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: Chances Are...

Raise a glass with friends and try something new

Chances are that during that holiday party you will see old, familiar friends and a few new faces, too.  And then, there are all the folks you will greet.  There will be wines that you have enjoyed before, and perhaps a few that you know to avoid....just like those other holiday celebrants. But among the surprising collection of holiday treats there will be probably a few wines that are unfamiliar, creations that you have no prior experience with.  In that celebratory environ we have a great opportunity to introduce ourselves to something new that can change our world of wine perceptions, and as a result expand the choices we identify in the marketplace or the printed terror that is a restaurant wine list.  No formal introduction should be necessary.

'Chances are 'cause I wear a silly grin the moment you come into view; chances are you think I'm in love with you.'

Riesling pairs well with Asian inspired appetizers

Chances are when joining good company this holiday season, we will be in good cheer and ready to raise a glass or two. So what is expected in that glass?  Is the choice by color or a familiar varietal?  Or perhaps we choose something comfortable and familiar. There was a time when such gatherings brought together 'anything but chardonnay' sippers, and 'only cabernet' dandies.  Today as the global market expands, new choices await, like Chile's Carménère,  or a delicious Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley of France, where the appellations of Bourgueil or Chinon will reward the curious searcher.

Chances are there will be bubbles, always bubbles.  Proseccos of northeastern Italy and cavas of Catalonia continue to present high standards of quality and value to celebrating consumers, and this holiday season is no exception. White wines too present choices beyond chardonnay(which can be in your cava), offering tastes of world travelers like Pinot Gris/Grigio or dry Riesling from Australia with a chance to join a party.  Again, the Loire Valley's Chenin Blanc from Vouvray or Savennie'res can be a delightful revelation in a glass. Chances are you may ask for two, even as you started as just one.

Chances are that as we escape our vino comfort zone, we'll find a new love.  Increasingly, the result may help the casual wine lover discover to what it is that they really like about wine varietals from unfamiliar places, and as a result, more about their personal wine preferences. Go ahead, take a chance. Chances are you'll find something good.

A world of wine awaits exploration

Predictions: Red blends will continue to be popular.  Consumers should continue a trend of 'trading up', even as the comfortable $10 threshold remains strong.  Chances are market growth will continue for those $20+ bottles where brands increasingly become important. International values should remain strong, as wines of emerging countries, like Bulgaria(world's second biggest wine producer in the 1980's) or Uruguay's high-tannin Tannat grape, find new markets. On-line retail will continue to grow with sail wind from Amazon(which consumers should notice), and there will be continued consolidation within the heavy weights of the industry(consumers should not notice).  As varietal and country of origin selections expand, consumers should find innovative packaging choices continue to grow green. Sustainability in any relationship is after-all what it is all about.

'Well, chances are your chances are awfully good!
Lyrics: Al Stillman c.1957

A Happy and Healthy New Year to All!  Cheers!!

Wine Links:
http://www.bulgarianwine.net/
http://www.winesofuruguay.com/

TASTINGS: Summer Values Found

Lazy, hazy, crazy daze envelops summer. These are long days, when it seems hard to get going early and surprisingly difficult to say a warm 'good nite'. In between we dine al fresco more often, have lighter meals and seem to make more plans to enjoy the out of doors.  This then was a prefect time to join our tasting group recently as we sat down and explored great international wine values for our warmer weather.

Kono, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2013; widely available(ours via Trader Joe's) offers a bright Kiwi style with screwcap, and it's all there: hints of lemon grass, gooseberry, wet grass, a whisper of stone fruit, lime peel and tart, bracing acidity. It lingers on the palate, offering a wet but tart and refreshing finish. Bring on the cerviche'.

Domaine du Dragon, Côtes de Provence Rose', 2013; an offering of all the usual Mediterranean suspects: Cinsault, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache grapes. Here is a delicious, light, pale salmon hue offering a nose of white strawberry, white cherry, rosewater notes, the brightness with good acidity and a little tannin crosses the palate to grab the upper lip, but leaves you thirsty for more. Here there are lingering flavors of white strawberries, Rainer cherries and rosehip that refreshes while offering a good pairing for many of our picnic items.
Commanderie de la Bargemone, Coteaux D'Aix En Provence Rose' 2013; a similar mix of sourced fruit, but one whiff and it becomes a rose' of distinction with its fresh nose of perfumed summer fruits and wet flowers. Its pale salmon hue is a clue to delicious white cherry and floral notes that are round in the mouth and linger for what seems to be an extraordinary amount of time to savor this fine summer wine.

