VinoWeek - Episode 58 - How Covid - 19 Affects Us

Bill and I have been on a brief hiatus. Let’s just say we have been adjusting to a new way of living our lives during the coronavirus pandemic. Walking into a wine retailer or visiting a winery tasting room has not been an option for us so in this podcast we spend some time talking about how and where we are buying our adult beverages. We both are certainly consuming more alcohol since the start of pandemic. Have your drinking habits changed? Are you purchasing more products on line?

If you own a winery how do you protect your staff and your customers against coronavirus? Michael Alberty pens a piece for The Oregonian that explains how Willamette Valley Vineyards is planning to tackle the virus.

What is corked wine? How do you recognize it and what’s the process to follow if you discover you have a bottle of wine that is corked?

Eric Asimov writes a piece for the New York Times surveying how wineries faced with marketing disruptions are seeking new innovative ways to keep the cash flowing.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

We have two wine recommendations this week. The first is a rare white wine from the DOC Colli Tortonesi (the hills of Tortona). Tortona is a commune of south-east Piedmont,  in the Province of Alessandria in north-western Italy. Piedmonte is most noteworthy for it’s noble reds Barolo and Barbaresco. The white wines of Asti (Asti Spumante) and Gavi have their avid followers too. The 2017 Derthona Timorasso is produced by Boveri Luigi. The Azienda Agricola (farm) is owned by Luigi and Germana Boveri. Originally focused on grain production the family embraced viticulture in the mid nineties and now are solely focused on winemaking.

The rare white wine they make from the Timorasso grape has been recently rediscovered. The man responsible for the rediscovery is Walter Massa. After World War II, native varietal wines like Timorasso were overshadowed and forgotten as winemakers rushed to produce simple, uniform, high profit wines. Massa was discovered by the wine cognoscenti in 2000 and received much praise for a barrique- aged Barbera he had made. Wine writers happened upon some of the small lots of Timorasso that Walter was experimenting with and began spreading the word of the quality of those wines too. Neighboring growers took notice of Massa’s success with Timorasso and followed his lead. Even though Timorasso has been redeemed, today the area planted to the thick-skinned variety covers just 175 acres, hence its rarity.

Derthona is the latin name for the city of Tortona. Boveri’s Derthona Timorasso is planted on the hills of Costa Vescovato, composed of 70% clay limestone and 30% marly limestone. The grapes are hand harvested and once they are crushed they are allowed to macerate for 48 to 60 hours on the skins. Luigi does this to add more depth and texture to the wine. The maceration and soft pressing is followed by a native yeast fermentation and the 100% Timorasso wine is held on the lees in stainless steel tanks for one year. Periodically throughout the year the wine receives battonage. After bottling the wine is held for one year before release.

Following 2016, the 2017 grape growing season faced a difficult start as early frost cut yields throughout the region of Piedmont. Drought conditions were present and a heatwave near the end of the ripening cycle made for a chaotic harvest. Luigi’s Derthona is bright straw yellow in color with tinges of green. Aromas of white peach, grapefruit, meyer lemon and white flowers greet you on the nose. If I had to use one word for the mouth feel I’d say savory. This wine is full bodied at 14% alcohol so it packs a punch. Intense and focused with white peach, beeswax and mineral notes the wine has good depth and richness. Drink now, but know that Timorasso can age well too so you don’t have to worry about losing one in your wine stash. The 2017 is showing well now, but I’m betting it will improve over the next two to four years and beyond. $19 buy it here.

Our second recommendation is the Darby Winery 2014 Dark Side Syrah. Darby English started making wine in a basement in 2002. A Seattle native he attended Oregon State University on a golf scholarship. Lucky for us he switched from golfing to winemaking. Darby’s first commercial release was in 2005. Today he produces 4,000 cases of Bordeaux Blends, Rhone Varietal and single vineyard wines. These are small production wines, typically 400 or less cases for each bottling. Darby sources his grapes for the Dark Side Syrah from the Columbia Valley. Columbia Valley is Washington’s largest viticultural region with 50,000 acres of planted vineyards. It contains 99% of the grapes grown in the state. Darby buys grapes from Dineen Vineyard in lower Yakima Valley, Discovery Vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills, and Stone Tree in the Wahluke Slope, all sub-regions of the Columbia Valley. After harvesting the grapes are trucked over the Cascade Mountain Range to the winery in Woodinville. The wine is aged for 18 months in  600 liter neutral French oak puncheons.

