard Zinfandel ($35) – classic jammy zin nose, medium-bodied ripe berry fruit with spice and pepper. Made in a more elegant style with balanced alcohol and medium plus acid.

Arizona Vineyards and Terrior

I was able to visit two wineries in the Sedona area and see the vineyards. The soil is primarily volcanic. One vineyard was on level land with 8 x 12 spacing and VSP trellis. The other was on a steep rocky terrace. They both had irrigation, deer fencing, and bird netting. Since I hadn’t made advance appointments, I couldn’t find anyone in the tasting rooms who could describe rootstocks, clones, canopy management, disease, pests, etc.

At a tasting room in Sedona that featured wines from around Arizona, the pourer challenged me to identify the “terrior of the state.” One feature I found in all the wines I tasted was a ripe fruity nose – no bashful wines here. With the wines from the southern regions of Cochise County and Sonorita, I found a higher alcohol level with medium acid, and an intriguing note of dark bitter chocolate and sage. The Sedona region wines seemed to have more moderate alcohol and higher acid, but I couldn’t find any distinctive and replicating notes in the ones I tasted. Guess, I just need to go back for another visit and try more wines.

For more information on Arizona wineries, see

Winning Wisconsin Wineries

2011-07-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

(June 24-28, 2011) Did you know there are now 42 wineries in Wisconsin? This was one of the amazing facts I learned during my four day visit at the invitation of my good friend Peg. In addition to touring three wineries, we had a wonderful time sight-seeing in downtown Milwaukee. I was very impressed with the bustling businesses, the amazing architecture of the Milwaukee Art Museum, the historic mansions along Lake Michigan and the charming Third Ward. Peg also treated me to great food and wine, boat rides, and the chance to meet her fascinating friends.

We obtained a copy of the Wineries of Wisconsin Tour Guide and I was surprised to see that the wineries are spread all over the state. Wisconsin is especially known for fruit wines, such as strawberry, peach, blackberry and many others. Many of these wineries are clustered in the Door County Region. Since I am a grape wine person, we focused on visiting wineries that were best known for this and had won national awards for their wines.

Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg Wisconsin (www.cedarcreekwinery.com)

The first winery we visited was Cedar Creek during the mad rush of the Strawberry Festival. When Steve, the general manager, greeted us, he said it was one of their busiest days of the year. I was thrilled to see so many people crowding the tasting room to buy cases of wine, as well as to purchase wine by the glass and carry it around in the festival.

Despite the crazy atmosphere, Steve was kind enough to give us a guided tour of the cellar, show us the bottling line, and explain how their wine was made. Cedar Creek Winery started in 1970 and now produces around 27,000 cases per year, which is sold primarily in Wisconsin via wholesalers and direct to consumer. They are owned by Wollersheim Winery where most of the wine, with the exception of the unoaked chardonnay, is produced.

Steve said their biggest selling wine is the Cedar Creek Vidal Blanc. It is a semi-dry crisp white wine that has won numerous awards at wine competitions in the US. We tasted through 4 wines and they were all well made. My favorite was the 2010 Cedar Creek Waterfall Riesling with a lovely nose of apricot, slight residual sugar, but with such a crisp acid that the sugar is barely noticeable. Very refreshing. Since it was the Strawberry Festival, I also tried the 2010 Cedar Creek Strawberry Blush wine which is made by adding strawberry juice to vidal and seyval blanc. It was fun and sweet – like a strawberry lolli-pop; a perfect entry wine.

Cedar Creek is shipping grapes from Washington State and New York, as well as buying local fruit for the fruit wines. All together they produce 14 different wines, including a port. I left feeling very impressed at such an “energetic operation” in the charming historic town of Cedarburg.

Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac (www.wollersheim.com)

It took us about 2 hours to drive from Milwaukee to Prairie du Sac and the scenery was lovely. We drove through rolling hills covered with green trees and lakes. We passed charming farms with quaint farmhouses, tall silos, old barns, and dairy cows. The main crops we saw were corn and wheat, and I was thrilled to see so many Sandhill Cranes with their babies in the fields.

As we came to the entrance of Wollersheim Winery it was so impressive that it seemed we were in Napa or Sonoma. Of course Wollersheim has always been a famous winery and I teach my students about it in wine class because Agoston Haraszthy, the Father of California Winemaking, came here first in 1847 when he left his native Hungary. He spent two years planting grapes and trying to start a winery, but left in 1849 to start Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma. Wollersheim was purchased by a German who planted Riesling and buried the vines every year to protect them from the harsh Wisconsin winters. Eventually in 1972 the current family purchased the property.

We were greeted by Julie Wollersheim and her husband, Philippe Coquard, who came from France to Wisconsin as a student and fell in love with Julie. Today they both run the winery with Philippe making the wine and Julie managing marketing. They provided us with a fascinating 2 hour tour starting in the vineyards and culminating in the cellars where we tasted through most of their excellent wines. Wollersheim Winery produces around 54,000 cases per year and makes 18 different wines.

I was impressed to see the 24 acres of vineyard which seemed very healthy and well-tended. Spacing was wide so a tractor could easily fit between the rows – approximately 12 by 8 feet. Trellising was high to keep the grapes away from the cooler ground, and Phillipe called it a “top cordon” system. The vines are Marechal Foch, Concord, Millot, La Crosse, and St. Pepin – all hybrids that can withstand the harsh Wisconsin winters. I had never heard of St. Pepin which is used for Ice Wine, and Philippe explained that it was developed in Wisconsin and required that LaCrosse be planted next to it for fertilization – very rare now days for grapes. The other famous grape that requires another vine and the wind for fertilization is the Keknyelu grape of Hungary.

In the cellar everything was modern with stainless steel tanks for fermentation, filters, and protective gas. We started with their signature white, 2010 Wollersheim Prairie Fume, which has a lovely grapefruit and lemon nose which follows through on the palate and a crisp acid, a touch of sweetness and a long dry finish. It reminded me of sauvignon blanc, but Phillipe explained that it was 100% Seyval Blanc from New York. He has it harvested at 19 brix and shipped to Wisconsin where he performs a cool fermentation to around 10% alcohol and 1.2% residual sugar. The result is stunning, and makes a wonderful sipping and food wine – very refreshing. It has won many medals and Phillipe calls it “the wine that opened the door to our brand.”

In the barrel room we tasted the amazing 2009 Wollersheim Domaine Reserve which is 98% Marechal Foch and 2% Millot. The wine was lovely – similar to a full bodied pinot noir with red berry notes, spice, firm tannins, and a good acid. Then Phillipe invited us to taste the wine from two different barrels. The first was half Wisconsin and half French oak with Wisconsin heads – this was more tannic. The second was the same but with French heads – this was more elegant with well-integrated tannins. It was fascinating to taste the difference. Phillipe also experiments with oak from Missouri, Michigan, and Minnesota. Another interesting fact is that Phillipe is experimenting with thermo-vinification on the Marechal Foch to soften tannins.

We ended the tour by tasting their white, red, and tawny port – all good!, as well as the whiskey is he starting to make. Though the Ice Wine was not ready to taste, Julie and Phillipe were kind enough to send us home with a bottle for the future. I left Wollersheim Winery very impressed with the high quality of winemaking, and especially for the passion and innovative spirit of the owners and employees.

Vetro Winery in Concord Wisconsin (www.VetroWine.com)

On the drive back to Milwaukee we stopped at the small and charming Vetro Winery in Concord, about 4 miles off the Interstate. This was a true small family winery with the tasting room in a small building next to the family house. The view from the winery was lovely – looking down a hill towards a small pond and the vineyard.

I was again happy to see that the tasting room was busy with two other groups dropping by to taste and purchase wine. The owner, who was running the tasting room by herself, was so busy ringing up sales she had a hard time pouring for us. However, I made things easy by explaining that I only wanted to taste wines from the vineyard. She kindly poured me Vetro Winery Nun on the Run which is a dry red wine made from the Millot grape. It was similar to a light pinot noir but had a very bitter finish. I enjoyed the second wine better, which was called Vetro Winery Wap-a-tu-e. This was a blend of Delaware, Niagara, La Crosse, and Concord grapes – all American varietals or hybrids. Though sweet, it was well made and quite pleasant to drink for an aperitif with ripe berry flavors and a pleasing finish.

It was interesting to notice that the other people at the tasting bar were trying all of the fruit wines. Vetro Winery provides an excellent selection of these, including blueberry, cranberry, blackberry, cherry, raspberry, and strawberry.

My four days in Wisconsin were delightful, and I am pleased to find so many good wineries in that state. As always my heart is cheering for the small family winemakers of America!

Moseying Around Monbazillac – a Mini Sauternes

2011-06-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

June 15, 2011 – On Wednesday morning we had a lazy breakfast, then packed and cleaned our apartment before checking out. We headed towards Bergerac and the Monbazillac AOC which was only a 30 minute drive from Le Bugue. On the way we passed an amazing site of over 100 white swans on the Dordogne River. We stopped to take photos and marvel at their beauty. They appeared to be feeding in the river, and were in a section that was covered with the tiny white flowers that grace the river in such an exotic fashion. An artist was sitting on the river bank painting the swans, and we both thought of Mom who would most likely be doing the same thing.

As it was around 1:30pm when we approached the city of Bergerac, we decided to go directly to Monbazillac for lunch before the restaurants closed at 2pm. We ended up at the charming Restaurant A La Grappe d’Or where the owner personally greeted us. Having spent the last 3 days in the Dordogne over-indulging in foie gras and duck, we decided we wanted anything but duck or goose. We had to laugh when the first 3 main courses on the menu were duck, duck, and duck (canard prepared in 3 different ways). Michelle jokingly said the next item must be “goose.” It was listed as Brochette La Gourmand, and I suggested it might be grilled beef or lamb on a stick. However, when we asked the server, we had to laugh when she told us it was grilled duck heart on a brochette – of course! We finally found a fish and chicken dish that was delightful, and the daily soup and terrine were served in large bowls family-fashion – very tasty!

After lunch we drove the few kilometers to one of the most famous wineries in the region – Chateau d’ Monbazillac originally built in 1322 (see photo). As we drove along the small and charming roads, I couldn’t help but compare the region to Sauternes and found it equally appealing, though different. It has low rolling hills like the Sauternes and Barsac region, but the sauvignon blanc and semillion vines are more widely spaced and they are allowed to grow higher. There are also fewer large chateaux, but many small domains. The Dordogne river provides moisture to the area so that in good vintages they achieve the noble rot needed to make the fabulous botrytis wines.

Chateaux d’ Monbazillac

Chateau d’ Monbazillac is one of the most impressive wineries in the region. It is perched on a hill with a commanding view of the valley below. A historical site, it provides a large shaded parking lot and an impressive tasting room (complimentary) and wine shop. You can also wander through the vineyards and around the castle free of charge. If you choose to enter, the cost was only 6 euros, and we enjoyed the self-guided tour with English descriptions of more than 16 furnished rooms. As the temperature was hovering in the high 80’s that day, we were happy to find that all the buildings were air-conditioned.

I enjoyed tasting (spitting) the sweet wines of Monbazillac. They included their own brand as well as a few neighboring estates. Coming from Napa/Sonoma where tasting fees are getting extremely high, it was amazing to find that they are willing to let you taste as many wines as you want complimentary. We tried 4 different vintages of the Monbazillac, and I ended up buying the 2008 Chateau Monbazillac because it had a higher acid and more subdued fruit than the 2007 (even though I knew 2007 was a better year). The Monbazillac wines seem to be lighter in texture than Sauternes, but still enjoyable. They had the typical mushroom/honey nose of botyris (except the 2003 when the summer was so hot no botrytis occurred), and satisfying apricot/peach and honey on the palate.

After our tasting, it was time to head back to Bordeaux to catch our 8pm flight to London. We savored driving through the lovely country-side with winding roads, flowers, horses, and pale yellow limestone houses. Eventually we hit the interstate and made it to the airport with two hours to spare. I had to agree with Michelle, who told the BA rep when we checked in, “I am not ready to leave France.”

Upon reaching Gatwick, we took a bus to our hotel and went down to the very British pub to have a very British beer. The next morning, we took a taxi to Heathrow, had a late breakfast and both caught our flights back home. I was able to fly Business Class on the way back, and though I missed the pajamas and nice sheets of First Class, it was still nice to be able to sleep on a flat bed.

The Wines of Bergerac – A Mini-Bordeaux

2011-06-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

During the four delightful days we spent in the Dordogne, the main wine region represented in every restaurant was Bergerac. Each “verre de vin blanc, rouge, or rose” we ordered was always from a Bergerac appellation, but since the 13 AOC’s in the Bergerac region are part of the department of the Dordogne, that makes sense.

Before leaving home, I checked my wine atlas to verify the types of grapes allowed in Bergerac wines, and they are identical to Bordeaux – for the most part. Bergerac reds are a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc (Bordeaux is also using petit verdot, but has pretty much stopped adding malbec). Roses are made from any or all of these three red grapes, and whites are a blend or single source of sauvignon blanc, semillon and/or muscadelle. Nearby is the Monbazillac AOC (see next post), which produces a famous botrytis dessert wine from the same white grapes.

Having just spent 4 days in Bordeaux, it was easy to compare the two. In general, I found the wines of Bordeaux to have more elegance and complexity. However, we did find some lovely Bergerac white wines – one that was 100% Semillon and quite amazing. The reds were very tannic and astringent, while the roses were refreshing yet simple. The sweet dessert wines of Monzabillac were probably the best aspect of Bergerac.

On our last day, we visited Cave Julien de Sauvignac which produces Bergerac wines, but is located in Le Bugue – about 30 km from the city of Bergerac. We received excellent service with an English speaking sommelier manning the counter that day. We tasted through (spit) 3 roses, 3 whites, 4 reds, and 3 dessert wines. Again, I found I preferred the unoaked whites and dessert wines over the more tannic reds and simple roses. The tasting was completely free as is the case with most wineries in the Bergerac region, and I purchased a small bottle of the dessert wine and some truffle oil before departing. The winery was located in an amazing wine shop that included a fabulous collection of wines from across France including verticals of Petrus and most of the 1st growths of Bordeaux.

One interesting point is that in all 3 wineries we visited in Cahors and Bergerac, we passed local French people carrying out large containers of house wine in big plastic jugs or boxes. Michelle was amazed, and I explained that it is the custom for locals to bring their own containers and buy direct from the winery. They usually fill it up out of tank or barrel, and then wheel it out to their car on a small cart. This used to be the custom in California as well, but now there are only a handful of wineries that still practice this delightful service, which is also good for the environment in terms of recycled containers.

Visiting Cahors Malbec Wineries – The Black Wine of the Middle Ages

2011-06-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

June 14, 2011 –We took the back roads from Le Bugue to Cahors arriving in the city via D9 through the little towns of Espere and Mercues. On the way out of Le Bugue we were sidetracked for an hour when we ran into the weekly open air market on Tuesday mornings. It was a wonderful market with plenty of food – olives, foie gras, cheeses, truffles, wine, etc – as well as clothes, jewelry and household items. When we finally got back on the road it took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to drive to Cahors, passing through beautiful countryside and an incredibly charming town along the way called Belves.

I wanted to travel to Cahors because it is one of the few French wine areas I have not yet visited. In the Middle Ages it was famous for making “black wine” from the Malbec grape, and is still heralded as the birthplace of Malbec – even though Argentina now reigns as world champion producer of that grape. Interestingly, Cahors was exporting wine long before the Bordeaux wine industry even started.

The ancient city of Cahors is situated on a dramatic peninsula in the middle of the Lot River. It was originally settled by the Celts before being taken over by the Romans in 50BC. We actually saw the stones of an old Roman amphitheater when we parked in the garage under Gambetta Square. Also equally fascinating was the beautiful and ancient Valentre Bridge spanning the river with its two towers and curving arches. We had a quick lunch at a sidewalk café before stopping by the Tourist Office for a wine map of the region. They sent us out of the city via Pradines where many of the chateaux are clustered. I asked to visit a large winery, as well as a small one. They called ahead to Cave des Cotes d’Olt to make an appointment for us, and then suggested we just drop by other wineries to see if they were open. The wineries in this region do not charge tasting fees, but she warned that some of the owners may be working in the field as most were small family operations.

Caves des Cotes d’Olt

Caves des Cotes d’Olt is a large cooperative with multiple labels at different prices points. It is housed in an impressive stone building, and was a good place to start as an introduction to the region’s famous malbec grape. The lady operating the tasting room couldn’t speak English, but we managed with my smattering of tourist French. Her first question was whether we liked “pas tannic” or “plus tannic.” I requested that we start with the low tannin reds after tasting some roses. All three malbec roses were delightful with a dry, off-dry, and semi-sweet style. The latter reminded me of a white zinfandel. All three were very refreshing and fruity, under 4 euros per bottle, and would do well in the US market.

Moving onto the reds, we tasted through 5 different labels (spitting, of course) starting at 4 euros and going up to 16 euros at the high end. The first Malbec was a 2009 unoaked in a simple and fruity style with smooth, though large tannins. The next three were the traditional black and brooding malbecs of Cahors with earthy notes, dark fruit, huge tannins and a higher acid than Argentinean malbecs. My sister, Michelle, didn’t care for them that much, but I ended up buying the 2002 Le Paradis Cahors which was aged in new oak for 16 months. It won a gold medal at the Challenge International Du Vin Competition and was 14.80 euros.

I then asked if we could try another wine with less tannins and the lady brought out a 2010 Demon Noir Malbec which received a gold medal from the 2011 Concours des Feminalise Competition in Beaune (a women’s wine competition!). This wine amazed me because I thought I was tasting a malbec from Argentina or California. It was completely New World in style with very ripe and sweet fruit complemented by big, velvety tannins. The label was also New World with an adorable and quite memorable “demon.” I asked if they were exporting the wine, and she said she wasn’t sure – or perhaps didn’t understand my question. I can’t help but wonder if this is one of Cahor’s competitive responses to the tidal wave of Argentina sweeping the world. Michelle loved it and immediately bought a bottle for the very nice price of 4.80 euros.

Chateau St. Didier, Chateau de Grezels and Prieure de Cenac

After leaving Cotes d’Olt we drove around the small roads winding through the malbec vineyards trying to decide which chateau to visit next. There were many choices with good signage pointing towards charming limestone houses surrounded by flowers. Finally we decided on a group of 3 wineries making wine in one location near the River Lot -- Chateau St. Didier, Chateau de Grezels and Prieure de Cenac. Walking into a large room with a sign that announced “Degustation and Vente de Vin” (wine tasting and sales), we were greeted by a nice lady who led us to the tasting bar and poured 4 wines from the 3 estates, with the 4th being a rather expensive special vineyard selection. All of the wines were in the traditional Cahors style with massive tannins, dark fruit, and truffle notes…but I was impressed with the fragrant berry nose of all the wines. I ended up buying the 2007 Chateau de Grezels Cahors for 5.80 euros. It was aged in oak for 12 months and was a selection of the 2011 Le Guide Hachette Des Vins.

The whole conversation was again in French, but we were able to understand that 20 to 30% merlot had been added to the wines. Later I checked the official percentage of malbec that is required for Cahors and found it is 70% minimum, but wineries are allowed to add up to 30% of merlot and/or tannat.

The vineyards around the chateaux appeared to be wider spacing than Bordeaux – perhaps 4 by 6 feet with a single caned pruned arm (guyot). The vines were allowed to grow quite high for France – at least 5 feet. I wasn’t sure if this was because of the vigor of malbec (if often needs a kicker cane because it grows so fast), or because they just hadn’t had a chance to trim them yet. If we had more time, I would have done more research and made advance appointments with someone who could have explained the vineyards, but I wasn’t even sure we were going to get to Cahors. Now I am very glad we came. It is a charming, beautiful, and non-touristy area which is enjoyable to visit.

Delightful Dordogne – Land of Foie Gras, Truffles, Medieval Cities, Castles and Caves

2011-06-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

June 12 – 15 – We departed Bordeaux around 10am on Sunday morning taking the toll way to the Montignac exit – one of the entry points to the Dordogne region. We arrived just before noon and were completely enchanted with the charming little town decorated with flower streamers above the streets. We found a quaint restaurant with outdoor tables along the river, and proceeded to order a foie gras salad and a half a carafe of Bergerac Blanc – made primarily of sauvignon blanc and muscadelle.

After lunch we wandered around the town and found an ice cream shop with an amazing assortment of flavors including rose, violette, and pampelmouse rose (pink grapefruit) – which I ordered. We purchased our tickets for the Lascoux prehistoric caves and found we had a couple of hours to spare, so we drove a few kilometers to the Chateau de Losse.

Chateau de Losse

Chateau de Losse is an ancient castle on the river, built in the 1300’s, complete with moats and beautiful formal gardens. Cost was $8.50 euros per person. We viewed the gardens and fountains first, before touring the castle with a French speaking guide. Helpfully they provided us with an English brochure so we could understand what was being communicated. The rooms of the castle were beautifully decorated in antiques and every effort had been made to renovate it authentically.

Lascoux II Cro-Magnon Caves with Prehistoric Paintings

One of the major tourist attractions of the Dordogne are the many prehistoric caves sprinkled throughout the region. We had Rick Steve’s Travel Guide 2009 with us, so we decided to take his advice and go to Lascoux II first. It is an exact reproduction, including humidity and temperature, of the original Lascoux I caves which are now closed to the public due to damage that was caused from too many visitors breathing on the paintings.

We had registered for the 2:30pm English tour for $8.50 euros. Wearing sweaters we followed the guide down a flight of stairs into the two caves. It was definitely chilly inside, but as the tour only lasted 40 minutes it was not that bad. Our guide began with the story of how the caves were discovered by 3 teenagers and their dog in the 1940’s. The dog chased a rabbit and accidently fell down a hole. When the teens went to rescue him they found a passageway into the caves.

The walls are covered with more than 100 paintings of horses, bull, deer, and other animals. Our guide did a great job explaining how they were developed over the centuries and pointing out the exquisite craftsmanship needed to paint such large scale paintings more than 15,000 years ago. We were very impressed, and I would highly recommend the tour. There are also several other caves nearby with original, rather than reproduced paintings, but none are as large or complete as Lascoux.

The Charming Village of Le Bugue

After the cave tour, we drove 40 minutes on a small road along the river that passed many historic sites. At one point we stopped at a foie gras farm with over 100 geese in a large park like setting. They encourage visitors to go on tours to show that the geese are not treated inhumanely, and that every part of the goose is used – including feathers, meat, and foie gras liver.

Eventually we came to the small village of Le Bugue where our hotel, Vacanes Residences (only $69 per night on Hotels.com) was located. It took several telephone calls before we found it on the outskirts of town surrounded by rolling hills. It is a charming family oriented apartment complex with large sunny pool. We had 2 separate bedrooms upstairs and a living room/dining room with outdoor patio complete with table and umbrella. The only thing they forgot to mention is that we had to rent towels and sheets. Despite that, we enjoyed our three nights there.

After unpacking and taking a nap, we headed into town for dinner around 8:30pm, but made the mistake of stopping for a pastis at a river side bar in Limuel. By the time we looked for a restaurant, they were all closing at 9:30pm. I had forgotten how much France shuts down on Sunday. After being turned away from the 4th restaurant, the lady took pity on us and gave us directions to a take-out pizza parlor. So our first night in Le Bugue, we had pizza and a great bottle of 2009 Chateau Baron Le Mayne, AOC Bordeaux wine in our outdoor patio. It was my first taste of the legendary 2009 vintage, and even though it was an inexpensive wine, it was very fruity, full-bodied, with good length. Michelle said it was her favorite red Bordeaux of the trip….but then, it was a 2009!

Magical Dordogne Towns – Beynac, La Roque, Sarlat, Le Domme and Castlenaud

June 13, 2011 - Per Rick Steve’s book, we took his advice and booked a boat tour at Beynac. It was one of the highlights of the trip as we were able to see 4 castles from the Dordogne River within one hour. Afterwards we had a very nice prix fixe lunch at LaRiveria Restaurant overlooking the river in Beynac. We copied all the French families eating there and ordered a wonderful half bottle of Bergerac Rose.

After lunch we drove to La Roque and marveled at how the city was built into the cliffside. As the day was getting quite hot – in the high 80’s – we went back to our apartment for a lazy swim in the pool and nap. Then we drove to Sarlat and followed Rick Steve’s walking tour of that amazing medieval city. He said to visit most of these places in the evening as they are less crowded and cooler. He was right! Sarlat had to be one of the most beautiful ancient cities I’ve ever seen. There were so many charming restaurants – all decorated in pink, yellow, or orange tablecloths with glowing candlelight -- that it was almost impossible to pick one. But we eventually did and had a great fish meal with a bottle of 100% Semillon Bergerac blanc.

June 14, 2011 – the next day we attended the wonderful Farmer’s Market in Le Bugue and then drove to Cahors (see post below). On the way back, we stopped for a drink in the hilltop walled town of Le Domme and Michelle swore she would come back some day and stay in the hotel on the cliffs. Next we drove the few minutes to Castlenaud – another amazing ancient castle on the cliffs, and then ended up back in Beynac for a wonderful dinner on the river again. This time I had goose gizzard, which was surprisingly filling and reminded me of beef stew. After dinner we walked around the deserted Beynac castle and gasped when a full moon rose up over the valley and walls. We had the whole magical landscape to ourselves, and it felt like we had fallen into a fairytale.

Excellent Time at Bar a Vin and Le Mably Restaurant in Bordeaux

2011-06-24T08:21:00.001-07:00

June 11, 2011 – After our field trip in the Medoc, we arrived back in Bordeaux around 6pm and immediately walked to the Bar a Vin for happy hour. This is a great wine bar in downtown Bordeaux which is sponsored by the CIVC. It is a good introduction to the wines of Bordeaux with all regions represented and excellent prices – with many of the wines only $2 euros per glass. Very modern and eclectic décor; it is a great place to hang out.

Eventually about 20 wine business professors congregated at Bar a Vin, and around 7pm 15 of us decided to go for an early dinner at Le Mably Restaurant. It was only a couple of blocks to walk there and we were immediately seated in a back private room without reservations. This is because most people don’t eat in France until around 8pm.

The best feature of Le Mably is the $18 euro prix fixe menu with 3 excellent courses. I started with the foie gras salad, then had a wonderful fresh fish course with vegetables, and concluded with a decadent crème custard dessert. Before we knew it, some of the more enthusiastic members of our group had ordered many bottles of wine and we proceeded to have a long and very fun dinner with many jokes and entertaining stories. When we all departed with lots of hugs, everyone agreed it was one of the most fun evenings of the trip.

Field Trip to Chateau Gruaud-Larose and Chateau Maucauillou

2011-06-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

June 11, 2011 – We slept in on Saturday morning, then drove to downtown Bordeaux to park in their underground parking structure. Then we had brunch at a charming sidewalk café before boarding the bus which headed to the Medoc for a tour of two wineries. When we saw the names of the wineries – Gruaud Larose and Maucauillou – people laughingly said they must have selected the two most difficult winery names to pronounce. Most marketing textbooks recommend selecting a product name that is easy to spell and pronounce, but this is not always the case in Bordeaux.

Chateau Gruaud-Larose – Elegance and History
This chateau, located in St. Julien, was started in 1725 and has 80 hectares of vines. We started in the vineyard and enjoyed see the gravely soil and learning that the grand cru is only created from old vines (25 to 80 years of age). In the cellar, they use concrete tanks for primary fermentation with 2 pump-overs per day for the first 9-10 days and a total of 23 days for maceration. Secondary fermentation takes place in large oak foudres for the grand cru. Interestingly they blend everything after fermentation and then age 16 months in 70% new French oak barrels, topping every 2 weeks and racking every 3 months.

In the tasting room, I was surprised to see that they are selling some wine direct to consumer – but you must make an appointment to visit, as is the case with most Bordeaux grand cru chateaux. We tasted 2 wines, beginning with the second label, Chateau Sarget 2002. It had a ripe cassis nose with dark fruit and earth on the palate. It was a medium-bodied wine, lightly oaked with a medium to long finish. Good for food, and still rather astringent for a 2002.

The next wine was my favorite -- Chateau Gruaud-Larose 2001. It was nice they let us taste some of the older vintages. 2001 is usually over-shadowed by the brilliant 2000, but it is still quite enjoyable. This wine tasted very fresh, and still has 8-10 more years in the bottle. It was a dark red opaque color with a dense fruit nose and tobacco, earth, toast, and gravel edge on the palate – very complex, good intensity, well-balanced, and long finish. It was instructive to see and taste how careful sorting of grapes and different winemaking distinguishes the grand cru from the second label.

Chateau Maucauillou – Whimsy and a Great Museum

Chateau Maucauillou was started in 1871 in the Moulis region. It is considered to be a “Cru Bourgeois,” though the designation has now been dropped in Bordeaux. Regardless this distinction indicates it is of higher quality than a generic AOC Bordeaux. The first impressive I received upon entering the estate was one of delightful whimsy reflected in the large bronze bull on the lawn in front of the country-house chateau and the two roosters on the entry sign shaped from a large black ball (see photo). After disembarking from the bus, we had to wait 15 minutes for our tour guide who was running behind schedule, however she did provide an informative and quick tour of the cellars.

A unique aspect of their winemaking is that they ferment in stainless steel at rather low temperatures for Bordeaux red varietals – approximately 21 degrees Celsius – which is a technique usually adopted for pinot noir and zinfandel, rather than cabernet sauvignon and friends. The purpose is to maintain the fresh fruit aromas and notes in the wine. They also construct the blend after aging individual lots for 18 months in 100% new French oak barrels.

