BRAMBLES: Unlike Any Other

On a cool, clear drive thru the meandering hillsides of the newest Sonoma County appellation, Fountaingrove District AVA, you can find fire-scared vacant lots, a scattering of homes under construction, and swaths of vineyards left with unpicked fruit.  In rear view, it has been a devastating wildfire season across the West Coast, and in Australia. Once hopeful expectations of an average harvest here, have been devalued significantly by these seasonal, unannounced forces of nature.

 With the pervasive risk of 'smoke-taint' on harvested grapes, and the widespread cancellation of grape contracts by producers is expected to yield a sales loss of more than $400 million to California's small winegrape growers.  As a global impact, it has also been a year of broad temperature extremes from a changing climate, reflected in part by the earliest recorded grape harvest in Burgundy, France, ever.

  An on-going trans-Atlantic trade war between the U.S. and the European Union wine industry continues to result in higher tariffs, higher prices for domestic consumers and our Old World counterparts. Here typically, these imported wines from France, Spain and Germany were among the great authentic values for many global wine lovers to seek out. In the war's early days wine importers and distributors took the cost hit, but without any certainty in the market future, this is changing to be passed on to consumers. 

 With the recent FTC approval of the Gallo-Constellation Brands buyout, the behemoth Modesto empire now controls an even greater sway in the lower end brand marketplace(bottom shelves).  As consumers increasingly buy 'down' in grocery stores, there is a trend for more modest wines to increase sales volume at the expense of more premium brands.  Coupled with the broad on-premise demise, where more than an estimated 100,000 restaurants across the country have permanently closed, small producers who opt for supermarket space now get to fight the wine beast. Well positioned, multi-faceted Gallo also dominates the domestic glass bottle market.

 And, yet, retail wine sales grow. There are more brands, more alternative packaging in our marketplace than ever before.  Western states lead the nation in responsible, sustainable winegrape growing practices, with 1800+ custodians of our Sonoma County vineyards leading the way.  Newly improvised 'virtual tastings' are also gaining traction with consumers, as the shroud of mystery surrounding limited bottlings finds a growing marketplace accessible from a home screen or mobile device.

 A wineries federal excise tax(currently around $1/gallon) now benefits from the permanent reduced tax rates and tax credits via the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, recently signed into law.  It marks the needed updated reforms to decades old tax legislation that impacts so many small wine producers who had been burdened by its antiquated structure.

 At the end of another wine day, so many of us continue to have relatively easy access to a social vehicle that is to be enjoyed and shared.  We can safely visit a local retail merchant, join an on-line club, or invest in a growing number of virtual retail wine sites.  Harmlessly in our shelter-in-place domiciles, wine can be an escape in a glass, a delicious and intriguing indulgence that may lift us away from the mundane, the ordinary. Even if ordinare, wine can be that facilitator of an intimate dinner conversation, and the inspiration for dreams that lead us to possibilities while enhancing the sustaining bounty before us.

  As we close another chronicle and look to a brighter future,  we can still access good wine throughout the marketplace, we can still find wonder in a distinctive and authentic quaff that excites, and we can still share the joy with those close to us. For us wine lovers, the more bottles we explore the more we can taste that this has been a year of wine unlike any other.

Salute! and Happy, Healthy New Year!!

WineLinks:

  http://fountaingroveava.com/

  https://sonomawinegrape.org/scw/sustainability/

  https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataId=212102

  https://www.gallo.com/portfolio/

BRAMBLES: If...A Good Food Wine

Carravaggio's Bacchus knew a good food wine

A promising harvest now interrupted, contributes to a challenging year unlike any other in our lifetimes. More than six months into 'shelter in place' with its unique social distancing, an economic decline previously unseen, and tens of thousands of small businesses having closed(many permanently) that include hundreds of family run boutique wineries, we search for 'normal'.  Following the early start of grape harvest for sparkling wine producers, our North Coast has been blanketed with a record setting August heat wave, and now a complex of massive wildfires ignited by lightning to create a heavy, smoke-filled air quality across the grape growing region.

Stories these dazes seem then to write themselves.  In the current global pandemic environment the health of populations and their diverse economies becomes paramount, dominating headlines and reporting. Tens of millions are without pay checks, their food costs steadily increasing, and a strained health care system only seems to magnify the weight of our amplified social isolation.  Hospitality and the wine industry have had to again reinvent how they now do business, as the stream of consumers tightens to a trickle willing to take-out, or pick-up or ship, thus minimizing human contact.  Prior to statewide station in place orders, the early wine stories were about punitive import tariffs, and a surplus wine grape supply, even with a steady, continuing consumer growth forecast.  But, that was just a few short months ago. Now the wine stories here are about who among the thousands of small producers will survive to see the return of the 'new normal'.

As may have been expected(using the Great Depression as a model), consumers are consuming more; more budget-friendly wines.  Food wines, especially rose', remain strong, as direct-to-consumer wine retailing grows currently at historic rates. And, local restaurants, struggling to survive, are also getting creative with their cellars' liquid assets(discounts and available with ordered meals), as we mainly drink safely at home.  Beneficially, out of doors finds less congested roadways, quieter streets, with more congested bicycle routes.  Before the fires there was even cleaner air quality with fewer gross carbon emissions, and far fewer auto fatalities. Talk about a reason to drink!

Things have not changed much for many bottle a day at home consumers, except that routine sourcing has now become more of an exercise. Local wineries here offer pick up services, bottle retailers may do the same, and local supermarkets are seeing a spike in broadly available, off the shelf budget friendly selections.  But even in this environment, the challenge remains the same for wine livers. How do we find a good food wine to enjoy with our stay at home meal?  And, how can we support those important small production wineries when their normal and profitable distribution channels have evaporated?

