BRAMBLES: A $ellar of Values

Most wines come from a handful of large beverage companies

Beginnings. January is for many of us a month of organize and purge; shuffle those receipts, and finally get around to putting away the summers wardrobe. It does not take much more time or experience or even information to also begin to collect wines to fill a value cellar that provides a very hedonistic joy for almost any wine lover. Today, more than ever before, value wines abound in our increasingly global marketplace, and more avenues exist to acquire them.  It is a great vino game that invites the intrepid wine consumer, a hunt for storable nectar.

Long standing consumer trends indicate that we are buying more wine than ever before, even as industry consolidation continues with distributors and retailers(convenient supermarkets sell a lot of low to mid-priced wine).  That means that the value oriented wine consumer does not have to search far or wide to begin to collect a selection of wines that will contribute to any meal or occasion.  Once you find a place to store your collection that is out of the sunlight and in a stable environment(a ground-floor closet or dark basement corner), the game is on.

Building a cellar starts with one or two bottles

Fact is, the more we know about wines, ie. characteristics of grape varieties, details on their wine labels, etc., the easier it becomes to find a value that will benefit from a little bottle development. Does your meal need a zippy white wine to take a mild dish or appetizer over the top?  What a joy then to retrieve from your cellar an Argentine Torrantes, or a Spanish Verdejo, or a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Should that red sauced pasta need accompaniment, then pull a bottle of Sierra Foothills AVA Zinfandel, or a Rosso Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Sangiovese from Italy's southeastern hills to provide dimension not present in the dish alone.  For the consumer, these selections and many others continue to represent not only value, but also a nectar that can change our perceptions about collecting wines.  You see, all wines benefit from some further development, not unlike the way children benefit from our patient nurturing.

Even in winter, we look towards new beginnings

Not all wines are created equal, as well.  Most of the wines available conveniently to consumers are products of large industrial corporations, where uniformity in manufacturing and bottom line oriented production costs guide their development.  You see, most wines produced in the U.S.(by volume) are intended for immediate consumption, because that's the way most domestic consumers' consume.  So the game of collecting becomes a little more challenging when we seek out wines that can really benefit from time in the bottle. Those mandatory front labels only represent part of their commercial story however.  Typically, by turning the bottle around consumers can find notable details that assist their selection, such as the important name of the importer or the distributor.  A back label can offer you suggested food pairings, the composition of the bottle or the unique history of the winery, and that can help consumers make a better informed selection for the cellar.

For the informed, clues can include a good vintage year for the producers region or a long-standing reputation for quality and value(Ch.Ste. Michelle or Ge'rard Bertrand); wines bottled by the producer or the domaine, or even a reliable importer(Winebow, Kermit Lynch) can also be informing. Increasingly, finding a reliable on-line flash site offering selections you routinely like can be of benefit to device-savvy collectors.  At on-premise retail, those impulse wine buys can encourage us with promotional pricing or a prominent shelf-talker that trumpets its accolades.  And, it all starts with one bottle that you don't intend to consume right away.  Heck, by two.  Before you know it, you are in the game, your stored wine collection is filling with a broad selection of values for almost any meal or occasion.  You will have a quality wine to bring to a friends' dinner party or to share with that special someone. And that, value wine collectors, can be just the beginning.

Salute'

WineLinks:
 http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-31/features/sc-food-0131-wine-back-label-20140201_1_wines-artadi-rioja
 https://www.ste-michelle.com/
 http://www.gerard-bertrand.com/en
 https://www.kermitlynch.com/

BRAMBLES: Simply Summer Quenching

It's warm outside and these bright days are long.  Summer has arrived to the vineyard, and in its heat you can almost see the vines grow, the berries develop every day.  I've noticed that my beer consumption increases these days, mostly because it is refreshing to have something cool in a chilled bottle.  It quenches a thirst, it hydrates, and it goes with the foods that we enjoy eating outdoors.  Grillin' and chillin' are for many of us the way to get thru these long, lazy days.

Inspiring, insightful contributing wine editor, Matt Kramer, noted in a recent Wine Spectator issue that the wines of summer typically are for our simple drinking pleasure.  It certainly helps if they are chilled, and perhaps even if they are uncomplicated.  For me it is the season of Rose' from the Mediterranean and cru Beaujolais, these are the months of aromatic Torrantes and lusciously tart Albarinos, as well as chillingly dry Rieslings from Alsace and the Rhine.  They sit in the cooler, quite patiently, next to the bottles of beer.