As this was my first time to taste this brand, I was disappointed to find they only opened the 2007 Chateau Maucauillou -- my least favorite vintage. Though it did start with a beautiful nose of ripe berries (most likely from the cool ferment), it did not follow through on the palate. Instead we were greeted with a medium-bodied wine with high acid, astringent tannins and a bitter finish. Hopefully I will be able to try this wine on another occasion with a better vintage.

After the tasting we had time to visit the wonderful wine museum, which is a special feature of Chateau Maucauillou. Definitely worth the time!

AWBR Conference at Bordeaux Business School Plus Dinners at Chateau Giscours and Millesima

2011-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

June 8 - 11, 2011 – Another Academy of Wine Business Conference (AWBR) with the location this time at the Bordeaux Business School. This was my 4th visit to Bordeaux and I always enjoy the city because it reminds me of a “little Paris.” With just over 1 million people including the suburbs, Bordeaux has an amazing downtown that was renovated with the UNESCO World Heritage grant to bring it back to its 18th century glory. Sidewalk cafes, fountains, statues, and beautiful buildings enchant along the Garonne River.

The conference was enjoyable with over 80 academic wine papers spread over 3 days. I spent most of my time in sessions on wine social media, branding, and consumer behavior. In the evenings, the conference committee planned exciting dinners for us. As I was traveling with my sister, Michelle, this time she was able to accompany us.

Enchanting Dinner at Chateau Giscours

On Thursday, June 9, the Union Des Grands Crus de Bordeaux sponsored at dinner at the beautiful Chateau Giscours (see photos) in Margaux. Michelle and I drove from our hotel near the airport, and it only took about 25 minutes to arrive. We were greeted by one of the owners who was very excited because she had just negotiated the 2010 en primeur price that day and achieved a 10% increase over 2009.

At the welcome reception we started with Chateau Giscours Rose 2009 which paired well with the foie gras and cheese appetizers. When more than 100 of us sat down to dinner, they announced we would be drinking 2007 vintages for the evening from a variety of member producers. I wasn’t that pleased with the news because 2007 was a cool and wet season in Bordeaux resulting in high acid, astringent tannins, and lighter body. However, most of the wines worked well with food.

The first course was pate with salad paired with a white Bordeaux. The main course was grilled steak paired with 2007 St. Estephe which was so tannic that we had to ask for a Margaux. Everyone at the table was much happier with the softer Merlot dominant wine. The cheese course brought much delight in that a 2004 Chateau Giscours grand cru was poured as a complement. This was the favorite wine of the night, and showed some complex secondary notes, more integrated tannins, and a fuller body with longer finish. Even though 2004 isn’t considered close to the greatness of 2005, it was much more enjoyable than the 2007 reds. However, we ended with a raspberry crème cake paired with a 2007Chateau Doisy Daene Sauternes which put most people in a state of rapture. As our host informed us, though 2007 was not as great in the Medoc, it was perfect in Sauternes.

Celebration Dinner at Millesima

Friday evening after the conference, the celebration dinner was in downtown Bordeaux at Millesima – an amazing wine shop and cellar housed in a historic warehouse. Millesima is both a negotiant and a wine retailer, and has locations across France. The dinner was sponsored by the Union des Maisons de Bordeaux, and began with a tour through the cellars where was passed cases of famous labels, including all the first growths. However, we did not get to taste those wines, but were treated to other member wines from Bordeaux, plus our wines from around the world.

This was our traditional celebration dinner where we each brought a bottle of wine from our country. My contribution was Opus One, which was so popular the bottle was tasted and consumed by more than 30 people in less than one minute! Dinner was three courses and consisted of scallops to begin, grilled duck/beef as the main, and raspberry sorbet with crepes for dessert.

The Unique Vineyards of Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

I would like to conclude this review of my wine trip to Mendoza, Argentina with an overview of the vineyards (see previous postings for winery details). In all my travels to the wine regions of the world, I have come to recognize that the soul of a wine is within the vineyard. It is the source of all great wines, and each place on earth is quite different and special. This is also true of Argentina -- especially Mendoza with its desert-like climate, sandy soils, and reliance on the snow in the Andes for water.

During our welcome orientation, we were informed that in 2009 Argentina produced 1.6 million tons of grapes with 220,000 hectares of vineyards, but that 80% of all Argentine wine comes from Mendoza. The Mendoza region includes three major areas: 1) Maipu near the city of Mendoza; 2) Lujan de Cuyo (the first and only DOC in Argentina) and the Uco Valley to the south of Mendoza; and 3) San Rafael to the far south. Since this is the Southern Hemisphere the further south you go, the colder the climate.

Vineyard altitude in the Mendoza region ranges from 1800 to 3300 feet above sea level. The soil is sandy with some clay. Climate is continental.

Malbec is the main varietal in Mendoza, but they also produce Bonarda (called Charbono in the US), Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, and Chardonnay/Pinot Noir for sparkling. A small amount of Torrentes is grown here, but most is imported from Salta. Finally, they still grow a large amount of the bulk wine grapes, Cereza and Criolla Grande.

In the vineyard there is no one rootstock or clone that has been deemed the best. Instead everyone appears to be experimenting with different types. They also use different trellis and spacing systems – the most common being VSP with cane pruning for malbec on 4x8 feet spacing. However, some still use the traditional pergola (very high trellis), and a few were using tightly spaced guyot. Others preferred VSP with cordon.

They are in the midst of pruning now since it is winter, and I was intrigued with the light brown plant fiber they used to tie the vines – instead of the ugly plastic green tape we use in the States. I was told a side industry has started to produce these ties which are made from river tule and is biodegradable (see photo).

The other unique thing about their vineyards is the yards of hail netting used (see photo). At first I thought it was bird netting and couldn’t understand why they had it up during the winter. However they informed me that they often have hail storms in the spring and summer and so they leave the netting up most of the time. Luis told me that they often have hail the size of baseballs, and that it can destroy a vineyard in a few minutes of they do not use netting.

Irrigation is either flood or drip. Jimena told me that for her 3 hectare vineyard she is allotted 45 minutes of water every 10 days. The water is very precious and comes from the snow in the Andes (see photo). Larger more modern vineyards use drip irrigation, and newer ones have had to dig wells, but high salinity in the water can be an issue.

What I didn’t realize until I arrived in Mendoza is that it is actually a desert. Grapes could not survive here without water. In fact when they’ve experimented with dry farming, the vines die because there is no water retention in the sandy soil. The whole landscape reminded me of Albuquerque, New Mexico with the high mountains and desert. It was also similar to the ancient grape city of Turpan in China that I visited last year where they had to bring water from the mountains in underground canals.

Since I was here in September, which is very early Spring (some buds were just forming on the cherry and willow trees), harvest is usually in February/March. Almost all vineyards are hand-harvested, and there is very little mechanization. Workers currently are recruited from Bolivia and Northern Argentina. It is a law that all wineries must provide worker housing – which is more progressive than US law. Though I asked if they were concerned about loss or reduction of their workforce to more attractive jobs, they said no. Indeed the low cost of labor here is one of the reasons they are able to keep their wine prices so low. I was told by Jimena that there are many poor people in Argentina, and that often the locals will also help with harvest and pruning.

Lunch at Bodega Ruca Malen, Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 4, 2010)We had an appointment for a winery tour and lunch at Ruca Malen Winery, but when we arrived the hospitality manager recommended we have lunch first because the dining room was filling up quickly. In fact the restaurant is so popular they were completely booked for the weekend, and had reservations through next April 2011.

Once we were seated, I could see why it was so popular. The dining room was small, but is located inside a glass room in the vineyards with a view of the Andes. Once again the menu was amazing – a 5 course meal with 2 ounce wine pairings for $150 pesos (approx. $35 US). They only do lunch – no dinner, because they want people to have the magnificent view.

I was intrigued with the name of the winery, which is actually in the ancient language of the original people who settled in Argentina. It means “Home of Women.” Indeed their logo is a woman with her head thrown back (see photo). Very memorable. I did ask where the native people lived, and the response was that many had moved to Northern Argentina. Some are apparently decedents of the Incas, whereas others are separate tribes. Like California, there do not seem to be many of the original habitants still living in the area.

The first course was quinoa with lemon citric mousse paired with Yauquen Chardonnay 2009. The appetizer was exquisite and also lovely to look at (see photo); whereas the wine was very refreshing. It is an unoaked chardonnay with subtle green apple fruit, crisp acid and a dry finish. We were told that “Yauquen” means “sharing” in the native language.

The second course was a spicy meat brochette with pumpkin and walnut empanada and chimichurri sauce. It was paired with the Yauquen Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 – an interesting choice because the wine was so young that it wasn’t that recognizable as a cab. It was very fruity and fresh, and needed more time in bottle.

Third course was fresh cheese, leek and olive terrine with pine mushrooms. It was served with the Ruca Malen Merlot 2005. In a blind tasting, I would have placed the merlot in Chile because it had the same sweet edge with herbal notes.

The main course was steak - -a grilled tenderloin with cassis sauce. This was served with my two favorite wines of the day: 1) the Ruca Malen Malbec 2007 – a very satisfying dark berry malbec with velvety texture and moderate oak. Simple, but very pleasing; and 2) Kinien Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 – excellent with fine-grained tannins, dark dried fruit, med+ acidity, well –integrated French oak and a long finish. The manager informed us that this course was a permanent fixture on the menu, whereas the chefs had freedom to change the other courses to suit their whim.

Dessert again included two stages. The first was called a pre-dessert and was a delightful chardonnay, lemon and rosemary granitee. This was followed by a banana wrapped in crepe with white chocolate sauce. They served this with a delightful Ruca Malen Chardonnay 2007 with a sweet finish. We concluded with espresso, and discovered that we had run out of time to tour the winery. If we didn’t leave then, I would miss my flight.

We raced back to Club Tapiz to finish packing, and after a flurry of hugs and kisses, I said good-bye and stepped into a taxi. The flight time home was 23 hours from departing Mendoza at 5:30pm and arriving in San Francisco the next day at 12:30 pm (a four hour time difference.) This included a transfer in Santiago again with a 2.5 hour layover; then 9 hours to Miami (arriving at 4:30am – ugh!); a 4 hour layover, and then 5 hours more of flying. It was not enjoyable, but the time in Argentina was absolutely delightful.

Visiting Bodega Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 4, 2010) The next day (my last day) dawned bright and sunny – of course! After a late and leisurely breakfast, I went into the spa and did a few exercises before checking in for my 9:30 massage. Both Patricia and Angelica had encouraged me to schedule one, and I was very pleased I did. The masseuse was excellent, with very soothing long strokes, and the cost was amazing at 150 pesos, or $35 US.

At 11am, Jimena and her finance arrived to take Isabelle and I to Bodega Catena Zapata. Neither of us had ever visited this very famous winery – akin to Mondavi/Opus One in reputation. It is also part of the largest wine group, Esmeralda, in Argentina. It was about a 30 minute drive from Club Tapiz and we stopped to take several pictures of vineyards with the snow-capped Andes in the background.

Probably the most amazing thing about Bodega Catena Zapata is the architecture. It is a 3 level pyramid shaped adobe building, which looks similar to Santa Fe buildings. Some people say it is based on Inca design – regardless, it is beautiful to behold. The approach is also impressive, with a long dirt road leading through vast vineyards with the winery at the end (see photo).

We did not have time for a tour, so instead we wandered around inside and climbed the stairs to the top level to view the vineyards and Andes (see photo from top level). The barrel room was also impressive, set up in a semi-circle and reminiscent of Opus One’s barrel room. We did not taste any wine, but I have attended a private tasting of their wines in San Francisco hosted by the daughter, Laura. The wines are excellent and sophisticated, with multiple brands. Probably the most well know in the US market is Alamos Malbec.

One point I wanted to mention about Mendoza wineries, is that you are required to schedule an advance appointment before you visit. In this way, they are similar to France. However, what is different are the large security gates with guards that block the entrance to each winery. When I asked why this was the case, I was told that they had problems in the past with tourists being robbed by poor people entering the winery grounds. Therefore, no one is allowed access to any of the large famous wineries without an appointment.

Dinner at Club Tapiz Restaurant, Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 3, 2010) After my 90 minute nap, I hit the gym and hot tub at Club Tapiz before getting ready for dinner. We had dinner reservations at 1884 in Mendoza, but everyone was so full from finishing lunch at 5:30 that we cancelled and scheduled a 9:30 dinner at the Club Tapiz Restaurant instead. Four of us attended (Yerco from Chile, Isabel from Spain, Nelson from Buenos Aires and me). As you can imagine, not speaking Spanish was an issue, but they were all kind enough to include me in the conversation and speak a combination of English and Spanish.

I had heard great things about the restaurant from others who had eaten lunch and dinner there before, but this was my first meal besides breakfast. All of the good reviews were correct, because my food was excellent. I started with a glass of sparkling wine from Chandon Argentina (extra brut again!), and had this with a fresh green salad which was excellent. For the main course, I decided to order a steak again – because, after all, I was in Argentina, the land of beef; and I was flying home the next day. Yerco also ordered steak. We paired this with the Mendell Malbec 2007, which was excellent (see earlier review).

Nelson and Isabelle ordered dessert, but I decided to try Fernet instead (see photo), which Gonzalo had told me was all the rage in Argentina. Many young people drink it in nightclubs mixed with coca-cola. It is similar to Yagermeister in that it is made from herbs and is a digestive. Nelson insisted they pour me a large glass (no coke) so that we could all taste it. I was expecting it to taste bitter, and therefore was pleasantly surprised when I found it to be a good after dinner drink. We also tried a “Liquor de Pomelo,” which was like a grapefruit lemoncello. It was very delicious. Wish I could have brought a bottle home.

Tour and Lunch at O. Fournier Winery in Uco Valley, Argentina

2010-09-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 3, 2010) The Uco Valley is 120 kilometers south of Mendoza. After driving for about 90 minutes, we turned down a dirt road and eventually arrived at the large and impressive gates of O. Fournier Winery. Beyond the gate was one of the most impressive and unusual wineries I have ever seen in terms of architecture. It looked like a spaceship landing site in the middle of the desert with the soaring Andes rising behind as a backdrop. The winery was started in 2000 by Jose Manuel Ortega and his wife. They are originally from Spain, and also have a winery there in Ribera del Duero as well as one in Chile.

As we drove up the large ramp to the top of the 8 story winery (6 stories buried below the ground in a gravity flow design), Jose came forward to meet us. He is a delightful man with an incredible amount of energy, vision, and a great sense of humor. By the end of the visit, we were all in love with him.

He led us on an hour tour of the winery, starting with the labs and experimental blending tanks on the top floor underneath the amazing flat roof. It was from there that we could gaze out across the vineyards in which he is experimenting with different types of rootstocks, clones, varietals, and training systems. He said they have 263 hectares with very poor sandy soil. They have to dig very deep water wells in order to avoid salinity problems. He said the biggest impact on wine quality is the weather and altitude; they are cooler in temperature and higher in altitude than Mendoza.

We then descended to the next level of the winery which was the grape arrival platform where the grapes were destemmed and crushed 50%. The must then flows downwards to the 3rd level and 4th levels into fermentation tanks, which are below ground. O. Fournier has a large number of the modern conical stainless tanks you see in Bordeaux, as well as large wooden foudres and cement tanks. Jose said they have a 1.2 million liter capacity, but only produce 600,000 liters per year. He says he prefers to keep the wine in tank or barrel 6 months before release because he believes it stays fresher. Definitely not a champion of bottle aging.

With all of the levels we used an elevator to descend, but since the floors were made of see-through grates in some places, you could easily get vertigo if you looked straight down. Descending to the barrel room, museum, and gift shop level was exciting. The barrel room looked like a work of art, and did indeed include art on the walls as part of the art museum. A large red “x” was on the floor in the barrel room (see photo) to signify the Southern Cross, which is also part of their logo on the wing of an ostrich.

Jose told us that the winery was designed to be eco-friendly, and that was why it was 80% underground to save energy. The gravity flow design also helped with this. He was clever enough to have it built during the Argentina financial crisis in the early 2000’s, which allowed him to build it for a mere $4 million. He also used fairly unknown Argentinean architects – who are now well-known—which saved costs at the time.

Around 3:30 we arrived (with stomachs growling and toes frozen) in the impressive dining room with tables looking across a pond to a stunning view of the Andes. The sun was just starting to poke out of the clouds and as we enjoyed our two hour lunch, the sky cleared and became blue. Apparently many wineries in Argentina have beautiful restaurants, and the Urban de O. Fournier Restaurant is quite famous. Jose’s wife is the chef, and is known for her innovative dishes. Unfortunately she could not be there that afternoon, so we did not meet her.

We were treated to an incredible 4 course lunch with 2 ounce wine pairings -- starting with two appetizers of causas (potatoes) and philo pastry with blue cheese in malbec puree. Jose poured two sauvignon blancs, one from his Chilean winery in Talca (which had an intense asparagus nose) and the B Crux Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from the Uco Valley which was fruity and floral. We also had the Urban Sauvignon Blanc 2010, which was lighter and fruiter.

The next course was sliced eggplant with salmorejo, croutons and eggs. This was paired with the Urban Torrentes 2010 from Salta. This wine jumped out of the glass with fragrant white flowers, peach, and a crisp acidity. I was amazed when Jose told me I could buy it for $7 at Cost Plus. This was one of the most delightful Torrentes I have tasted – quite exquisite, and I will be looking to buy a case in the States.

The third course was Argentina beef steak with potatoes. This, of course, was paired with malbec. We started with the Urban Malbec 2008, which was filled with ripe berries and soft tannins – very approachable. Next was the Alfa Crux Malbec 2008, which also was filled with ripe fruit, but had more complexity and spicy oak. Third was the higher-end O.Fournier Malbec-Syrah 2007, which spent 17 months in both French and American oak (20%). This was a big, chewy jammy wine with lots of spicy and depth. I should mention that the steak I had here was the best on the trip (and I had 3!). It was the most tender with lots of flavor.

The dessert course started with a torrentes sorbet, which was not only very refreshing but extremely novel. It was followed by a brownie with coffee ice-cream and red fruit. Of course, we had more malbec with this. In addition, Jose opened a bottle of his Ribera del Duero at our request. It was primarily tempranillo with much ripe fruit, but a touch of the earthiness and higher acidity of the old world. Very enjoyable.

We finished lunch at 5:30, and said a fond farewell to Jose. The visit was wonderful, and we shall all treasure the afternoon as a special memory. On the drive back to Mendoza, I fell asleep in the back of the van and didn’t wake up until we arrived back at the resort at 7pm.

The Pleasant Custom of Drinking Mate in Argentina

2010-09-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 3, 2010) We departed Tapiz around12:30 and drove south to the Uco Valley passing many vineyards and small towns. During the drive, Gonzalo introduced us to the custom of drinking mate. He filled his mate (small cup made of a gourd with silver rim and a silver straw – see photo) with a dried green substance that looked like tea. Indeed it is similar tasting to green tea, but has a smoky edge and high caffeine.

He filled the cup almost to the top with the green mate mixture, and then poured a small amount (perhaps ¼ cup) of hot water into it. After a minute, he sipped from the silver straw and then passed it to the next person. That person also sipped, and then passed it around the circle. The straw had a small sieve on the bottom that prevented the mate leaves from going in your mouth. It was also refilled every few sips with more hot water.

At first I was a little appalled at the germs we were all sharing, but Gonzalo explained that it was part of the experience, and that drinking mate brought you closer together. He said that Argentineans would say “let’s go get a mate,” as we might say, “let’s go get a coffee.” It is a chance to talk and get to know people better.

The taste was not great, but I can see how it could grow on you. I did enjoy having a hot drink after freezing in the vineyard, and it was a fun experience. We were all given a beautiful mate with a silver grape leaf as a speaker gift. I’m looking forward to trying it at home.

Llamas in the Vineyard at Bodega Tapiz, Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 3, 2010) After a filling breakfast of coffee, eggs, and croissants at the Club Tapiz Resort, we climbed into the van and drove a short distance to the modern Bodega Tapiz winery. It was a very cold and cloudy morning, but the 8 of us were quite excited because it was a winery fieldtrip day.

Arriving at Club Tapiz, we were greeted by the hospitality manager and invited to go on a horse-carriage ride through the vineyards. Four of us climbed aboard and covered up with blankets made of llama wool. We were able to view the malbec vines up close and see the cane pruning with the tule ties on VSP trellis. We also found cabernet sauvignon in a traditional cordon.

Soon we saw the actual herd of about 15 llamas in the vineyard (see photo). Our guide told us that the llamas ate the grass and weeds and also provided fertilizer. However they have to be moved to a separate pasture once the vines produce leaves and grapes, because they eat them. Bodega Tapiz sells llama wool, shawls, and blankets in the winery gift shop. Knitting of the products also provides jobs for some of the local people.

Next was a tour of the 120,000 case winery. It was very modern and we were able to taste sauvignon blanc and torrentes from tank. They are using Lallemand yeast for both varieties, but we didn’t receive a specific number or name of the yeast. Both wines were incredibly fruity and fresh. We also tasted a young malbec from Lujan de Cuyo in tank that would be blended with malbec in barrel. It was ripe and jammy with raspberry and big tannins – an obvious baby which needed more time. Even more structured with grippy tannins was the Uco Valley malbec, which is further south – meaning from a cooler climate in the Southern Hemisphere.

After tank tasting, we were escorted into a beautiful private tasting room with large windows overlooking the tank room. Patricia, the President and Owner, was there to greet us and invited us to sit down to a very elegant tasting of 3 special malbecs. The first was the 2007 Bodega Tapiz Reserve Malbec which had spent 14 months in French oak. It was classic with big velvety tannins and ripe blackberry fruit.

Next was a special bottle of Tapiz Bicentennial 2008 made to celebrate Argentina’s 200 years. It was a very interesting blend of 60% malbec, 30% Bonarda (charbonno), and 10% Torrentes. They were using the Torrentes in the same manner that they use viognier with syrah in the Northern Rhone – in order to provide a floral lift and intensify the color. It was very elegant with more subdued fruit and a nice acid structure.

We concluded with the Tapiz Black Tears 2006 ($30-35 in US). This was a huge, chewy intense malbec with dark berry, anise, spicy oak and velvety tannins. It had spent 24 months in 75% new French oak. This is the kind of malbec that many Americans really enjoy – a huge mouthful of flavor that does not disappoint. Our visit to Bodega Tapiz was wonderful, and we felt very welcomed with the special treatment including a horse carriage ride through the vineyard for llama viewing.

Tapas Dinner and 1974 Malbec at Bodega Norton, Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 2, 2010) After the forum, we had time for a 45 minute break at Club Tapiz Resort, and then we climbed back into the van for the short drive to Bodega Norton. I was very much looking forward to this dinner, because Bodega Norton produces my husband’s favorite malbec – the Bodega Norton Malbec Reserve. He has been buying it for the last couple of years at Costco and is very impressed with the taste, price point ($13), and high scores it receives.

We arrived at Bodega Norton around 9:30pm and were immediately greeted with a glass of sparkling chardonnay, extra brut called Bodega Norton Cosecha Especial NV. It was delicious and set off the evening with a nice festive mood. Luis, the CEO, then escorted us on a winery tour through the cellars and barrel room. The winery is quite large – usually ranked 4th or 5th largest in Argentina. Founded in 1895 by an Englishman named Norton, it is now owned by the Swarovski family in Austria (producer of the famous crystals). I was impressed by the custom stainless steel tanks which Luis had designed to match those used by Chateau Haut-Brion in Bordeaux –with the split tanks.

The tour ended in a hospitality suite with a long bar, comfortable chairs and low tables to relax and eat. This dinner was less formal and with fewer people, since many of us were tired after the long day at the forum. However, the mood soon became more festive as wine flowed and food was brought to the table. We started with the Bodega Norton Sauvignon Blanc 2010 (amazing to think 2010 wines are already on the market, since we haven’t even harvested our 2010 grapes in the Northern Hemisphere). It was like drinking a delightful glass of grapefruit juice – very fruity with a cleansing acid, but none of the gooseberry, grassy style you find in Chile or New Zealand. Actually all of the sauv blancs I tasted in Argentina were more similar to the California style.

The first tray of tapas was the traditional meat and cheese selection with many different types of salamis and prosciuttos. Next came some tasty empanadas filled with spinach and spicy meat. There were small bowls of fish chowder, mozzarella balls, and later chocolate petite fours. We paired all of these with a series of malbecs, starting with the Reserva, then moving onto the more distinctive Bodega Norton Malbec DOC 2008. The winery is actually in the center of Argentina’s only DOC, the Lujan de Cuyo region. The wine that really blew me away was the Bodega Norton Gernot Langes Cosecha 2003. It reminded me of a 2nd growth Bordeaux with excellent balance and complexity, as well as elegance with its fine-grained tannins and very long finish.

However the highlight of the evening was when Luis pulled out two dusty old bottles of malbec from the cellar. They were 1974 Bodega Norton vintage and not labeled. He wanted to prove to us that malbec does age well, and by the end of the evening we all agreed with him. However, it took about 10 minutes to open the bottle with two people attempting it (see video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38bRiGiKHfg). The cork was nearly all black when it finally came out to loud applause and cheers. We all savored the spicy, earthy flavor with a hint of dried berry and leather – almost all secondary and tertiary notes. It was more delicate than modern day malbecs, with excellent acid and smooth tannins. Again, it reminded me of drinking old Bordeaux. It was a perfect conclusion to a very wonderful and special experience at Bodega Norton.

The Secret to Making Great Malbec Wine

2010-09-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 2, 2010) During one of the breaks I was fortunate to be introduced to one of Argentina’s most famous winemakers, Roberto De La Mota. He produces a high-end brand called Mendel Malbec ($24, 90+ ratings), which I tasted on my last night in town. It was a very elegant malbec with fine-grained tannins; an excellent balance of ripe fruit, moderate French oak, med+ acid and 14% alcohol, and a long finish.

I asked Roberto the secret of making great malbec, and he said it had to do with two things: picking the grapes at the right time and ensuring the tannins are velvety and not harsh. In order to accomplish this he spends much time in the vineyard and said there was only a 3 to 5 day window in which to harvest malbec. If you missed it, the wine would not be as good.

Once harvested, he sorts it with a sorting table, destems, and then partially crushes the berries. He immediately inoculates with 1118 yeast (in fact everyone I talked to used commercial rather than natural yeast), and ferments in very small cement and stainless tanks at 25 to 26C. Once the ferment starts, he performs pigeage (gentle hand punching) every day, stating that this was the method to get the seeds to the bottom of the tank gently so they didn’t impart harsh tannins in the wine. He added that color was not an issue with malbec, because it was easily achieved due to dark purple skins.

Fermentation lasts 3 to 4 weeks. He said it was important to encourage a slower ferment in order to develop the “texture” and mouth feel for which malbec is so famous. He gently presses with a pneumatic press and ages free run and pressed wine separately. He said ML usually occurred in barrel the next spring. Elevage includes 12 months in 100% new French oak.

Roberto said he prefers to source his grapes from older malbec vineyards, and I was impressed with how many 80+ year old vineyards they have near Mendoza. He believes the older vines produce a higher quality wine.

I should mention that Yerco, an expert viticulturist from Chile, told the group that no other country in the world has been able to duplicate the unique taste of Mendoza malbec. He believes this is because the combination of sandy soil and dry winters/ springs, which cause the berries to stay small. Elsewhere they are usually larger, which results in less velvety texture and less intense flavors. Cahors, the birthplace of malbec in France, produces some wonderful malbecs, but they are quite different from Mendoza malbecs – with more tannin and higher acid. Yerco said that malbec from the USA and Chile is also not as distinctive as that from Argentina. Therefore, he believes they have a unique competitive advantage with their terrior.

6th International Wine Forum & Lunch at La Marchigiana

2010-09-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

We arrived back at the resort around 11:30 and several of us decided to share a bottle of Argentine bubbly in the sitting room near the fire. It was 100% chardonnay with an Extra Brut dosage, making it sweeter than I prefer, but I noticed that many of their sparklings were like this. Apparently they sell almost 100% of the sparkling wine to their domestic market and export very little of it.

After only 5 hours of sleep, it was time to get ready and depart for the 6th International Wine Forum to which all of us had been invited to speak. Breakfast was at 7am, and we arrived in downtown Mendoza at the conference center around 8:30am for a 9am start. All of the presentations went well, but it ended up being a very long day as we didn’t finish until 7:30pm.

I did have a lovely lunch with Gonzalo at Restaurant La Marchiagiana downtown. It is famous for both Italian and Argentinean food, so I ordered a local dish of Cordero al Malbec con pure, which is lamb cooked in Malbec. I started with a salad made of local greens, which was excellent. The lamb was very tasty, but a bit tough.

Gonzalo asked me if I wanted to try a traditional wine from Argentina to go with the food. I asked him what he meant, and he said that the newer style is made for the export market, but that many older people prefer a style which is less fruity. Of course I was intrigued, so we ordered a half bottle of Bodega Lopez 2005 Rincon Famoso, which was an intriguing blend of sangiovese, merlot and malbec. It was the color of an older pinot noir – light garnet, with a nose and palate of dried fruit with a port-like taste. It reminded me of an old Reserva from Spain, with the slightly oxidized note that added complexity to the wine.