Chardonnay grapes before August heat spike and  fires

As always, wine remains an enjoyable, delicious part of our lives.  We may realize that the wines we love get their flavors from the fruit variety and its growing site.  The more general the site and varietal description, the more generic the product(generally).  Those heady, enticing aromas are enhanced by the fermentation process, and those earthy notes are typically the result of the wines aging. All of this is held together by the wines complex of acids, and tannins, and alcohol.  Widely available wines from industrial producers tend to manipulate and craft their wines to consistency(regardless of vintage) using many cellar and laboratory tricks to create the wines so many love in those modest price points.

Ultimately, we try to find wines we trust, from producers we know or from suggestive marketing.  It certainly helps if the wine is in our wallet comfort zone, and we typically get what we are prepared to spend on a bottle of vino.  But, there are exceptions, and that's where wine education for consumers comes in.  We may recognize that the alcohol declaration on the label will indicate how adaptable the wine will be with food(lower alcohol wines seem to work best).  Or that the personality of the grape selection may be over matched with our richly flavorful dish.  Perhaps the marketing descriptions on the products back label can more precisely direct us to the kinds of table fare best suited to complement that particular wine.

We know that excess alcohol consumption can deepen depression, so moderation for general health and well-being is always recommended.  But, the satisfaction and lifting spirit found in a wonderful glass of wine to enhance a fine meal seems to be a reasonable balance.  Like so much in nature, balance is the key.  On the palate, a wine should offer a good balance in all of its building blocks, and promote the satisfaction that comes with a wine that over delivers on our expectations.  As such, wine remains a vehicle that allows us to explore the pleasure of the earth's bounty, the satisfaction of sharing in good company, and the beauty that is offered in the manifestation of art and delicious science.

Ultimately, a good food wine will entice the experience of sharing, and contribute to the delight that comes from a good meal.  It will heighten anticipation and benefit digestion. A wine that displays the truth that can be found in natures bounty, in its art and in its humanity, can truly be a good food wine.  In times like these there are few things that may be as important as finding truth in fellowship, in supporting our communities, and in finding beauty that remains in us and around us.

Stay safe, good cheer, and Salute!

WineLinks:

Resourceful drinking: Vinepair.com
 https://vinepair.com/articles/10-best-supermarket-wines-2019-grocery/

Harvest update: Sonoma County Winegrowers.org

https://sonomawinegrape.org/

BRAMBLES: Storied Wine

"Wine for lunch?"  It was just a simple, Cal-Provencal chicken breast and salad with feta, but the early summer day quietly demanded a lazy, unpretentious quaff.  "But, we have nothing chilled", she may have said.  No problem.  Just grab a bottle of light bodied, high acid juice from the dark, cool space below and prepare it for the quick chill.  Ten minutes is all that it will take, because we are going to crisp-change the temperature of a cellar-ed bottle, a cool survivor that is still found in the 60+/- degree range even on this summer day.  A Portuguese vino verde gets wrapped in wet paper towel, slipped into a plastic bag(so it doesn't attach to anything else), and laid in the freezer.  As the wet paper quickly chills, it directly transfers cold to the bottles liquid, and within a few minutes it's near perfection for this particular lazy day dejeuner.  It could have been any bottle(sparkling demands even cooler temps), but chilling improved the presentation, focused the physical properties and the bright character of this particular modest bottle of imported white wine.  We could almost imagine the warm and gentile breezes of  a Lisbon seaside cafe.

A sea of familiar brands or a wine adventure?

 Current domestic commercial reports indicate a slow down of overall wine sales, but that is not the case with wines produced in the golden state of California.  Even with import selections increasing daily, this nation's top wine producing state still dominates from a position of strength, with wine shipments increasing by 3% over the previous year. More direct to consumer markets are open in more states than ever before, and wine trends in restaurants continue to bolster the national sales. Another constant that remains is that the most widely popular brands, those comfortably priced, widely available selections, are still mostly produced by large, industrial beverage corporations.  Fans of venerable Louis M. Martini, or MacMurray Estate or J Vineyards may be surprised to learn that these labels are owned and operated by the largest wine company on the planet, E & J Gallo, of Modesto.  Perhaps your 'go-to' is great value ne'gociant  Cameron Hughes, or a Girard, or Tamarack Cellars; they are all popular labels of Sonoma Counties' own, Vintage Wine Estates.  Even that convenient Bota Box wine, or widely dispersed Gnarly Head zinfandel are products of long established Delicato Family wines of Manteca.

 Distinguished brands that are pillars of the state's Napa wine history, Beaulieu Vineyards, Beringer, Chateau St. Jean, and Stags' Leap Winery are today all Treasury Wine Estates of Australia properties.  And that popular Meiomi Pinot Noir, as well as iconic, Robert Mondavi Winery are currently part of the largest imported beer company in the U.S., Constellation Brands.  Bottles such as these and countless others are effectively commodity brands, guided by investors who may have never touched its soil or fruit. Mostly, they can generate standardized industrial products, striving for consistency and market-share that's utilizing a shrinking distributor(wholesale) market. But, another thing they may share today is that at one time in the not too distant past, just about all of these brands were a single artisan's dream; regularly producing a genuine and honest reflection of a unique place and time(it was a good year!).

Cheers to another great story!

