St. Innocent Winery

I attended a wine tasting this past Wednesday at Journeys Restaurant in Alaqua. The wines being tasted were the current releases from St. Innocent Winery in Salem, Oregon. Pouring the wines and providing running commentary and background on the wines and the wine region was the proprietor/winemaker – Mr. Mark Vlossak. Mr. Vlossak brought with him the wines currently available in the state of Florida, but by no means the entire portfolio. The wines included a single vineyard Vitae Springs Pinot Gris, as well as four (4) vineyard designated Pinot Noirs (from Zenith Vineyard, Temperance Hill Vineyard, Justice Vineyard, and Momtazi Vineyard) and one blended Pinot Noir, the Winemaker’s cuvee.

Mark hails from Wisconsin, and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His original degree was in scenic design, but after a few years returned to school and received medical training that eventually was parlayed into an 18-year career as a Physician Assistant (PA) in Pediatrics. It was during his medical internship that he first travelled to Oregon, and he was hooked.

Mr. Vlossak had grown up in a home where wine was prevalent (his father imported wine) and he eventually decided that he wanted to make wine himself. He experimented for a few years, took classes at the University of California, Davis, interned with winemakers in both the Willamette Valley in Oregon and the Napa Valley in California and, in 1988 (with the help of investors), founded St. Innocent Winery (the winery is named in honor of his father, who was born on All Innocents Day and whose middle name is “Innocent”).He produced about 600 cases of wine his first vintage – production has grown 10-fold since then. Mark balanced his work in medicine and the wine making for several years (including making wine for both Panther Creek Cellars and St. Innocent for a period of 5 or 6 years during the mid to late 1990s.) Mark retired from the medical field in 1998 to concentrate on the wine.

Mark’s philosophy on his wines is that the wine should be an extension of the meal and should complement the food. His wines tend to have higher acidity levels and he strives to create wines that are balanced. His Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc wines tend towards the Alsatian style, with more textural weight, less overt sweetness of fruit, and sufficient acidity to accompany rich food. His Pinot Noirs tend to be Burgundian in style, and are meant to express their place of origin and the vintage. He exhibited this concept with consecutive tastings of three wines, the fruit for which are all grown within a mile of each other, but under different slope and soil conditions.

At the lowest slope position is the Zenith Vineyard which is planted on well-drained loamy soils. The wine exhibits red and black fruit flavors and a green peppercorn spiciness. The Temperance Hill Pinot Noir comes from the highest elevation of the three where the vines grow on weathered basalt (a volcanic soil) and there is concern annually for the grapes to reach full ripeness. The wine exhibits a floral character to the nose, with lilac, lavender, and cherry being the aromas I heard people mention most. The flavors tend toward black cherry, black raspberry, and perhaps a hint of anise on the finish. The Justice Vineyard Pinot Noir is located on the mid-slope and the vines grow on a thin layer of basalt. This is the “sweet spot” – the arguably perfect spot along the slope for Pinot Noir. Where the Zenith exhibited fruit and the Temperance Hill showed floral, the Justice is all about spice. Aromas included clove, allspice, ginger, and cinnamon, all complementing the wild strawberry and black cherry fruit. The finish on this wine went on seemingly forever.

The Winemaker’s Cuvee was an experiment in winemaking suggested by wine critic Pierre-Antoine Rovani. Grapes from two disparate vineyards were selected and co-fermented with the goal being an expression of Mr. Vlossak’s winemaking style rather than the expression of the vineyard as with his other wines. The resulting wine is both floral and fruit driven, with an underlying hint of earth or mushroom, and a crisp acidity that compels you to take another sip. Mark says his wife describes the wine as “hedonistic,” and I think that is an apt descriptor.

While not represented at the tasting, Mr. Vlossak also makes vineyard designate Chardonnays. The style is similar to white Burgundy with an emphasis on balanced ripeness, complexity, texture, and acidity. The Chardonnay is fermented entirely in used barrels. The lees are stirred weekly for 3-4 months and the wines are left on their lees for one year. Think Chablis meets Maconais.

The referenced St. Innocent Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris are currently available in the Orlando market, and the Chardonnays are anticipated to be arriving within the next 6 months.

Jetport Food and Wine Festival

This event, slated for Friday, April 16, between the hours of 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm, will showcase the transformation of a private jet hangar at the Kissimmee airport into a South-Beach-inspired nightclub featuring music, fine wines, cocktails, champagne, and world-class cuisine from Bocuse d'Or, Les Chefs de France, top celebrity chefs, and local restaurants.