Impressive Tapas Dinner with Tango at Nieto Senetiner Winery

2010-09-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 1, 2010) After another short rest we were transported to Nieto Senetiner Winery for what the Argentineans refer to as a “Cocktail” dinner, but which is actually a stand-up affair with many small dishes (tapas) served over the course of the evening with plentiful wine. Dress was formal so I wore the one black cocktail dress I had brought on the trip. As we climbed into the van that was sent to collect us, it started to snow very softly.

It was dark when we reached the winery around 9pm, but the large reception room was warm and bright with a blazing fire in the fireplace and flickering candles. Waiters served trays of Nieto Senetiner malbec rose, a chardonnay/viognier blend, and the entry level malbec. Later in the evening, they brought out the Nieto Senetiner Malbec Reserva, and eventually the icon wine called Cadus. All three malbecs were excellent with ripe blackberry and velvety tannins, but Cadus had more complexity and a long finish.

There were around 100 people in attendance mingling and talking in shifting groups. A four-piece orchestra played soft tango music in the background. Along one side of the long room a wall of windows looked out on an 80 year old malbec vineyard that was lighted to show-off the ancient twisting vines which seemed like sculptures. Fire pits blazed near the vines, and for a while I thought they were going to have a BBQ, until someone explained to me that the dinner would be composed completely of tapas. These ranged from huge platters of salami and cheese to small dishes of prawns, salads, and other tasty treats. The media was in full attendance taking many photos.

Around 10pm, two tango dancers arrived to delight the group with intricate and sexy tango moves (see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDIvg7nYTFI). They also danced an older version of the tango called “criollo,” which I was told was the original dance in which the man wears a hat. A man standing near me said that tango was born from a combination of African and Spanish dances, and that over the years it evolved into the sensuous moves we see today. It was truly a wonderful experience – and a perfect welcome to Argentina.

Staying at Lovely Club Tapiz Resort, Argentina

2010-09-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 1, 2010) Club Tapiz is both a winery and a resort which is set in the middle of vineyards with a stunning view of the snow-capped Andes. It is a charming adobe building with 7 rooms which open onto a central courtyard (see photo). Complete with gourmet restaurant, swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, exercise room and a spa where they give great massages for $150 Argentina pesos (about $38 US); it was a wonderful place to stay for 3 nights. Luis helped us to our rooms, encouraged us to rest, and said he would see us at dinner that evening.

I quickly unpacked so that I could be ready for the car and driver that arrived 30 minutes later to transport me back to downtown Mendoza. We arrived at a hotel meeting room where I met Jimena who had organized all of my travel arrangements and was the event coordinator for the conference. She introduced me to the 15 people from Wines of Argentina who were present for the afternoon meeting. After a working lunch of sandwiches, I gave my presentation and we discussed wine export strategy.

I was transported back to Club Tapiz by the president of the winery, Patricia, who entertained me with tales of brand management. She described how she had created the very successful wine brand, Zolo, for the US market because she was so busy as a winery executive that she never saw her husband. The terms “Zolo” means both “solo and lonely,” and so the label shows a lonely man. Patricia says the man represents her husband, and now when she travels, she can take him with her as the wine bottle. The story is so unique that it has captivated distributors and retailers in the US who repeat it to their customers, and now the wine is a huge hit.

After a quick rest in my nice room at Club Tapiz, the 8 of us who had been asked to speak at the Forum were asked to a 5pm meeting to hear an overview presentation on the Argentinean wine industry and receive gifts. We were invited to relax in a living room with a blazing fire, have coffee or wine (I chose wine!) and listen to the presentation. A very gracious welcome.

The City of Mendoza, Argentina

2010-09-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

(Sept. 1, 2010) I arrived in Mendoza safely and was met by Luis, CEO of Norton Winery. He also collected Yerco, a viticulture professor from Chile, at the same time and then drove us to our hotel, Club Tapiz. Luis was incredibly charming and welcomed us both to Argentina with much interesting information on the wine industry.

As we departed the airport, I realized it was quite small, with only one terminal. It was a cloudy winter day in the mid-50 degrees with rain in the forecast. Mendoza has approximately 600,000 people and is nestled at the base of the Andes Mountains. They tower over the city with impressive snow-capped peaks, with the largest being Aconcagua at 22,841 feet!

The city of Mendoza, like many large cities, is not as impressive in the winter. It also has many poor sections with shanty houses and graffiti. However, downtown there are many modern buildings with tree lined streets. Many streets are also lined with canals on both sides that bring the water from the Andes. What I didn’t realize is that Mendoza is actually in the high desert, and without the water from the Andes, there were would no wine industry here. The other large industry is petroleum.

After a 30 minute drive south through the city, we arrived in the outskirts of Mendoza in Lujan de Cuyo where many of the famous wineries are located. The vineyards surrounded us – looking impressive in their winter wardrobe of sculptured wood. Most of the vines had been cane pruned and were tied to VSP trellising with tan-colored strips which turned out to be a plant material made from bulrush which was biodegradable and safe for the environment. It looked much nicer than the plastic green tape we use in California.

From San Francisco to Peru, Chile and Argentina in One Day

2010-09-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

(Aug. 31, 2010) It’s an extremely long trip from San Francisco to Mendoza, Argentina, and there doesn’t seem to be any quick way to arrive. Most every connection that was affordable included changing planes 3 times. As it turned out, I was not given a choice on which airline or route to follow as my tickets were purchased by my hosts. Therefore I ended up on a LAN 9-hour flight from SFO to Lima, Peru that landed a little after midnight (3 hour time change from the West Coast). It was my first time to fly LAN—the airline of South America -- and I found that the plane was new and every seat had a TV. The food was decent and they served San Pedro sauvignon blanc and cabernet sauvignon. The staff was professional and efficient, but not overly friendly.

Once in Lima, I only had 30 minutes to change planes and go through another security check before I was on another LAN flight to Santiago, Chile which landed at 5:30am – a 3 hour interval during which I slept. Once in Santiago I had a 3.5 hour layover and was completely exhausted because it was 2:30am California time. Fortunately I stumbled across a lounge called Mistral which allowed me access at a day pass rate of $30. They had comfortable leather chairs, and I immediately fell asleep for another hour and a half before having two cups of cappuccino and macaroons. Best of all was the shower, which included all amenities and was very hot. If you ever get stuck in a long layover in Santiago, I would recommend paying the $30 to go to this lounge.

The bad news was when I came out of the shower, someone had taken my coat. I assumed an employee had hung it up, but after inquiring at the front desk and encountering much rapid Spanish discourse amongst several employees, I discovered that someone had stolen it. Security tracked them down using video cameras, and it turns out that a woman who was seated next to me took my coat and stuffed it in her backpack. They tracked her down to my flight to Mendoza, and a group of around 7 LAN employees and security people escorted her off the plane and made her give my coat back. The whole thing was rather embarrassing. I just pretended that she had mistakenly taken it. However, since it is winter in Mendoza with thick snow in the Andes, I definitely need my coat!

So now I am on the third leg of my trip, which is a short 50 minute flight from Santiago to Mendoza, Argentina over the Andes. They are completely covered in snow and are very impressive (see photo). My flight departed at 9am and I will arrive in Mendoza at 11am, because there is another 1 hour time change – which puts Mendoza at 4 hours later than California. Once I land, I’m supposed to attend a lunch and do a 20 minute Powerpoint presentation, so I guess I should stop writing now and review what I’m going to say. Let’s just hope some of the fog and fatigue that are filling my brain will fade away by the time I have to talk.

Evolution of California's World Wine Position

2010-04-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Liz Thach, (2006). Published in French in Bacchus 2008 by Dunod, Paris.

I often feel guilty that I haven't had time to write more about California's wine regions -- especially since I live in the Napa/Sonoma area. Some day, I keep telling myself....and then travel to another part of the world. So, as a place holder, I am including this article on California which I wrote in the summer of 2006. It was published in French, but never in English. So I thought I would share the English verion.

The United States currently ranks fourth in the world for global wine production, with the State of California producing more than 90% of the wine. However, less than 15% of wine from California is exported to other nations, primarily due to the fact that the majority of California wine is consumed within the U.S. How did California become the largest wine producer in the U.S., and will they be able to achieve a larger market share in the global wine market? These questions are particularly compelling given the forecast that the U.S. is expected to become one of the largest wine consuming nations by 2010 (Long, 2005).

In order to answer these important questions, it is the purpose of this paper to examine the evolution of California’s world wine position. The benefit of doing this will not only provide insight into current and future opportunities for the marketing and sales of California wine on a global basis, but will identify challenges and issues which the California wine industry must consider. Furthermore, it will describe some of the complexities of wine sales within the U.S. market as a whole, which may be useful for other wine producing countries hoping to obtain more shelf space within the lucrative U.S. wine market.

This paper is divided into four sections. It begins with a brief overview of the history of wine in California and then, secondly, proceeds to an analysis of current statistics on California wine production, major regions and sales. The third section describes the current marketing and sales regulations within the U.S. which is not only challenging for the sales of California wine, but other exporting wine nations as well. Finally, the fourth section examines opportunities and issues for marketing California wine on a global basis, and explores such topics as differing consumer perceptions of California wine around the globe, as well as branding of California wine from a state or regional perspective for international sales.

Brief History of Wine in California
It is thought that the first wine grapes were brought to California by Spanish priests arriving from Mexico to establish the famous series of 21 California missions. The first mission was established in San Diego in 1769, and the last and northern most mission was built in the town of Sonoma in 1823. In the grounds of most every mission, the priests oversaw the planting of grapes which could be transformed into wine for religious ceremonies. The primary grape variety they used was called the mission grape, which is a red grape thought to be related to the Pais grape of Chile and originally from Spain. It creates a sweet, jammy tasting red wine, which was planted over much of California in the late 1700 and 1800’s.

It wasn’t until the mid 1800’s that more traditional vitus vinifera grapes from Europe were introduced by Count Hazarathy, a Hungarian citizen who started the oldest continually operating winery in California -- Buena Vista Winery in the town of Sonoma. After a trip to France, Spain, Italy and Germany, he imported many varieties of European grapes and planted them in his Sonoma vineyards. Around the same time, other European immigrants – many from Italy and Germany – descended upon northern California to participate in the legendary California Gold Rush. They brought with them various grape cuttings, including the zinfandel grape from Croatia which was planted throughout the Sierra foothills. It is now one of the most popular grape varietals in California and has become a signature grape. In addition, many of these immigrants settled in Sonoma and Napa Valley after the gold rush, and began planting the varietals they had brought from Europe, including many Italian varietals as well as riesling and chenin blanc. Later, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, and pinot noir became more predominant.

By the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, vineyards were abundant throughout California, spreading from the Temecula Valley in the south and then up through the regions of Santa Barbara, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Napa Valley and Sonoma. In the early 1900’s Sonoma County was the largest wine producer with more than 22,000 acres of vineyards (SCGGA, 2005). During this time California wine production hit an astounding rate of twenty million gallons, and wine was shipped throughout the U.S. and abroad, where it won numerous medals in the 1900 Paris Exposition (Lukacs, 2000). The primary reason that winegrapes grew so well in California, verses the other part of the U.S. where failed efforts to grow vitus vinifera grapes occurred as early as 1619 in Virginia, was due to the Mediterranean-like climate with its cool wet winters and hot, dry summers.

All of this came to an end in 1918, when Prohibition was implemented in the U.S., and the production and sale of wine, as well as other alcoholic beverages became illegal. This lasted for 14 years, until 1933 when Prohibition was repealed. Only a handful of wineries were allowed to continue to operate under a special license to produce sacramental wine. These wineries included Beringer, Beaulieu, Krug, and a few others. The remainders of the wineries were forced to shut down, and hundreds of acres of vineyards were torn out and replaced with prune orchards and other crops.

The unfortunate fallout of Prohibition was that the U.S. and California fell behind the rest of the wine producing nations in terms of expertise and consumer knowledge. What had been a growing and successful industry was nearly lost, and had to begin again. It wasn’t until the mid 1960’s with the advent of Robert Mondavi and his bold vision for California wine, that the industry slowly began to recover.
In 1966, when Robert Mondavi left Krug and started the Mondavi winery, there were only about 30 wineries in the Napa Valley. Today, in 2006, there are over 250 wineries in Napa and 2740 wineries in California, with another 2624 spread throughout the other 49 U.S. states (WBM, 2006). The U.S. has worked its way up to becoming the fourth largest wine producing nation in the world, with California leading the way.

Several drivers have been identified for helping to achieve this position, with the increasing quality of California wine being a major force. This was illustrated well in the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting when a Napa Valley chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon beat out high quality French wines in a blind tasting. This helped to put California wine in the global eye, and allowed for fresh capital to flow into the industry. Other drivers included an increasing American interest in food and wine; more frequent travel to European countries where Americans were introduced to wine; and a burgeoning economy – especially in the late 1990’s – that pushed some California wine prices to astronomical heights. All of these factors, and others, helped California wine achieve its current positive position within the U.S. wine market, and to some extent, on the global market.

Statistics on California Wine Regions, Production & Sales
In reviewing some of the current statistics on California wine, there are four major areas that are useful to examine. The first is an overview of the major wine growing regions and appellations. Next is a look at wine grape acreage and production numbers. Third is a review of wine sales and key markets, including exports. The final section provides an overview of major California wine producers.

Wine Growing Regions and Key Appellations
California is generally segmented into five major winegrowing regions as illustrated in the photo above. The five major regions are the North Coast, the Sierra Foothills, the Central Coast, the Central Valley, and the South Coast. Each of these regions has specific AVA’s – American Viticulture Areas – that must be approved by the federal government. In general, an AVA is a designated wine grape growing region in the U.S. which is defined by soil, mountain ranges, bodies of water, and weather. Currently the total number of AVA’s in the U.S. is 150, with 94 being located in California (Zraly, 2006).

The first region, the North Coast, includes Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Mendocino County, Lake County, and other north coast vineyards. This area is located north of San Francisco, and is known for its high-end cabernet sauvignons and chardonnays in Napa and Sonoma; old vine zinfandel in Mendocino and Sonoma County; sauvignon blanc grapes in Lake County, and wonderful pinot noir and sparkling wines from the cooler coastal regions of Sonoma County and Mendocino’s Anderson Valley. Napa and Sonoma counties are two of the most famous regions, and each includes 14 separate AVA’s. For example, some of Napa’s famous AVA’s are Stag’s Leap, Rutherford, and Howell Mountain. Sonoma County is known for the Dry Creek Valley AVA and the Russian River AVA.

The second region is the Sierra Foothills where some of the oldest zinfandel vines are found. This region includes the counties of Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Tuolumne, Placer, Butte, and Yuba. It has hot dry summers, but does receive snow in the winter months. It is known for its hearty red wines, including syrahs, zinfandels, and ports.

The third region is the Central Coast, which is a large region stretching from Livermore and the San Francisco Bay area in the north, and then extending south towards the Santa Clara Valley, the Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterrey. It then reaches down through Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, and ends at Santa Barbara. With so many different geographies, it is not surprising that the Central Coast is known for a wide variety of fine wines. These range from big syrahs and cabernet sauvignons in the hot region of Paso Robles, to delicate pinot noirs and chardonnays from the cooler climates of Monterey and Santa Barbara.

The fourth region, the Central Valley, is the largest wine grape growing region in California and is known for its large-scale production of commercial table wines in multiple varietals. However, it also includes the Lodi/Woodbridge region, which is becoming quite famous for its rich and full-bodied syrahs and cabernet sauvignons.

The fifth region, the South Coast, is the oldest grape growing region in California, but currently one of the smallest. It includes San Diego County, the Temecula region, Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside. Of these, Temecula currently has the largest number of wineries and is known for its light fruity whites and sparkling wines.

California Wine Grape Acreage and Production
Vineyard acreage for wine in California was estimated to be around 800,000 acres in 2005, with a total wine production rate of 4,328,840 tons – up 20% from the previous year (USDA, 2006). As usual, a large portion of the grape production came from the Central Valley of California where much commercial table wine is produced. Top quality producing regions, such as Napa and Sonoma Valley only produce 4% and 5%, respectively, of all California wine.

Average price per ton for all varieties was $532.78, up 10% from the previous year, with Napa achieving the highest average price per ton of $2989 for a total of $541 million, and Sonoma receiving the second highest at $1868 per ton for a total of $430 million (Press Democrat, 2006.)

The most common grape varietal planted and harvested in California is chardonnay. This reflects the most popular type of wine currently sold in the U.S. at 25% of the market (ACNielsen, 2005). Table 1 below illustrates the grape varietals that were crushed in California for 2005, with chardonnay claiming 17% of the production; cabernet sauvignon coming in second at 12.5% of the production; and zinfandel in third place at 10.4%.

Table 1: Percentage of Grape Varietal Harvested in 2005
(Source: USDA Final Grape Crush Report for 2005)

TYPE OF GRAPE % Crushed
Chardonnay 17.1
Cabernet Sauvignon 12.5
Zinfandel 10.4
Thompson Seedless (non wine grape) 10.2
Merlot 9.8
French Colombard 7.0
Rubired 3.9
Syrah 3.4
Sauvignon Blanc 2.7
Pinot Noir 2.2
Chenin Blanc 2.2
Other 18.5

California Wine Sales and Key Markets
In 2005, it is estimated that California produced 542 million gallons of wine; and shipped an estimated 535 million gallons of wine to markets within the U.S. and abroad (Wine Institute, 2006). Figure 2 illustrates California winery shipments to all markets for the last seven years, showing a positive upward trend.
Figure 2: California Winery Shipments to All Markets
(Source: Wine Institute, 2006; In Thousands of Gallons)

In 2005 the U.S. wine market had a yearly value at retail outlets of $25 billion and reached the equivalent size of 300 million cases (Cartierre, 2006). Of this, it is estimated that approximately 66%, or $16.5 billion, was California wine. In the U.S. market, roughly two out of every three bottles of wine sold is from California. Major markets for California wine in the U.S. are on the East and West coasts, and include large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, New York, Boston, and Miami. However, a few central cities such as Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and Denver also consume much California wine.
California wine sales by price segment show that 65% of California wine purchased by Americans is less than $7. Figure 3 below illustrates the five common price segments used in the U.S. market. The fastest growing segment is the Super Premium segment with pricing between $7 - $14, which grew by 14% in volume in 2005 (Cartierre, 2006). The Ultra Premium wine segment, with pricing of over $14, recently achieved 10% of the volume, but has 35% of the revenue (Motto, 2006).

Figure 3: California Wine Sales by Price Segment for 2005
(Source: Fredrikson, 2006)

According to the Wine Institute (2005), the economic impact of the California wine industry is $45.4 billion annually. This includes revenues from the wine industry and other businesses it impacts, such as tourism, as well as indirect economic benefits. It is estimated that 14.8 million tourists visit California wine regions and spend close to $1.3 billion each year. In addition, the California wine industry provides an estimated 207,550 full-time equivalent jobs in wineries and related companies, paying wages of $7.6 billion. Because of all of these reasons and more, wine is currently California’s most lucrative agricultural crop.

California Wine Exports
In terms of export shipments, California wine shipments actually decreased in 2005 due, in part, to an increase in the U.S. dollar as well as some wineries shipping bulk wine to Europe for bottling. California wine shipments for 2005 were 95% of all U.S. wine exports and totaled 365 million liters valued at $625 million (USFAS, 2006). The volume was down 16% from 2004.

The major export market for California wine is the U.K, with Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, and Germany being other top markets. Figure 4 below illustrates California’s major export markets and dollar amount for 2004.

Figure 4: California Wine Exports for 2004
(Source: The Wine Institute, 2005)

Major California Wine Producers
Of the 5364 wineries currently in the U.S., 2740 wineries are located in California. Since California is the largest wine producer in the U.S., it is not surprising that they also are home to five of the largest wineries by annual case sales. Table 2 below lists the top ten U.S. wineries, including their headquarters location.

Table 2: Top Ten U.S. Wineries By Case Sales
(Source: WBM, 2006)

Winery Case Sales in U.S. Headquarters Location

E&J Gallo 75 million California
Constellation Brands 54 million New York
The Wine Group 42 million California
Bronco Wine Company 20 million California
Foster’s Wine Estates 17 million Australia
Trinchero Family Estates 9.3 million California
Brown-Foreman 6.4 million Kentucky
Diageo 5 million U.K.
Kendall-Jackson 5 million California
St. Michelle Wine Estates 4 million Washington

Altogether, in 2005, these ten large wineries sold 237.7 million cases of wine in the U.S. market. This accounts for almost half of the wine sold. Therefore, there are many mid-size and smaller wineries within California and other states, as well as imported wine, which make up the rest of the volume. Indeed, though the U.S. wine industry is dominated by a few large players, there are a multitude of small family wineries producing unique and artisan-type wines that are very popular with U.S. consumers. In addition, imported wines from other countries, such as Italy, Australia, France, Chile and Spain, are quite popular in the U.S. and currently maintain 26% of the U.S. wine market.

Marketing & Sales Regulations for California Wine
Since the majority of California wine is sold in the U.S., it is useful to overview the marketing and sales regulations within the U.S. market. Rather than using just one system of regulations for alcohol sales, the U.S. market is instead regulated by each individual state, and in some cases, smaller counties within individual states. This makes selling wine within the U.S. just as complicated, in some instances, as exporting wine abroad.

The U.S. wine, beer, and spirits distribution system is often referred to as the 3-tier system. In order for wineries to get their wine distributed on a national basis, they must sell to a distributor – the first tier. The distributor, in turn, sells to a retailer, such as a supermarket, wine shop, or restaurant – the second tier. Finally, the wine is sold to the consumer – the third tier. At each tier, a mark-up in price is added to the wine. Figure 5 illustrates the 3 –tier system

Figure 5: The 3-Tier System in the U.S. Wine Market
(Source: Wagner, Olsen & Thach, 2006)

Due to the 3-tier system, currently more than 80% of the wine sold in the U.S. is via distributors (Thach & Olsen, 2006) who then sell it to off-premise and on-premise retailers. The largest volume is sold in off-premise establishments, such as large supermarket or retail stores like Costco, SafeWay, Albertson’s, Walmart, Target, and others. In order for California wineries to gain access these off-premise stores, they need to develop partnerships with major distributors who service these accounts. This can be challenging for smaller wineries because shelf and portfolio space is tight, and large volumes with consistent quality levels are required. In addition, assistance with attractive point-of-sales displays is often necessary to introduce the product. In general, only large wineries which can provide volume discounting or well-known established brands can enter this part of the off-premise retail channel.

Other off-premise sales occur in fine wine shops, but less data is available to determine actual percentages. These types of stores can “hand-sell” higher priced wines to customers by personally educating them on the wine, the winemaking techniques, and brand story. They often host wine-tasting events to boost sales. This is an easier channel for small California wineries to access by building relationships with smaller distributors who do business with these types of establishments across the nation. Furthermore, in some states, such as California itself, licensed wineries can directly approach small wine shops and other off-premise retailers and request that they carry their wine.

On-premise sales of wine in the U.S. are growing, due to the increasing popularity of wine bars and dining out in restaurants. In 2005 the dollar amount spent in restaurants exceeded the dollar amount spent on food in grocery stores (Motto, 2006). Some California wineries emphasize this channel more than the large off-premise channels, because restaurants and wine bars are willing to carry more expensive wines. Therefore, they look for and build relationships with distributors who have access to high-end restaurants or wine bars across the nation. Again, in certain states such as California, licensed wineries can approach on-premise establishments directly to sell their wines.

A third method of selling wine that is increasing in popularity is direct to consumer sales which involves selling to consumers in winery tasting rooms, special events, and via the Internet. Though still a smaller portion of the market, this method has grown an average of 14% per year with one out of every ten bottles of wine sold in the U.S. being sold direct (Cartierre, 2006b). Many California wineries sell directly to consumers via their tasting rooms. A related method is to encourage consumers to sign up for a wine club, which enables the winery to ship them wine via mail – if they live in a state that allows for direct shipping. However, since only 32 states currently allow direct shipping of wine to consumers, this method is not always possible (Thach, 2004). Sales of wine via Internet are also hampered by these same conditions. At the same time, there is much pressure from consumers and other constituents to change the direct shipping laws within the U.S., so slowly other states are loosing their regulations and it may be possible to do more direct shipping of wine in the future.

Despite the current restrictions on direct to consumer sales, many California wineries see this channel growing. The other obvious advantage of this method is that wineries do not have to factor in distributor and retailer mark-ups, and can, instead, keep those margins for themselves. This makes the direct to consumer channel the most profitable for California wineries, and a few smaller wineries do sell 80 to 100% direct. However, this method is not viable for larger wineries which depend on volume sales and national distribution for their revenue.

Marketing Opportunities & Issues for California Wine in the U.S. and Globally

Given the evolution of the California wine industry and its ups and downs, such as a late start in winemaking compared to other nations and the setback of Prohibition, California has still managed to make much progress. The question now is how they will utilize their strengths in a very competitive global marketplace to maintain and enhance their position. Fortunately there are many opportunities, but also some issues which they must face. Table 3 below outlines the key drivers that are creating these opportunities and issues.

Table 3: Key Drivers of Opportunities & Issues for California Wine

CHANGING U.S. WINE CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHICS & PERCEPTIONS
 Increase in U.S. wine consumption via Millennial & Hispanic markets
 Aging of Baby Boomer Market in the U.S. (currently largest wine consumer segment)
 Increased consumer interest in innovative labels; wine styles; and containers
 Increased consumer interest in organic & environmental issues with wine

INCREASED GLOBAL COMPETITION
 Increase in wine production around the world
 Increase in foreign wine imports into the U.S.
 Some anti American sentiment in the global market
 Differing consumer perceptions of CA wine in different countries
 Consolidation of global wineries and distribution systems
 Advances in viticulture, enology and wine marketing around the world

U.S. REGULATIONS
 In U.S. cannot advertise health aspects of wine
 Strong anti-alcohol groups with U.S. market
 Fluctuating U.S. dollar on the world market
 Increase in wine production in other states within U.S.
 Conflict between country, regional, and individual winery branding

Increase U.S.Market Share for California Wine
A major opportunity is to capture additional market share within the U.S. market, since it is predicted to be the largest wine consuming nation in the world by 2010 (Long, 2005). This increase in wine consumption rates within the U.S. is driven primarily by the 70-million plus consumers who comprise the Millennial generation – the oldest of which are in their 20’s now and are consuming much wine. They are the children of the Baby Boomers -- an even larger generation of 80 million people currently in their late 40’s and 50’s who also consume much wine. In addition, the Hispanic population within the U.S., which is the largest and fastest growing minority population, is becoming quite interested in wine. All of these changes are spurred on by an increased interest in food and wine; more relaxed and balanced lifestyles; health; and other values.

In order to increase market share in the U.S., California wineries will need to conduct market research to understand these new wine consuming populations. This will assist them in developing wine brands and advertising campaigns that appeal to these consumer segments. Already the Millennial generation has shown a preference for more fruit-forward wines with lower tannins and oak, as well as fun colorful labels that are not traditional in style. The Australians have led the way in appealing to this group, but some of the larger U.S. wineries have recently introduced some new, successful brands that are targeting this segment. In addition, a few wineries have made positive inroads with the Hispanic population by launching promotions in the Spanish language and matching wine with Hispanic foods. Despite these efforts there is still much opportunity in this arena.

In addition to reaching these new audiences, California wineries will need to maintain and enhance their market share with existing customers in the older Baby Boomer generation. This generation is more sophisticated and is willing to spend more on wine, but is now moving into their 60’s. As current consumers, their needs still must be considered, and traditional California wine brands will need to “refresh” themselves to continue to appeal to this group. This calls for a deep understanding of current customers and the ability to be innovative to match changing consumer needs.

A major issue which the California wine industry needs to consider to increase market share in the U.S. is the very competitive global market place. Americans enjoy imported wine as well as trying wine from other states. California wine currently holds a very positive perception in the minds of most U.S. wine consumers, and this image needs to be maintained. This is where a California wine branding campaign may be of use. A similar campaign was developed by the California Cheese Association and has been quite successful in the U.S. in promoting the consumption of California cheese and milk.

In order to address the issue of imported wines, some California wineries have partnered with or acquired foreign wineries in order to import foreign wines into the U.S. This is a positive solution, because Americans appear to enjoy the variety that imported wines provide. Furthermore, with the large increase of vineyard acreage around the world, with huge plantings in Spain, Chile, India, and China, it is expected that there will be an increased supply of wine on the global market in the future. Therefore, large global wineries are rapidly acquiring wineries from all parts of the globe in order to provide an international portfolio of wines for their customers.

Expand Export Efforts
Another opportunity for the California wine industry is to expand their export efforts. In the past there has not been much economic incentive to do so, because they were able to sell their wine so easily within the U.S. market. In addition, strong currency rates within the U.S. and complicated shipping regulations to overseas markets were other deterrents. However, in order to be strategic, long-term players in the global market, it is important for California wineries to invest in global markets. This is happening in some instances with both small and larger wineries, but there is still much opportunity for California to make efforts in this area.

A key issue with California wine exports is the higher cost of California wine. Due to expensive labor and land costs, it is not possible for California to pursue a low-cost strategy. Therefore, they must focus on quality and value. This is a more sustainable strategy for the long-term, but takes more effort and time to implement. This is hampered by the fact that in some countries California wine is still not perceived to be equal in quality with some European wines.

The development of a California Brand campaign may also be useful to help combat these issues. A unified global message about the quality and value of California wine could be useful in explaining the benefits and attracting new consumers. Some initial efforts have been made in this area with the assistance of the Wine Institute in San Francisco in organizing California trade shows and tastings in various countries. However, not very many wineries participate in these events, and many larger wineries prefer to focus on promoting their own brands, rather than a state brand. This is the same dilemma which other countries have encountered in their exporting efforts. However a few countries, such as New Zealand, Australia, and Spain, have developed very laudable country branding campaigns.