 Today there are over 685 bonded wineries in Sonoma county, the vast majority being very small producers, those holding on to that artisan's dream from vineyard to cellar. Way back in the late 60's the region had supported fewer than 60 federal licenses. Over these past decades many artisans have been drawn to the songs of local vineyards and its winemaking, many of them found just down the road. They may have names not seen on our favorite retail wine shelves or home town wine lists, but there is a good chance that here is where a wine lover or adventurer can find that summer California dream.  Should you pick up an honest bottle or two, you may find authenticity using the quick chill method back at the yurt or the lodge, and have a story to tell.

Raising a glass here for more than a decade;
 and Salute!

WineLinks:
  https://discovercaliforniawines.com/
  https://sonomawinegrape.org/

BRAMBLES: Amazing Taste!

One of many papillae types on the tongue

 Mostly, I sit back with amazement when in the company of more perceptive tasters.  The insights that their palates share with their brains just blows my mind, and humbles me in that I did not share in the same immediate recognition.  I feel better when I remember that a minority of the population may have inherited the abilities of 'super-tasters', the benefit/curse when many chemical compounds are perceived more strongly.  As it turns out in this inexact science, it may effect s much as a quarter of the population.  It was helpful then to re-examine how it is that we recognize 'taste'.

 Our taste receptors are not universal. These individual sensors ignite a chemical reaction to a smell, then compounded with those recognized by the tongue and throat receptors, all sending sensory information to the singular brain.  Additionally, our brains also help when we anticipate how something familiar will taste once we see it.  That perceived smell too becomes an integral part of what we savor and connects to our taste histories that are as individual as we are.  Common basic tastes of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami(savory), can be found in just about everything we put in our mouths, with some strong compounds easier to detect than others. Add pungent, and astringent tastes, and you've got a real mental exercise for the brain to decipher with each anticipated gulp or bite.  Simply, the ability to taste uniquely for our species is just amazing.

Anticipation of taste sets a response.

 Even as a scent can be strongly impressionable, its the blanket in our mouth holding numerous receptor cells, each papillae with thousands of tiny taste buds that is tasked with sending a stream of recognition impulses to our brains.  As it turns out, it is in our individual brains where we actually  'taste'.  This relationship between our sight, our nose, our tongue, our throat and our brain means that 'taste' is unique to each individual taster.  An individuals taste history aside, strong 'flavours', like strawberry, lime or tar(can't forget that smell) are more commonly recognized, while many others require individual repetition and memory.  The exercise of taste, of recognition and repeat helps us to catalog and then anticipate what things actually taste like.  If we had never tasted a kiwi it would have very little flavor anticipation for most of us.

It happens in an instant.  We make connections that spark a memory, impulses that run non-stop from our brains to our olfactory perception and back again.  If it smells bad, we may decide not to drink it.  With nose-blindness or odor fatigue our brains can eventually create an inability to recognize certain odor compounds(consider folks who work at the city dump).  Plus, our sense of taste changes as we age, even as its taste memories remain.  Plus, a loss of recognition is generally accepted as we evolve into mature consumers of food and beverage, so much so that a fabulous sampling years ago of a acclaimed '69 Bordeaux may never be repeated.   

A beverage temperature(cold mutes aromas), the tasting environment(two vodkas and a heavy perfume), and certainly our health(stuffy nose?) also will effect how we are able to perceive taste. Tasting then is always trying to catch those past memories that may never come again. No two experiences are never exactly alike, and for each taster it becomes uniquely sensual.  It is this human ability to taste recognize so much, to experience wide variation, that keeps us in pursuit of the savor moment.  Tasting for us is the here and now of recognizing pleasing aromatic and flavor compounds, and the new memories they may create.  So, if I continue to enjoy drinking what I like, and focus on what is physically happening in that moment, it will happen again. Now I don't feel so out-witted when raising a celebrated glass, because I too am blessed with amazing taste!

Salute'

WineLinks:
  https://foodinsight.org/the-science-of-taste/
  https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-demonstrate-that-taste-comes-from-the-brain-not-the-tongue

BRAMBLES: Chasing Greatness...

Beginnings of greatness on Sonoma Mountain AVA

Flowering grapevines now blanket the North Coast vineyard landscape, a fresh start with the annual anticipation of a great harvest bathed in warmer degree days later in the volatile growing season. Comparatively, it is not unlike the national pass time, where groomed conditions awaken in the early spring, in preparation for the long developing run into, hopefully, the post season and a chance for ever-elusive renown. Greatness should, after-all, be elusive, served only to the most resilient, the strongest, and the very best.

Prized Riesling vineyards of Johannisberg, Rheingau

For most wine consumers greatness is ever elusive, as the overwhelming majority of consumers sponge low price point wines consistently produced by large industrial complexes where accountants or shareholders may carry more influence than contracted growers or accomplished winemakers. Those that casually quaff the best of global wines, also find greatness as rare as fine vintages or perfect growing conditions for the most esteemed estates.  Additionally, something as personal as wine has always had the handicap of being subjective: what's good to me may be swill to you.

Part of what makes wine so socially enjoyable is the constant quest to discover a lasting memory that can be shared. Imagine a wine that you can have a conversation with, a goblet that for that instant becomes so much more than just a social beverage. When we find a wine that speaks to us, that opens its soul so that we have a relationship with it, that can be a moment to remember.  There are certainly wines that have all the bells and whistles, all the shining varietal characteristics delivered in balance across almost all price points.  But, a wine that can transport you to a place, to a surprising memory, or for a brief moment to display a story of its unique path is a very special wine that may be on the cusp of greatness.  It can be authentic, an honest expression.