The Dark Side

Beautifully integrated fruit, enjoy it now or hold it for several more years.

In the glass the color is medium ruby. The nose exhibits black and blue fruit, black pepper, licorice and a hint of grilled meat. The wine has an incredible balance of acids and tannins. On the palate loads of black fruit, spice and a velvety finish. 14.7%alc I don’t believe the 2014 Dark Side is available anymore as the new vintage on the website shows the 2017 at $28 a bottle. Buy it here.

VinoWeek - Episode 57 - Wine Communication is Changing

Here in Sonoma County California we are under a Governor Gavin Newsom mandated shelter in place directive aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus. What does that mean? Check out this link to get the details.

Cancelled events, business losses and layoffs are starting to impact the wine business as Bill Swindell points out in an article for the Press Democrat.

There is nothing worse for a food and wine lover than to experience a partial or complete lose of their sense of smell. Shawn Zylberberg explains how a loss of sense of smell may be a symptom of COVID-19 infection.

Bill and I did a virtual contrast and compare of two Oregon wine producers Elouan and Illahe and I threw in a ringer from Sonoma Coast, W. H. Smith Pinot Noir.

Jeremy Parzen, a wine industry professional and wine blogger has been posting letters he gets from his colleagues and friends in Italy. His latest post is a letter from Giancarlo Gariglio, editor-in-chief of the Slow Wine Guide to the Wines of Italy, Slovenia, California, and Oregon.  We interviewed Giancarlo last February. Here’s the link to that post.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

VinoWeek - Episode 56 Coronavirus Insanity

A lot has happened worldwide since our last podcast. Country after country have instituted curfews, travel restrictions and have closed schools, museums and sporting venues. Last week Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a national quarantine, mandating the closure of all stores limiting travel to only grocery stores, pharmacies and hospitals in an effort to slow down the spread of Covid - 19. On Wednesday March 11th the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

What does any of this have to do with wine? As we’ve discussed in previous podcasts the wine industry has already entered a slow period of growth. At some levels wine is a luxury product and not a necessity. With the precipitous drop in stock market valuations in the last several weeks, the uncertainty of the spread of Covid - 19 stoking market fears, discretionary wine buying may be put on pause. Bill and I will no doubt have a lot to talk about in the coming podcasts. For now my wife and I are practicing social distancing and have only left the home to go grocery shopping. Everyone be safe and be well.

Here are some of the topics we discussed on this podcast.

Bundschu Company has purchased the Valley of the Moon Winery in Sonoma Valley. It’s nice to see a local acquisition made by a local family owned winery instead of a private equity firm or a wine conglomerate.

Tim McKirdy post a nice piece on how to (confidently ) buy aged wines. Always a risky proposition he offers some good ideas to help you make good decisions when looking for a special mature bottle.

Treasury Wines has slashed their profit earning expectations for the year as the Corona virus hits the Chinese market.

Hard to believe it but Americans are not buying Corona beer because of the coronavirus name.

Thieves targeted a Danish restaurant in Copenhagen and stole about five cases of rare and expensive burgundy. Some of the bottles were from the famed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

Our wine recommendation this week is Castello di Fonterutoli’s 2016 Ser Lapo Chianti Classico Riserva. This wine is crafted by Carlo Ferrini who consults for wineries all over Italy. Castello di Fonterutoli has been owned by the Mazzei family since 1435, 26 successive generations to date. Ser Lapo is the author of the first known document to use the “Chianti” denomination in 1398. The Fonterutoli estate is located 10 miles northwest of Siena. The company is run by Lapo Mazzei, chairman and his two sons Filippo and Francesco. The family business is well diversified as they also own properties in Maremma, Sicily and Veneto. The grape sources for Ser Lapo are from 15 to 30 year old vineyards. The soils are comprised primarily of clay/loam and calcareous rocks and sandstone. The vineyard altitude is 800 to 100 feet. The wine is comprised of 90% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot. After fermentation in stainless steel the wine is aged for 12 months in small french oak barriques (225/500 liter) 50% new. It’s then aged in bottle for five months before release.