The event, held in conjunction with the Celebration Exotic Car Festival 2010, is priced at $125 per person and registration is online-only between 4/1 and 4/12.  Please visit the Festival website for more information.

Husic Vineyards

The guest of honor at the most recent Wineontheway.com Board Meeting was Frank Husic, owner of Husic Vineyards. Frank was in town as part of a Florida-wide jaunt to promote his wines. I sat next to Frank at the dinner and gained the following insights into his winery and products.

Frank had always had a dream of owning a vineyard so when the opportunity presented itself he bought Napa land "at the very top of the market." The land that he bought was, according to Frank, very well suited to the production of quality grapes because it was on a 40-degree hillside slope (shortly after the purchase, the county passed an ordinance prohibiting the growing of grapes on hillsides with slopes in excess of 30 degrees), it was next to Stags Leap Wine Cellar Fay Vineyard, and, finally, the land had never been used for agricultural purposes (according to Frank, all deposits and no withdrawals).

The Husic 9-acre property is divided into three plots designated as Julie's Knoll, FJs Terrace, and Paris's Terrace (Julie is Frank's wife and FJ and Paris are their kids.). The soil is of a heavy volcanic type and the micro climate consists of hot days with an afternoon cooling breeze coming in from Suisun Bay.

The Husic vision is the production of wines with a French feel: Burgundy for the white and Bordeaux for the reds. Winemaker Celia Masyczek (of Scarecrow and Corra (her own label) fame) is responsible for implementing this vision. The current portfolio consists of two Cabernet Sauvignons and the Chardonnay. Grapes for the Chardonnay are sourced from the Robert Young vineyard on Pritchard Hill.

The flagship wine is the Husic Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vintage of the Husic Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon was 2001. The wine was entered into a Cult Cab tasting competition (which included the likes of Screaming Eagle) and came in second. Parker rated the initial vintage a 95 and it sold out pretty quickly. The '02 - '04 vintages received similar scores and similarly favorable receptions in the marketplace. Now, according to Frank, the market has cratered and "he has a lot of '05 and '06 on his hands."

The 2006 vintage (1060 cases) is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot aged in 90% new French oak. This wine presented well with strong hints of chocolate, berries, cedar and sandalwood. This wine retails for about $110. The second label is called Palm Terrace and is made from the wine remaining after the flagship blend has been completed. This wine retails for about $40.

Frank is very proud of his wines and felt that they stood up admirably to the wines at the Board Meeting, wines which included Sine Qua Non, Corra, and Shafer Hillside Select. I had been introduced to the Husic Cab by Adam while we were having dinner at Luma one night and I liked it so much that I immediately ordered some bottles for my cellar. Being an ABAC (anything but American Chardonnay) guy, I was very impressed with the Chardonnay. The only American Chardonnays that I drink (for what its worth) are Ramey's Hyde Vineyard and Dumol (from either vineyard) and the Husic is in the ballpark. For my taste, it needs a little more acidity and a little less burn but it has a definite Burgundian feel.

"A World of Wine in a Single Spanish Valley"

The above is the title of a Rioja Professional Seminar that will be held at the Disney Dining Room of UCFs Rosen School of Hospitality Management on Tuesday, April 20, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.  The seminar will be led by wine educator/sommelier Adrian Murcia.  Participants will "taste a broad range of wines from DOCa Rioja and discover how subtle variations in microclimate, soil type,and winemaking philosophy have over time transformed Spain’s Upper Ebro Valley into something of a wine kingdom unto itself: the land of a thousand wines."

Adrian Murcia writes and teaches regularly about wine and cheese. After seven years at New York City’s Chanterelle Restaurant, where he was fromager and assistant sommelier, he recently founded Brooklyn Fermented, a roving academy offering classes on wine, cheese, and beer to a new generation of Brooklyn gastronomes. Mr. Murcia has written for Santé, Saveur, and Wine & Spirits; he is the author of the wine blog “Blame it on Rioja” and co-author of the educational DVD/webcast, “Rioja: Tradition and Innovation at the Frontiers of Flavor”, produced by the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. He holds a Level II (Certified Sommelier) Certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers.

To RSVP for this event send an email to Rioja.usa@gmail.com or call 917.572.0453.