Terraced Syrah vineyards of Cote Rotie

Authenticity is not common to all wines, in spite of what may give us the appearance of vintage consistency. A harmony of the nurtured vine, its true fruit expression in concert with its place and environment, where its 'whole' is more that the total of its parts is then so much closer to authentic. Even as it may appear to most as too esoteric, when found in the glass authentic wines tend to stand out.  For many wine lovers' it becomes their 'ah-ha' moment.  These then are 'honest' wines, a liquid story of a time and a place and careful nurturing that allows them to approach greatness.  Routinely, this is more difficult with the dilution of multiple vineyard sources, where the singular focus becomes prismatic.  Talented winemakers then can then take numerous instruments to compose very unique, yet still authentic, liquid compositions.

It is those rare, innate attributes that are the reasons wine lovers continue to search for greatness.  In that moment when the bottle is pulled from the shelf or ordered off a well-tailored wine list can be filled with the weight of mystery, but buoyed with the yearning to find greatness.  Historically there are prized vineyards or estates that routinely get to the post season for wine lovers because they define, because they know who they are. How fortunate are then are those chasing greatness when its expression can be surprisingly found in the unexpected.  It's even richer when it is a consumer value.

Salute!

BRAMBLES: That's Life!

And, so it begins anew, again

 Awakenings. You probably started that dedicated journey some time ago, pushed to explore ways to express those innate impulses that follow, naturally. Under the sun, you feel the appetite for growth. You begin to leaf  (or could have initiated, say,  a wine blog); hesitant at first. What of the vermin, the critics and skeptics; what of the demands of consistent demonstration, that regular attempt to prove value at every turn. Even as you may have had strings of lessons earlier in vine life, you find that in your adult life subsisting on the grape(vitis vinifera) qualities had become a passion, a profession.  Innately,  you feel the ever compelling need to share many lessons you nurtured along the way.  Each spring, each renewal, we are again reminded of this productive cycle of the European grape vine.  A new beginning that follows each harvest, bringing with it a new promise, a yearning,  a new awakening.  It is a renewed life, one that uniquely benefits from each of those many seasons grown before.

Aged bush-vine or 'goblet' pruned zinfandel 

 In Ervin Drake's, 'It was a very Good Year', Frank remembers, 'my life as vintage wine from fine old kegs', 'it poured sweet and clear'.  Contemporary consumers don't generally age their wines; we being an immediate gratification society. Most bottle aging, it is said, occurs on the way home from the retailer.  And, in truth, current consumer market wines are typically ready to drink earlier in their bottle evolution due to decades of advancements in viticulture and oenology, the science of wine-making. It could be enough to have Frank drink anything he would pull from the shelf, since overall quality has continued to improve in our lifetimes. But remember, for those who are planners, aging a bottle can be a joy in collecting and also pay harmoniously mature and delicious benefits.

Spring frosts bring an early burn to new shoots 

 In the retail market there's also an awakening of consumers: more multi-generational wine drinkers who have traveled abroad, and may have explored in vogue dining while keeping up with the latest social craze. And, they drink up easier access to the marketplace with off-premise and direct-to-consumer growth. There's an awakening of producers, too.  Large multi-national corporations standardize qualities of the sourcing and production of the vine, while tacking to harvest the latest wine market trends.  And, more machines are toiling in the global vineyards than ever before, even as growing sustainability is echoed in the rows of vine.  And, there is also an awakening of the vine.  Globally, we continue to invest finding where each vine variety grows best, and how unique characteristics of site and climate are reflected in its best wine.  More controlled yields, standardized regulations and continued research in the many distinguished research academies that continues to nurture global grape growing. It's a world-wide awakening.

Traditional wine retail off-premise

 'It was a very good year', and like just about any year(let's be Frank) there were many segments of market up-swing.  Fortunately, more Americans are drinking wine than ever before, although much is made of millennial population slow down( think fads(prosecco, rose', white zinfandel,etc.).  Current data reports that strong market growth sustains from boomers and gen x(a growing population), and yet, across the country it's still only 10% of the adult population that drinks 90%(appox.) of the wine in spite of increases in popular wines by the glass service and on-line growth.  Wine tourism is on the rise, as well.  Currently, there's early bottling of our last harvest, even as bud break awakens in the groomed vineyards that are blanketed with flowering cover crops(providing nutrients, breaking up compacted soils).  As spring welcomes us, this is a great time in the life cycle of the vine to visit uncrowded estate tasting rooms.

  As the warming sun stimulates that precious need to get active, the vine across the northern hemisphere( the southern globe began 6 months ago )begins again. We consumers are already awakening, making bright plans: that garden Easter, kids to summer camp, a family escape from the doldrums of a wet winter.  Our shared history creates that extended record, for the vine, for the wine industry, and for its consumers.  And, it begins again each spring, from the continued beginning; this too is our awakening.  That's Life!

Raising a glass to the awakening!

Cheers!

WineLinks:
  https://sonomalibrary.org/locations/sonoma-county-wine-library
  *Celebrating 30 years of service to the NorCal wine community!
  http://www.mendowine.com/events/index.php
  *Leaders in family-owned sustainable viticulture
  https://cannedwinecompetition.com/
  *Inaugural awakening in alternative consumer packaging
  https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews-tastings/canned-wine-405876/

FRANCE: Standard of Values

Ancient World wine service

Not the ancient lands of the golden crescent, Caucasus' to Egypt, nor one of the first wine regulated and defined appellation systems from the globes important early exporter(Porto), and not even the 'land of wine'  claimed by the early Greeks, which currently is the worlds' largest volume producer, would find itself as today's' world benchmark of wine. Sure, there's important cultural and political history with Italy's Chianti region being the first officially recognized wine region in 1716, as there remains with Tokaj's 1730 official demarcation, or the royal declaration of Portugal's Douro regional demarcation in 1756. But, for hundreds of years, another wine country has been internationally accepted as the quality standard for a steadily growing global industry.