The bottle has a unique old school wrap around label covered with Renaissance writing. The label is sealed with a wax medallion about the size of a silver dollar that is embossed with the Mazzei family crest. What’s it like in the glass? The color is a bright ruby in the glass, with aromas of cranberries and red cherries, violets and thyme. On the palate it has that classic acidic bite of Sangiovese at first. Red cherry flavors with hints of cedar, earth and orange peel. It’s medium bodied with moderate tannins and has really good length on the finish. It’s lip smacking good. You should decant it to clear the sediment and let it breath for 30 to 45 minutes for it to show its best. 13.5% alc. $27 to $30

Slow Wine World Tour 2020

It’s that time of the year again. Food and wine events are coming to our area in rapid fire sequence. Winemakers from abroad have a small window of time to meet prospective buyers, so instead of flying back and forth to the United States they cram in as many trade events as they can, usually in a one to two week window. Consequently we’ve been pretty busy tasting a ton of wine from Europe.

On Tuesday, February, 18th we were afforded the opportunity to meet and interview Giancarlo Gariglio, editor of the Slow Wine Guide. 2020 marks the 10th edition of the Slow Wine Guide. If you can relate to a world where everyone has an available food source that taste good and is good for them, good for the farmers and good for the planet, then you’ll appreciate what Giancarlo and his team of contributors are doing for wine buyers. We conducted the interview at the tasting event so the first few minutes are a little noisy with some background noise , but the audio is fine after that. We hope you enjoy our interview with Giancarlo. Cheers!

VinoWeek Episode 54 - Wine for the People

Wine industry experts are calling for grape growers to reduce the number of vineyards in production because of declining wine sales. We have already noticed some vineyards being ripped out and allowed to go fallow (at least for now) here in Sonoma County. Unfortunately for growers the oversupply of grapes is not a regional problem, but a statewide one.  Sarah Klearman asks a number of industry leaders what type of short and long term solutions should be put in place to deal with California’s wine slump.

Craig Camp General Manager at Troon Vineyards in Oregon’s Applegate Valley really knows his way around a winery and his recent post titled 'Wine Kaleidoscope’ is a quick look into the marketing vs reality scene in today’s winemaking world. Craig says, “the wine for the people revolution is happening now”. In this article he offers several ways to avoid the industrial, mass marketed wines and to identify wine of the people.

The underwriters at Lloyds of London, the insurers of Cayuse Vineyards have sued Lafitte Cork and Capsule for allegedly selling defective corks. The damage claim is in excess of 3.5 million.

Bill and I have a good time poking fun at the wine fraud ring that was uncovered in Northern Italy in the Oltrepò Pavese region. Too bad this isn’t the first time for this type of shenanigans. Top managers and winemakers at several cooperatives worked in concert to perpetrate the fraud.

Peter Johnson reports on an unfortunate incident between Paso Robles winemaker Tobin James Shumrick and his unstable neighbor. The situation got out of hand and now the winemaker faces some serious charges.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

VinoWeek - Episode 53 Are More Tariffs In Our Future?

It’s been rather calm and quite in Northern California of late. Mother nature is giving us a break from natural disasters and has turned her hell raising ways onto the continent of Australia. For months now Australia has been suffering with continuing wildfires which have to date destroyed over 10 million hectares. Phoebe French provides a list of events and organizations you can make donations to for helping those most in need. While Rebecca Hopkins an expat of Australia pens a fine piece on other ways you can aid in the recovery.