Spainish Monastrell(Mourvedre)

 Yaso, Toro, Castilla y Leon, 2012, Tempranillo offers an opaque plue hue, and a nose of generous black fruits, licorice and pepper spice. On the palate there's notes of boysenberry, black plum, prune, tea, cola and earth spice. Complex enough to be very interesting and quite pleasant with its moderate length on the palate.  Pair this luscious import with some grillin' to do some chillin' with this found Spanish selection.

All of these selections are widely distributed and will set you back less than one(1) Jack$on. In fact, they are in the sub-15 range, and that makes them an easy addition to a lazy picnic blanket or a sizzlin' barbeque table. Summer seems to take things less seriously, as we sit back sippin' and listen' to our favorite baseball painting vocal pictures in the background.  We gather with friends and family to savor and to share.  Along the way, we have a great opportunity to delight in the find of summer values found.

Cheers!

ps. If you would like to see more of our seasonal wine reviews please send a comment.

AUSTRALIA: Adversity Drives Innovation to the Edge

In a crowded marketplace, standing apart is a challenge, but that is exactly what wines from Australia have been able to do.

Margaret River, Western Australia

An isolated and expansive island nation, it is one of the oldest and driest places on the planet. Its soils are leached and saline, and water management has evolved here as an art and a science.  Recently, a seven year drought across nations most important agricultural region, the Murray-Darling basin, was followed by the wildfires of 2009, only to be followed by record floods in the states of Queensland and Victoria that produced outbreaks of widespread vineyard disease. The global economic recession has hit hard in Australia, and wine grape prices have hit record lows, supported by an oversupply of grapes. In recent months, a growing number of smaller Australian wineries in the Southeast have given up and just walked off their land. As the vast majority of the wines Down Under are produced by a handful of large beverage corporations, earlier this year behemoth Constellations Brands sold its Australian portfolio for an estimated $800 million loss!

Even as the Australian wine industry battles to overcome these significant challenges, consumers continue to hear descriptors like 'new' and 'innovative', or 'generous' and 'easy going' to portray its wines.  I know that under the umbrella of their Guarantee of Quality there are the Geographical Indication(GI) designations, similar to the EU appellation system.  And, that the Australians are responsible for quality wines in a box packaging, as well as wines sealed by freshness guarantee screw caps. With a domestic per-capita wine consumption rate considerably higher than ours, the Australians still manage to export the vast majority of what they annually produce. For more than a decade, their successful Strategy 2025, has focused on growing Australia into a targeted $4.5 billion preeminent global wine export leader by volume and quality. But what else could they do to overcome these recent industry challenges?

Australia continues to lead the world in wine science, and also produces iconic wines that are among the best in the world. They have also ingrained standards of value wines into our conscience, like Jacob's Creek or so-called 'critter wines'.  But perhaps the most meaningful and important effort today is comprehensively displayed on the WineAustralia web site. Australia is hitting on all cylinders as they currently employ a disciplined strategy to raise awareness of their fine, widely available products. Marketing to improve image, to increase agreeable price points, and introduce a wider range of wines to global consumers, Wine-Australia, has launched a brand message with an implied assurance at every price-point of consistently better quality. This focused effort includes these framework 'personalities':

• Brand Champions offer a strong premium brand message, supported by quantity and accessibility (i.e. Jacob's Creek).

• Generation Next wines are socially innovative products in packaging or marketing(i.e. Clare Valley screw-cap initiative). Note: see blog entry 02/09/11 Quality Innovations Down Under.

• Regional Heros, are wines from somewhere, with an association between region/style/variety(i.e. Shaw & Smith Adelaide Hills).

• Landmark Wines initiative recognizes leading high-profile wines of inherent quality and world wide reputation(i.e. Penfolds Grange).