Amphora trading vessels for early Mediterranean wines

With a domesticated wine grape history that goes back to around 600 years before Christianity, it's a country that in its regional/national development has survived wars, revolutions and even an inter- national blight of phylloxera among other maladies.  By virtue of its early colonization, its adaptable climates and soils enriched the vine brought here, and then in turn, the vine enriched all of those who loved it. Among the worlds' largest producers, today France bottles billions of bottles annually, and steadfastly remains the high quality standard for most, if not all of wine lovers.

Noted in a recent Decanteur posting, French wine exports(2018) to its number one customer(USA) grew more than 6 per cent over the previous year.  In spite of a wilting market for its products in China, and a worry about the pending Brexit, the French export market has sustained and grows consistently.  Serious collectors and speculators continue to pursue Bordeaux and Burgundy as wine treasures, bench-marked by a recent auction of a prized bottle of French Premier Cru for more than $500,000! To balance the scales, current standards in the French value market continue from its southern Rhone, from Alsace, the Loire and certainly the wines of the South. In the Mediterranean the splash today is with blush wines, where the regions' rose' market shines to be among the most popular in the world.

- Decomposing limestone vineyards of sunny Provence

In the domestic market, our 'off premise' wine sales continue a steady climb; 3%  higher in January than in that same 2018 month, according to Nielsen. 'The rub' surfaced on a North Bay Business Journal cover recently: Too Much Tasting?(2.25.19), as local destinations attempt to limit congestion and growth(tasting rooms). Whereas a current announcement from an industry conclave served notice that there's now a sell off of  "everything that is not a power brand", by beverage giant, Constellation Brands, a Fortune 500 company.  Meanwhile, for France, distinguished Champagne house Louis Roederer recently acquired pioneering Merry Edwards winery of Sonoma County, it was reported, as its seemingly national standards look to similar high profile foreign acquisitions.

Beaujolais Premier Crus, too

France today remains the reference, as it continues to lead not only super-premiums, but also the world of values; from a blush in the south, to defining Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire, or the 'Germanic' styling's of the Alsace.  These are wines of refreshed methods and anchored in steadfast traditions, wines that are passionately cultivated that remain a mirror of her important viticultural history. For contemporary wine lovers, France not only offers great and notable wines by which others are judged, it also offers the dominant variety of a standard of values.

Cheers!

'Laissez les bon temp rouler'

WineFind: Chateau Briot, AOC Bordeaux Blanc 2017, generous notes of citrus, white peach and honey for a song, and a great example of why Sauvignon Blanc is home in France.

WineLinks:
 http://www.winesofalsace.com/
 https://www.languedoc-wines.com/en
 http://loirevalleywine.com/

BRAMBLES: Drinking In the Changes

Unseasonably mild, the mustard cover arrives early. 

Drink. Drink it all in. Go ahead, and try something new.  But, importantly, drink what you want. The choices are as limitless as imagination because today wine consumers are seeing more small, exotic brands, more unique varietals, from more distant places than ever before.  Who knew that today you can search and find a nice bottle of the Italian red varietal Vespolina on our local retail shelves, or even secure an austere, small production award-winning New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from a web-universe on-line site?  Can't get to New York's Finger Lakes' AVA wine region this year?  Well, that coveted small production Cabernet Franc can be shipped from the producer direct to your door!

Recently released Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium data announced that DtC grew to a value of more than $3 billion in 2018(over 6,000 million cases!). Sure, prices have gone up, but that's still a number 6 times larger than 2011 when this blog started.  Just a few decades ago, California wine producers were limited to shipping consumer direct to just 13 reciprocal(tax) states(wineries would show a color-coded U.S. map, and then turn disappointed visitors away). To date, only five(5) states now prohibit direct-to-consumer wine shipments: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Utah.  Of course, that's not without increasingly complicated and burdensome bureaucratic regulations for the small wineries.  And, on the bright side, it has given birth to a new integrated industry: Compliance.

It has also given thousands of small producers an effective alternative to local on/off premise retailers, and those limited placements with out of state wholesale distributors. In the current Direct to Consumer Wine Shipping Report, almost half of 2018 shipments were from small producers(less than 1000 cases), and only about 1% were generated from large producers(over 500K cases, annually).  But, the increased opportunity to sell more wine effectively in more places to more wine loving customers comes increasingly at a cost.

Texas(a big market) is currently tightening regulations and required reportings' for wine shipments originating from out of state. Remote wine sellers with shipments into Iowa with revenues above a new threshold must now collect state and local taxes, and apply for permits; also its applicable to shippers with more than 200 state transactions. Also starting this month, North Carolina requires producers holding wholesale and direct-to-consumer permits to report more sales(and customers) frequently and now use a newly revised annual excise tax form.

Discover & celebrate along the Texaswinetrail

Locally, our Wine Institute reports above average yields of good quality fruit across our sunny California wine-grape growing regions in 2018. And Sonoma wineries and grape growers continue to make great strides in their target of responsible, environmental sustainability.  To date, almost 89% of vineyard acreage has been 3rd party certified. Demand for our wines remains steady across the domestic marketplace, in part due to increased consumer opportunity.  In 2018 Sonoma AVA wineries sold over $655 million thru Direct to Consumer channels, an increase of 21 per cent above the previous year. With about half of the DtC domestic volume originating in Napa AVA's, our Cabernet neighbors saw a comparative increase of only about 8 per cent over 2017.