I’m excited about the new reverse microwave technology that can chill a bottle of wine to the proper serving temperature in three minutes, however Bill does not see its merits.

If I had ten dollars for every article I’ve read over the past few weeks on the proposed 100% tariffs on all European Union wines I could take my wife out to a very exclusive dinner in San Francisco and afford to tip big. Translation, the topic of additional tariffs has dominated the wine news. It’s amazing how much hysteria can be whipped up over a proposal. To be sure this proposal and its projected disastrous consequences are being taken very seriously by most that are in the alcohol business on both sides of the Atlantic, but I think there has been a collective yawn from the average consumer. Alfonso Cevola writes one of the better pieces I’ve read on the subject of Tariffs. Jeremy Parzen and Mitch Frank also weigh in on the issue of the doubling of wine prices at the retail level.

We finish the podcast with some local news. All that and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek.

Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

We have three wine recommendations this week. First up is the 2017 Pico Maccario Lavignone Barbera D’Asti. I discovered this wine at last years Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri wine tasting in San Francisco. This brand was started by the brothers Pico and Vitaliano Maccario in 1997. The Maccario’s are Barbera specialist. Their operation is in the northwest region of Piedmonte, Italy, near the village of Mombaruzzo, an hours drive southeast of Asti in the middle of the Barbera d’Asti DOCG. The region of Piedmonte is bordered by Switzerland to the north, France to the west, Italy’s Lombardia region to the east and the region of Liguria is its southern border. Lavignone is 100% Barbera and is vinified and aged completely in stainless steel. A number of super premium Barbera producers, La Spinetta, Renato Ratti and Vietti come to mind, have made Barbera very chic by decreasing yields in the vineyards and ageing it in small french oak barrels. If you want to discover Barbera minus the lathering of oak, Lavignone is a prime example. On the nose you’ll notice aromas of purple flowers, violets and red cherries. While on the palate there are rich red and black cherry flavors. Barbera is naturally high in acids and lighter in the tannin department hence the temptation to put it in oak to beef its body up a bit. Lavignone’s tannins are soft and well integrated and the acidity gives this medium bodied wine good length and a savory finish. It’s an excellent value at $13 to $15 a bottle and it should be easy to find as they produce over 29,000 cases. 13.5% alc Buy it here.

Parducci’s 2016 True Grit Reserve Petite Sirah is all Mendocino County fruit. It’s 100% estate grown, 100% Petite Sirah that is aged in a combination of American and French oak. Parducci was established in 1933 following the end of prohibition. Although the Parducci family no longer owns the winery it’s still a family run operation, now being operated by the Thornhill clan.

Photo courtesy of Parducci

The wine has a deep blackish ruby color, with aromas of black fruit and spice. Petite Sirah can be a very aggressive wine and this version of True Grit (the John Wayne of wines) doesn’t disappoint . On the palate black fruit, vanilla, pepper spice, hints of smoke and chalky tannins. It’s full bodied with a long finish. This is a wine to buy now at a great price, drink a few and save as many as you can to drink five years from now. Although they don’t brag about it on the label the wine is vegan which means there was no monkeying around during the winemaking process. I found this bottling at Costco and when I went back a week later it was all gone. The good wines alway go fast. 14.5 abv Buy it here.

The Boss Jean-Marc Photo courtesy of Domaine Beau Mistral

Photo Courtesy of Domaine Beau Mistral

2016 Domaine Beau Mistral Rasteau is a blend of 60% Grenache, 30%Mourvedre and 10% Syrah. Jean-Marc Brun started making wine in 1987 in a winery he rented in the center of the village of Rasteau. Twelve years later he went all in and built his own winery. The village of Rasteau is located in the southeastern region of Frances Rhone Valley. Domaine Beau Mistral covers 70 acres composed of mainly older plots on rocky hillsides. The grapes are hand harvested and punch downs are done manually and by mechanical means. The wines are aged 90% in tank and the rest in barrel. Red raspberry and kirsch aromas with a hint of herbs. The palate displays juicy red fruit, licorice and is direct and thoroughly enjoyable. The tannins are soft, and the wine has ample acidity with an elegant finish. 14% alc $15 Buy it here.