Assume Leadership Role in Wine Innovation
Due to advances in technology, new breakthroughs are occurring everyday in viticulture and enology. In viticulture, new methods of mechanization, trellising systems, clonal advances, global position systems, and computerized farming are enabling vineyard managers around the world to plant grapes in new areas and produce higher quality yields at lower prices. In the cellar, similar advance are taking place with techniques such as micro-oxygenation; spinning cone technology for de-alcoholization, and co-pigmentation. Add to this the increased consumer interest in organic and biodynamic farming; sustainable winegrowing methods that are kind to the environment and people; and creative packaging alternatives, and it is obvious that the time of innovation in wine is now.

Because of these advances, there is an opportunity for different wine regions to differentiate themselves. California has always led the way in innovation and entertainment in other industries, so there is an opportunity to do so with wine. In some cases, U.S. and state regulations will not allow certain types of innovation and advertising – such as the ban against advertising the health benefits of wine – but there are other opportunities open to the California wine industry. They have already made some strides by adopting the California Code of Sustainable WineGrowing, which is a voluntary self-assessment to improve environmental and social practices within the industry. Some regions are pursuing certification in this area, which will include a stamp placed on the wine bottle. However, this is just a small step, and there is ample opportunity to do much more in the areas of viticulture, enology, and wine marketing. Currently there is positive innovation occurring in individual wineries, but not a collective focused effort, such as New Zealand with their unified campaign of “wine from a clean, green NZ.” In California, a state with much ingenuity, there is still opportunity to pull together and create a unique and innovative brand message for California wine.

Conclusion – The Future of California Wine
In conclusion, this chapter provided an overview of the evolution of the California wine industry, including history, statistics, marketing and sales regulations, and opportunities and issues for the future. California currently holds an enviable position in the world market of producing a large amount of good quality wine that is easily sold within the U.S.market, and to some extent, in overseas markets. Their current position of possessing the largest market share of the lucrative U.S. wine market is very positive, since the U.S. market is predicted to grow at a healthy pace. California has also made some innovative inroads in wine, and has been a leader in creating the New World style of wine, which is more fruit-forward, higher alcohol, and is filled with complexity and boldness. Their efforts, have in part, spurred the development of an “international style” of wine, which has received a mix of reviews from wine critics around the world. California has also made positive progress on the environmental front with their sustainable winegrowing practices efforts.

All of this points to a positive future for California wine, but it is critical that they remain focused and alert to changes in the global market place. The global wine industry will only become more competitive in the future, with large new tracts of vineyards coming into production in future years. At the same time, wine consumption is declining in certain countries. Increases in consumption are predicted in Asia, but this has not occurred to a large extent yet. Therefore, the profitable U.S. market will continue to be key export target for other wine producing countries. This means California wineries must continue to produce high quality and value-priced wines to maintain and increase marketshare; embrace innovation to create new segments of wine consumers; and explore partnerships with overseas wineries to collaborate on entering new markets. Given their past history of perseverance and regeneration, it is highly likely that they will be successful in doing this.

References
ACNielsen (2005). ACNielsen scan data illustrating U.S. wines sales from March 1999 to March 2005.
Cartierre, R. (2006a). 2005 milestones achieved by U.S. vintners. Wine Market Report, Vol, 9, Issue 9, Jan. 27, 2006.
Cartierre, R. (2006b). Consumer Direct Thrives. Wine Market Report, Vol, 9, Issue 22, March 30, 2006.
Fredrikson (2006). The Gomberg-Fredrikson Report. Available at: www.wineryexchange.com.
Long, J. (2005). United States taking over as top wine consumer. Newhouse News Service. April 21, 2005.
Lukacs, P. (2000). American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Motto, V. (2006). State of the Industry. Presentation at Unified Wine Symposium, Jan. 26, 2005, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Press Democrat. (2006). 2005 Grape prices and yield. Press Democrat. Feb. 11, 2006 issue.
SCGGA (2005). “Sonoma County’s Wine History.” Available at: http://www.sonomagrapevine.org/pages/vineyardviews/vvhistory.html
Thach, L. & Matz, T. (editors). (2004). Wine: A Global Business. NY: Miranda Press.
Thach, L. & Olsen, J. (2006, In press). Building Strategic Partnerships in Wine Marketing: Implications for Wine Distribution. Journal of Food Products Marketing. Vol. 12, No. 3.
USDA (2006). 2005 California Grape Acreage Report. Available at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Grape_Crush/indexgcr.asp
USFAS (2006). U.S. Export Sales Reports. U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service Web Site. Available at: http://www.fas.usda.gov/export-sales/esrd1.asp.
Wagner, P.; Olsen, J. & Thach, L. (2006). Wine Marketing & Sales: Success Strategies for a Saturated Market. San Francisco: The Wine Appreciation Guild. (In press).
Wine Institute (2005). California Wine Industry Statistics. Available at: www.wineinstitute.org.
WMB (2006). “Number of U.S. Wineries Tops 5300.” Wine Business Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 2, p.46-47.
WMB (2006). “The Top 30 U.S. Wine Companies.” Wine Business Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 2, p.16-20.
Zraly, K (2006). American Wine Guide. NY: Sterling.

Gibbston Valley & Chard Farms – Amazing Wine Tourist Destinations

2010-04-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

(Feb. 13, 2010) On our last morning, we slept in until 8:30 and then had a long, lazy breakfast drinking coffee and eating omelets at our table in our suite overlooking the lake and a beautiful sunny day. It was hard to check out of such a lovely resort and leave such a relaxing and beautiful room. Upon our departure, we drove the few blocks into town and found they were having a farmer’s/artist’s market, so we immediately parked. Wandering around the booths set along the lake, we found many charming souvenirs, and I was able to buy small pottery, glass, copper, and silver pieces from different artists. My favorite was a flattened wine bottle made into a clock with an inset of the local mother of pearl shaped like NZ. It now hangs proudly on my kitchen wall at home, and gives found memories of our trip to Central Otago.

Later we took a walk along the lake and found the beautiful Queenstown Gardens with colorful flowers and ancient trees. From there we decided to drive back along Highway 6 to Gibbston Valley and Chard Farms wineries and be tourists for the afternoon. They are only about a 15 minute drive from Queenstown with amazing scenery along deep river canyons. We stopped at Gibbston Valley first and sampled some of the lovely cheeses at their Cheesery. Of course, we brought some to take home on the plane. The winery is a wonderful tourist stop with a big tasting room filled with fun wine merchandise and flights of wine to taste, starting at around $10NZ. They also have a nice restaurant surrounded with flowers. The roses were in full bloom, and it not only looked beautiful, but smelled lovely. Though we didn’t taste the wines, we found it to be a nice place to visit.

Just down the road is Chard Farms Winery, which is not that easy to access, as you must drive along the steep canyon wall on a tiny one-lane gravel road with the raging river far below in the canyon. I can honestly say it is the most amazing and spine-tingling access to any winery I have visited in the world. What a place to plant a vineyard and build a winery – yet it is one of the oldest in Central Otago, and started out as a fruit farm. The winery building itself is a very attractive pink stone structure with sweeping green lawns and a great statue of a bicyclist which is made of grape vines – quite clever.

We tasted through all of their wines and found they were making some delightful riesling and pinot gris. (In fact, due to this trip, I have now found that I enjoy NZ pinot gris; generally I find pinot gris boring and flaccid; these are fresh, floral, and have exquisite acid). Chard Farms also provided a very nice review of their different levels of pinot noir. I was impressed with this visit and the service. The tasting was free, but they asked that you make a donation if you didn’t purchase any wine. Very tasteful!

After Chard Farms, we couldn’t help but stop at the bungee jumping center across the road, and were mesmerized by watching people jump from a high bridge to the river below. You have the option of being dunked in the icy cold water or not! Next door was a restaurant encouraging you to stop, eat, and taste some local wine after your jump. Wow – only in Central Otago!

Reluctantly we headed back towards the airport to catch our 3pm flight to Auckland. There we had a short layover before catching the 7pm non-stop flight back to San Francisco – which was non-eventful and landed a few minutes early. The end of a truly amazing trip to New Zealand….

Felton Road Winery – Biodynamic Wine Heaven

2010-04-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

(Feb. 12, 2010) Our appointment at Felton Road was for 2pm with Garrett, the vineyard manager, and one of the most passionate organic grape growers I have ever met (and I’ve met quite a few!). He had so much energy and enthusiasm, he was almost bouncing off the ground. Felton Road has a highly justified reputation of producing one of the highest quality pinot noirs in New Zealand. After this visit, I can verify this is true….and I believe it is almost all certainly due to the incredible care and “love” they relish on their vineyards.

Felton Road is located just 5 minutes down the road from Mt. Difficulty – rather at the end of the road. Since most of their wine is allocated, the tasting room is only open a few hours per week or by appointment. It is quite small – located in a small house with a wrap around front-porch and lovely organic garden with lots of lavender and humming bumble bees. The entrance to the winery is rather hard to find, and we actually accidently entered through the delivery drive-way, but enjoyed winding our way amongst the vines.

Garret was there to greet us promptly at 2pm and immediately asked if we were up for a walk through the vineyards. We happily said yes and started off as he explained that they had 33 hectares of certified biodynamic vines, and they produce 10 – 11,000 cases per year. A large portion – 75% -- is exported to over 30 countries. Garret explained that they have 3 main vineyards, and try to plant chardonnay on the silt soil and pinot on the clay soil. They use 2x1 meter spacing, cane pruning because it grows faster in the spring, and are 85% on mixed rootstock. They plant buck wheat, yarrow and mustard every 10th row, and do all hand-tilling beneath the vines to fight weeds. They also create their own compost, but purchase the biodynamic preps from the Biodynamic Association of NZ.

Garret explained that what makes them so successful is that all of the employees “buy-in” to the biodynamic process. They are proud to work there, and everyone is willing to pitch in. Because of the environment and culture, they attract the best people – and truly have a winning team.

After about an hour wandering through the vines and examining crop load, cover-crop, soil, the insectory, tractors, and other aspects, we headed to the cellar. I was impressed with the large square cement and stainless tanks they are using for fermentation. Garret said they usually do 25% whole cluster ferment for the pinot noir, and use a combination of hand and pneumatic pigeage. We didn’t get much detail on the winemaking because Garrett said all of the “real winemaking” had taken place in the vineyard. Therefore I don’t know if they do cold soak; ferment temp; how many days until completed; extended maceration, etc. The only thing we know for sure is they use natural yeast. After gentle pressing, the pinots are aged in 30% new French oak, where they also go through ML. Elevage lasts from 11 to 18 months – depending on the vineyard and wine tier. They only rack before bottling. The chardonnay is all barrel fermented with racking and sulfur after ML; and aging for 11 to 16 months in 10-15% new oak.

The cellar is attached to the tasting room, so we made a full circle and arrived back at the small, yet charming tasting room. Garret referred us again to the maps that illustrate the different vineyards and soil types. We then started the tasting which included 10 wines. All were wonderful, fresh, vibrant, clean, and very well concentrated – which is what I usually find in organic and biodynamic wines. They seem to have a pure energy, clean fruit, and are never thin.

It is hard to select a favorite, but those that really delighted my palate were: the 2009 Felton Road Dry Riesling, with a ripe peach nose, mouthwatering juicy acid; and long finish. Delightful – dances on the tongue; and the 2008 Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 – a bright apple nose/palate with spice; complex layers of flavor; and a long finish. Moving into the pinots, they were all so good and unique, it is hard to choose, but some of my favorites included the 2008 Felton Road Calvert Vineyard Pinot Noir which was ripe and explosive on the nose with bursting raspberries, yet deeply concentrated and complex on the palate. Wow! We ended up buying this one. Equally wonderful were the 2008 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 with more intense concentrated raspberry and some savory notes; and the 2008 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 5 with great acid, herbs and spice adding to the complex and powerful dark berry fruit.

We left Felton Road in a very good mood and excited about our evening ahead in Queenstown. We headed back to the St. Moritz where we hit the hot tubs, then showered and got ready to celebrate our 25 year wedding anniversary. We started with appetizers and pinot in our room, and then headed downstairs to our reserved table with a lakeside view in Lombardi’s. The staff knew it was our anniversary and they treated us to two glasses of NZ sparkling wine on the house. As mentioned in a previous posting, the service was excellent and the food was some of the best we had in NZ. We started with a seafood appetizer with sauvignon blanc, then I had the lamb and Mike had the local venison –both with 2008 Earth’s End Pinot Noir, which was fruity, easy-drinking, and enjoyable. We ended with a wonderful dark chocolate dish with a glass of port. The plates were so artistically presented that I took pictures of several of them (see photos). It was easy to glide back to our room upstairs after such a magical meal.

Mt Difficulty Winery – A Breath-taking View and Diverse Wines

2010-04-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

(Feb. 12, 2010) I love the name “Mt. Difficulty” – what incredible brand uniqueness. It’s almost impossible to forget. The minute I heard the name, I was intrigued as to why someone would name a winery in Central Otago this way. The mystery is solved though, once you arrive, because thrusting up in a craggy mound across a verdant valley filled with vineyards and rivers is a mountain which is named Mt. Difficulty. It was so christened because it was impossible to herd sheep over its steep and unfriendly terrain.

The other cool thing about this winery is the script they use to write the name Mt. Difficulty. It is an antique scrawl with huge curls on the “f’s” – making it even more distinctive. This unique cursive is carved into a large rock signaling the entrance to the winery. The winery, however, is less impressive upon first glimpse. It is composed of a large warehouse to the right of the gravel drive which curves up a rocky desert type landscape to a small building at the top of a hill. This is the tasting room and a small charming restaurant with a breathtaking view of the valley below and Mt. Difficulty in the distance. It has both indoor and outdoor seating, and a menu – that in hindsight – we wish we had succumbed.

We were immediately greeted in a friendly fashion. We asked for Matt Dicey, the winemaker, with whom we had an 11an appointment. It appeared he was slightly delayed, so we were invited to taste some wines while we waited. The selection was quite large with 16 different wines in 3 tiers, starting with the attractively priced Roaring Meg label (named after a waterfall on Highway 6 that we had passed); the estate series, and then the single vineyard designate pinot noirs which were $90NZ and above. We had tasted through about 6 wines when Matt arrived and bustled us down to the winery buildings.

Mt. Difficulty is housed in a modern warehouse type facility, and is growing so fast that they have new tanks and barrels stacked outside. Currently they have 53 hectares of vineyards and produce 30,000 – 40,000 cases annually, and export 40%. They also buy some grapes for the Roaring Meg label from Marlborough. Matt is a friendly, down to earth person with a good sense of humor. He gave us a whirlwind, but thorough explanation of the winery, beginning with the soil which is a combination of clay, schist, Carrick gravel and loam.

In the vineyard, they are on both 6x9 and 4x6 feet spacing, primarily with spur pruning on cordon/VSP. He said they are using the same pinot clones as most other local wineries: a combination of new Dijon (777, 667, etc.), Pommard, and a DRC suitcase clone they refer to as the Able Clone in NZ – since it was brought in from someone with that last name. 40% of the vines are own-rooted with a mix of rootstock on the rest. Phylloxera is an issue since 2001 when it hit a neighboring vineyard. Rainfall is about 300ml per year, and they employ sustainable agriculture, choosing to use Round-up to control weeds. The climate is relatively dry, so there is no downy mildew. They do use sulfur, fertilizer, irrigation (including soil moisture meters which are linked by radio to the winery), and netting for birds.

In terms of winemaking, I asked Matt to focus on the pinot noirs for which are they so well known. He said he uses 80% destem/20% whole cluster, with the higher end pinots coming from older vineyards. He does a 5 to 10 day cold soak and uses natural yeast, but sometimes needs to heat the tanks to start fermentation in stainless. Temperature is usually 30-32C with pigeage 3 times a day in the beginning. The complete maceration usually lasts 22 to 30 days. Towards the end he uses nitrogen to protect the wine. It is then gently pressed and allowed to settle before moving to barrel where it goes through ML. Higher end pinots are 30% new French oak with 11 months aging, and he never racks – even after ML! Generally they do not need to fine or filter, but will do so if necessary.

After the tour, we returned to the tasting room to finish going through the line-up. Of the pinots, my favorites were the Mt Difficult 2007 Long Gully Single Vineyard ($90NZ) which has a beautiful floral and raspberry nose/palate with excellent concentration and length. The 2008 Mt. Difficulty Estate Series Pinot ($45) was also wonderful with dark berries and spice – a true classic Central Otago pinot. Other favorites included the 2008 Mt. Difficulty Riesling with lemon, lime, grass –but no diesel. Very refreshing. I also fell in love with the 2008 Mt. Difficulty Pinot Gris with a nose of white peach blossom. Finally I also enjoyed the 2009 Mt. Difficulty Target Gully Riesling with had a deliciously high acid of 9.5 with 40 g/l sugar – but so beautifully balanced that you hardly noticed the sugar and focused instead on the juicy citrus notes.

Since our appointment was at 11am, and we finished around 12:30, we decided to go into the nearby town of Cromwell for lunch. What a mistake – the town really didn’t have any charming restaurants, even though they had a lovely historic area by the river. What’s going on with wine tourism in Cromwell? There isn’t any. It seems strange for such a historic town (gold rush and all) in the middle of many wineries. Why isn’t the town pulling together to capitalize on the opportunity? Why aren’t they showing off their beautiful river front acerage?

Anyway, we wished we had stayed for lunch at Mt Difficulty, but felt rather silly going back again, so we kept searching. Eventually we ended up at a rather strange, but charming place called The Big Picture back on Highway 6. We had a nice fresh salad at an outdoor table next to the vineyard with very friendly service.

Rippon Vineyards – The Most Beautiful Winery in the World

2010-02-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 11, 2010) Before leaving the States, I had scheduled an appointment to meet with Nick Mills, the winemaker and owner of Rippon Vineyards, which is often referred to as “the most beautiful winery in the world.” It was also the first winery that wine friends recommended when I asked where to visit in Central Otago. Furthermore, it is the home of the famous vineyard photo that appears on most NZ wine brochures, calendars, and other materials to lure tourists to NZ. Having traveled to more than 200 wineries around the world, I have to admit I was slightly skeptical. However, the first view of the vineyards, lake, and mountains literally took my breath away. I am now a believer – this is the most beautiful vineyard (not winery) in the world. The winery itself is a small tin barn with a cozy barrel room that reminded me of the small domains of Burgundy.

The linkage to Burgundy turned out to be correct, because Nick spent 4 years working in various domains there, including one year at DRC. In fact, before we left, he showed me a photo of magnums of La Tache and Romanee-Conti that he had corked. I am so jealous! It is also obvious that he incorporated some Burgundian philosophy in terms of crafting pinot noir, because he described himself as a “facilitator,” rather than a winemaker. He described his role as focusing on growing the best grapes possible to reflect the taste of the land on the shores of Lake Wanaka. He proudly told us that he is the 4th generation of his family to own and farm this land.

The vineyard is comprised of 15 hectares which fan out around the shores and hills of the beautifully blue, glacier-fed Lake Wanaka. All around the lake dramatic rocky mountains rise straight up – many part of the Mt. Aspiring National Park. To the left of the vineyard is a delicate waterfall that tumbles down the mountain and is called Waterfall Creek. In the middle of the lake is a small magical island. The town of Wanaka is hid behind a small rise to the right. So the vineyard is pristine and unspoiled in its beauty. Even the small winery tasting room (the size of a small bedroom) with huge open windows for walls is hidden back against the hill –so that the vineyard is the showpiece.

Finding Rippon Vineyards was not difficult, because we used Google Maps before leaving home. The drive from Queensland to the winery is 1 hour and 9 minutes, but the Cardrona Crossing on Route 89 is winding and remote. However, Mike enjoyed shifting gears and taking the tight and twisting corners – although I’m sure he would have preferred a BMW to the Toyota we had rented. On the way back to Queenland, we took the longer, but smoother, route along Highway 6. I would recommend driving both routes in order to get a better feel for the amazing mountains of Central Otago.

Nick immediately took us to one of his prize pinot noir vineyards up on the hill and showed us a piece of the schist rock which comprised most of the soil, along with some clay and loam. Altitude is 380 meters (1000 feet), which seems low considering you are surrounded by so many towering mountains. But Nick explained that it is the mountains and lower altitude that allow grapes to be grown in Central Otago. It gets warm enough at the lower level, and the mountains block the rain and cooler temperature from the ocean which is about a 2 hour drive. Rainfall is around 300ml per year, but they do not need to irrigate. The vineyard is protected from frost because the cool air flows down the slopes to the lake.

Farming is biodynamic (though he hasn’t pursued certification), and he keeps 3 cows on the property to make the prep and has huge compost piles. Rootstock is a mix of own rooted, as well as some 3309, and he has a variety of clones (777,667, 15, 14, etc). Spacing is primarily 1.75m by 1.5 m, but it varies. Of the approximately 3000 cases produced, 2000 are pinot noir, but they also make some excellent rieslings, gamay, gewutraminer, and an usual grape called Ostering.

Nick said friends, neighbors, and people arriving early for the ski season assist with harvest in late March and April. They use a sorting table, and then partially destem (usually around 60%) of the pinot noir grapes with the rest being whole-cluster -- but Nick stressed that it depends on the year. They use 2 ton stainless fermenters and natural yeast. He said it takes 6 to 9 days for the ferment to take off, and they use no temperature control. They sometimes jump in the tank to help get things started, and will use pigeage (all manual) to punch down once fermentation starts. The whole process can take up to 30 days to complete, but depends on the year. He uses a gentle press, and combines both free run and pressed juice to age in barrel. He believes that both aspects need to be married to make a complete wine. All vineyard lots are fermented and aged separately, and he names each barrel in white chalk with interesting titles such as “Barack, Dimaggio, and the Ganghi River,” as part of a coding system.

Texture is important with Rippon wines, and Nick says he prefers to talk about texture rather than fruit. “Terrior is wrapped up in texture and feel,” he said. He expresses this in several different pinots, which he blends after aging. The youngest is named Jeunesse, which is made from vines under 15 years of age and spends 10-11 months in old oak. We tasted the 09 out of barrel and the 08 in the tasting room, and they both displayed the fruity delicacy for which he was striving. My favorite was the 2007 Rippon Pinot Noir (which we bought), a classic Central Otago (in my mind) with deeply concentrated raspberry, velvety tannins, good acidity, and a long finish. This is made from 15+ years and older vines, and is aged for 16-17 months in 30-40% new French oak. No fining or filtering. We finished tasting out of barrel with Emma’s Block, which was a big intense pinot with savoury notes, dark berry, and earth. This was mouthfilling with many complex persistent flavors. Wow!

We were encouraged to head back to the tasting room to try all of the whites, as well as the current release pinots. Both Rieslings were exceptional, with great texture and fresh peach/citrus notes. The 2008 Rippon Gewutraminer was the most beautiful we tried in Central Otago, with a nose that jumped out of the glass; hugely floral, well balanced, crisp acid and long finish. As we were leaving the tasting room, a group of people rode in on horseback and tied up their horses in a little stall outside to come in and taste wine. Wow – NZ has great wine tourism, and they also have the most beautiful vineyard in the world at Rippon.

See short I-Phone video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyBCCS6vMn4

Bungee Jumping and Wine Tasting in Central Otago, NZ

2010-02-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 11, 2010) “Embrace the fear,” is the slogan that greets you as you drive through Queenstown, capital of Central Otago, which is known globally for its amazing pinot noir and as the birthplace of bungee jumping. Our travel book described Central Otago as being filled with young people pursuing extreme sports. This turned out to be more than true, because as soon as we arrived on a bright sunny morning we saw hang gliders, parasailers, and jetskiers on shining Lake Wakatipu, and many people walking around with bandages and casts on legs, ankles and arms – trophies of participating in extreme sports.

The small charming downtown curling along the pebbly lakeshore is filled with shops selling extreme sports clothing and equipment. Young people lounge in sidewalk cafes and crawl the many pubs and bars at night. Outside of town, there are many ski resorts for snow-boarding, skiing, snow-mobiling, and riding the luge. We also passed several 4-wheel drive centers and multiple bungee-jumping locations. Still we had come to Central Otago to taste pinot, and with more than 50 wineries, and many excellent restaurants, we were not disappointed. Though we did not participate in any extreme sports, I couldn’t help but think that Central Otago would be a great vacation spot for parents who enjoy wine, but travel with teenagers who crave adventure.

Our flight from Auckland was only 1.5 hours, and it took only 1 minute to collect the car keys from Budget because I had booked with FastTrack. Mike was slightly dismayed to learn that the car was a manual shift, because he had never tried to drive on the left-side of the road while shifting. However, he quickly got the hang of it -- and except for turning the windshield wipers on when attempting to signal a turn – we did quite well with our car rental for the next 3 days.

Driving from the Queenstown airport to the St. Moritz Hotel only took 15 minutes, and we were able to check in by 12:30. A friend had recommended we stay here, and we were impressed with the Swiss style architecture combined with modern NZ lines. The lobby is intriguing with black and white colors, including cow hide pillows around a large fireplace. The hotel is rated as 5 stars and we decided to splurge when I was able to get a $176 US rate on Hotels.com. However, we discovered this was a back room with no view and when I expressed my disappointment, the front desk quickly upsold us to a lakefront suite with kitchen for an additional $70US per night.

The suite was wonderful, but we were slightly dismayed to discover the hotel is above an old apartment complex which is in front of the lake – so there is no pure lakefront view. Instead you look over the roof of the apartment and laundry hanging in the backyard. Not exactly what I would expect from a 5 star hotel. However, the service was fine, and we had a wonderful anniversary dinner at their beautiful restaurant, Lombardi. We also enjoyed the old-fashioned hot tubs while watching an orange-pink sunset above the stunning mountains. Finally it was convenient to leave the car in the $10NZ per night hotel garage, and take the short walk down the hill to the lake and town.

The setting of Queenstown takes your breath away – it is that beautiful. In fact, they say the town was named such because it was beautiful enough for the queen. Huge mountains rise up on every side of Lake Wakatipu – which is said to breathe, because the water rises and falls every 5 minutes due to unusual atmospheric pressure. An old steamship, the TSS Earnslaw, still plows the waters providing tours for visitors. A very steep tramway climbs the mountain behind town to the Skyline Restaurant and panoramic view. The beautiful Queenstown Gardens with ancient trees, flowers, and fountains is on a small peninsula opposite the beach. People relax on the white pebble beach soaking up the sun (a few daring enough to swim in the frigid glacier water), and there are countless restaurants all serving fresh fish, lamb, rabbit, and the famous green-lipped clams.

We discovered that the food and wine prices at all the restaurants were almost identical regardless of whether it was fancy or casual. Therefore on the first evening, we ate at Prime, which had great views of the lake and where I indulged in the green-lipped clams with a coconut Thai sauce washed down with a glass of sauvignon blanc. Mike had salmon with pinot noir. If we had arrived earlier, they did advertise an early bird dinner for $19.50NZ – which was the best deal we saw.

We found the food prices in NZ to be comparable to the US – not a great deal, but not overly expensive (based on our exchange rate of .69 cents US to the $1NZ). Wine by the bottle was quite expensive, e.g. $60NZ for Riesling!; however wine by the glass prices were also similar to the US, so we adopted this method. Indeed, we were able to get a glass of 2008 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc at Lombardi’s for $14NZ (approx. $9 US), which is a good deal for such a legendary wine. Our dinner at Lombardi’s the next evening was excellent – with an incredible view, attentive service, and some of the best food we had during the whole trip. I had the lamb and Mike had the local venison –both with 2008 Earth’s End Pinot Noir, which was fruity, easy-drinking, and enjoyable.

Queenstown was a perfect location to take daytrips to the wineries. We wished we could have stayed there for several more days, so we would have had time to drive to the West Coast and visit Milford Sound, The Fiordlands National Park, and try out some of the incredible golf courses. Mike told me that NZ has more golf courses per capita than any other country in the world. Oh well….a good reason to plan another trip! The following blog entries highlight our winery visits.

Mudbrick Vineyard & Restaurant on Waiheke Island, NZ

2010-02-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 10, 2010) Next stop was Mudbrick Winery where we were greeted by 4 servers holding beautiful trays of pink rose (see photo). It was a lovely site, with the sun causing the pink wine to shimmer and dance in the glasses like hundreds of jewels on a tray. We were invited to take the glass of 2009 Mudbrick Rose and proceed to our private lunch (starting around 2pm) on the covered patio. The view of the vineyards, harbor, surrounding islands, with the Auckland skyline in the distance was breath-taking. Furthermore the windows opened to lavender and rosemary gardens, which reminded me of being in Provence.

The lunch was incredible – Rod had told us it was $120NZ per person with the 4 wines. After the rose, which was served with olives, warm bread, and rosemary dip, we had fresh oysters on the half-shell with their 2009 Mudbrick Riesling. It had a beautiful nose of white peach, good texture, and just a touch of sweetness (around 20gpl), with a nice acid. For my main course, I had the snapper which paired beautifully with the crisp bright 2008 Mudbrick Reserve Chardonnay. It had very little oak; crisp acidity and good concentration with a long finish. Mike had the lamb which was paired with the 2007 Mudbrick Cabernet/Merlot which was a medium-bodied wine with both red and black fruit and a spicy finish. The meal lasted for almost 3 hours, including fabulous desserts (I had the cream brulee with lemon), and awards for best papers. It was a perfect way to end the conference – in a celebratory mood on the enchanting island of Waiheke.