Their average bottle price reached more than $36 above an average DtC Sonoma wine. According to Chet Klingensmith of Wines Vines Analytics, "Napa County seemingly priced itself out of the market(DtC) in 2018."  While we wait for those prices to correct, we can still find values abounding from throughout the diverse marketplace.  It may be that El Dorado AVA Zinfandel, or a newly discovered Loire Muscadet(white), or even an obscure Piemonte's Brachetto(red). All we have to do is search and inquire and take a chance to drink in the changes.


Salute!

WineLinks:

  https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomaspellechia/2019/01/26/10-of-u-s-wine-retail-sales-shipped-direct-to-consumers-in-2018/#52f01a9d2c44

  https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataId=208688

BRAMBLES: Holiday Surprise!

Baby, it's cold outside, but winter pruning awaits

 Lucky boy. Over the course of these current holidaze, there are always surprises in store for the domestic wine lover.  It could be that long lost friend found at a local party, with a chance to catch up on the time that was missing.  Or, that surprise gifted bottle, festively dressed, for which you find yourself unprepared to reciprocate at that particular moment.  And, it may also be that discovery of taste, something fantastic in your wine glass that you have never before had a chance to explore.  Indeed, this time of fellowship and good will, a time of seasonal joy and warming fires, may just offer the wine lover who has gathered with good natured friends an unexpected and eye-opening surprising wine holiday.

In the north of Italy, framed by the alpine foothills and the lakes Como & Garda, lies the ancient Lombardy vine region of Franciacorta DOCG. In spite of making wine here for thousands of years, this important region has a relatively young sparkling wine tradition of producing traditional method sparkling wines(second ferment in bottle, just like Champagne).  Only designated DOC for its wines in 1967, it became the first Italian region to regulate the laborious bubble process just back in 1995 when elevated to DOCG status.  Only regional chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot noir are permitted, and the minimum 18 month lees contact in bottle is greater than that required in the traditional sparklers of Champagne AOC.  This typically results in fine bubbles, and a yeasty, but refined, mouth-watering signature.

Like soldiers on a parade ground, the stemmed flutes were lined up as the cork escaped from the celebratory bottle of non-vintage Franciacorta.  In the golden glass, beads of tiny bubbles streamed to the top.  With anticipation, upon our first whiff of its bouquet it was apparent that this wine was faulted by TCA(trichloroanisole), a natural chlorine based compound that mutes the nose and mouthfeel, promoting a flat and musty character akin to damp newspapers or 'wet dog in a phone booth'. Despite its appearance, the 'corked' wine had lost its magic, and as a result, muted the hopeful celebration.  As such, it was again a reminder, a holiday surprise that we are always hopeful to avoid in such gleeful company.  Faults can occur when our excitement and our spirits are high.

Summer Chardonnay of Franciacorta

With shopping bags at your feet, sliding down the restaurants' wine list, one may dismiss selections that are more than twice the cost of any entree, until finding a familiar name.  So it was with an Anderson Valley AVA pinot noir selection from a quality boutique producer, Phillips Hill. Perhaps it was the warm hospitality found inside the old apple barn off Hwy. 128, or the distinctive, artsy labels, and certainly, the high standards of quality enjoyed across the winery's portfolio selections. But, it resonated a trust and anticipation that was rewarded when a 2016 vintage Boontling Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley is presented at table.

Shimmering garnet in the glass, its pronounced aromas fill the head with the scent of racked dark seasonal fruits.  On the palate, it was a broad, but refined range of cherries, red currants, and a hint of baking spice that evolved across the mid-palate to a deliciously lingering finish, all held together by its brisk acidity.  The wine represented all that's grand about this cool region; the diversity of its soils and micro-climates, it's high standards of expression from a blend of local pinot growers'.  Bites of the rabbit casserole at table sang harmoniously with the pairing, lifting spirits bright.  Oh, what fun it is to find in one's glass a delight that is so much more than just a beverage.  It's a warm memory, a whimsical escape, a dinner companion that's a joy to share, and, a delicious Holiday Surprise.

Salute! 

Wine-Links:
 https://www.franciacorta.net/en/wine/typologies/
 https://www.avwines.com/

BRAMBLES: As the Bottle Turns...

Personal bottle cellars can offer discovery at times.

Day after day of unhealthy air in the recent skies of wine country prompted locals to stay indoors, and probably had many investing in long put off house chores, like re-arranging furniture or finally going thru stacks of old wine magazines.  Such is not unlike 'cellar spelunking', where you can re-discover forgotten treasures and contemplate past vintages.  It was little more than a year ago when these same skies were again tainted with the weight of heavy smoke, when local wineries and growers paused to consider what they would do if everything was lost due to an invasion of nature's 'disasters'.  Yet, many of these industry veterans also may have reflected that in these cycles of nature, 'we've seen it all before', and will probably do so again.

Back in 2004 there were numerous headlines teasing of a packaging revolution with innovative units of polyethylene and aluminum, of screw-cap closures invading with the wave of Australian wines and of the demise of the un-reliable traditional cork stopper.  This packaging metamorphosis is today still displayed on our retail shelves.  It and can be found across the lower end and bulk products that anchor most retail displays.  But, it also still appears that the traditional cork bottle landscape has not changed all that much, as it continues to dominate the mid-to-upper tiers of wine merchandising.  By most assessments, cork producers have markedly improved their standards and reliability, and there are more unique glass bottle designs on display to attract consumers than ever before.  As the bottle turns...