VinoWeek - Episode 52 - A Grape Glut = Bargains for Consumers

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Californians. Bill and I can add evacuee to our resumes as residents of Sebastopol and many other areas of Sonoma County were evacuated due to the Kincade wildfire. Firefighters made their stand at the edge of the foothills as the fires moved downhill towards the densely populated town of Windsor. Many lessons have been learned since the Tubbs fire in the fall of 2017 and in the end the town was saved.

Restaurateurs in Sonoma County are struggling with business interruptions from planned power shutoffs and the recent fires. Many are absorbing the losses while other restaurant owners have elected to close. Heather Irwin of Sonoma Magazine writes a piece that explores how business owner are facing the realities of the PG& E public safety power shutdowns.

E.J. Gallo has just purchased Pahlmeyer, a high end Napa Valley Wine Brand. W. Blake Gray gives us some details about the buyout.

West coast grape growers are in the middle of a grape glut. The glut is putting a lot of pressure on wineries and growers and is forcing many to make some tough decisions. The pain that those businesses are experiencing is translating into some very good bargains for wine consumers.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

photo courtesy of tenuta di bibbiano

We have four holiday wine recommendations this week. First up is a 2016 Chianti Classico from Tenuta di Bibbiano from the commune of Castellina in Chianti. Bibbiano is managed by Tommaso and Federico Marrocchesi Marzi, the fifth generation of a family that has owned the property since 1865. 100% Sangiovese the organically farmed grapes are hand harvested and fermented in stainless steel for about two weeks. After the wine is racked and pressed it spends one year in traditional concrete vats. This is a wonderfully enjoyable, fruity Chianti. The nose show loads of rich red cherry, earth, spice and garrique. On the palate more of that very distinctive savory-sweet, red fruit with delightful balance and it’s strikingly drinkable. I tasted the bottle over four nights using no nitrogen to preserve it. All I did was pour a glass each night cork the bottle and put it back in the fridge. It wasn’t until the third night that it started showing signs of getting a bit tired. This Chianti would easily compliment a variety of dishes on your holiday dinner table. 5,800 cs, 14.5 abv $18 Buy it here.

photo courtesy of tenuta di bibbiano

Trentadue’s Old Patch Red is a perennial favorite of mine. Trentadue is the Italian word for thiry-two. Leo Trentadue moved his family from a Santa Clara ranch where they farmed cherries and apricots in 1959, to Geyserville in the heart of Alexander Valley. He bought a 208 acre ranch that was planted mostly with plum trees, but there were also 60 acres of grape vines. Leo never pulled those vines up, he just planted more grapes. A decade later Leo sold 20 acres of his ranch to Pillsbury, a food company looking to get into the wine business. Through many boom and bust cycles that Pillsbury winery (formerly Chateau Souverain) is now in the capable of hands of Francis Ford Coppola. A wide variety of wines are made at Trentadue and the Old Patch Red (OPR) as the newly redesigned label signifies is their entry level red. The 2016 version of OPR wine has a newer fresher style to it. It doesn’t have the same grit and rough around the edges profile of past years. The winemaker Miro Tcholakov loves working with Zinfandel and Petite Sirah and the OPR shows he knows what he’s doing. 67% Zinfandel, 25% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignane, 3% Syrah the wine spends 9 months in 15% new oak. It has a deep ruby color, with a black cherry-cola nose, with loads of vanilla, oak and spice. On the palate it exhibits juicy black and red fruit. It’s sappy and slightly sweet and polished and finishes long with some nice spice as well. It’s sealed with a screw cap so it’s meant to drink now, but you don’t need to worry if you lose a few bottle in your wine stash because this one has some staying power. 5,972 cs, 14.5 abv $14 Buy it here.