I would have like to visit more wineries – especially the very famous Man of War Winery that had won so many medals, but we were sleepy after such a long and lazy lunch. Therefore we caught the ferry back to Auckland and landed just as the rain descended, forcing us to stop and buy an umbrella in order to walk back to the hotel without getting drenched. Even though we had an invitation to join the Italians for a late dinner at an Italian restaurant in Auckland (which would have been fun), we declined and spent the evening in our room and the hot-tub relaxing. After 3 days of non-stop wine and gourmet meals we needed a break. Besides, our plane departed at 10am the next morning to Queenstown, so it was probably a wise choice.

Cable Bay Winery – Amazing Views and Art

2010-02-19T08:42:00.001-08:00

(Feb. 10, 2010) Next stop was Cable Bay Winery, which was in an impressive modern style building with an amazing hilltop view of the ocean. They also had an outdoor sculpture garden with unique modern pieces, and a famous gourmet restaurant. The vineyards on the hillside were surrounded by tall hedges to protect them from the winds. I had never seen this layout before, and was told it was a lot of work to keep the very tall hedges trimmed. No wonder the wines from this island are so expensive – lots of work in the vineyard, and small production quantities.

After viewing the sculpture garden, we were invited into the tank room where we met with the winemaker, one of the owners, and tasted through 4 wines. The first was the 2008 Cable Bay Viogner, which was made in a dry style, but still had the faint apricot and more viscous body of viogner. It was nice, but had a bitter finish and would probably have done better with food. Next was the 2008 Cable Bay Chardonnay, which was my favorite. It was delicate and lemon and tart apple, but also had good texture, a long finish, no ML and very little oak. Very refreshing and elegant. This was followed by a 2007 Cable Bay Syrah, which was fruity, but rather light. Most people said this was their favorite of the tasting, and I had to admit that it was good, but I prefer a bigger style syrah. We ended with a 2006 Cable Bay Cabernet/Malbec, which again had the green edge. It probably would pair well with a big charred steak, but wasn’t that pleasant to drink on its own.

I asked for more detail on how they made the syrah, and the winemaker said it was hand-picked/sorted at 2 tones per acre; destemmed; and then went through a 2 day cold-soak. They sometimes start fermentation in tank with natural yeast, but usually add commercial yeast to make sure it keeps going. Ferment temp is 30 – 32C and they do pumpovers 4 to 8 times per day until the wine is ½ complete. They also do ML in tank and then a very long extended maceration of 10 to 30 days, protected by CO2. They only use the free run juice from the tank (no pressing), and employ a unique process of spreading the must along the walls of the tank overnight to get the last portion of free run. Aging is 12 months in French oak, 40 to 50% new.

Goldwater Vineyard – Oldest Winery on Waiheke Island, NZ

2010-02-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 10, 2010) Next stop was the Goldwater Vineyard, which is the oldest on the island. Both the viticultralist and winemaker met with us and provided a walk through the vineyards and a tasting of 3 different wines. They have 20 acres on 2 meter by 1 meter spacing primarily with cane pruning. They achieve around 2 tons per acre and produce 2400 cases. They are known for their Bordeaux varietals, but also produce chardonnay, which was my favorite. For the 2008 Goldwater Chardonnay, the winemaker told us she uses natural yeast with barrel ferment and sur lies aging. The results are much more like Burgundy than chardonnay from other New World Countries. They are lighter, delicate, with a very high acid, but good concentration.

We also tasted the 2005 Goldwater Merlot and the 2005 Goldwater Goldie, which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cab Franc. This latter wine is their flagship wine, and I preferred it to the merlot, but found both wines had an edge of greenness to them, which was not apparent on the Gimblett Gravels reds from Hawkes Bay. The winemaker said they used a similar process for both wines, with a cold soak of 2 to 3 days, innoculate with selected yeast, and ferment in stainless at 25C. They used a gentle sprinkler type system for pumpovers. Fermentation was followed by a 3 week extended maceration in tank protected by gas. She also did ML in tank, and then transferred to 30% new French oak barrels for 18 months aging; bottled unfiltered.

The winery had a small charming tasting room, a tire swing for kids, and a restaurant/conference center. It was a delightful place to visit, with a great view of the ocean, and friendly service. The wines were rather expensive – around $50 for Goldie – but apparently that is the case of most wines from Waikehe Island.

Wines of Waikehe Island – A DayTrip to the NZ Island of Wine

2010-02-16T12:27:00.000-08:00

(Feb.10, 2010) The conference organizers scheduled an optional field trip to Waikehe Island the day after the conference ended. It appeared as if everyone signed up for it, because there were more than 60 people who sat down for the 3-hour gourmet lunch we had late that afternoon. We caught the 9am ferry to the island, and everyone was delighted with the bright sunny day, and the amazing turquoise blue of the water as we approached the island.

Two large tour buses were waiting for us as we disembarked from the ferry and drove us to the Fossil Bay Vineyards owned by the university. As we drove along the charming windy roads over gently rolling hills, I felt as if I had been transported back to Hawaii. Large colorful hibiscous bushes, flowing red bouganvilla, and small white sandy beaches greeted us around every bend. The only thing missing was palm trees. Small charming shops sold colorful items, and I wished we had time to stop and shop. The island is 25 kilometers long, and is known for its excellent restaurants and more than 35 wineries.

We had a very informative tour of the Fossil Bay chardonnay vineyard and a glass of chardonnay from the 2008 vintage. It turns out that the soil of the island is clay loam and they do not irrigate their vines. Rainfall is around 900ml per year, and they are almost as warm as Hawkes Bay. Summer temperatures are around 32C, and it rarely freezes during the winter. The main issues are humidity which brings on rot and downy mildew. They also struggle with birds – both starlings and wax eyes – and therefore, every vineyard on the island was completely netted. This vineyard used 8x6 foot spacing, cane pruning, and had 3 clones: 6, 9, and Mendoza, on different rootstock. Since it is a university vineyard, it is a learning laboratory for wine science students. They ferment the lots by clone and vineyard section, but each team of students is allowed to experiment with yeasts, fermentation temperature/vessel and oak aging regime. Therefore, the final blend tastes different each year. Before leaving, we walked up the hill to take photos at a breathtaking overlook of the island, surrounding water, and a skyline view of Auckland in the distance.

Wines of New Zealand

2010-02-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 7, 2010) Another happy occasion to travel to a unique wine country – New Zealand. This was my second visit – the first occurring in 2003 – and I was looking forward to returning to sample some excellent wine and cuisine. The event that brought me back was the 5th International Wine Business Conference. Academics from around the world attend this conference every two years in a new wine region. The last conference was in Sienna, Italy – and is described in the 2008 portion of this blog.

We arrived in the capital, Auckland, on Sunday morning, Feb. 7th after a 12 hour flight from Los Angeles. It is a 21 hour time change from the west coast of California because of crossing the International Date Line. However, we found that we barely had jet lag, because I slept 8 hours on the plane in a coach seat courtesy of Ambien. When we arrived at 7am, it was 10am in California the previous day….so it wasn’t that difficult to adapt.

The weather was sunny and warm in Auckland – in the mid 70’s during our 4 days here, with an occasional light shower. The city is clean and friendly, with a shiny harbor on both sides. They call it the City of Sails because of all the beautiful sail boats on the bay. We caught the Super Shuttle ($37NZ for 2) to The Quadrant Hotel which we had booked on Hotels.com for a good rate ($87US). The hotel was modern and clean, with a beautiful marble white floor and walk-way along a Zen rock garden. They gave us room 1808, which was small, but came with a nice compact kitchen and a small balcony with a lovely view of the harbor. I was impressed with the hotel service, and would stay here again. When they discovered our luggage had been delayed by one day, they upgraded us free of charge to a room with a washer/dryer.

We wandered around downtown Auckland and eventually found our way to the Waterfront Restaurant where we had a late breakfast and enjoyed the sunny weather while watching the sailboats. We also did a little shopping and then rested in our room until it was time to walk the 4 blocks to the Business School at University of Auckland where the welcome wine reception was held at 5pm on Sunday evening. The business school is in a very impressive new building with modern architecture and black walls. Most intriguing was a huge chunk of the local jade that graced the entrance. We were told to touch the stone for good luck, and that it served as the “soul of the building.” This unique NZ jade is revered by the Maori’s, who are the original inhabitants of NZ.

The wine reception featured 7 wines from around NZ, as well as some excellent appetizers of which my favorite was the huge tempora prawns. We started with a Lindauer Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc which was refreshing and unusual. It didn’t have the usual catpee aroma associated with most NZ sauv blancs, but smelled more like a sparkling Riesling with some floral notes and green peach. On the palate it was fuller than I expected with med++ acid and a tart green apple finish.

Next was a 2007 Fossil Bay Chardonnay made by the university wine science students. It reminded me of a big, blowsy, fruity California Chardonnay – NOT the delicate white wine I was expecting of NZ. My favorite of the tasting was the 2009 Michelle Richardson Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. It had the classic dusty note of the region with high acid and passion fruit. Very elegant! After that we had two pinot noirs, which were huge, dense and bursting with raspberry fruit. The first was the 2008 Montana Terroir Series Corbett’s Legacy Pinot Noir from Waipara, and the second was a cleanskin (no label) which they called a 2008 Incognito Black Label from Central Otago. It was supposedly made by one of the top suppliers in the area.

Approximately 65 professors from 14 countries came to the conference, with many bringing spouses. My husband, Mike, came as well, and we happily joined a large group of around 20 people who were headed to find a restaurant with no reservations. We walked down the hill from the university to the harbor and were pleased with Cin Cin Restaurant in the Old Ferry Building took us in and gave us a private room. New Zealand is known for its excellent hospitality and service, and we found this every place we visited in Auckland. They offered us a choice of fresh snapper, NZ duck, or lamb. As I was craving fresh fish, I ordered the snapper, and it was exquisite with the 2008 Neuodorf Riesling from the Nelson region. This turned out to be one of my favorite wines of the trip, and I can still taste the bone dry, complex notes of lime, green peach, diesel, and an electrifying acidity that sent tingles of pleasure along my spine. We also ordered a bottle of the 2006 Nevis Bluff Pinot Noir from Central Otago, which was a big fruity, chewy wine which paired perfectly with the duck.

I suppose I should pause here and provide a brief overview of the wine regions of New Zealand. On the North Island, which is warmer and more tropical than the South Island (which is closer to Antarctica), there are 4 major regions: 1) Hawkes Bay is the largest, and is also considered to be the warmest. They are known for crisp fruity chardonnay and intense merlot and syrah from the Gimblett Gravels vineyards. It is about 200 miles south of Auckland. 2) Kumea River is 30 -40 minutes north of Auckland, and is warmer and more humid. Despite this, they manage to make amazing chardonnay, which constantly wins global awards. I visited this region on my last trip to NZ. 3) Waiheke Island, which is a 40 minute ferry ride across the harbor from Auckland, and one of the most charming wine islands I have ever visited. It is known for Bordeaux varietals. See separate blog posting on my daytrip here. 4) Martinborough Region on the southern tip of the North Island outside the town of Wellington. It is famous for pinot noir. I visited here in 2003 and was very impressed with their complex savory pinots.

The South Island also has 4 major regions: 1) Marlborough is the most famous, and is located in the northern part of the island. It is world-renown for its distinct dusty passion fruit sauvignon blancs which put NZ wines on the map. At the same time, they also make a lighter, more delicate pinot noir. I visited here in 2003 and stayed in a wonderful cottage in the vineyards. 2) Nelson –to the west of Marlborough, which produces similar varietals, but with a sharper acidity and cleaner edge. They also produce some excellent dry Rieslings. 3) Waipara Region – on the east side of the island near the town of Christchurch, which is known for pinot noir; and finally 4) Central Otago which is the most southern vineyard in the world, and is known for its big dense chewy pinot noirs with depths of fruit and intense concentration. See separate blog posting on my visit to Central Otago.

The next 2 days in Auckland were taken up with the wine business conference, and there were fascinating papers from around the world. We had another NZ wine reception that Monday evening where I was blown away by the 2007 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Merlot. It was a very concentrated, textured dark berry with complex spice notes and fine tannins. It was so big and fruity, I thought it was from Napa! This turned out to be the best Bordeaux varietals wine I had on my visit. We also tried the Bilancia Syrah 2007 from Hawkes Bay. It had delicate ripe fruit, but was missing the massive body most people expect of Syrah – especially those from Australia. We also tried the 2008 Discovery Point Dry Riesling, which I enjoyed so much that I returned for a second glass. Very refreshing. Finally, they served a 2007 Auntsfield Cob Cottage Chardonnay, which was bigger and fruitier that others, but with some good complex notes of hazelnut.

That evening we had a celebration dinner at the Harbourside Restaurant. It was a perfect evening, with balmy weather and a lovely mauve sunset across the harbor. I started with a fresh green salad, which I greatly enjoy ordered in NZ because everything tastes like it was picked that day, and they keep the salad dressing simple and to a minimum. This was followed by a John Dory fish, which was moist, buttery, and absolutely divine. For our table of 10 people, we ordered 2 bottles of dry Riesling and 2 different pinots, but unfortunately I didn’t write down the brand names. However, they were all delightful.

The conference ended on Tuesday evening, and we had the traditional grand celebration dinner in the Spices Restaurant of the university. It has a lovely view of the harbor, and everyone brought a wine from their country. As usual, I wanted to taste every wine there, but it was impossible. Some interesting standouts were a sparkling wine from England; a chardonnay from Queensland in Australia; and an unusual wine from Puglia made of the Nero de Troie grape – huge, inky black wine with depths of complex anise and chocolate notes. I brought the 2005 Clos de Bois Marlstone from Alexander Valley. It is a massive Bordeaux blend with plenty of earth and dark muted fruit. It is one of my favorites, and received good reviews from the Europeans who tasted it. Even the Italians – who in past years have insulted the fruity Napa cabs I brought - liked it!

Wines from Hawaii

2010-01-31T19:10:00.000-08:00

This month I went to Hawaii for 8 days and was blessed with 83F degree weather every day, along with sunny skies and some pleasant wines from Hawaii. Actually, to be honest, I try to go to Hawaii at least once a year. It is my second soul home after Sonoma. My real dream is to live in both locations for part of the year – Sonoma during late spring, summer and harvest, and Hawaii from mid November to early March.

Each time I go to Hawaii I switch islands, and have now lost count of how many trips I’ve made – at least 15. This time it was Maui again – for about the 4th time. I enjoy the beauty and relaxed tranquility of Maui, but have to admit that my heart lies with the Big Island on the sunny Kona side. Kauai with its lush greenery, waterfalls, chickens, and too much rain is also appealing, and Oahu is always exciting. I’ve also visited Lanai and Molokai on day trips, but never stayed overnight. In each case, I rent a condo for the week and settle in for a relaxing sunny break with long walks on the beach each morning; fresh fruit, seafood, and Hawaiian vegetables.

The reason I love the Big Island so much is because most of the natural produce of Hawaii is grown there….avocados, mangos, coconuts, pineapples, vanilla, coffee, beef, fish, star fruit, orchids, and many other products too numerous to mention. The Big Island is like a small self-contained nation, which even has an active volcano. It is also big enough that I don’t get island fever, and I love the fact that it has such huge mountains that they receive snow in the winter!

What surprises many people is that Hawaii has 2 (two) wineries: 1) Volcano Winery (http://www.volcanowinery.com/) on the Big Island on the road to Hawaii Volcano National Park, and 2) Tedeschi Maui’s Winery in the small town of Ulupalakua (http://www.mauiwine.com/) However, I always wonder why people are surprised when the Spanish, Portuguese and Greeks have been growing grapes and making wine on tropical volcanic islands for centuries? My visit to the Canary Islands several years ago was just like going to Hawaii and they make wonderful wines. You also have the island of Pantelleria off of Italy as well as Cyprus and Crete where many wonderful wines are made on volcanic soil. My favorite of all time is the island of Madeira where the legendary wines of that name can be found. What surprises me even more is that the two Hawaiian wineries are not growing any of the grapes that are prolific on these other islands. Oh Hawaii, why not Malvasia, Bual, and Tinta Negra Mole?

Anyway, I can’t help but digress and get caught up in future dreams of a vineyard on Hawaii –but let’s focus. I’ve been to both wineries two times now – a total of four visits. On this recent trip to Maui, I found the Tedeschi Winery quite changed. For one, Mr. Tedeschi has returned to California and the winery is owned by the original Hawaiian partner….and slowly the name is being changed to Maui’s Winery (which is probably wise). For another, they are experimenting with many new grapes – still grappling with what will work in their climate, soil, altitude, etc.

The Tedeschi Maui Winery (http://www.mauiwine.com/) is actually just above the beautiful resorts of Wailea and Makena on the hillside of the dormant volcano – at an 1800 foot elevation. However, you must drive back towards the airport and then take the road toward the Haleakala Volcano National Park (which we visited before going to the winery) - in order to reach the winery and tasting room in Ulupalakua. As a visitor to the island, there are plenty of winery brochures with directions if you rent a car, or you can also sign up to take a tour bus to the winery. It is open every day from 10am to 5pm, except holidays. Tastings are complimentary and there are free tours.

The tasting room itself is a small charming ranch house – part of the original Rose Ranch for cattle. There are picnic grounds set amongst very ancient and beautiful trees – so bring a picnic. One tree is an amazing 100 year old camphor tree that takes your breath away it is so impressive. The only downside is you cannot drink wine with your picnic, because it is against Hawaiian alcohol laws.

When we entered we approached the long beautiful wooden bar, which we discovered was made of an 18 foot long mango tree! Our first server was distracted with many phone calls and appeared to find my questions about clones, trellising, and oak aging irritating…but eventually someone else helped me and provided me with the information I needed for this blog.

She informed me that they currently have 23 acres of vines at 1500 to 1800 elevation. The soil is a rich volcanic soil, and they have a southwest exposure on the hillside of the dormant Haleakala Volcano. She didn’t know the rootstock, but said it was originally from UC-Davis and that the vineyard was 35 years old (started in 1974).

I was able to view the vineyards from a distance after I left the winery. They are on quite wide spacing – looked like 12x8 with high vertical shoot position trellising. I asked if they had to spray a lot for powdery mildew, and she said there were many issues which required spraying due to the more humid, tropical environment.

She said they have been experimenting with many different varietals by grafting over on the original rootstock. Right now they grow syrah, chardonnay, chenin blanc, French Colombard, and a hybrid cabernet sauvignon. They also make pineapple wine which I found quite delicious with a refreshing acidity. The local restaurants and some of the grocery stores sell their wines also.

Interestingly, they are importing some bulk grape juice from California which takes one month by ship. They then ferment it in stainless (in fact, she said everything was fermented in stainless, temperature controlled), and only oak staves (both French and American) are added to some of the wines for minor oak nuances.

I tasted through all of the wines and enjoyed the Maui Blanc ($11) which is a blend of Chardonnay and French Colombard. It is very dry and perfect for fish, but needs food. Not a gentle quaffing wine. I also found the syrah to be surprisingly good, and agree with them that it could be a good match for Maui. All of the pineapple wines were delightful – especially the sparkling one. Interestingly, they can ship wines to the mainland and allow you to order from their website (http://www.mauiwine.com/).

When I visited the Volcano Winery on the Big Island just a couple years ago, I was very impressed with their use of the Symphony grape, which is a UC-Davis developed varietal by crossing Muscat Alexandria and Grenache Gris. It has lovely floral and peach aromas with a silky body, and this winery does this grape high credit. Volcano Winery has also shown much creativity by making wines from unusual ingredients such as macadamia nuts, honey, guava, and the island jaboticaba berries. They too ship to the mainland (http://www.volcanowinery.com/).

I’m sure I will visit both of these wineries again, because I can’t resist seeing the progress and experimentation each time I stop by these amazing Hawaiian wineries. Furthermore, I can’t help but cheering and celebrating for wineries being established in all of our wonderful 50 (fifty) United States!

Wine Goddesses Around the World

2009-10-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a delightful dinner at Tra Vigne Restaurant in Napa Valley with the owner of Silenus Vintners (www.silenusvintners.com). This winery makes small lots of artisan wine as part of a custom crush operation, and the cabernets and chardonnays he shared over dinner were rich, concentrated, and fulfilling. When I asked him what “Silenus” meant, he said that he was a Greek god who was the tutor and faithful companion to Dionysus.

The conversation reminded me of the article I wrote last year about wine goddesses. It was at a time when I started wondering why we always heard about wine gods, but never the female version. Since women consume more wine than men, this started to bother me. Eventually I did some research on the subject and published a short article in Wayward Tendrils Quarterly (Vol 18, No. 2, April 2008) which I am reprinting here with permission from the publisher. It highlights wine goddesses from around the world.

The Ancient Goddesses of Wine

Most historians now agree that wine was most likely discovered by a woman. However what is often left out of the history books are the ancient stories of the goddesses of wine – most who came into being centuries before Bacchus and Dionysus.

Modern technology and carbon-dating has helped us prove that wine from cultivated grapes was being made in what is now modern-day Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains around 6,000 B.C. There are also reports of wine remains in Armenia, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and China which claim to be older than those found in Georgia – though there is some confusion over whether it is grape, rice, date, or honey wine. Regardless of the birthplace of wine, it is commonly agreed that because women were involved in the gathering of berries, grapes, and other crops that it was most likely a woman who picked some grapes and placed them in a pottery container in a cool dark corner. When she remembered to check the container a few weeks later, she found a fermented beverage that had a delightful flavor and a pleasant inebriating effect. Thus wine was born.

From Persia, there is an ancient legend documented in the Epic of Gilgamish that supports a woman discovering wine. She was a member of the harem in the palace of King Jamshid, and she suffered from severe migraine headaches. One day the king found that a jar containing his favorite grapes had a strange smell and was foaming. Alarmed he ordered that it be set aside as unsafe to eat. When the woman heard of this, she decided to drink from the container in an effort to end her life with the poison inside. Instead she found the taste of the beverage very delightful. Furthermore, it cured her headache and put her in a joyful mood. When she told King Jamshid, he tasted the “wine” as well and then ordered that more should be made and shared with the whole court.

It was from this same part of the world, in the Sumerian Empire in what is modern-day Iraq, that the most ancient goddess of wine is first mentioned. Her name was Gestin and she was being worshiped as early as 3000 BC. Gestin, which translates as wine, vine, and/or grape, is also mentioned in the ancient Indus manuscript, the Rig Veda. Experts believe that it is quite reasonable that the first gods of wine were women, because the oldest deities were female agriculture goddesses of the earth and fertility. Gestin was most likely born from this agriculture base and over the centuries came to represent wine.

Later, in 1500 BC, we find mention of another wine goddess, Paget, in the same part of the world. The clay tablets refer to her as working in the vineyard and helping to make wine.

Then around 300 to 400 BC as wine became more prominent in Sumeria, a new wine goddess, Siduri, is described as living near the city of Ur. She is reported as welcoming the hero in the Epic of Gilgamish to a garden with the tree of life which is hung with ruby red fruit with tendrils. Siduri is referred to as the Maker of Wine.

Across the deserts in Egypt the wine goddess Renen-utet is mentioned on hieroglyphic tablets as blessing the wine as early as 1300 BC. Interestingly she is known as both a wine and snake goddess. She usually had a small shrine near the wine press and often her figure would appear on the spout where the grape juice flowed into the receiving tank. She is sometimes joined by Ernutet, the Egyptian goddess of plenty, in blessing the grape harvest.

What is intriguing about these wine goddesses is how little is known about them, whereas Dionysus and Bacchus have much more coverage in the literature. It is possible that this is because they are more recent. The earliest records of Dionysus, the Greek wine god, show he appeared around 500BC in the Greek Islands, whereas Gestin dates from 3000 BC. However, the concept of Dionysus, as a child god who was born of a mortal woman and a god, is very ancient and can be traced back 9000 years. These depictions however -- which are amazingly similar to the images of Mother Mary with the Baby Jesus – do not include wine. Dionysus as a wine god came later. Indeed, another legend says that Dionysus came from the lands near Sumeria to the islands of Greece. Is Dionysus somehow connected with Gestin, Paget and Siduri?
Bacchus, the Roman name for Dionysus, became known in the literature around 200 BC as the Greek Empire was fading. Other wine gods included Osiris from Egypt and I-Ti from China.

So what are the implications of these ancient connections between women and wine? Why have the ancient wine goddesses been lost in the history of time? Is it because the culture changed towards a more masculine image, which gave rise to the male wine gods? Is this why in the period of the Roman Empire, women were banned from drinking wine? Indeed, a husband who caught his wife drinking wine could legally kill her on the spot. And the depiction of the raging Bacchanalia rites, in which women chased after Bacchus in drunken ecstasy while they tore animals to shreds is hardly flattering to women.

So perhaps it is time to resurrect the image of the ancient wine goddesses, and the blessings of a plentiful harvest and the joy that wine can bring in moderation. After all, the cultural tides of the world have changed again, and today in wine-drinking countries, women are the primary purchasers of wine. The connection between women and wine has always been there. Today it is growing stronger, with a focus on friendship, romance, health and balance.

Grape Alley, Wine Tourism, and Journey Home

2009-09-07T20:58:00.001-07:00

(8/25-26/09) On our last day in Turpan, we were also pleased to be able to visit the famous Grape Alley. This is one of their major tourist attractions, and, after visiting, I agree! You enter through a very large and impressive gate (paying a small fee) and then drive along the river with huge sandstone cliffs on the right side, and charming adobe houses with the colorful painted doors on the left. If you look closely you can see the indoor patios with the grape arbors overhead and small bald children playing. (According to our guide, the Uyghurs believe in shaving the heads of their children until they reach the age of 7. This helps keep them cool in the summer, and prevents the hassle of fighting with kids over brushing their hair – smart!).

Eventually you come to an indoor market with many restaurants covered in grape arbors, and shops selling dried fruits of all types. It is very colorful and quite tempting. From there you enter Grape Alley which is a series of walkways which large overhead grape trellises (Thompson Seedless). These go on for quite a way, and it is very beautiful with dappled sunlight coming through the grapevines; a stream; waterfalls; small shops; ponds; and eventually a wine bar at the far end with some interesting antique wine presses. Unfortunately it is only one winery and they only sell rather expensive glasses (no tastes) at around 40 to 60 RMB each ($6 to $10!). Why they are not selling small 1 ounce tastes – when that is the tradition here – is beyond me? They also should be selling bottles, and doing a refundable tasting fee. Needless to say, we didn’t stop to taste wine.

Instead, we headed to a wonderful Arabic restaurant where you could actually lay down on pillows near the table and look at the grapes overhead. There was a waterfall, and servers dressed in beautiful Uyghurs clothing. We had lamb kabobs, fresh melon and grapes, rice, many small vegetable dishes, and tea. It was very exotic, and once again, I felt like I was in ancient Persia or Arabia, instead of China!

As we finished our day of visiting fascinating tourist sites, Qin told us our presence was requested at a 9-11pm meeting to provide our input on what the region could do to improve its grape and wine industry. When I received the same question about wine tourism, I was ready with an answer.

It seems to me that given the long distance between the 12 wineries; plus some serious infrastructure issues– that the best approach is to establish a XinJiang Wine Education and Tourism Center in Turpan. This reasoning includes the fact that currently more than 400,000 Chinese and Japanese tourists visit this city each year to see the ancient sites and attend the famous Grape Festival. A regional wine center would be an additional tourist attraction for this population. Because of the political unrest, it is not feasible that many Western tourists will visit this region until it is resolved.

Furthermore, the 12 wineries could collaborate in a Xinjiang Wine Region Association and all feature their wines within the one center. This could include educational tours, videos, tastings, blending seminars, a demonstration vineyards etc. More importantly, they could sell wine -- including packaging to take on the airplane. By charging a small fee (10RMB; $2) for a tasting of 5 different wines with a refund of the fee if a bottle is purchased, they could encourage sales. Different tasting flights could be established, e.g. white, red, reserve, etc. at varying pricing schemes. Apparently Loulan has a nice wine tasting center in Urumqi, but as yet there is not a regional wine center – this might help to jumpstart the concept and help to build Xinjiang wine brand recognition.

After our late night conference, the 7 of us headed to the lake bar for one last beer. It was a sweet good-bye, and an even shorter night of sleep. Finally climbing into my rock hard bed around midnight, we receive a wake-up call at 4:30am and climbed on the van to drive back to the Urumqi Airport at 5:10am. Our plane left on time at 9:10am and we were back in Beijing by 12:30pm.

After a 30 minute taxi ride and checking back into the Taiwan Hotel, we had one last celebratory lunch of Peking duck, pork, beef, chicken – and you guessed it – beer! Next a 2 hour power nap; shower; and then back to the airport at 6pm in order to catch my 9pm flight home. A very long day…….but a once in a lifetime incredible trip! I’m very grateful to have been given the opportunity, and to have met such fabulous people – especially my travel mates, plus Qin and Demei. This trip will remain one of the highlights of my life.

Turpan’s Colorful Market

2009-09-07T20:54:00.001-07:00

(8/25/09) Later in the day, our guide took us in a taxi to the local market in Turpan. It was immensely fascinating with so many bright colors, scents, and textures that it was a feast for the senses. I went with one of the Israeli professors who was a great negotiator and also a professional photographer. The pictures he took of children and old ladies were works of art.