Rhone vineyard with gallet(stones)

In recent years, Rose' wines have begun to shed their consumer image of being too sweet, or too feminine. Supporting this wave, contemporary marketing strategies continue to billow the sales, with programs such as the successful  'Real Men Drink Pink'.   Consistent market indicators showing sustained volume growth across all sales categories, reflects pink wines to be on the coat tails of this very positive trend which is aided by new packaging, such as the improved wine box or pouches. With sunny Spain and the Mediterranean producers leading the Rose' way, there are many great pink values, such as Falesco's Vitiano Rosato from Umbria. And most of them are aromatic, vibrant and refreshingly dry.

Domestic producers, too, are catching the Rose' wave.  Many of these bottles efficiently give producers another wine product from the same fruit source as their more costly premium label. In practice, you can produce a Grenache and a Grenache-rose' all grown in the same vineyard. I have found the James Family Cellars Rose' of Pinot Noir, as well as the Robert Hall Rose de Robles to be consistent, excellent values, filled with bright red fruits and dancing with acidity.

These, and many more, make simple summer sipping easy.  They pair cheerfully with many of our favorite summer foods and many of these bottlings have easy to access screw-caps.  Plus, if your cooler is tall enough, they fit nicely chilled right next to those bottles of beer.

For me, a ball game on the radio, a fresh taco in my hand, and a glass of Rose' nearby easily echo the best of the summer.  Cheers!

ARGENTINA: More than Malbec & Tangos?

Malbec World Day, the inaugural,  was one month ago on April 17, with its focus being to introduce the Argentine Bordeaux grape variety to a wider audience. Celebrated all over the world, this wine showcase was truly an international event, with a focused media blitz and organized tastings from India to Washington DC. Argentina today benefits from a stable government and rebounding economy, investments in modern equipment, a wave of global wine consultants and has even adopted an eye for international marketing.  The result is that today's Argentine Malbec is of higher quality and more widely available than ever before in our marketplace. In 2010, Argentina overtook Chile, becoming the fourth largest wine importer into the US, with wine exports exceeding $220 million. Remarkable across-the-board quality growth, as well as production, has resulted in an increase of almost 10% in export wine volume, and an estimated $17% in value over 2009!

This development was no accident. Beginning in 2000, and without government support, Argentine winemakers launched a global strategy to increase market share, Vision 2020. In 2002 Argentine wines were exported to 81 countries, and by 2008, those markets had grown to120! With its dated vines averaging more than a few decades old, grown on their own rootstock in irrigated vineyards averaging more than 3000 ft. in elevation, in a dry continental climate, where flowering is limited by the 'zonda'(a fierce seasonal wind blowing out of the northwest), Argentina would seem to be limited in the ability to change. Additionally, domestic and international markets here have different tastes in wines, so big producers often produce two different lines of their brand. While total vineyard area has grown nationally, low quality wines acreage from white grapes, like Pedro Gimenez, or the high yield, bulk wine producing black grape, Criolla Grande(Mission grape) are on the decrease. Yet, the widely planted workhorse, fruity Bonarda, remains significant in its plantings. Across its grape growing regions low-yielding 'international' varieties are today on the increase.

Salta Torrontes

Of Argentina's seven grape growing regions, the expansive, dry Mendoza region in the rain shadow of the Andes, is an inviting home for the Malbec grape variety which is susceptible to rot and mildew. Native to southwestern France's Loire and Lot River valleys, Argentina has today more fruity Malbec planted than anywhere else on the planet. U.S. consumers here can find consistently good values and quality from Malbec producers like Tikal's Altos de Mendoza, or Hacienda del Plata, or Trapiche, and American winemaker, Paul Hobbs', Vina Cobos. Even American giant E & J Gallo distributes the prestigious Bodega Catena Zapata, which is annually one of the top restaurant import brands in the U.S.

 
Outside of dominant Mendoza, the northern regions of La Rioja and San Juan are this nation's largest wine producers. Balanced between domestic and export production, Malbec may soon have an Argentine partner in the global marketplace. With more than 230,000 cases exported to the US in 2009, according to Wines of Argentina, Torrontes, a high acid and fragrantly citrus-floral white variety from mountainous Salta region in the north, and the Catamarca Valleys, may be the next big thing. Regional sub-varieties may hinder its identity in the export markets, but it is refreshingly worth seeking out. Try Salta's Catena Almos, and Crios de Susana Balbo, or Mendoza's Norton Lo Tengo. Chardonnay acreage has grown too, it being a base for the country's sparkling wine production, planted mostly in the cooler regions of the Mendoza and the Rio Negro to the south.

Could Mendoza Pinot Noir be next? Trapiche makes a good one.  Or perhaps the next wave of wines from Argentina will be spearheaded by the fruity, light-bodied Bonarda(Charbono), or even the combination of native and international red varietal blends! With a de-valued currency against the US Dollar, Argentina, one of the world's largest producers, can certainly continue to provide oceans of value-driven wines. Whatever the outcome, like the tango, I am sure that it will be enjoyable for wine drinkers to watch!

Salud!