There are wine producing countries that still today move all too slowly from their Old World stature or dated  hierarchy.  And then from Margaret River in the west to Tasmania, there is Australia.  In the lead in so many facets of today's wine industry, Australia has once again shown that adversity can be a positive drive towards innovation in the world of quality wine.

Among the recently announced Decanter World Wine Awards 2011 Regional Trophies were the following Australian quality wine values:

• McWilliams Mount Pleasant Cellar Release Elizabeth Semillon 2006 Hunter Valley

• Tesco Finest Tingleup Vineyard Riesling 2010 Margaret River

• Bird in Hand, Two in  the Bush Shiraz, Mt. Lofty Ranges 2009 Adelaide Hills

• Catching Thieves Cabernet Merlot, Margaret River 2010 Western Australia

A toast to all that Australia brings to global wine lovers."Cheers, Big Ears; Same Goes, Big Nose!

Cheers!

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND: Quality Innovations Down Under

A current article here asked us to think inside the box, the wine box that is. Innovations in traditional wine packaging may have been born in the mid-1960's in South Australia's bulk wine Riverland region, where it is said that wine in a box was first created. In the decades since, eco-friendly Bota Box and Tetra Pak containers in various sizes have followed and have spread across the widely accepting wine consuming world.

By most accounts, screwcaps as wine closures grew out of the State of South Australia's Clare Valley in 2000 for its vibrant Riesling wines. Subsequently, Australia's Wine Research Institute proved screwcaps to be a superior wine seal. Global wine producers in the years that followed have adopted screwcap closures in dramatic fashion, touting its advantages of eradicating cork taint, offering convenience and 'consistency' in a wines qualities.

A thousand miles to the east, the New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative, now just barely 10 years old, currently enjoys the success achieved by 90% of all NZ wines using this innovative closure. But that is not all.  Born in the mid-90's, the New Zealand Winegrowers recently announced that an impressive 94% of their members were following the nation's regulated principals of Sustainable Viticulture.  This revolution in farming is growing a commercial success too, as acreage has increased here more than three fold, and the average price earned per ton has grown for New Zealand viticulturalists by over 40% in the last decade.

Down Under, Australia's Wine Innovation Cluster, together with the University of Adelaine, and collaborative efforts with other wine industry members, continues to advance Sustainable Viticulture here too, while developing sound wine science and visionary global marketing. At the turn of the 21st century, Australia's wine industry launched Strategy 2025, aiming to be the worlds most influential and profitable wine industry by extending their global market-share.  Many of their goals have already been achieved.

New Zealand, too, has great global market impact with their benchmark Kiwi Sauvignon Blancs. After Chardonnay  and Pinot Noir,  Syrah is to now set become New Zealand's, "most important grape variety", according to giant Brancott Estates winemaker Patrick Materman, at the recent  NZ Annual Trade Tasting at Lord's, where 18 award winning Syrah's were on shown.From Northland on the North Island, to Central Otago on the South Island, New Zealand's ten (10)wine growing regions, which are scattered mostly on the eastern edges, continue to produce quality and value.  North to South, these superior efforts can be found in the following:
Auckland - 2007 Kumeu River Chardonnay
Hawks Bay - 2008 Sileni Estates Cellar Selection Pinot Noir
Martinborough - 2008 Stonecrop Pinot Noir
Martinborough - 2008 Escarpment Over the Edge Pinot Noir
Marlborough - 2009 Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc 
Central Otago -  2008 Gunn Estates Pinot Noir
Canterbury - 2008 Pegasus Bay Riesling Bel Canto


Across the 3000 mile southern arc of an old continent, 1200 miles to the west of New Zealand,  there are 60 Australia designated wine regions. Examples of their valued efforts are reflected in:
New South Wales - 2006 Tempus Two Pinot Gris
Mudgee - 2007 Robert Oatley Chardonnay
South East Australia 2007 Jacob's Creek Reserve Chardonnay
Margaret River - 2007 Art Series Riesling

And, not one of these bottled wines costs more than $20! With quality wine innovations continuing to be cultivated in Australia and New Zealand, consumers can only benefit by thinking inside the box. Cheers!