Cavanaugh's Fine Wines: "Management Under New Temperament"

Local Orlando convention holds that Cavanaugh's Fine Wines, located at 1215 Edgewater Drive in Orlando, is not really a wine store.  Rather, so the story goes, it is really the personal wine cellar of Jay Smith, the store's proprietor and, in the telling, the story teller will regale you with tales of Jay ejecting customers from the store for having the temerity to attempt to buy one of his wines.  I recently sat down with Jay to get his perspective on wine retailing and his operating philosophy within that space.

The idea of a wine store began for Jay when he was visiting friends in Mexico City and they encouraged him to open a wine store.  It was not clear why they thought that "he" should do so because he had had no previous direct experience in this area.  With this directive from his "friends," Jay began looking for a location suitable for a wine retail store and found the space next to his current location.  He signed a lease for $500 a month and hired a contractor to do the relevant remodeling.  The store opened for business with a retail license in November 1998.  The retail license was upgraded to an on-premise license shortly after the opening.  With the on-premise license, Cavanaugh's began to provide food items in addition to the wines, much to the chagrin of full-service restaurants in the immediate area.  The store was in operation for three years before relocating to the current space.

When asked about the philosophy behind his wine purchases, Jay indicated that he had an appreciation for the art of making wine.  A wine should, he said, reflect the passion of the people who make it.  He sees today's wines as being commodities and lacking in soul.  He wants to sell artisan wines rather than corporations.  As he learned about the wine market, he came to the conclusion that distributors wanted to sell you what nobody else wanted and then they might give you a little of what you really want (Jay had no problem with implementing this practice in his dealing with customers -- who he called "cherry pickers" --  if they only bought the wines that they wanted.).  With the exception of Premier, he only buys from small distributors because he can have an impact on them.

He is perceived as an expensive store when, in fact, he sells expensive wines.  He carries a broad range of wines, equally weighted between French and Italians.  He is becoming more excited about the Italian wines because they are providing more esoteric drinking pleasure at lower price, have great complexity, and are excellent food wines.  All of the southern French wines are great and he tries to find find $30 and under values in this area.  He sees the California producers as rebottling and selling their juice under second labels and adding a little Syrah to mask the fact that you are drinking their high-end wine.

A number of marketplace factors have provided challenges for Cavanaugh's and have led to a re-evaluation of the way that Jay does business.  First, in the current economic climate, the "high rollers" are not buying wine anymore.  Second, competition has increased significantly.  When Cavanaugh's opened originally, the competition was Dexter's, Park Avenue Wine and Cheese, and ABC.  Since that time, the market has had to accommodate Costco, Wine Styles, Cork and Olive, and a number of independent stores.  Third, there has been a shift to lower-priced wines.  Fourth, with the dynamics of a bad economy, people are not spending as much as they used to.

For Jay, the market downturn began in May 2007 when his revenue dropped by 40%, a decline that has not been reversed to date.  With his low volume of foot traffic (Jay does not keep a customer mailing list nor does he do any type of advertising) Cavanaugh's cannot sell low-priced wines and expect to be successful.  He has implemented a number of initiatives in an attempt to revitalize revenue.  He has introduced craft beer, is opening until 10:00 pm (he used to shut the door at 6:00 pm whether you were ready or not), and is providing live music.

A lot of the problems that Jay has had with customers in the past revolved around his business model. He operated the enterprise more as a broker trading for his own account rather than as a wine retailer. He bought wines and, rather than selling them immediately, "put it in the back room and forgot about it." After a number of years, and market appreciation of the held wine, the wine would be made available for sale. Any customer who tried to buy a wine "before its time" incurred Jay's wrath.


Jay wants more foot traffic to his establishment.  All is forgiven.  He promises that his curmudgeonly ways are a thing of the past.  Dr. Jeff, he will no longer accuse you of cherry picking his wines.  To all  patrons who have been asked to leave the store, he has had a change of heart.  You are now welcome.

A Wine Journey: 1987 Mondavi Reserve

The Wine Journey is a quest to taste all of the wines identified as wines of the decade (http://andrewmcnamara.blogspot.com/2009/12/wines-of-decade.html) by Master Sommelier  Andrew McNamara.  I opted for the 1987 Mondavi Reserve as the next wine in the series.

Robert Mondavi Winery, located in the heart of Napa Valley, was founded in 1966 by Robert G. Mondavi to "... create wines in California that belong in the company of the world's finest."  Ably led by Robert G. Mondavi, a worldwide missionary for California wines while he was alive, the winery played a key role in the development of today's US wine business.