A 2005 Wine Spectator news feature alerted consumers to the acquisition of one of the largest alcohol-beverage companies in the world by a rival who would now "quadruple" their wine volume. One of the newly acquired wine brands, Callaway, of Temecula AVA, was sold to a private investment group months later.  That earlier headline sat above an important notice of fraud allegations of mis-labeled wines by one of Italy's internationally prominent and Tuscany's most historic brands.  It seems that the fruit came from southern Italy.  Later that same year, a news capsule shared that French authorities will break with steadfast tradition, allowing the Malbec producers of the historic Cahors appellation to begin labeling their wines with a varietal designation(most AOC wines can only carry region/sub-region names). The varietal has become the consumer-loving flag-ship and the most-widely accessible wine from Argentina, where it was introduced in the mid-19th century.

Traditional packaging continues to change

Headlines in a worn 2002 Vineyards & Winery Management publication displayed the name(s)s of early local pioneer(s). Robert Pepi, the story goes, acquired Napa cabernet property in 1966 and re-planted a vineyard with cuttings he brought from Italy in 1983. As it turns out, he may have planted the first Sangiovese vineyard after Prohibition, and is recognized as a pioneer in a marketing movement(?) that is known as, 'Cal-Ital', or California grown indigenous Italian grape varieties. Following his retirement in 1994, Robert Pepi sold his property, his brand, to a much larger emerging wine company.  Almost immediately, the new owners enjoyed success with Willamette Valley(Or) Pinot Grigio, and a natural, crisp-style Chardonnay.  Today, the once-Pepi ranch is the home of an ultra premium wine estate, and the Cal-Ital excitement slowly fades. After more than 50 years, there's little exhilaration about California Sangiovese, yet, those good quality Italian imports remain a persistent, growing category.  And, consumers will have a very hard time finding the once notable Pepi-brand anywhere.

A more recent Wines & Vines issue headlines the continuing growth trend of mid-premium wines, and growing concerns over newly devised global trade disputes.  Those notable industry articles were found sandwiched between full color advertisements for attractive packaging, for shiny tanks and eye-catching labeling. Other media sources announced the formally requested urgent federal disaster relief assistance for crops lost to this years wildfires, just prior to the WHIP programs's December cancellation. And, there's even a Napa Valley AVA winery who is having a declarative product labeling problem with its Oregon sourced fruit.  How can it be an Oregon AVA declaration, if it is not produced there?

It's a time to celebrate...anything!

As the bottle turns, so does our wine industry.  There will always be another story, always something new that echos the past.  Looked at from a distance, with glass in hand, you can see a pattern, a cadence, or even a rhyme as this ag-industry passes one vintage on to the next. These are recurring farming stories, tales of dreamers and consumerism, its regulation and our protection.  In the end, the industry is consistently trying to offer reliably better, confidently innovative products that display a distinctive identity and are more readily available for consumers. It is then in this season of traditions that we should all raise a glass to the pioneers, those dedicated grape people, and to all of the wonderful things that bring us with increasing convenience and standards a good wine to enjoy.

For all the trends ahead,
Salute!

BRAMBLES: A New World

Even as Munich's annual bier party, Oktoberfest, is a groggy memory,  Austria's 'heurigen' tavern culture continues to invite visitors as long as there's local bulk wine to quickly ferment.  Locally, weeks of favorable sunny and mild conditions have produced by most accounts an 'average' harvest of good quality that is nearing its uneventful resolution.  Unless, that is, you factor increasing seasonal wildfires across the North Bay and the western U.S.  It is a period of change; a period that we now routinely measure.  Farming is certainly seasonal, with demand vs. supply in its landscape. Yet, for the wine industry, with all these environmental changes, grape by grape, it is a new world.

More quality and affordable wines are available to more consumers from more places than ever before. That is a fact. Like the 'heurigen' hospitality, we here have bulk wines(it's most of what our industry produces) in lots of places. We may never run out. And, we recently have had a long series of good harvests, combined with the strength of steady consumer demand. Plus, the bulk market is getting better fruit from more sustainable growing practices and quality vineyards than ever before.  So today, our 'vin ordinaire' is so now consistently good it may actually hurt the theory that domestic consumers will eventually move up the price ladder. Plus, domestic consumers are increasingly enjoying more quality imports at the sub-$12 than ever before, like French rose' and New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

Old World vineyard traditions remain after generations

Yesterday for today's wine industry is the foundation of tomorrow, where almost everyday there surfaces another important environmental alert.  Just in the past few weeks there have been quite a number of important notices that will continue to impact industry and consumer alike for years to come.  Importantly, at a recent Paris conference, International Energy Agency head, Faith Birol, told the audience that after 9 months of surveys our planet is on pace to break a record for increased levels of global carbon emissions!

Our 'average' harvest here(a new normal?) differs drastically from what is being reported elsewhere, as England this season produced it's biggest wine grape harvest, and perhaps their best pinot noir crop ever!  Beneficially, much of the isles sunny southeast is blessed with well-drained, high-calcium soils similar to those in Champagne, France.  Domestically, vineyard smoke taint is for us now such a prominent and persistent issue that UC Davis is currently testing its effects on all stages of wine grapes development, even as current fruit contracts from effected local growers are being cancelled by large wine-grape buyers.