Cellar Cal Pla 2016 Black Slate is a wine from the village of Porrera in the winemaking area of Priorat and is situated roughly an hour and 45 minutes southwest of Barcelona in north-eastern Spain. The importer is Eric Solomon who imports wine predominantly from France and the Iberian Peninsula. If you’ve listened to any of our podcasts you’ve probably heard me talking about the importance of finding an importer whose wines align with your taste and trying other wines that they import. I’ve learned that Eric Solomon Selections is an importer you can count on to bring in uncommon wines from unique places.

Bush vines in MAs-d’en -compte Priorat - photo courtesy of Eric Soloman Selections

Priorat is a wine region that was rediscovered in the early 1990s and one could make an argument that Eric helped bring the region its new acclaim. The regions stony soils are covered with black slate, called llicorella locally. Its steep terraced hillsides make it nearly impossible to farm mechanically. So here’s the formula. Organic farming, old vines 15 to 80 years of age, meager yields, steeply terraced vineyards that are hand farmed and harvested. Add to that a wine that is comprised of 50% Garnacha (Grenache), 40% Carinena (Carignan) and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in steel and concrete using natural yeast and matured for a year in 3 to 7 year old French and Hungarian oak barrels and you have a stunning example of a wine that exemplifies place over technique. The nose shows beautiful black and blue fruit, crushed rocks, spice and tar. On the palate black fruit, smoke and an earthy minerality. It’s full bodied and the acids and tannins are in perfect focus. The finish is deep and savory. It drinks really well as soon as you pop the cork but do yourself a favor and set aside a glass when you open a bottle and come back to it a few hours later. You’ll be glad you did. A remarkable value at $18 a bottle. 2916cs, 15% abv Buy it here.

photo courtesy of Eric soloman selections

wines to please you guests for the holidays

The 2015 By Clinet Pomerol is a special bottling by the Clinet Wine Group. This wine was created for near term drinking while you’re waiting for your $125 bottles of Chateau Clinet to mature. I try not to recommend wines that are difficult to find. By Clinet Pomerol will be hard to find in the U. S. although it can be found in European markets. About 10 to 30 percent of the Gran Vin Chateau Clinet goes into this wine and the rest of the blend is sourced from neighboring Pomerol properties. The average age of the vines is 42 years and the blend is 88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. Black cherries, plums and licorice on the nose, in the mouth silky lush red fruit. The tannins are refined and the acidity gives the wine a nice lift all the while the fruit is ripe and sweet. Once I tried this wine I was immediately disappointed that I had only purchased four bottles. An incredible value at $45 almost a third of the price of Chateau Clinet.

VinoWeek - Episode 51 - PG&E Facing More Scrutiny

Sonoma County wine world recently lost another former winery owner. Chris Smith of the Press Democrat pens an obituary about Robert Rue, who was farming old Zinfandel/ field blend vineyards as a side hustle before the term was popular.

We’ve suspected that litigation of this sort was on the horizon and now we have two sizable California vintners suing several insurance companies. The vintners claim that the insurers have failed to reimburse them for smoke taint damages as a result of the wildfires in October 2017 in Northern California. Lewis Perdue of Wine Industry Insight scooped this story that we will be following closely.

Mel Christopher, a top PG&E gas executive is no longer with the company. J. D. Morris of the Press Democrat provides the details.

PG&E wants to use a portion of Terry Gard’s vineyard property in Calistoga for a liquid natural gas plant claiming eminent domain and Mr. Gard is having no part of it. They are both headed to court. I guess you could say PG&E has made him and offer he can refuse, at least for now. Cynthia Sweeney of The Weekly Calistogan penned the story.

The Trump administration is adding more fuel to the tariff wars, this time targeting France, Germany and Spain. We’ll have to wait to see if those countries retaliate with their own tariffs on American goods. Meanwhile, get ready for wine and food products from the European Union to climb upward. W. Blake Gray explores a possible way for Bordeaux winemakers to bypass the additional tax. It’s clever but will it change the way Bordeaux wine are perceived?