My main goal was to buy some gifts to take home, and so I purchased some beautiful scarves, fabric, and small souvenir items. But then we wandered into the clothing section where there were many Uyghur women sewing clothes on ancient Singer sewing machines – like I learned on when I was very young from my mother. The dresses they were making were fabulous – all with modest high necks, but in bright colors and with very feminine designs. They also made many modest looking “belly-dancing” costumes with gold sequins. I purchased one in green for my daughter.

The prices were good, and they were willing to bargain a little – but not much. My Uyghur guide said to walk away, and then to come back 2 or 3 times. She said that each time the price would be lowered a bit. This seemed to be the case, but it was nothing like the aggressive negotiating in Beijing. Here it was much more subtle.

Equally amazing was all of the fresh fruit, dried snakes coiled in rings; dead lizards; strange native medicine; and wonderful dishes being grilled over open coal fires – including the tempting spicy lamb empanadas; whole grilled chicken; and huge sides of beef. I felt like I had stepped back in time --- and perhaps this was similar to the market during the heyday of the Silk Trail.

The Ancient City of Jiaohe, China

2009-09-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

(8/25/09) The third and last day of the conference did not include any translators, so we asked if we could visit some of the local tourist sites. A van and tour guide was kindly provided and all 7 of us climbed aboard to drive the 15 minutes from the hotel to the ancient city of Jiahoe. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site and quite amazing. Apparently it is more than 2000 years old.

Perched on a cliff top between two rivers, the ancient and abandoned city was in a perfect location to protect itself from attack. The remains of the buildings show the inhabitants built houses right into the rock and then used mud bricks to form other walls. There were windows and shelves carved into the rock. You climb to the top via a steep walkway, and then can wander around the ruins. All of the signs are in Chinese and Arabic, so it is helpful to have a tour guide.

The most fascinating part for me was the ruins of the ancient Buddhist Monastery. Our guide told us that if we walked around the center stone where the giant Buddha used to sit, that a wish would be granted. So we walked around the stone 3 times in the very hot heat (90F+), and then I made a wish.

Visiting Vineyards and Loulan Winery

2009-09-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

(8/24/09) The next day of the conference was a field trip to several table grape vineyards, a raisin and dried fruit processing firm, and Loulan Winery in Shanshan County. They were harvesting the table grapes – primarily Thompson Seedless – using small wicker baskets. It was very charming to witness. I learned a lot about trellising techniques and pruning for table grapes, which are quite different from wine grapes. They were using a low pergola system and the grapes intertwined in the middle. The workers had to stoop quite low to harvest the bunches. It was exhausting to realize that in November, they would have to prune back the vines and then bury everything in the dirt to protect the vines from the harsh winter cold.

We also visited several modern irrigation systems connected to the ancient karezes which pull water from the snow-capped mountains. In the past they had used flood irrigation here, but now they have switched to drip. According to the viticulture professors with us, they are still using too much water and nitrogen (fertilizer) on the vines.

Loulan Winery was the last stop of the day, and is about a 90 minute drive from Turpan. As I was supposed to provide advice on wine tourism for the region, I observed our path carefully and in the first 30 minutes drive from Turpan, I felt hopeful. The highways were brand new and very clean. We passed well-marked tourist attractions such as signs to Grape Alley, the Karezes, the ancient cities of Jiaohe and Gaochang, the 1000 Buddha Caves and a camel riding operation. All of these appeared to be excellent additional tourist attractions – plus the landscape was very compelling with beautiful red and yellow rock formations.

Then we entered the mining and petroleum region of Shanshan County and the scenery changed abruptly. The roads were under construction; ugly shanty towns for workers lined the street, as well as garbage in the ditches. The sight and smell of poverty assaulted our senses. As we entered the major town in the region, I noticed they had planted flowers in the middle of the road in an attempt to beautify the area, but it didn’t cover up the poverty.

Arriving at Loulan Winery, we discovered it was a large industrial looking complex that would not be impressive looking to Western tourists. They did have a nice tasting room with a tasting bar, but it was over 90F and I shuddered to see all the wine on the counters in such high heat. When I asked to go to the restroom, I discovered another ancient trough in the floor. No – this wouldn’t work for wine tourism.

The operation tour of the winery was enjoyable, and they had kindly harvested some Riesling grapes (22 brix, 7 acid; 3.8 ph) so that we could see everything working. They brought the grapes in on small tractors and used a sorting table with 4 workers to pull out leaves. The grapes were destemmed and crushed using modern equipment, and then pumped into temperature controlled fermentation tanks. I was also surprised to see large rotary fermentors which they said they used for the red grapes. Total production is 2000 tons (approximately 170,000 cases – quite large). As mentioned previously, they age their reserve cab in 100% new French oak for 12 months. When I asked to see the vineyards, I was told there were a few hectares near the winery, but that the majority were 3 hours away in the Gobi Desert. We never did get to see the vineyard operations of this winery – disappointing.

We had tasted through all of their wines the previous day at the conference center during the breaks. My favorites were the 2006 Loulan Cabernet Sauvignon which had a rich red fruit nose with touches of berry and cassis; moderate tannins; and medium to long finish. However, when I tasted from another bottle later in the day, the wine was not nearly as good – bottle variation? The 2007 Reserve Loulan Cabernet Sauvignon, which we had at the banquet dinner the night before, was also enjoyable, but a bit too young with a slightly tart finish. We also tasted their Dry White, Semi-Sweet White, Chenin Blanc and Dry Red, but I was more impressed with the cabs. Apparently Loulan had won some awards in a London wine competition about 5 years ago, and their new general manager is trying to make this happen again.

Characteristics of Chinese Wines from Xinjiang Region

After tasting over 20 different wines from 4 of the wineries in the Xinjiang region (they only have a total of 12 wineries), I tried to identify the major characteristics. All of the wines were clean and fresh – probably due to organic viticulture, modern winemaking, and little to no oak – thus no bret. The majority have a fruity New World nose, but on the palate are thin with very little concentration/intensity, and no complexity. Most are low alcohol (12.5 to 13%), light to medium-bodied, and have a short to medium length finish. They make nice bulk wine, but I didn’t really find much that could be called great – at this point. I wonder if it is because they are picking the grapes at too low brix and they are not physiologically ripe. It also could be a matter of over-cropping. Furthermore, all of the vineyards are on the flat valley land (like the table grapes). I wonder why they don’t plant some wine vineyards on the hillsides closer to the water source and perhaps more interesting soil?

What is impressive about these wines is their labeling. Almost all of the wines were in very fancy bottles; many with gold engraving. They looked much more expensive than they tasted. I was also very impressed with the wine advertisements in magazines, on billboards, and on TV. Lots of fancy marketing….but perhaps more time and money should be put into viticulture if they are serious about making more prestigious wines and moving away from bulk production.

Wine and Grape Conference in Turpan City, China

2009-09-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

(8/23/09) The Turpan portion of the conference started promptly at 9am the next morning in Turpan’s brand new conference center next to our hotel. There was much fanfare with the news media there, many photographers and important government officials. Over 200 people showed up from China’s wine and grape industries, and they actually took a group photo of all of us at one point. There were many speeches with simultaneous translation, and my presentation on the California wine industry and wine tourism seemed well received. Each us of was interviewed for the local television station, and had our photographs taken multiple times. We were made to feel like celebrities.

We sat through more than 10 presentations, and learned much about the local table grape industry. If you include table grapes in the statistics, then China is currently the world’s 3rd largest producer of grapes. However, the Chinese government does not want to expand table grapes, but instead to focus on wine grapes. The Turpan area – even though it is the birthplace of wine in China – is almost all table grapes and raisins. The closest winery – Loulan – is a 90 minute ride from the city (see posting on Loulan Winery). They mentioned again the two important native Chinese grapes – Longyan (Dragon’s Eye) and Shelongzhu (Chinese Cabernet) – but none are grown in this region.

That evening, we had another huge banquet with the largest round table (seating 30 people) and matching lazy susan I have ever seen. I was told later that it took 10 men to set-up the glass lazy susan on the table, and I believe it. The center of the table was filled with a large red rose bouquet, and all of the important dignitaries and their translators sat at our table. The food was amazing of course – with at least 25 different dishes ranging from all types of vegetables, shrimp, fish, beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and many other delicacies. One of my favorites was a type of minced lamb empanada with spices – very tasty. I saw it being cooked in the local market a few days later over coals.

Of course, the meal included countless gambay toasts. I smiled when I saw that they had set each place setting with a one ounce pour of red wine, the nasty rice grappa, and a large glass of green tea – what a combo! (See photo above). The wine was actually quite nice, but rather young – a 2007 Loulan Winery Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. It had a bright red berry nose; firm tannins; medium-bodied; but a slightly tart finish. We found out later it had been aged 12 months in 100% new French oak. I think that if it had another year of bottle age, it would be a little more elegant and rounded. As we continued to eat dinner, I found myself rather frustrated, however, at only having a one ounce pour. I kept having to wait for the server to refill my glass and wished I could grab the bottle out of his hands and pour a normal size glass of wine to enjoy with the food. Instead it was a stop and start affair.

The other interruption to the meal was the standard gambeys. Each time someone wanted to toast, we all had to stop eating and stand up. We proceeded through about only 8 gambeys (not very many compared to most banquets), and I noticed that many people only took sips, rather than downing their glass. We wondered later if they did this for us Westerners. The meal actually ended rather abruptly with people getting up to leave and saying good-bye. Therefore, since the night was still young, the 7 of us decided to walk down to the lake for a beer. I never did touch my stinky smelling rice grappa. We ended the night relaxing by the beautiful lake with lotus blossoms, fountains, and singing rocks – and drinking beer, because – regretfully for me -- there was no cold white wine.

The Enchanting City of Turpan and the Uyghurs

2009-09-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

(8/23/09) – I fell in love with the city of Turpan. It seems to be a cross of ancient Arabia and Santa Fe with its Persian looking buildings, mosques, and charming adobe mud brick houses. Turpan is about a 3 hour drive from the Urumqi Airport, and as you approach you are surrounded by stark brown desert and large white windmills. Then the city slowly appears like a mirage in the distance with green trees and the strange looking raisin houses as the first visible objects. The architecture of the raisin houses is ancient; they are rectangular in shape and made from mud bricks which are stacked so that holes are created in the walls. This is to allow air to enter and dry the grapes that are draped on wooden racks inside. These unusual looking buildings surround the outskirts of Turpan.

When you finally enter the city, the boulevards are wide and tree-lined with small canals running down both sides of the roads, with pink roses bordering the sidewalks. Off to the side, you can see acres of green table grapes growing on short pergolas. The modern downtown has new and impressive stone and marble buildings with Arabic design. All the signs are in both Chinese and Arabic. There are beautiful parks with lakes, as well as the colorful local markets. As you move out of downtown, you find yourself lost in time as donkey carts pass pulling women in colorful Arabic dresses and men with long white beards and small caps. This part of the town is filled with small brown adobe houses with brightly painted wooden doors with pictures of flowers, birds, and fruit. Every once in a while you pass a colorful mosque with turrets. It is like something from a book, and completely enchanting.

We ended up having two different female guides during the course of the conference, and both were Uyghurs (pronounced “weger”). Uyghurs are part of the ancient people who first settled in the area in 300 B.C. They are thought to be of either Persian or Turkish decent; as they do not look like the Han Chinese, but there could be some Mongolian mix. They speak Arabic and are Moslem, which they adopted sometime in the mid 800’s as the religion was imported to the area along the Silk Trail.

The two Uyghur girls explained much of the culture to us, and I was fascinated to learn that many of the Uyghurs drink wine. They also do not conform to orthodox Moslem dress of heavy black cloth and face veils. In fact, they seem to go to the opposite extreme, in that they dress in very bright multi-colored silk and wear small colorful hats with gold trim. I was fascinated to learn that this region discovered how to make silk and kept the secret for thousands of years – thus creating the Silk Trail industry – until it accidently leaked out and the Europeans learned how to cultivate the silkworm and grow mulberry trees.

They said that Xinjiang is 60% Uyghur, 14% Han Chinese, with the remainder other mixed ethnicities. It is supposedly the Uyghurs who led the revolt in Urumqi two months ago because they felt they were being mistreated by the Hans. Interesting, the girls told me the Chinese government does allow minorities, such as the Uyghurs, to have 2 children (3 in the villages), rather than the mandatory one child per couple.

Another interesting fact about Turpan is that in the heat of the afternoon, everything seems to shut down – similar to a siesta in Spain. Our lunch break was from 1 to 4pm, and when I tried to go for a walk, I not only nearly melted from the heat, but couldn’t find much open. However, in the cooler evenings, everyone seemed to be on the streets. The lake garden near our hotel was filled with families with children every night – boating and playing on the lake. They also held what appeared to be large line dances, and many people danced late into the night. What an amazing place!

Caveat: In reading back through this posting, it sounds as if I am romanticizing Turpan – and it is possible that I am. However, I really did find this city enchanting. I’m sure it has its dark corners and poverty-stricken neighborhoods similar to those we saw in Heshuo and ShanShan County. At the same time, I’ve seen the same type of small rundown houses along the borders of Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico and the Deep South of the US. The fact that I didn’t see it in Turpan, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Poverty is something that is a sad fact in many parts of the world. What I did find in Turpan, however, was magic in the air….in the architecture, customs, clothing, ancient sites, and the stories of our guides.

Traveling to Turpan City, China – Along the Silk Trail

2009-09-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

(8/22/09) The conference continued the next morning, and it was our turn as invited specialists to make recommendations on what the Heshuo Region could do to improve its wine industry. While my colleagues focused on viticulture, I was asked to comment on how they could improve wine tourism and marketing.

Interestingly, wine tourism is one of the five prongs of the government 2015 vision for the area, along with: 1) doubling wine grape production; 2) training more people in viticulture, winemaking and wine hospitality; 3) collaboration with associations and universities; and 4) new product development to match consumer needs. The fact that this area still has many hectares of unused sand/gravel land, as well as water (though we questioned for how long), makes it an ideal place for wine vines. On the positive side, wine grapes require far less water than table grapes and prefer less fertile soil. The government wants to use the more fertile land for other crops, with a focus in Heshuo on tomatoes and chili peppers.

In my comments, I pointed out all of the positives of the region for tourism, as well as the challenges – including a very long distance from airports, infrastructure issues, medical care, lack of boutique wineries, etc. In addition to addressing these issues, I suggested that they begin by focusing on the Chinese tourists who usually come to see Lake Bosten. Except for adventure and eco-tourism travelers, there are very few Westerners who will be able to make the journey to this remote and pristine valley at this time. Furthermore the current political unrest in the area makes it even more unlikely.

We left after a celebratory lunch which included a shot of the grappa-like rice drink. Personally I found the sickly sweet rotting banana/mango smell to be quite off-putting, and it only took one small sip of the burning liquid before I set it back down on the table. However, the rest of the Chinese officials continued to use it to make gambey toasts throughout the lunch. By the time we were done, I became more accepting of the government’s stance to replace the drink with wine – even though it seems like an abuse of wine to me to gulp it.

Around 3pm we all piled back into the van to drive back through the mountains and across a new desert towards the ancient fabled city of Turpan (pronounced Turfan by the local). The journey took 4 hours, and it became much hotter as we approached what the Chinese told us was the 2nd lowest spot on earth after the Dead Sea. Turpan lies in an old lake bed at 500 feet below sea level, and is surrounded by tall snow-capped mountains ranging from 12,000 to 16,000 feet high. It is from these mountains that they receive their water using an ancient and amazing system of “karezes,” which are underground canals with air holes every few hundred yards. This creates an unusual crater formation along the desert floor. The result is that Turpan is an oasis city – one of the oldest along the ancient Silk Trail. It is also the birthplace of wine in China, with ancient residue confirming that vitus vinfera grapes were fermented into wine here more than 2300 years ago.

We checked into the 4-star Turpan Houzhou Hotel with its magnificent marble lobby, and the first thing I did upon reaching my modern room was to take a long shower. It felt so good to be clean again! Dinner was at 8pm -- a Chinese buffet with decent, but not the gourmet food we had been treated to in Heshuo. After dinner, 5 of our group decided to take a walk and see if we could find a bar that could make a cold gin & tonic. With the evening still hovering in the low 90’s F, we were craving something cool. Our hotel only served beer and warm wine, so we wandered around outside to find a lovely park with a man-made lake complete with fountains, boats, and music piped from fake rocks. There were elegant Chinese bridges on the lake and pink lotus blossoms in full bloom. The area was packed with many local families eating at outdoor restaurants and playing cards and drinking in outdoor bars.

We made our way around the lake to the 5-star Tufa Petroleum Hotel where we had been told there was a western bar. The hotel is very magnificent with even more marble than ours, plus a jewelry shop, swimming pool, restaurant, and a small bar tucked away on the 2nd floor. The bartender had to call for help when we ordered a gin and tonic off the menu, but eventually I was served a glass of gin, a can of tonic, a lemon wedge, and most satisfying – a large crystal bucket of ice. It was the only ice I was to receive on the whole trip, and I thought back on it longingly several times after that evening.

On the walk back to our hotel, we decided to bar hop and purchased a Chinese beer for only $1.30 at one of the sidewalk cafes. We then relaxed and watched kids playing on boats and people dancing in the outdoor pavilion. It was 11:30 on a Saturday night, and Turfan was hopping! Eventually, I made it to bed and discovered it was extremely hard and uncomfortable – but at least I had a hot shower.

Lake Bosten in Xinjiang Region, China

2009-09-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

(8/21/09) Later in the day we visited Lake Bosten which is a beautiful expanse of water, but quite low – perhaps due to global warming, high temperature, or overuse of water. The very nice (and empty) hotels that surrounded it were rather far from the water’s edge. You could tell that in the past the hotels probably were much closer to the water than the large expanse of grey sandy beach that separated them from the lake’s edge. We walked down to the shore where a few lone people were wading in the shallow lake. Umbrellas, tables, and boats were scattered around the sand, and you could tell it was once a thriving tourist area.

We were informed that the recession and swine flu had cut down on tourism for the past 2 years, and the beautiful new hotels and restaurants were almost empty. All of the hotels were painted in bright pastel colors – pink, light blue, yellow, etc – and each room had its own air-conditioning unit with elaborate rococo design decorating the buildings. Unfortunately the roads to the lake were very bumpy – quite unlike the very new and modern freeways we drove from Urumqi through the mountains.

Near the edge of Lake Bosten, a small group of locals was grilling fish over an open BBQ pit to sell to tourists. We took a group photo by the lake, and I felt rather sad that in the height of summer this region was currently so bereft of visitors to enjoy the lake. As the Canadian wine writer who lived in Beijing commented, it was rare to find such a lovely beach in China so empty. Most beaches are so crowded there is barely room to walk.

That evening jet-lag caught up with me, and I begged off going to another massive dinner banquet. Instead I sat in my room and watched the sunset over the tall snow-capped mountains and enjoyed 2 glasses of the 2006 Reserve Merlot from Aromatic Gardens. They had kindly left 6 bottles of local wines in our room to sample. As this was my favorite from the morning’s tasting, I opened it up – and it was even better. Perhaps it was the fact that I finally had time to relax after long hours of travel and discussion. Perhaps it was the setting sun, the peace and beauty of the region, the classical music playing on my MP3, and the local peach and airplane granola bar that I paired it with for dinner…... Afterwards I slept solidly for 10 hours, and was not in the least dismayed to discover the next morning from my colleagues that all I had missed the evening before at dinner was even more slugging back gambay toasts. Instead I had enjoyed some beautiful Chinese wine…and fell in love with this remote unspoiled region of Xinjiang.

Visiting Champion Dragon Winery (Guanlong) in Heshuo, China

2009-08-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

(8/21/09) Champion Dragon Winery is located in a modern industrial looking building and produces 6000 tons, with most of it being sold off in bulk. They produce 10,000 bottles on their own, uniquely specializing in chardonnay and the unusual malvasia we tried the evening before. Pricing ranges from 80 to 200 RMB. They were harvesting the chardonnay when we arrived, and we noticed that they pick rather early – at 22 brix. Some of the grapes appeared to be slightly unripe, and we didn’t see any sorting. However, the chardonnay we tasted out of tank (after only 1 day of fermentation) was fresh, crisp with sharp apple and some citrus. It was simple and uncomplicated with no ML at this point; no oak; and no lees stirring. All of it was to be shipped in large tankers to wineries in other parts of China where it would be mixed into different brands, with perhaps some oak aging. They employ 20 full-time employees and 100 at harvest.

A unique feature of this winery were its floors made of marble in the tank rooms. Marble is another of the major products of the region (along with oil, coal, jade and gold mining), and it is used extensively in hotels and other facilities. It was beautiful, but as we were exiting, one of the Chinese officials slipped and almost took a nasty fall because the red marble floor was wet from winemaking cleaning procedures.

Vineyards and Wineries in Heshuo, Xinjiang, China

2009-08-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

(8/21/09) The next morning we met at 9am in the lobby and then drove to the restaurant – scene of the banquet from the night before. Breakfast is more challenging for me to eat in China than other meals, because they eat a lot of vegetables and a milky rice porridge that reminded me of cream of wheat. Fortunately they also served hard boiled eggs, doughy white buns, and fresh melon and grapes which I ended up eating all 8 days for breakfast. They also serve green tea mixed with salty soy milk, which is a little difficult to get used to. Kindly, Demei brought packets of powdered coffee which I blended with warm milk.

The Heshuo portion of the conference (we were to travel to Turpan for the next part) started at 10am with Chinese officials and research professors providing an overview of the local wine industry. This was all translated from Chinese to English for us by Demei – a winemaker and researcher himself. We learned that Xinjiang is the 2nd largest grape producing region (80% table; 20% wine) after Shandong near Shanghai. Heshuo and a large vineyard called Suntime produce the most wine grapes, with the Heshuo region currently producing 3,000 hectares and plans to increase to 7,000.

The region is high desert with sandy rocky soil – perfect for wine grapes. It is in a valley (3000 feet) surrounded by tall mountains (over 19,000 feet in some locations) and is close to a large body of water (Lake Bosten). Summers are quite hot at 40 C degrees (high 90’sF), but winters are freezing – dropping below -25C. This issue requires that they bury all grape vines during the winter – an incredible amount of labor as there are currently no machines invented that can handle this type of operation. However, since the going rate is 60 RMB ($10 US) per day for labor, the cost is not yet that high.

As mentioned previously, because of the pristine protected climate, all grapes are organic – they even use natural fertilizer. The wines from here tasted much better than those I tasted in Beijing 2 years ago, and didn’t possess that acrid taint that seemed to reflect the pollution in the skies of Beijing – though to their credit, I saw less pollution in Beijing this time. Furthermore, I learned that much of the wine produced in Xinjiang is shipped in bulk to supplement the wine made by the 4 large producers in the Beijing and Shandong areas: Cofco (owner of Great Wall brand), Changyu, Dragon Seal, and Dynasty.

Currently in Heshuo there are only 4 wineries, but the local growers want to increase this number so they can produce more fine wine, rather than just be a bulk wine producer. At the break, we tasted the wines of Aromatic Garden, Champion Dragon (as mentioned previously), and an all organic winery called Refine. Unfortunately 3 of the 4 Refine wines – three 2005 Cabernets with varying oak applications and a 2005 Riesling – were oxidized, most likely because they didn’t use SO2 according to organic winemaking standards. The one that wasn’t oxidized – an unoaked cab – had a nice red fruit nose, was medium bodied with an elegant mouth feel, but ended with a bitter finish. We never did find out the name of the 4th winery. During the break, they paired the wines with table grapes and different varieties of Chinese cookies. I found that, amazingly, their soft easy-drinking cabs went quite well with mooncakes!

They only plant 4 different varietals in Heshuo: 60% cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, and Riesling. The Chinese still produce 90% red grapes, because they believe red wine is more healthy than white. Personally, I think that many Chinese do not like the taste of wine, and only drink it because it is fashionable and because the government encourages it. Besides, since they gulp it in toasts, they really don’t taste it. When they asked us for ideas on new grape varietals to plant, I suggested that they not only research what will grow well in their climate, but conduct some market research on Chinese taste preferences (as the Australians have done in China) to determine what will sell in their market. It is highly probable that white, rose, and sweeter wines will eventually sell better, as beginning with more tannic red wines is often difficult for the novice wine drinker.

In the afternoon, we had a field tour and visited several vineyards and a winery. Spacing is 3.2 meters by 60mm (approx. 12 x 3 feet). The reason the middle aisles are so large is to allow them to lay the vines down and bury them in the winter. They use an unusual training system of single cordon which is tied vertically to the wire and pruned to 2 buds per spur. This is the same method they use for table grapes, and according to the viticulture professors with us, is probably not the most efficient. All vines are irrigated using water from Lake Bosten or snow run-off in the mountains. No rootstock is used, as the vines are all on their own roots. In most parts of the world this is unheard of due to disease risks – but here, in this remote valley, they are still safe with this practice. Hopefully it will stay this way.

Fabulous Banquet in Heshuo China at Aromatic Gardens Winery

2009-08-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

(8/20/09) If I was asked to name the best thing about the trip to the Xinjiang Region of China, I would have to say it was the hospitality. Everyone we met was incredibly charming, friendly, and helpful. They went out of their way to treat us well and serve us fabulous meals.

The winery owner of Aromatic Gardens is a beautiful Chinese woman. She, along with the mayor of Heshuo, 3 other local winery owners, and many other government officials (40 people in all), welcomed us to a wonderful banquet dinner that first evening starting around 9:30pm. We started with 6 different types of greens – all so delicious and fresh, I was in heaven. One, called “luo le”, tasted like a type of spinach with mint spices. The tomatoes were juicy and bright. The vegetables here were the best I’ve had in my life. I think it is because they are organic and very fresh. Plate after plate of food was delivered to the lazy susan on our table (all Chinese meals are served in the center on a rotating glass plate so that everyone helps themselves.) I lost track of the number of courses, but every type of dish was served ranging from beef, chicken, pork, tofu, fish, multiple vegetable dishes, and exotic courses such as farm-raised swan and pigeon (the last with the head on the plate too!)

In terms of wine, we started with a Malvasia from Champion Dragon Winery (Guanlong, in Chinese). It was floral with strong minerality, and unfortunately was served too warm – as is common in China with all wines. Next were the 2006 Cabernet and 2006 Reserve Merlot from Aromatic Gardens. Both were quite good with a ripe berry nose, medium-bodied and soft tannins, but the merlot actually had better concentration and some spice. Neither wine showed any complexity and both had medium-length finishes. As it was to turn out, the Merlot ended up being the best wine of the trip. Unfortunately, I was told that it is only available locally.

As is traditional, they served the wine in very small glasses and provided about a one-ounce pour so that we could “gambay” (toast) with it. This required you to drink the complete glass, upon which it was promptly refilled. I was familiar with the custom from my last visit to China and knew as a woman it was expected that I participate in the first “bottoms up,” but afterwards could sip. Demei, our English speaking guide on this portion of the trip, kept cautioning and reminding me of this – which I appreciated. However, the whole custom is rather upsetting to me personally, because wine is not tasted for pleasure, but is knocked back as a shot. On the plus side, the Chinese government is encouraging people to drink wine (12-13% alcohol) over the obnoxious distilled rice spirit (40-60% proof) to cut down on riotous drinking and death from alcohol poisoning, as well as to save rice for food.

As we proceeded through the evening with approximately 10 toasts, the men became more and more inebriated. This was accelerated when a troop of dancing women brought full goblets of wine to us on 2 occasions. The goblets were made of jade, gold, and silver – rather like the chalices at church, but without the stem. After toasting, they placed silk scarves around our necks to welcome us to the region. Soon we were all invited to dance with the dancers, who wore wonderful Arabic, Mongolian and Chinese costumes. Their dances were amazing, and this was truly one of the highlights of my wine travels around the world. We finally stumbled back to our rooms around midnight and didn’t have any trouble sleeping.

Traveling from Beijing to Heshuo, Xinjiang - China

2009-08-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

(8/19/09) Earlier this year, I was honored to receive another invitation to present at a conference in China – all expenses covered by the Chinese government, with the location being the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. As China is now the 6th largest wine producing country in the world and has over 600 wineries, I was very excited to attend.

When I arrived in Beijing on the non-stop United flight from San Francisco, I was amazed at how the city had changed since I had been there two years ago. Last time I arrived in an old crowded terminal and stayed near the Agriculture University in a rather run-down part of town with people camping out on the sidewalk. It was a colorful side of China, but we were cautioned not to walk the streets on our own. This time, we flew into the brand new international Terminal 3 built especially for the Olympics and took a taxi to the Taiwan Hotel downtown. The terminal is a work of art, and flawlessly clean with signs and announcements in multiple languages, including English. I was very impressed. The drive downtown had obviously been beautified with trees, gardens and lakes lining the modern freeway, as well as elegant Chinese buildings.

Professor Qin Ma had invited me, and she sent two of her students to meet me at the airport and escort me to the hotel. I landed at 2:15 and was in my hotel room by 4pm – about a 40 minute ride from the airport. The Taiwan Hotel is clean and basic, but situated in a good location in the heart of the city and near the famous outdoor eating stands. I unpacked, took a power nap, showered, and then met the rest of the team at 6pm in the lobby as planned. Qin had recruited 6 of us from around the world specializing in grapes and/or wine - with two professors from Israel, one each from Italy and Australia, and a wine writer originally from Canada who was living in Beijing. I was the only female, except for the wife of one of the Israeli professors and Qin. By the end of our 7 days together, we would know each other quite well.