And, there are domestic market reports that indicate we may soon have an oversupply of fruit for a sluggish marketplace, a popular segment where reserves of bulk wine are already quite heavy.  On the consumer-plus side, 'direct to consumer' shipments to out of state customers continues to expand, and was most recently upheld by a Michigan court.  Where there were once a handful of 'reciprocal' states for wine interstate commerce, at present consumers now have just a few states where such is prohibited.  Overall, it continues to be a strong decade of development, consolidation and growth for the U.S. wine industry, and that continues to benefit all consumers.

'Battle of Wine' festival in Haro, Rioja DOC

Among a world of values, a delightful surprise may be in store for consumers who search out the white wines of Rioja, Spain.  Originating from about as far away from the sea as you get in Spain, with the Pyrenees and Cantabrian ranges to the north, and a dry, continental climate, Rioja is traditionally dominated by red grapes, notably noble tempranillo. However, current improvements in the prominent region's viticulture and their vinification have allowed its white wines from viura(macabeau), malvasia and garnacha blanca(grenache blanc) grapes to now present clean, bright blends and single varietal wines vibrantly stainless fermented and without excessive aging. Consumers who search out wines like Cortijo's Rioja Blanco(100% viura) and Muga's Blanco(blend) will find zesty wines with inviting aromas and mouth-watering citrus and apple-skin notes that are food friendly at under $15. These are fine examples of what was once tradition now turned on its head to the favor of consumers in a New World.

Salute!

-Liquid Update Links:
 Brit Pinot: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/06/uk-record-red-wine-harvest-pinot-noir

 Ship: https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=204005

 Smoke: https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/wine-country-wildfires-leave-questions-for-vintners/

 Marketplace: http://www.ciatti.com/sites/default/files/california_report_october_2018_0.pdf

BRAMBLES: Nothing else Like It!

Vitis vinifera, a self-pollinating berry-fruit vine native to Europe and Asia Minor, with a domesticated history that goes back thousands of years, is once again in the Northern Hemisphere harvesting season news.  A venerable agri-industry, global wine is now on a grand international scale that continues to impact its growing consumer demands by testing those ever-changing market forces. From growers to producers to marketplace, today's wine meanders thru a complex, cosmopolitan web to get its products on the tables of thirsty consumers.

> With a reported widespread French vineyards return to a  'new normal', and a locally declared "vintage year" sitting on one side of our current harvest; opposing local Lake & Mendocino county grape farmers who are having their vineyard contracts now cancelled by large, regional wine producers(corporations) that now reside on the weighted other.  We are a market driven industry; 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times', to borrow drinking a phrase.

> In production and marketing: That mysterious cork-taint problem was never in the Old World's natural corks, however, it was found to be the human process that followed; and a passed U.S.Senate resolution(HR766) that says uniqueness is defined by our AVA's, created legislation that now acknowledges distinctiveness and its considerable value for America from our growing national wine industry.  Our first AVA was defined way back in 1980 to ostensibly position the nation's wines for an international market, to regulate production and to advocate for consumers. Who knew it would take almost 40 years(my drinking years) for its inherent value to be recognized?

Vineyards of Columbia Gorge AVA

If you stick your nose in a glass, you may find that wine smells truly like nothing else(even with muting cork-taint).  Fruit and spice, pronounced or composed, it's a note here and there, perhaps even framed by toasted wet wood, or lingering dried fruits.  Prominent aromatics tend to originate from the namesake wine grape, as it carries personality from the vineyard to the consumer glass.  It has collected the characteristics of place and varietal; and even its gender can be considered an 'inherited' quality.  In this social equality era, it may be wine-reasonable to ask: Is it feminine or masculine that consistently engage with us in that glass?

For me the sauvignon(savage), either white or red(masculine, having an effective untamed leverage) reflects strongly where & how it is grown.  Conversely, grenache(feminine, but fiesty) presents less assertive amicability, but always willing to join in. When compared to cabernet sauvignon, the companion merlot grape has historically been seen as the more feminine of the two: approachable early, its tones softer, rounder. Minor whites, verdicchio and muscadelle and melon de Bourgogne, and even richly perfumed and queenly chenin blanc, express feminine virtues for me; where noble riesling and pinot gris/grigio suggest qualities that let them sit with the boys.  It is, of course, a personal relationship. Yep, male and female do exist in the world of grapes, but because it is nature- evolved there can even be a neuter or two.  It is something that for each of us remains an intimate and unique experience to savor.

Bulgaria harvests

> Today's European Union has grown cooperatively to 28 member states, with wine-loving republics Bulgaria and Romania joining in 2007.  Once among the largest wine producing regions in the world, modernization supported by EU investment over the last decade has improved vineyard development, wine quality and has revitalized more than 6000 years of wine history across these Balkan States.  With growing production and exports, Old World regions here in the cradle of wine are now being globally promoted as 'symbols of quality wine' and 'modern wine destinations'.  What was once old is now new again.  In the composite, the ever-changing world news of wine, there is nothing else like it!

Salute!

Liquid Update Links;

 Normal: https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/french-wine-harvest-2018-outlook-398655/
 Vintage: https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/09/2018-vintage-in-sonoma-

 Corked: https://www.winebusiness.com/suppliernews/?go=getSupplierNewsArticle&dataid=203845
 Harvest: https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=203607
 Passage: https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=203849

 Old World: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/09/19/the-last-frontier-wines-of-bulgaria-   romania-and-moldova/#4ac3bdcf270f

Wine Links:
  http://www.bulgarianwine.net/blog/bulgaria-new-old-world-wine-making-country