Most of the fruit for the Mondavi Reserve is sourced from the 550-acre To-Kalon vineyard which is located in the benchland region of the Oakville AVA.  The location of the AVA (edge of the Mayacamas Mountains), its micro climate (appropriate amount of morning fog followed by day long sun), and its soil profile (bale clay loam alluvial soils) all contribute to the growth of complex, world-class Cabernet Sauvignon grapes which, in turn, power many of Napa Valley's high-profile reds.

The 1987 Napa Valley Growing season was almost perfect.  It was characterized by very mild early spring weather with the mildness extending through the summer.  The extended growing season allowed for slow and even fruit ripening, resulting in good acid levels and a desirous concentration of fruit characteristics.

Now to the wine.  I did not have a bottle of this vintage in my cellar so I purchased a bottle online from Sokolin.  The wine arrived two days after purchase and was pristine in appearance, attesting to, I hoped, good provenance.  I was scheduled to meet Adam Chilvers (wineontheway.com) for lunch at Houston's (a Winter Park restaurant) so I decided to take the bottle along for the ride.

When I arrived at the restaurant Adam was in the company of a Chateau St. Michelle winery representative and Heather Shapiro of Southern Wine and Spirits and they were tasting samples.  The Chateau ST. Michelle rep left prior to the beginning of our tasting session.  Adam's  1996 Leoville Las Cases (brought for the occasion) needed more time in the decanter so we turned to the Mondavi Reserve.  It was opened and decanted at 2:25 pm and the cork came out fully and evenly.  There was some residue on the base of the cork and moisture stains about one-third up the cork.  The color was uneven and there was a muting of the red tones away from the center of the glass.  When swirled in the glass, the wine exhibited excellent viscosity.

On the nose there were notes of cinnamon, blackberry, bell pepper, cedar box, cinnamon, nutmeg, sandalwood, cigarbox, and sweet tobacco.  On the palate the wine showed good structure with an excellent integration of tannin, acid and fruit.  I was very surprised at the retained acid levels in this, a California Cab, after 23 years.  The wine exhibited a peppery spiciness and notes of pine on the back of the palate and had a nice, long finish.

This was an extremely well-balanced wine and tasting it was truly a treat.

Winery Price-Maintenance Tactics

Faced with slowing demand in the high end of the market, and the immutable fact that another batch of juice is coming down the tracks, ready or not, some wineries are implementing tactics designed to move product while maintaining pricing integrity.  I spoke to a number of area retailers in order to gain a better understanding of some of these tactics and the underlying strategy.

On the winery side of the coin, we have seen the introduction of second labels, and fruit redistribution between labels where the winery already has a multi-label distribution strategy.  For example, Bryant Family Vineyard has introduced Db4 as a second label, as has Sloan Vineyards (Sloan Asterisk) and Blankiet (Prince of Hearts).  Broadly stated, these are strategies designed to reduce price while maintaining the pricing integrity of the flagship product.  Chappellet already had a three-label distribution strategy and, in the current market, it has made smaller amounts of its mid-price label -- Signature -- and allocated more fruit to the lower-priced Mountain Cuvee.

On the distribution end of the three-tiered distribution model employed in the US, the tactics are more diverse. Rather than reflect glut conditions by passing lower prices on to the consumer, wineries are maintaining their retail prices and pushing product through the restaurant by-the-glass channel.  The typical scenario for a restaurant is that the per-glass price offered to a customer is the restaurant's wholesale per-bottle cost.  Making deals with restaurants in order to move product allows the winery to mask price reductions from the general public.  As a consumer, you may have a better selection of by-the-glass wines in the restaurant but you are also supporting a 4 times markup versus the 30% plus markup that is synonymous with the retail channel.

Another tactic being employed is to provide great deals to volume retailers but to either set a floor price at which it can be moved through the channel or to stipulate that the deal be marketed selectively by the retailer.  One retailer that I spoke to said that, on two occasions, distributors had picked product up from his dock rather than allow it to be sold at the price that he proposed.  Another retailer indicated that he was given pricing flexibility but could only market the deep-discount deal via email.

According to the retailers, they are kept in line with the threat of being "listed."  If a distributor makes a complaint to the State licensing authorities that a retailer is delinquent in paying invoices, that retailer is "listed" and cannot source product from any other distributor in the state until all debts to all distributors have been settled.  There is pretty powerful motivation for retailers to play ball.

As the top end of the market continues to stagnate, and as grapes continue to ripen and force harvesting, it will be interesting to see how long the wineries can continue keeping the price-reduction bogeyman at bay.