Dinner was a happy affair at a local Chinese restaurant within walking distance, and then I went back to the hotel and promptly fell asleep in order to be ready for our 8am departure to Heshuo – the first stop on our itinerary. We caught a 3-hour Air China flight to Urumqi (the site of the ethnic riots where 197 people were killed 2 months ago – but we were assured it was still safe to travel), and then were treated to a banquet lunch at the newly opened Urumqi Airport Hotel by local wine government dignitaries. The food was fabulous (see photo of spicy mutton) with many local specialties such as mutton, pork, melons, and lamb pizza. However instead of wine, they served beer.

One of the dismaying aspects of arriving in Xinjiang is when we discovered that our cell phones and Internet access were blocked. This was due to the unrest in the area, and all of us were upset that we were not told this in advance. Demei, our guide for this portion of the trip called Qin, who had remained in Beijing and would join us several days later in Turpan, to voice our concerns. It turns out that Chinese cell phones were not blocked – just ours. Qin kindly phoned our families to let them know we were safe and that they would not hear from us for a week. It was strange to spend a whole week cut off from the Internet and all news from the rest of the world.

After the 2 hour lunch, we climbed into a mini-van and drove 5 hours through the desert and high mountains to Heshuo. The drive was part fascination and part hell as we passed windmills, camels, vendors selling table grapes – and stopped at the most appalling restrooms I’ve ever visited in my life. With the temperature hovering in the 90’s F, the open stall bathrooms stank so bad it was hard to enter – and looked like the scene from Slum Dog Millionaire. As we left the desert and started the climb through the mountains, the road became winding and it was easy to get carsick. The scenery reminded me a bit of the Badlands of South Dakota with no trees, grass, or animals – only huge rocky hills and giant sand-dunes rising on all sides. As the sun set and it grew darker, I prayed the journey would end, but we didn’t arrive at Heshuo until 9pm.

The Heshuo portion of the conference was hosted by the Aromatic Gardens Winery about 5 miles from the China’s largest freshwater Lake Bosten. The winery is one of the largest in the area, and also boasts huge gardens, a hotel, conference center, restaurant, and other agriculture crops such as tomatoes, red peppers, and wonderful fresh vegetables. The whole place is organic – in fact, all of Heshuo is. It is so isolated from the rest of the world, that there is no other industry but agriculture. Amazingly, it is so pristine that no herbicides, pesticides or fungicides are needed. They don’t even have to put sulfur (which is an organic substance) on their wine grapes, because the climate is dry and they don’t suffer from powdery mildew.

The inside of my hotel room was very nice – in fact, the best on the whole trip – but the outside of the building looked like an army barrack; very bare with paint chipping off the wall. They had tried to make the area look like a resort with a few yurts (Mongolian tents) and a swimming pool, but lining the drive-way with old tires didn’t help the overall appearance. The other downside is that during the 2 nights we stayed there, we never had hot water, so I didn’t get to shower and wash my hair for several days. Not enjoyable. On the positive side, however, was the hospitality – see next posts for details.

Private Tasting in Stanley, Idaho with 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards

2009-08-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

The next day we drove in a caravan of 4 vehicles to Stanley, Idaho – taking the scenic route over Highway 12 through some amazingly steep mountain passes, but breath-taking scenery. Though Google Map told us it would take 3.5 hours, we managed to make it in 2 hours and 50 minutes. The family reunion was scheduled to take place in Stanley because my uncle owns the Sawtooth Luce restaurant there. When we arrived, they had prepared large pizzas to welcome us for lunch.

Next we headed out to Smiley Creek Ranch where we had rented out the place for all 40 family members who arrived from across the nation. Smiley Creek offers standard lodge rooms (which we booked); cabins; teepees; and campsites – something for every budget. They also provided 2 wonderful dinners and scheduled a private wine-tasting for us with 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards out of Eagle, Idaho.

Sara, a marketing rep for 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards, (http://www.3horseranchvineyards.com/) set up a long table for us outside and provided an informative lecture on the farming philosophy of the winery. They are one of the only Certified Organic vineyards and wineries in the State of Idaho; have 41 acres and produce 10,000 cases. Sara let us taste through 7 different wines, and I found myself extremely impressed with their Rhone varietals (viognier, roussanne and syrah). She said that many experts are starting to believe that Idaho has the right terrior to grow good Rhones. I have to admit that their Roussanne was the best I’ve ever tasted – however this is a rare grape, even in the Rhone, so I’ve only tasted a few other 100% Roussannes, but this one was exceptional -- along with two others:

2008 Estate Grown Roussanne, 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards – lovely aromatic nose of pear with floral notes; dried pear on the palate with a refreshing crisp acidity; complex mineral notes, and a very long finish. Amazing!
2008 Estate Grown Viognier, 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards – classic apricot and honey nose/palate with no oak; clean with a dry finish; lighter bodied and more elegant than most viogniers. Refreshing, but finishes with a slight burn.
2008 Estate Grown Chardonnay, 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards – a very pretty elegant chardonnay with a kiss of oak to mingle with bright apple and citrus notes. Good balance with crisp acid and an intriguing floral nose.

Our 3 days in Stanley also included drinking much wine and beer around the campfire in the evening, with some people staying up quite late into the night. The kids loved playing Tag and racing around the hills every evening. Saturday night’s special dinner of steak, Idaho trout and stuffed chicken prepared by the chef at Smiley Creek Lodge was excellent. We spent one crazy morning rafting down the Salmon River with 30 of us piled on 5 rafts and having huge water fights over the rapids. We all emerged completely soaked. We spend a sunny and fun afternoon at Redfish Lake swimming and renting paddle boats. Hiking and horseback riding were other fun events, as well as time catching up with all the relatives. Altogether, it was a wonderful reunion and wine-tasting trip to Idaho!

Finding Great Idaho Wines at the Grape Escape Wine Bar – Cinder and Fraser

2009-08-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

After asking around during the day for a restaurant recommendation – a place where we could get fresh Idaho trout and a good wine list – the name Red Feather came up so often that we called there to book a table. It is located in the charming downtown area of Boise near the river and all of the shops. When we arrived a farmer’s market was in progress selling fresh produce and other goodies.

Red Feather, like most of the restaurants along the street, had outdoor seating, and as the night was a balmy 80F, we hoped to sit outside. Unfortunately we were escorted upstairs to a dark table with leopard skin booths in what seemed like the bar area. It seemed a strange place to seat 4 adults with 4 kids under the age of 12, but perhaps they were trying to hide us.

Despite my disappointment over our table, our server was excellent and the food was outstanding. We started with the smoked Idaho trout appetizer, and then ordered other fresh fish on the menu. They have an incredible wine list focusing on West Coast wines with a good by the glass selection, and an amazing glassed-in wine cellar that is 2 stories tall. Perhaps because we had tasted Idaho wine all day, I started with a glass of the Gruet NV Sparkling Brut from New Mexico – one of my standard favorites; and then moved on to an intriguing gruner vetliner from the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

After dinner, we wandered around a bit and then settled into a wonderful outdoor table at the Grape Escape Wine Bar just down the street from the restaurant. Our server, Jackie, whose business card listed her job title as Room Brightener, was absolutely delightful and very knowledgeable about Idaho wine. She was also very good to the kids and had no problem with us ordering them ice cream from across the street and letting them eat it at our table -- while we 4 adults had our ‘ice cream.” We each ordered a big glass of red wine. My sister decided on an Oregon pinot noir; while my cousin Matt went for a Napa blend. Stacie and I chose to stay with Idaho and we asked Jackie for her recommendation on a big red. Her suggestions were right on…. and we ended up with two of our very favorite Idaho red wines:

2007 Cinder Winery Syrah – dark purple-black wine with rich blackberry and spice nose/palate. Good concentration and complexity with hints of smoke and espresso. Very long finish. Wow – this was the best red wine I tasted in Idaho. It reminded me of a big chewy Walla Walla syrah in style. Afterwards, we found out from Jackie that this wine was made by a woman winemaker who worked in Washington State at St. Michelle Winery for many years. (http://www.cinderwines.com/)

2007 Fraser Cabernet Sauvignon – an elegant cabernet with cassis, clove and herbal notes. Medium-bodied, but with good concentration. Finishes with a tart berry note. The wine bottle itself is very attractive with a plaid motif to emphasis the Scottish connection. (http://www.fraservineyard.com/)

So we ended the night on a great high at the Grape Escape Wine Bar, and I would recommend it as a definite stop on any Idaho wine-tasting trip.

Great Idaho Wines at Bitner, Koenig, and Snake River Winery

2009-08-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

One thing we didn’t realize is that many Idaho wineries are only open on the weekend, and since we had scheduled our appointment with St. Chapelle for Thursday (they are actually open every day), we were disappointed to find that several other wineries we wanted to visit were not accessible. Fortunately Bitner Vineyards was willing to make an exception and the owner, Ron Bitner, greeted us with warm Idaho hospitality.

Bitner is a very small winery located in a cute adobe building with a large wooden deck overlooking the hillside vineyards. Fabulous view! They have been farming grapes for over 27 years, but make a small amount of wine – less than 2500 cases -- with the assistance of consulting winemaker, Greg Koenig. We tasted 6 wines (no tasting fee) and my favorites were: 2008 Bitner Chardonnay ($16) with a nose/palate of ripe apple, pear and vanilla with a delightful butterscotch finish. Yes, it was oaky, but not overdone. 2007 Dry Riesling ($12) – a great value with peach and spice nose/palate and a refreshing high acid finish with a touch of lemon. 2006 Bitner Merlot – highly fragrant nose of plum and spice with a ripe red fruit on the palate and a long finish.

When we asked where to go for lunch, Ron suggested the Orchard House down the road where we enjoyed sitting outside on the patio while the kids played on the hammock in the garden. The restaurant had just been filmed for the TV show Diners, Drive-in & Dives, and their specialty is home-made onion rings and steak fingers – which, of course, we promptly ordered along with some sandwiches and salads. Since the day was so hot – in the 90’s – we opted for a white wine and we very pleased with their extensive Idaho wine list. Even more pleasing were the wine prices which were set to match tasting room prices. Why can’t the rest of the US follow suit?

I was so impressed I asked the owner about her wine pricing philosophy, and she answered that since many visitors came during the week when the wineries were closed that she wanted to make the wines available. Now that’s collaborative wine tourism – impressive! Since Koenig was one of the wineries we had hoped to visit, we ordered their 2007 Koenig Vineyards Viognier for only $17 a bottle. It had a classic nose and palate of peach, apricot, and honey, yet had a pleasing dry finish (1.5 RS) and a moderate alcohol of only 13.2%. Very well made, and perfect for such a hot day.

After lunch we headed back to Boise where there are 2 tasting rooms in the downtown area. Snake River Winery is open during the week and they were kind enough to give us directions when we called. You will need money for the parking meters, but plan to spend some time because the tasting room is in the middle of the shopping area. Boise has a delightful downtown with a walking mall, fountains, a park, and many wonderful restaurants.

Snake River Winery is impressive in that they have 88 acres and grown a wide variety of different grapes ranging from the classic to unusual varieties such as Zweigelt, Tinto Cao, and Orange Muscat. We were allowed to taste 5 wines complimentary, and we all fell in love with the 2006 Malbec Snake River Winery ($17.29). It was very impressive with dark velvety berry notes; spicy cloves; smooth tannins and good concentration. Everyone in our party bought at least a couple of bottles. I also found the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon to be rather unique in that it had some Old World characteristics of restrained red fruit with touches of smoke, leather, bacon and mint on the finish. Quite complex.

We finished tasting around 4pm; did a little shopping; and then headed back to the hotel (Marriott Springhill Suites) to relax by the pool before getting dressed for dinner at 8pm.

Idaho Wines – Great Rieslings at St. Chapelle Winery

2009-08-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

When I received the invitation for the family reunion to be held in Stanley, Idaho, I immediately began planning a side-trip to Idaho wine country. When my wine-loving Seattle sister and cousins from Oregon heard about the outing, they asked to join, and we had several fun-filled days tasting Idaho wine from 8 different wineries.

You may be amazed to learn that Idaho now has 29 wineries and one AVA (American Viticulture Area) called the Snake River AVA. The majority of these wineries are located close Boise, though there are a few in Northern Idaho. See http://www.idahowines.org/ for a list of wineries and directions. Grapes were actually first planted here in 1862, but didn’t make it through Prohibition. The oldest and largest winery is St. Chapelle established in 1976, and when I reached out to my network, I was pleased to learn that the winemaker there was still Chuck Devlin whom I had met several years earlier at the West Coast Wine Competition.

Chuck immediately responded to my email requesting a private tour and tasting, and he greeted us at the winery at 10:30am on July 30. With 4 adults and 4 kids we were rather a boisterous group, but Chuck was a wonderful host and welcomed us with his famous dry Riesling, which was one of my favorites.

St. Chapelle and most of the other wineries of the Snake River AVA are about a 40 minute drive from Boise going East on 84 and then taking Exit 28 at Caldwell. The valley is beautiful with the Snake River flowing through the center, and surrounded by hills with vineyards and the larger Owyhee Mountains in the background. There is also a famous and distinctive rock outcropping known as Lizard Butte. St. Chapelle itself sits up on a hill overlooking the valley (http://www.stechapelle.com/). The architecture is designed to look like a chapel because the owners wanted to build a winery that reminded them of the famous chapel in Hermitage, France (see my earlier blog on visiting this area).

Viticulture – Chuck took us into the vineyard and we saw that it and most of the other vineyards in the AVA are on 12 x 8 spacing, spur-pruned, and use sustainable farming with irrigation. He said the climate was primarily high desert with long hot sunny days in the summer and cool nights. It was 97 F degrees the day we visited. In most years they only receive around 11 inches of rain, so irrigation is necessary. The soil is very sandy and drains well. It used to be an old lake bed. Vines on southwest slopes with more afternoon sun exposure do best, as well as those that receive some wine. This helps the grapes ripen in time for the frosts of October, and the wind and dry weather also help to decrease threats of powdery mildew. Due to early frosts and snowy winters, they actually produce ice wine in Idaho! News to me!

In terms of varietals, riesling seems to be one of the most prolific grapes and Idaho has gained some good press and following for their rieslings. At the same time, they seem to be growing many other types of varietals which traditional viticulture logic would NOT recommend growing together, such as merlot, cabernet sauvignon and malbec next to riesling and gewürztraminer, as well as Rhone varietals like syrah, roussanne and viognier. I also couldn’t get any clear answers on rootstocks and clones, and so I am assuming that they are in an experimental mode and trying to determine what will grow best here.

Riesling is actually an interesting choice as the summers are quite hot in the Boise area – not at all like Riesling’s cooler mountain home in Germany. However, Idaho may be more similar to the Clare Valley of Australia with its hot days and cool nights; yet Idaho Rieslings do not have the distinctive lime character of Clare. It will be interesting to see how this grape plays out here -- as there are those who believe the climate is better suited to Rhone varietals.

In terms of St. Chapelle, we tasted 13 different wines, and I found 4 definite favorites:

2008 St. Chapelle Dry Riesling – very aromatic nose of roses and honeysuckle with peach and lime on the palate. Medium to long finish with refreshingly crisp acid. Delightful!

2007 St. Chapelle Merlot – medium bodied red with spicy nose/palate of plums and cloves. Aged half and half in used French and American oak for 6 months.

2008 St. Chapelle Cabernet Franc Late Harvest – a rare wine which is difficult to find (have only had one other from Canada) in a lovely pink color with sweet strawberry rhubarb nose/palate; viscous body; and great acid finish. R.S. around 18%.

2008 St. Chapelle Late Harvest Riesling –lovely golden yellow sweet wine with honey and apricot on nose and palate. Some kiwi on finish. Yum! R.S. around 18%.

St. Chapelle also makes a sparkling Riesling, and has just introduced 3 semi-sweet wines they refer to as “soft.” There is a soft white, red, and rose, and they purposely leave residual sugar in the wine at around 6.5%. They created these wines in response to customer feedback and requests for sweeter wines – good for them! And guess what – the wines are flying off the shelf. Very popular. This is good, because St. Chapelle is quite a large winery at 150,000 cases made from over 600 acres of purchased grapes. They do not own any of their own vineyards.

Winemaking - since they have won so many medals and awards for their rieslings, I asked Chuck to focus on winemaking for riesling only. They generally pick the grapes in early October at an ideal brix of 23.5 to 25 (of course, late harvest wines are picked at a much higher sugar level). Grapes are destemmed and then crushed in a large Bucher press. They are then cold-soaked for 24 hours with no settling enzymes. If not clear enough, he will use a centrifuge. Juice is transferred to large temperature controlled stainless tanks where Steinberg yeast is added. The dry Riesling generally takes around 3 weeks to finish fermentation at cool temperatures (55 – 65F), but the sweeter ones are stopped by adding a small amount of SO2 and filtering. Finished wine generally stays in the tank for at least a month and is protected with nitrogen gas. They have their own bottling line which processes 85 bottles per minute. Bottles sparged with nitrogen and more SO2 added before corking for a total of 30-35 ppm free.

Interestingly Chuck mentioned that during the years in which he makes ice wine, he uses a continuous screw press to extract the small amounts of sweet juice from the frozen grapes. When asked about the temperature at which he harvests ice wine, he said that Idaho does not have a required F/C level such as the -8C in Canada and Germany.

Altogether our visit to St. Chapelle was very enjoyable. We purchased about 2 cases of wine before we left, as well as some other goodies from the beautifully appointed tasting room. My sister and cousins were delighted with the visit.

Day Trip to Monticello – Jefferson Vineyards, Kluge and Veritas Wineries

2009-08-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

I must admit that Thomas Jefferson is my favorite president, and not just because of his love for wine and dream of Americans growing winegrapes -- but also because he was a world-traveler, well read, and the author of the Declaration of Independence. When we discovered that his home, Monticello, was only a 1-hour drive from our resort, we immediately decided that a trip was in order.

The day greeted us with a perfect blue sky and a balmy 85 F degrees, and when we arrived at Monticello, it was even warmer. The $20 admission fee seemed rather steep at first, but it was worth it because it included an inspirational 20 minute movie on his life, then a shuttle ride and guided tour through his house, gardens, and plantation. They actually have a small vineyard planted below his house now, though it didn’t survive when he was alive.

It turns out that the place that Jefferson had selected to plant his vineyard is actually one mile away, and is now the location of the Jefferson Vineyards. So of course, that was our next stop, and we had another delightful tasting with a relaxed down-to-earth pourer. The winery was started in 1981, has 29 acres, and is on Rabun Clay loam soil. They produce 5,000 to 9,000 cases ; are 60% estate wines, 100% Virginia grapes, and sell in 34 states. Wine Spectator has awarded them the “most consistent” wines in Virginia with decent scores in the mid to high 80’s. We tasted 9 wines, of which I had 4 favorites:

2008 Jefferson Vineyards Pinot Gris – lovely floral and citrus nose with grapefruit palate and very crisp refreshing high acid finish. Yes! I could drink this all summer.($18)
2008 Jefferson Vineyards Viognier – classic viognier with honey, peaches, apricot, bigger body, creamy and a slightly sweet finish. Very well made, but I wish it could have been completely dry.($25)
2006 Jefferson Vineyards Meritage – inviting dark berry and spice nose; medium body; elegant; coffee and herbs. Good acid; great food wine. 37% cabernet franc; 30% merlot; 23% petite verdot; 10% cab. ($30)
2007 Jefferson Vineyards Petit Verdot – perfumed nose of spice, dark berry, and tobacco with consistent palate. Good concentration and bigger structure than the 2006. We purchased a bottle of this and had with rib-eyes at our condo a few nights later – it was so good! ($20)

Next stop by Kluge Estate, about 15 minutes up the winding road through beautiful green meadows, vineyards, and leafy trees. It turns out the Kluge specializes in sparkling wine and is the largest vineyard holding in Virginia with 210 acres. When we arrived people were sitting outside on the porch tasting wine in the most intriguing glasses I have seen in a long time. They were thin triangle shaped “thimbles” and were placed in a wooden rack holder – 6 glasses per rack. When we received ours, I was surprised to find that the glasses were made of a light plastic. How very clever, and what a unique and beautiful presentation.

Unfortunately the reception at Kluge was not as charming as the wine presentation. We were kept waiting along with several other customers for almost ten minutes while the one tasting rep talked loudly on the phone in the other room. When she finally came back in the room she announced that it was her boss who was detaining her on the phone and seemed quite flustered and not very friendly. She couldn’t answer our viticulture and winemaking questions, and there was nothing written up to explain the process to us.

We decided to sit inside the air-conditioned tasting room to try the six wines in the $12 tasting. Outside it was quite humid and felt like the temperature had climbed into the 90’s. My favorite wine was the basic Kluge SP Blanc de Blanc for $28 which was made from 100% chardonnay and had a very refreshing citrus finish. My husband, who has opposite tastes from me when it comes to sparkling wine, preferred the bigger more yeasty Kluge SP Reserve 2005 for $48. The rose and blanc de noir both had a strange sweet tart finish and lacked finesse. We also tasted 2 still reds which had a very green edge to them. Definitely a place to buy sparkling. We left without any acknowledgement or good-bye from the stressed out tasting rep.

On the way to our next winery, we stopped at the historic Michie Tavern established in 1784 and enjoyed walking through the shop filled with so many unique items. Next we headed west towards Veritas Winery – which had been recommended to us by 3 different people along the way. It turned out to be a great suggestion, as one of the owners, a woman from the UK, was helping out at the tasting bar. She was extremely informative and passionate about Virginia wine, and we had a great time tasting with her and the staff.

The location of Veritas is about 30 minutes from Charlottesville and off the beaten path a bit, but is surrounded by vineyards and hillsides, and includes a large welcoming wooden tasting room with a big porch with rocking chairs. They have 24 acres, produce 14,000 cases, use riparia and 3309 rootstock, and are planted on the famous red clay soil of Virginia. She explained that most of the vineyards are on a south-facing slope so they can get enough sun. She also mentioned that the reason you don’t find much cabernet sauvignon in Virginia is because the growing season isn’t long enough and they can’t get it ripe. Therefore, cabernet franc triumphs here.

All of the wines we tasted were well-made, and the owner told us her daughter was studying winemaking in California. We actually tasted through 12 different wines, including some unique varietals such as Petite Munseng, Traminette, and the Tannat and Touriga Nacional in their signature port Othello. My favorites included the following:

2008 Veritas Sauvignon Blanc ($18) – a bracingly high acid, fresh grapefruit white wine that I fell in love with. It had a classic grass and citrus nose, and a pleasing lime blossom accent. Perfect with seafood.
2008 Veritas Chardonnay Saddleback 2008 ($18)– modeled after a Chablis, this is a clean minerally unoaked chardonnay (well – some neutral oak), with hints of green apple and a long well balanced finish. Elegant!
2008 Veritas Viognier ($20)– lovely floral nose; palate of peach and apricot. Classic, and with a dry finish.
2008 Veritas Rose ($14) – a very dry rose with spicy fruit nose and strawberry palate.
2007 Veritas Vintner’s Reserve ($25)– a blend of cabernet franc, merlot and petite verdot, this oak aged red provided dark red fruit, cedar, and some herbal notes. Elegant, but with a firm tannin structure; it will pair well with a big steak.

The rest of our week in Virginia included 2 days in D.C. where we visited the National Art Gallery, the White House, and the Smithsonian – including the space shuttle exhibit near the airport. It was my first visit to this great city, and I was amazed to find that all of the sites are free! A nice benefit to tax paying citizens. We also parked our car outside the loop and rode the subway each day. By the time we were finished touring the capital, we were happy to drive the 2 hours back to Massanutten and relax in the peaceful Virginia countryside.

We continued to taste Virginia wine by the glass at the various restaurants we visited, but didn’t have the chance to go to anymore wineries. I found several more excellent chardonnays which were crisp and refreshing – not the big over-oaked butter bombs we often find on the West Coast. In the end, I left impressed with Virginia wines – especially the viogniers, chardonnays, cabernet francs and petite verdots. We also met some wonderful people at the wineries, and would recommend that others visit charming Virginia wine country. The wines are well-made, elegant and distinctive – with a sense of place. The people are passionate, friendly, and fun.

Day Trip to CrossKeys Vineyards – Great Virginina Cabernet Franc

2009-08-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

After lunch we drove to the nearest winery, CrossKeys Vineyards (http://www.crosskeysvineyards.com/) in Harrisonburg, and had a delightful tasting. The winery is very impressive with a large stone courtyard and beautiful cream stucco buildings. It is surrounded by vineyards – all with vertical shoot positioning (VSP) and 8 by 4 feet spacing. They have 29 acres, and produce 5500 cases of estate wine. It was a rather crowded tasting room for a Monday afternoon, and while there we couldn’t help but overhear how many people came in asking for their sweet wines. It appears that Virginia wine drinkers have a sweet tooth, because we did encounter sweet wines at every winery we visited and on the grocery store shelves – along with many fruit wines as well. I was impressed that they are trying to cater to all types of customers, and most every place we visited was friendly, relaxed and casual. We tried 7 wines at CrossKeys and found them all to be well-crafted, but our favorites were:

2008 Fiore CrossKeys – a delightful rose of Cabernet Franc that was flying off the shelf. They sold several cases while we were there and were running out of stock. It had a lovely berry nose and creamy mouthfeel with raspberry and pomegranate on the palate. Though it ended with 1% RS, it was still quite refreshing. I could see why it was selling so well ($16.50).

2007 Cabernet Franc CrossKeys – this was a lovely spicy fruity cabernet franc – just how it should taste. Both Mike and I were delighted with it, and bought a bottle. Plum, spicy and earthy nose; medium bodied; plum and blackberry on palate; good acid. $21.

Virginia Wines – Fun, Elegant and Distinctive

2009-07-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe that Virginia is now 5th in the nation in terms of wine production, but it is true according to several Virginia wineries I have visited this past week. What’s more – Virginia has over 140 different wineries and 7 AVA’s (American Viticulture Areas). The most prolific AVA in terms of total number of wineries and highest production rate is the Monticello AVA – where Thomas Jefferson’s famous house and estate are located. At the same time, there are also many wineries about one hour’s drive outside of Washington DC in what is called “Mid-Northern Virginia, but is not yet an AVA. I was fortunate enough to visit both areas, as well as the Shenandoah AVA, and I found the wines to be elegant and food friendly. Maps and directions can be found at http://www.virginiawine.org/.

This was not my first time to taste Virginia wines, as I’ve tried them at the Unified Conference in California each year during their trade show tasting, as well as during the Grand Harvest wine competitions. I’ve always been very impressed by the viogniers – for which Virginia has already achieved much acclaim, but while here this week, I found myself equally impressed with some of the cabernet francs and petite verdots. In addition, they seem to be experimenting with other unique varietals, as we encountered tannat, touriga national, rkatsiteli and others!

We flew into Dulles on Saturday, June 27th and then drove 2 hours to the Massanutten Resort in the Shenandoah Mountains. It is a beautiful resort with 2 golf courses and a ski area, as well as many activities. Our condo is perched high on the hillside and we are surrounded by the tree covered hills. Just a few miles up the road is the famous Skyline Drive that runs along the Appalachian Trail.

On first glance, it doesn’t appear to be a place where you would think of planting grapes. There are many trees which had to be cut down, the weather is humid, and the soil is primarily red clay. However, there are several wineries within a 20 minutes drive, and one hour away is Charlottesville, home of the University of Virginia; Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home; and a multitude of wineries. Of course, this is where Jefferson had his original vision of growing grapes and encouraging every family to live the Agrarian Ideal by farming and making wine. Unfortunately, though he tried to plant his vineyard 7 different times between 1774 and 1816, it always failed due to the powdery and downy mildew that haunt this part of the world. Today, however, his vision is alive and well, and there is a burgeoning pride in Virginia wine.

The first night we arrived, we stopped at a grocery store and I bought a bottle of 2005 Merlot from the Williamsburg Winery in southern Virginia. It was a great deal at $9 and we weren’t sure what to expect, but it was pleasant, elegant with subdued plum fruit and soft tannins. Definitely more European in nature that the big concentrated fruity wines of California. However, it paired quite well with the meatballs we had the first evening – around 11pm when we finally made it to our condo, after a 3 hour plane delay in SFO. However, it was only 8pm at home, so we were still wide awake.

Waking up the next morning, however, was more challenging, and if the front desk hadn’t called us at 9am to invite us to a timeshare presentation who knows when we would have awoken. We politely declined the presentation and enjoyed coffee on the deck in the warm 80 F weather while viewing the amazing Appalachian Mountains rising around us.

After checking out the resort and golf courses, we had lunch at the Fareways Restaurant and I was delighted to see that they offered a flight of 4 Virginia wines for only $6. Of course, I promptly ordered it, and they brought it out with impressive presentation on a wooden board with all 4 wines proudly presented and a card describing each wine. I am always pleased to see restaurants which feature local wineries in this way, even though they were missing vintage dates:

Rapidan River Semi-Dry Riesling with a rather subdued nose for a Riesling but citrus and peach on the palate and diesel plus residual sugar (RS) on the finish. Simple and straight-forward, but we found out later it was actually “American” grapes made in Virginia.
Horton Rkatsitel – lovely floral nose; honeysuckle, peach and citrus palate. Good attack, but rather cloying finish with some yeasty notes. I had only had a Rkatsitel once before – from Bulgaria – and I thought the Virginia one was better made. The most prolific grape in Russia, this is a varietal that is not often found, so it was fun to be able to try it. There was a trace of RS on this one, but not as sweet at the Riesling.
Prince Michel Merlot – Red berry and plum nose; medium bodied with a very tart finish and high acid. Not as elegant as the merlot we had the evening before, but the acid allowed it to work well with food. It paired well with my sirloin burger.
Prince Michel Cabernet Franc – Lovely violet nose, medium body, but strong herbal palate with sour finish.