Eric Asimov of the New York Times writes his first of a four part series exploring the impact climate change is having on modern viticulture.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

VinoWeek - Episode 50 - Farming Ain't Easy

Dorthy Vasser has been growing wine grapes in Redwood Valley for 53 years. Dorthy and her husband John started grape growing in 1964. John passed away in 2008 and Dorthy continued to farm their 26 acre Mendocino ranch. Dorthy has decided to sell her land and Lewis Perdue goes into great detail as to how Constellation Brands may have had a hand in her decision to get out of farming. It’s a very sad story. If you’re interested in getting into grape farming in Northern California here’s the listing.

There are too many wine grapes in California or we all need to step up our game and consume more vino. Unfortunately all the data shows that we’re drinking better wine but less of it. Bill Swindell asks some local growers how they are handling the grape glut.

Cameron Hughes expresses concern about the current wine glut. He sites declining demand, climate change, negative health messaging and cannabis all as contributors to the wine industries woes.

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is trying to add another layer of bureaucracy for those trying to own businesses or that want to work in a business that sells alcohol. W. Blake Gray breaks the story and a law firm for the alcoholic beverage, hospitality and cannabis industries provide some juicy details. We’re still scratching our heads trying to understand how this story has gotten next to no traction thus far.

If you’re a believer in climate change, after reading this article by Alison Hird you’ll agree that farmers in Southern France need to find a way to deal with the increasingly more severe and unpredictable weather patterns. This year the last week of June brought with it a disastrous heatwave that caused some growers to lose half of their grape crop for the year.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

The wine of the week is the 2015 La Valentina Spelt Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. La Valentina was founded in 1990 in Spoltore a village in the hills of Pescara on the central Adriatic Coast. The estate consist of 99 acres and produces 30,000 cases. The winery is owned by Sabatino, Roberto and Andrea Di Properzio who pride themselves on their devotion to environmentally friendly agriculture. They have been farming organically for several years, but the wines are not certified organic. Spelt is a vegan wine.

The name Spelt is in reference to a species of wheat that has been cultivated in Europe since medieval times. Spelt was once grown where the winery and the village of Spoltore are located. Not that common anymore spelt products are more likely to be found in a heath food store or an artisan bakery.

The vineyard soils are medium clay at 500 to 1,100 foot elevation and are farmed in the traditional Pergola Abruzzese and the Guyot method. After fermentation the wine is aged in barriques and larger barrels (40%) and 60% is aged in 2,500 liter Slavonian oak casks. Spelt spends another year in the bottle before it is released.

Deep ruby color, the nose is shy, completely shut down at the moment. On the palate dark mulberry, and black plum flavors with nicely integrated oak. Medium bodied it has delicious fruit, firm tannins and impressive texture. Lovely freshness and tanginess on the finish. I believe this bottle needs more time in the bottle to develop to its full potential. It would be an excellent candidate for medium term cellaring (2-6 years). 13.5 abv $18 - $22 4,583 cases

VinoWeek - Episode 49 - Large Wineries Drive the Market

Wine journalist Jamie Goode recently posted a short blog about three of the world's largest wineries. Fred Swan felt that much of the criticism of the blog on social media was negative so he wrote a piece in defense of E.J. Gallo. Having visited several Gallo facilities in the past he offers some great insight into their operations.

W. Blake Gray asks, "What's the point in fining a multi-billionaire winery owner when he ignores the rules"? Bill and  I have a good discussion about Gray's premise, that maybe the best way to thwart eco-vandals is to not give them publicity by reviewing their wines.

One of Amazon's faux liquor stores in Southern California has been receiving more publicity than the founder Jeff Bezos probably wanted. W. Blake Gray stirs up quite a controversy with some good investigative journalism. Amazons' cleaned up their act but will it be enough to avoid punishment by the California ABC that has recently launched an investigation into their operations.

Blue wine? Turns out it may be fake after all. Corsican official have launched an investigation into the company responsible for this oddity. Grab some bottles of blue wine now, as I'm predicting they will be collector's items in the near future.

Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!