Chateau de Crain, Entre-Deux-Mers

2009-07-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

I had never visited this part of Bordeaux before and was surprised to see how lushly green it is with rolling hills and many ancient chateaux and fortresses. It was only a 20 minute drive from the restaurant to Chateau de Crain, and yet it felt like we had quickly entered another world. Entre Deux Mers is one of the oldest parts of Bordeaux and it seems to have a magical unspoiled quality – almost as if fairies might live in the fields and trees.

We found Chateau de Crain quite easily as there were signs posted, and even though we arrived 10 minutes early, the owner Marie-Cecile Fougere was there to meet us. I had specifically requested to visit a winery in this area, and was pleased to see that Marie-Cecile was dressed like a California winemaker – in jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. The winery is separate from the ancient chateau that looks like a fairytale castle from the distance. However, Marie-Cecile told us that it is drafty and vacant, and that she lives in a small house behind the castle.

The winery, which looks like an ancient stone barn, is apparently the oldest chai in Bordeaux with the estate being described in records in 1290. Marie-Cecile said they have 47 hectares of red and 11 of white. The red (merlot, cab, CF, malbec) is Bordeaux AOC and Bordeaux Superior AOC, as only white wine (SB, Sem, Sauvignon Gris, and Muscadelle) falls under the Entre-Deux-Mers AOC. The soil is clay and limestone, and we could clearly see the white of the limestone in the dirt road. She told us that there were huge caves under the vineyards where they had quarried for limestone, and that for many years the caves had also been used to grow mushrooms. However, now the estate only focused on wine.

In the vineyards the spacing is wider at 2 meters x 1 meter to allow for mechanical harvesting. They have around 5000 vines per hectare, and though on double guyot, the trellising appeared higher to me. Total buds per vine are 12. They hedge and de-leaf mechanically as well. Method: lutte raisonne, with a consultant from the coop coming in once a week to check for insects, disease, etc – rather like the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) process in the US.

In the cellars, they produce around 250,000 bottles of red and 60,000 of white. Marie-Cecile says that even though they harvest mechanically, she personally performs triage on all of the grapes as they enter the cellar. For the whites, she does 20 hours of skin contact at a low temperature; crushes using a pneumatic press, and then ferments in stainless for 1 month at 15-20C using a selected sauvignon yeast. The wine does not go through ML or see time in oak, but she lets it rest on the lees and does some battonage in tank. She fines with bentonite, assembles one month before bottling and filters.

The reds are destemmed/crushed and then go through 4-5 days of cold stabilization in stainless steel (inox) tank before adding Mediterranean yeast. She ferments at 22-28C with a total of 1 month maceration. She hires a man to do pigeage 2 to 3 times a day in the beginning, and then does remontage with a little oxygen to finish. ML is also finished in tank, and then she presses and puts part of the wine in large 300 liter American oak barrels. The Bordeaux AOC gets 1 month, and the Bordeaux Superior receives 6 months. She purchases 40 new barrels each year, and only wants a “touch of oak” on her wines.

We tasted out of tank, which was rather fun. Starting with the 2008 Chateau de Crain Blanc, it was still cloudy, but had a fresh grassy nose; minerality on the palate and a very high acid. Marie-Cecile said it paired well with oysters. We then moved onto the 2008 Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superior in tank and tasted different lots. It was enlightening to see the variation in each one. Some were filled with ripe fruit, whereas others were harshly tannic. At the end she opened a magnum of 2006 Chateau de Crain Bordeaux Superior which was a dark ruby with ripe fruit, a hint of spicy American oak and vanilla. It was rich with soft tannins, and I would enjoy drinking it with food. We tried to buy a bottle of her white, but she ended up giving it to us. How very kind.

Chateau de Crain is able to produce all of their wine with only 5 full-time employees and a few consultants. Marie-Cecile sells much of the red to Carrefour, as well as to restaurants in Paris, the Novetel hotel chain, and small wine shops in France. She exports 20% to Japan, UK, Germany Switzerland and Florida.

Heading Back to Sonoma, California – since we had enjoyed such a large and late lunch, we just made a green salad and snacked on pate, cheese and wine back at the hotel while we packed. When the alarm went off at 4:30am, it was difficult to get up. As we stepped out of the hotel, we were surprised to find it was raining. Amazing that we had a whole sunny and warm week in Bordeaux, and the day we depart, it starts to rain. Thanks for being so kind to us – Bordeaux!

The flight home was uneventful. KLM treated us well in coach and gave us wine from South Africa. We left Bordeaux at 6:15am on Saturday, May 9 and arrived back in San Francisco at 1:10pm on May 9. The weather was sunny and warm. My mother told us it had rained the whole time we were in France, and that yesterday was the first sunny day. Perhaps the sun was following us?

Lunch at Jean Marie Amat Restaurant in Bordeaux

2009-07-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Since May 8 is a holiday in France, we were not sure if we would find restaurants open. So the evening before we attempted to make an online reservation at the very famous Jean Marie Amat in the gutted Chateau du Prince Noir. Barnard from Chateau Monlot had recommended it – providing a nice article written by the New York Times. However, by morning we had still not heard back from them, so I telephoned and was delighted to hear them say they had received my request and were holding a table for us at 1pm.

Unfortunately finding the restaurant is much more difficult than making online reservations. We got hopelessly lost in the old and hilly town of Lormont across the bridge from Bordeaux. We finally called the restaurant for directions and they asked if we had a GPS. When we said no, I could hear them sigh into the telephone. Eventually however, we found it by their clue that it was behind a grocery store.

The site is impressive – encased in the old Chateau overlooking the bridge. Décor is modern with white Corian tables and no table cloths. I really enjoyed the large framed photographs of the hands of winemakers. We ordered the famous 30E lunch menu with glasses of white and red wine. It was absolutely heaven, and the service was perfect. I would eat here again anytime.

The lunch menu started with an amuse bouche of fish soup. First course was tartare de thon aux olives, which looked like a sculpture on the plate with a pleasing scoop of beet sorbet. We enjoyed both of these dishes with a white Graves. Next was pastille de pigeon et salade d’herbes. Mike described it as spicy pigeon with pine nuts, saffron and cinnamon encased in pastry. It was heavenly. The salad was the freshest I’ve ever tasted with mint, basil, and a spring carrot that looked like it had just been picked from the garden. We had this course with a Bordeaux Rouge that was very well made. Dessert was ananas – a masterpiece of caramelized and grilled pineapple on a bed of chopped mango, apple, tiny strawberries and garnish of fresh spearmint. It was served with a side of pineapple sorbet. We finished with coffee, canales, and small petite fours. Wow!

Chateau Haut-Bailly, Cru Classe de Graves

2009-07-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Only about a 5 minute drive and we arrived at Haut-Bailly to be greeted by Noemie, the Marketing/PR Director who provided an excellent tour. We started in the vineyards, where we saw that they had a mixed field blend of cab, merlot, and CF – fascinating. The soil is gravel and sand – very porous and as they are on a small hill (48 meters), it is excellent for cabernet sauvignon of which they have 64% planted on their 30 hectares of red.

Some of the vines are quite old – up to 90 years. Double guyot, 8 buds. 1x1 spacing, 10,000 vines per hectare, achieving 45 hectoliters per hectare. Noemie was the first person to use the word “sustainable farming” instead of lutte raisonee. They perform green harvesting as needed.

Winemaking: triage, destem/crush, ferment in cement tanks ranging in size from 35 to 70 hectoliters. They begin with a 3 day cold maceration, and use both selected and natural yeast. Total maceration is 2 to 3 weeks with gentle pumpovers (remontage) twice a day – 28C. They prefer elegant wine with soft tannins. Free run and a minor percentage of Bucher pressed wine goes into 50-60% new oak for ML and 16 months aging in medium toast with 8 coopers. They blend in May and do a gentle filter before bottling. With 20 full-time employees they produce 150,000 bottles per year.

An interesting discussion we had with Noemie was regarding the benefits of cement over stainless steel. All of the chateaux seem to differ in their preferences, with some using large oak foudres and others using stainless, cement, or a combination. Obviously foudres are much more expensive and difficult to clean – so that decision is clear to me. However, cement and stainless are both easy to clean and maintain. She said their winemaker’s philosophy is that cement is better because it provides a more homogenous fermentation – just like cooking with clay casserole pans verses stainless steel pots. I thought this was an excellent analogy.

We tasted 4 wines: 2006 Le Parde de Haut-Bailly – red/purple; cassis and spicy nose/palate; soft tannins and med+ acid. Very approachable and easy to drink. 2006 Ch. Haut-Bailly – opaque red-purple; tight red fruit; highly concentrated with spice, minerals and velvety tannins. Long finish and good balance. 2003 Haut-Bailly – red-purple; ripe fruity nose; soft tannins with cherry on the palate, but fades a bit on the finish. 2008 Haut-Bailly – red-purple, almost opaque, and the most beautifully perfumed nose I smelled on the whole trip. The wine had spice, floral, plum and cassis, with excellent concentration and velvety tannins. Elegant but powerful.

Chateau Carbonnieux, Cru Classe de Graves

2009-07-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

On Friday we woke for the first time to cloudy skies, but the day was still rather warm at around 67F. Rather sadly, we got in the car to head out for our last day of winery visits. Once again Google Map failed us and we had to call Ch. Carbonnieux to apologize for being late and to ask for directions. They told us to go all the way to the town of Leognan and then to turn left at the cemetery. This worked beautifully and we were happy to arrive and meet the owner, Philbert Perrin, who provided a most enchanted tour of the estate.

He explained that Carbonnieux was one of the oldest properties in Bordeaux started by Benedictine monks in the 13th century. They have 90 hectares (45% white and 55% red), and are one of only 6 cru classe in Graves that produces two colors of wine. He told us the famous story about the monks selling the white wine to the Sultan of Turkey and labeling it as “mineral water.” It was the sultan’s favorite drink for many years. Thomas Jefferson also visited Carbonnieux in the 1700’s and wrote about it along with Haut Brion in his journals.

The vineyards are gravel with clay and some limestone. Age of the vines ranges from 27 to 32 years. They average 40 hectoliters per hectare and produce 500,000 bottles (rather large). They are on double guyot with a total of 8 buds per vine.

For winemaking, I wanted to focus on the white since Carbonnieux is so well known for their excellent white Pessac-Leognan. After triage, they destem and lightly crush the grapes, then place them in cool temperature controlled oval tanks for one night of skin contact. Next they are pressed using a pneumatic press, and then placed in a cold tank (8-10C) for a 3 day debourbage. Alcoholic fermentation is started in stainless using selected yeast, but finishes in barrel. They have 35 different parcels, and the wine spends 10 months in 25% new oak where it receives battonage every week. Philbert demonstrated how to do battonage with a special barrel they had set up for visitors. The wine is also topped as needed; and is blended in July in stainless. It also receives bentonite fining and is lightly filtered before bottling. It is protected by gas when moved or in tank (CO2 and nitrogen).

We tasted two wines: 2005 Ch. Carbonnieux Rouge – medium ruby; bright berry nose/palate; complex with a mineral finish. Smooth tannins, good concentration and nice balance of acid, fruit and light oak. Very approachable now. Elegant. 2007 Ch. Carbonnieux Blanc – glowing straw with white rim; grass and pineapple nose; melon and grapefruit on the palate with a very long, juicy finish.

Chateau de Malle, 2nd Cru Classe, Sauternes

2009-07-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

It was only about a 10 minute drive from Yquem to Ch. de Malle outside the small town of Priegnac. We were met by the winemaker, Vincent Labergere, who was also the general manager and wore other multiple hats including direct sales to visitors. While we were there, several other people dropped by, and soon we had a small party of people touring and tasting with us. It was quite enjoyable.

Vincent explained that they had 27 hectares of sweet wine (70% sem; 27% SB; and 3% muscadelle), but they also had 13 hectares of red Graves and 3 hectares of white Graves. However, we asked him to focus on the sweet wines, because that is why we had come to Sauternes. When asked about the muscadelle, he admitted it was very sensitive to grey rot, but when it did well he felt it added a lovely lift to the wine.

In the vineyard, they achieved 13 hectoliters per hectare; used 30 to 35 people to pick 3 to 5 times, and had 30 different parcels. He pressed only once in a pneumatic press, and then fermented for 2 to 4 weeks using natural yeast – or Bergage? if it didn’t take – in 30% new oak. He blends 3 times: in February, August, and May and leaves the wine in oak for 1 year and then moves it to tank. He said the primary reason is they don’t have enough room or enough barrels. They use an interesting configuration of stainless steel tanks on the top level and cement on the bottom. They also rack, fine, and filter the wine and he usually averages around 230 mg per liter of SO2.

We tasted 3 wines: 2007 Ch de Malle Blanc – (dry white wine) pale yellow with a soft nose of melon; a lovely roundness on the palate; and a refreshing acidity. It was aged 4 months sur lies. 1998 Ch. De Malle Sauternes – yellow-gold color; honey and apricot nose/palate; very concentrated; med++ acid with a juicy finish. 2002 Ch de Malle Sauternes - pale yellow with white rim; honey and pineapple nose/palate; more delicate and a high acid. I preferred this style to the thicker 1998, but Mike liked the bigger wine, so we purchased a bottle of that.

After our tasting, we toured the 17th century chateau and gardens with a guide who explained each room to us in slow French so we could understand her. It was nice to finally find a chateau with furnished rooms. The owner still lives in part of the castle, and allows the other rooms to be toured as a museum. We found that most of the famous chateau are not lived in – and instead are only used for special events.

Chateau d’Yquem, 1st Cru Superieur Classe, Sauternes

2009-07-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Our appointment at Yquem was rescheduled to 3:30, which turned out to be a blessing because we actually didn’t arrive until 3pm. Taking the back roads in France – though scenic –takes much longer than the freeways.

We met with David Marc, the assistant winemaker, who provided a very informative whirlwind tour of the estate. Beginning in the vineyard, he explained that Yquem is situated at the highest point in Sauternes – 80 meters – and that the region gets 92 days of fog per year. He said that fog and wind are needed to make good sweet botrytised wine, and that it is the Garonne River, Ciron Stream and Leland Forest that creates these special conditions for Sauternes and Barsac.

As we stood on the hilltop next to the ancient fortress of Yquem dating from the 14th century, he pointed out other famous chateaux surrounding us. I thought once again how charming the region of Sauternes is – like a small fairyland with many castles and gently rolling hills. The little village of Sauternes with its pretty church, quaint restaurants, and friendly tourist center is also very nice. When I visited Chateau d’Arche last April and had such a wonderful tour and tasting, I wanted to return and stay in Sauternes. I guess it will have to be next time.

David explained that Sauternes is a total of 220,000 hectares and produces 2% of Bordeaux’s wine. Yquem has 115 hectares with 80% Semillon and 20% SB. They don’t believe in using muscadelle because of its tendency to grey rot. The soil is limestone, clay and a gravel surface. They must use drainage systems – both old terra cotta and new PVC. Rootstock is a mix of Ripara, SO4 and 101-14. Spacing is 1 x 1.5. They have 28 different parcels and use 4 teams totaling 200 pickers to pass through the vineyard 5 to 6 times to pick the botrytis grapes one by one.

The ripeness goal is 20% potential alcohol, which David said is challenging for other chateaux which often only achieve 17-18% and must chaptalize – however, Yquem usually always achieves 20%. There are 4 buds per vine, with the sweetness goal being 350 gpl sugar in order to harvest. Though the region allows up to 25 hectoliters per hectare, Yquem does only 8-9, and in 2008, they only got 2! They usually produce around 120,000 bottles per year, and have no second label. If the wine is not of high enough quality for Yquem, it is sold to another producer. According to David, LVMH, the current owner, is very supportive of quality and supports their strategy of not producing wine if it is not up to standards. For example, in 1992, there was no Yquem produced.

Winemaking: grapes are first pressed in a pneumatic press where 80% of the juice is received. They then are moved to a basket press where the other 20% -- usually the consistency of syrup – is harvested. The juice is then put in 100% new oak where it ferments for 2 weeks using natural yeast – but they may add selected if it doesn’t take off. All 28 parcels are fermented separately. Fermentation is done when the wine reaches 14% alcohol and 130 gpl sugar. At that point SO2 is added. David said oxidation is not a problem because the grapes are already oxidized when they are harvested.

The wine is blended in April in a vat, and then put back into barrel. It is kept in barrel for a total of 3 years, and during that time they always keep the glass bungs on top so they can watch for re-fermentation. If this happens, more SO2 is added. The wine is also racked every 3 months, and topped. It is fined with gelatin and filtered before bottling. The maximum SO2 is 350. He said that generally the final ph is 3.8 with an acid of around 6.5. 80% of the wine is exported.

We were only allowed to taste one wine – the 2005 Ch. D’Yquem, which was a pale yellow color with a white rim and a nose of honey and dried apricots. On the palate, I received the same, but also fresh peach and some marmalade. It had a nice acid and a med++ finish with a rounded mid-palate that was pleasing. The wine seemed very well balanced. Indeed, when I asked David what set Yquem apart from its competitors, he said it was their specific terrior that provided the “Yquem balance.”

Lunch on the Beach at Archaron

2009-07-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

After our very pleasant visit at Haut Brion, Naomie invited us to stop by La Mission, which we did. Another lovely estate. From there, we decided to drive the 45 minutes west to the ocean and have lunch on the beach at Archaron. The drive took longer than we thought because of road work, but we enjoyed the charming seaside town with its colored houses of white and red stone. Wandering along the beach boardwalk, we found a café and purchased sandwiches and sparkling water and sat on a beach to watch the waves. It was around 70F with a slight breeze, but there were people sunbathing and jumping in the water.

As our next appointment was in Sauternes, we decided to take a back road, but got lost several times and nearly ran out of gas. We tried to buy gas at several gas stations, but none would take VISA credit cards. People told us we needed a blue card? There were no attendants to give cash, so finally in desperation at the 3rd station – which was at a Carrefour, and they refused to take cash until 2pm! – we begged a nice old man to use his blue card to buy us $20E worth of gas and we paid him in cash so we could make it to Sauternes.

Chateau Haut-Brion,1st Growth, Pessac-Leognan

2009-07-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to see how close this very famous chateau is to downtown Bordeaux. Since it is so old – dating from 1525 – I’m sure that the old city of Bordeaux was much smaller when Haut-Brion was established, and that no one expected the Bordeaux subdivisions to spring up around such a famous wine estate.

We were greeted by Laetitia, the PR Director, and she began our tour with an overview of the vineyards using a model of the property. Haut Brion has 48 hectares of red grapes (45% merlot, 45% cab, 9% CF, 1% PV) and 2.8 hectares of white grapes (53% SB, 47% Sem). The soil is a mixture of clay, sand and gravel with a small amount of limestone for the white grapes. Rootstock is 3309, 420A for merlot, and some Ripara. They believe in diversity in the vineyard and try to insure they have a mix of clones. They use lutte raisonnée, and try to avoid pesticides and insecticides. Spacing is 1 x1.5 with double guyot with 4 buds. They average 44 – 50 hectoliters per hectare, but were down 50% in 2008.

Laetitia said that the vine age averages 36 years, and that they replace 1% of the terrior each year. The 1% that is pulled out is usually low in production or diseased. She said they then let the soil rest for 2.5 years and plant a cereal related to peas which is called “veces.” She said it helps to kill the worms in the soil.

Haut Brion means “little hill” in the Old French. It is currently owned by the Prince of Luxemburg, and they also own La Mission Haut Brion which they purchased in 1983. Both properties are managed by the same General Manager and Winemaker. There are 80 employees, with 25 working in the vineyard. They are also one of only 3 wineries in Bordeaux that has its own cooperage on site – the other two being Ch. Margaux and Smith-Haut Lafite.

During harvest, they taste in the vineyard in the afternoon and only pick parcels that are ripe during the first 2 hours of the morning. We met with the lab enologist for a while, and he explained that taste is the most important factor in deciding when to pick, but they are also hoping for a ph of 3.4 to 3.5 on the reds and around 3.2 on the whites. Baume for merlot is usually 13 – 13.5 and 12 – 12.5 on cab.

Winemaking is unique in that they use a specially designed stainless steel tank divided in half so that alcoholic fermentation occurs on the top and ML on the bottom. Inside the tank is a sloped piece of metal to allow the workers to remove the pomace (marc) after fermentation in a safer manner. They believe in following traditional vinification methods, but with a focus on continuous improvement. All grapes go through triage in the vineyard and on tables outside the cellar. Reds are destemmed, crushed, and pumped up to the 2nd level where the tanks are. They use 2-3 different types of selected yeast, with Davis 522 being preferred for reds.

Maceration is 14-18 days with gentle pumpover (remontage). Their goal is elegance with fine tannins. The free run wine flows to the bottom of the tank where ML is added. A Busher press is used only for the 3rd level wine.

Another unique aspect of winemaking at Haut Brion is the fact that they blend the parcels after ML – usually in Nov/Dev, with 3 experts on the blending team. They prefer to blend without the influence of oak, so they can taste the terrior from the different plots. The wine then goes to 70-80% new oak in January for 18-22 months. They top twice a week for the first 3 months and use the glass bung. Then they insert a wooden bung and turn the barrels on their sides. After that they rack and top every 3 months and add SO2 at 25-35 ppm. Total SO2 is around 120-130 with 30-34 free.

Barrels are rinsed 3 times at each racking. They have a first and second year cellar, and are the only winery we visited that is still cracking real eggs into bowls for fining – 4 to 5 eggs per barrel. The wine is then racked 2 more times before a light filtration and bottling on their own bottling line. Control of every step of the process and a strong focus on quality is very evident here.

We learned less about the white wine making process, but fermentation does take place in temperature controlled stainless with no ML. Selected yeast is VL3 for sauvignon blanc and LV1 for Semillon. The wines are aged in 20-30% new oak barrels for 9-10 months sur lies with battonage. The enologist said they use gas (nitrogen) to protect the white wine when it is moved and in tank. Interestingly, their whites often fetch a much higher price than the reds. 80% of the wine is exported, with the USA, UK, Belgium, Luxemburg and Japan as the largest clients.

We tasted 5 wines: 2008 Le Clarence de Haut Brion – medium ruby-purple; ripe fruit on nose, but less on palate. Delicate with smooth tannins. 2008 Haut Brion – darker purple-red with a nose of berries and anise; palate of red berries with chewy tannins, good concentration, a very long finish and a touch of chocolate. 2004 Haut-Brion – medium ruby with a hint of garnet; cedar, cassis and cigar box nose; red fruit and spice on palate; long finish with good tannin structure. 2008 Haut Brion Blanc – still cloudy, straw colored; wonderful nose of grapefruit, grass, and mint; citrus and melon on palate with a pleasing roundness, high acid, and touch of minerality on the finish (55% Semillon).

The City of Bordeaux and Hotel des 4 Soeurs

2009-07-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

We actually made it to the outskirts of Bordeaux from Palmer in 20 minutes by taking the D209 along the river as suggested by Google Map. However once we reached the city, the directions quickly disintegrated and we found ourselves hopelessly lost in a strange section of town. I telephoned the hotel and they told us they were located near the Grand Theater and to park at Tourney. From this, we were able to use our Hertz map to painfully make our way into the heart of the city and finally find the hotel. Parking prices are rather sharp at $19E per day, but it was exciting to be in such a great location.

The Hotel des 4 Soeurs ($95E for a double; breakfast $8E), booked by Caroline, is located right in the center of town. It has a wonderful bar with outside tables where we sat in the sun and ordered drinks, watching the people pass by. Our room was small, and the air-conditioning didn’t work well, but the location in the heart of Bordeaux encouraged you to explore the city, rather than stay in your room. We took a lovely walk along the river; wandered down the streets and looked at the many shops, and eventually had dinner at the very charming Le Noailles Restaurant across from the hotel. Since we were still full from our big lunch and the hot sun, we ordered a large salad with goat cheese that paired well with an icy watermelon-flavored Bordeaux rose. We then walked back to our room under an almost full-moon that lit up the sky, and made the warm evening seem even more enchanted.

I first saw the city of Bordeaux last April when I visited, and was very impressed with the beautiful old buildings; fountains; statues; river walk; and downtown pedestrian area. It seems like a small Paris to me. When we visited Haut-Brion the next day and were describing how pretty we thought the city was, we were surprised to learn that just a few years ago the downtown area was covered with black grime and the river was an unsafe area. Due to the efforts of the mayor, UNESCO, and the citizens, Bordeaux is now a very beautiful city, and an intriguing place to visit.

Despite the charm of downtown Bordeaux, Mike decided that trying to drive the rental car down the one-way streets and frequent road-work deviations was too stressful. Therefore, after our one lovely evening in town, we decided to relocate to an apartment hotel near the airport and off the Rocade (the very convenient outer highway that circles the city of Bordeaux). Though not romantic, it was practical as we had a 6:15am flight on Saturday morning, and it also provided easy access to Pessac-Leognan, Sauternes and Entre-Deux-Mers – our destinations for the next 2 days.

Chateau Palmer, 3rd Growth, Margaux

2009-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

It was a short drive to our 3pm appointment at Palmer where we were welcomed by Celine, the PR Director. As she walked us to the vineyard, it felt as if it were in the high 80’s F and we wished we had brought lighter clothing. Palmer has always been a personal favorite of ours as a special occasion wine, and it was nice to finally visit the chateau. Celine informed us that they have 55 hectares and adjoin Chateau Margaux. They have no clay, and are primarily gravel with sand – situated on the top of the Margaux terrace. The vines average 40 years old with 47% merlot; 47% cab, and 6% PV. What is unique about Palmer is that the owners decided to plant so much merlot on the best land – which is normally reserved for cab. This is because they love merlot – it is a “heart decision” – and the results show in such an elegant velvety wine.

The vineyard practices and winemaking are rather traditional. Vineyard: 1 by 1m spacing, 10,000 vines per hectare; rootstock – 3309 and Ripara. 8 buds per vine; luttee raisonnee; green harvest in July. They also employ Danish students for harvest and have 40 full-time employees.

Winemaking: triage; destem/light crush; ferment with selected yeast (F13) in cone-shaped stainless (49 different sizes) at 28-29C for 8-10 days alcoholic – 20 days total maceration. Delestage. ML in both tanks and barrel. Vertical press with 10-15% of pressed wine in gran vin. Age 21 months in 50-55% new oak (16 months in 25-30% new for 2nd label); medium to medium+ toast with 6 coopers. Top every 2 weeks for first 3 months; then every 3 months with racking. Fine in oak with 5 egg whites per barrel (boxed eggs); followed by 2 more rackings. Blend in February. Finish in June. Light filter before bottling.

We tasted 4 wines: 2001 Alter Ego Palmer – 67% merlot; ruby; nose of earth and violets; complex palate with leather and dark fruit. 2008 Alter Ego Palmer – opaque red-purple; bright grapey nose; ripe on palate with velvety tannins and moderate complexity. 2008 Chateau Palmer – 51% merlot; opaque red-purple with black depths; very floral nose with dark fruit and minerality; Concentrated; velvety tannins; long finish. 1996 Chateau Palmer – opaque dark garnet; secondary notes of truffle and leather; very fresh on the palate with great acid, coffee and dark fruit. Complex; very long finish. Yes!

Chateau d’Issan, 3rd Growth, Margaux

2009-06-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Do not follow Google Map directions to Chateau d’Issan or you will find yourself on a road that passes the front of the chateaux, but where there is no access. By the time we had figured this out, we were 15 minute late to our next appointment with Clarisse, the PR Director at Chateau d’Issan who had spent time studying English in both New York and Seattle and had a delightful American accent. She also has exuberant energy and walked us around the vineyards and through the ancient fortress from the 1600’s with its own moat -- explaining the history and telling us that Eleanor of Aquitaine was served the wine of d’Issan at her wedding. Very impressive.

The chateau is large with 110 hectares, but only 40 of which are Margaux AOC. The others are Bordeaux Superior. Clarisse showed us that the Margaux vineyards were slightly higher and on clay and limestone, with some gravel and sand. They produce 100,000 bottles of Margaux, and employ Danish students to help with harvest.

Winemaking is traditional: triage, destem, another triage, crush. Davis yeast added to stainless steel tanks ranging from 70 to 200 hectoliters in capacity. A shorter fermentation from 10-14 days at 28C with 2 gentle pumpovers per day (remontage). ML also takes place in stainless. 5-8% of pneumatic pressed wine is added to the free run for the gran vin. Aging takes places in 50% new oak for 18 months, medium toast. They blend and fine in January, and undergo a light filtration using mobile bottling.

Clarisse shared two fascinating facts with us. The first is that she had to create more than 150 back labels for the 2007 vintage – in order to meet the requirements of all of the countries to which they export. The second was her terrifying tale of the hail storm that destroyed more than 50% of their 2008 crop in less than one hour. She showed us several vine shoots, and we were shocked to see how large the large hail dents were.

The tasting consisted of two wines from that fateful vintage, which of course, turned out to be quite good after all. The first was the 2008 Blason d’Issan which was a dark purple-blue color with a ripe grapey fruit nose/palate with some spice and a touch of violets on the finish. Good concentration and easy to enjoy. The 2008 Chateau d’Issan was opaque red-purple with a navy hue. It had a lovely perfumed nose of violets and earth, with good concentration, subtle spices and a long finish.