What is setting the wine Twittersphere atwitter this Summer?

Three considerations: (i) the residual good feelings resulting from the very successful 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington; (ii) the hard-upon-us PinotNoir Twitter Tasting and Smackdown; and (iii) The Summer of Riesling.  I will reprise these considerations in this post.

The 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference, held in Walla Walla from June 25th - 27th, provided wine bloggers from across the country the opportunity to: visit Washington-area wineries; attend seminars covering a range of pertinent topics; and, most importantly, from some perspectives, interact with their peers (I had signed up to attend but had to cancel due to a bi-annual family gathering on the same dates.  Failure to attend said gathering would have resulted in permanent banishment from all such future gatherings -- a fate worse than death.).  Judging from the number of laudatory (and self-congratulatory) posts hitting the web at the conclusion of the event -- and the number of tweets released into the Twittersphere before, during, and after the event -- it was an untrammeled success.  Early Twittersphere preparation is already underway for the 2011 edition of the event which will be held from July 22nd - 24th in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The second event that is highly trafficked on the 'sphere is the July 15th PinotNoir Twitter Tasting and Smackdown.  This event, the brainchild of Ed Thralls, will bring Pinot Noir lovers the world over together, both physically and virtually, for a 2-hour Pinot Noir taste-off.  Participants will gather at their homes, in bars, in restaurants, and in wineries and will share their experiences live on Twitter.  The event will be from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on the west coast and 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm on the east coast.  The event provides a great opportunity for wineries to connect with Pinot Noir fans from all around the world (and, to that end, Ed has provided a special set of participation suggestions for wineries) and for Pinot enthusiasts to have a worldwide party with like-minded individuals.  The 'sphere has been atwitter with Twitteristas setting up parties, making connections, and determining exactly where, and with whom, they will be at Smackdown time.

By going for Tweet volume, @terroirNY has singlehandedly lifted The Summer of Riesling from a wine sommelier's dream to a series of live, New York City events and significant Twitter updates on these events and other Reisling-related initiatives.  The scope of Terroir's Summer of Reisling initiative is aptly captured in its tag line: The Tastings! The Concert! The Queen! The Crawl!  The crawl looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Dom Perignon introduces ...

Champagne house Dom Perignon launched its Dom Perignon Brut 2002 and Dom Perignon Oenotheque Brut 1996 in a live webcast on July 12th from decanter.com's headquarters in London.  The launch event was a tasting which also included the Dom Perignon Rose 2000 and the Dom Perignon Oenotheque Rose 1990.  The tasting panel was led by Richard Geoffroy, Dom Perignon's Chef de Cave, and included Decanter contributors Sarah Kemp and Margaret Rand.  The session was moderated by John Abbot of Decanter.

The format for the webcast was interesting.  The tasting panel and guests were ensconced in a room on the 12th floor of the Decanter building (the only floor with a view, according to John Abbot) while a worldwide audience tapped into the tasting via a text-only stream or a text-and-video stream.  Attendees signed in using Twitter, Facebook, or openID accounts and, once signed in, had the potential to pose questions to the panelists (Most of the questions were directed at Richard and many of them were broad Dom Perignon questions rather than being specifically about the wines being tasted.).

The first wine tasted was the Vintage 2002.  This particular vintage was released 8 years after harvest while, traditionally, Dom vintages are released 6 to 7 years after harvest.  Richard saw no significance in this fact.  Sarah Kemp was first to comment on the wine and declared it a "very Burgundian champagne" with a "full, rich, Montrachet style" and having "extremely expressive notes of hazelnut and brioche." Margaret Rand saw the wine as "immensely rich and concentrated" but noted that it wore its weight lightly.  It was "very, very elegant and linear, supple and terrifically long."  Richard Geoffroy focused on the overall mouthfeel, a direct result, he stated, of the blending.  Such a mouthfeel could not have been achieved with a single grape variety.

This vintage was disgorged 15 months ago and will pair well with seafood, in general, and specifically, with crab.

The second wine tasted was the Oenotheque 1996.  Margaret Rand stated that 1996 was a year of enormous acidity which usually yielded great wines but on the lean side.  She felt that the Oenotheque 1996 would be "young and tight" because of its recent disgorgement and found that to be the case.  She found the wine to have "powerful toasty notes and huge weight" and an "enormous finish."  This was a complex, mineral wine.  Richard saw the wine as "packed with serious flavors" to include, smoke, minerality, toast, and iodine.

This vintage was disgorged 2 years ago and pairs well with caviar or very intensely flavored flat oysters.

In responding to a question on the difference between the Vintage 1996 and Oenotheque 1996, Richard stated that the primary difference was mouthfeel.  The Oenotheque had a creamy expansion and a glide to the finish while the Vintage was a more classical champagne.  It was more linear and then tailed into something marginally dried out.

Richard also re-emphasized the Dom Perignon philosophy that the wine be a perfect balance of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  This does not necessarily imply a 50/50 mix; it is driven by taste and will vary somewhere between 40% and 60% for each varietal.  The more classical vintages are on the Chardonnay side, according to Richard, because it is not as intense as the Pinot Noir.

The panel continued on to taste the other wines but that does not fall under Dom Perignon introduces ...

Too Big to Fail - Wine Industry Style

In all of the hullabaloo regarding the housing industry, the banking industry, the oil industry, and the meltdown of the global economic system as we know it, the wine industry felt left out – until now.

Let's start with the everyday, run-of-the-mill, garden-type-variety insanity.

Michael Havens was a professor of English in the University of California system. He caught the wine bug, cut his teeth making wine for Truchard Winery in the Carneros region of southern Napa Valley, and he and some friends eventually opened the Havens Winery in 1984, specializing in Bordeaux- and Rhone-style wines. The winery flourished, becoming known for a Cheval Blanc homage known as Bourriquot and even making some wine for an upstart restaurateur -- with a wine bug himself -- named Manfred Krankl. In 2006, Mr. Havens was approached by one of his distributors (Billington Imports) who liked the wines so much, they wanted to buy the company. Billington bought the brand and the vineyard holdings and winery facilities were sold to a company called VinREIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), which leased the facilities to Billington.

Billington, a significant importer of South American wines, fell into financial troubles when it lost the right to import the wines of Nicolas Catena and Alamos wines from Argentina in late 2008. The next thing you know, Billington defaults on the lease, goes into receivership, and its assets are liquidated. No Havens, no more. And VinREIT is now in financial straits as several of its other winery holdings are in foreclosure.

Here is a slightly different twist with, hopefully, a better outcome. Diageo, the London-based alcohol conglomerate which owns such iconic labels as Johnnie Walker whiskey, Smirnoff vodka, and Guinness stout, notified the public and its shareholders that it is selling most of its Napa Valley wineries and vineyards, including its flagship brands of Sterling Vineyards and Beaulieu Vineyards, to Realty Income Corporation (another REIT) for the tidy sum of 269 million dollars.

That is not necessarily big news given the economy, but the company also announced that it would turn right around and lease these same properties back for a period of 20 years. Diageo Chateau Estate Wines will continue to manage and operate the properties and will retain ownership and marketing of the wine brands. This will, hopefully, provide Diageo with some much-needed capital with no discernible effects on the wine-drinking public. Hopefully, the investment will work out better for Realty Income than similar investments have for VinREIT; and we won’t have to worry about iconic symbols of Napa Valley being foreclosed.

Finally, news came out a short time ago that Southern Wines and Spirits, arguably one of the largest, if not THE largest wine and liquor distributor in the United States, is in negotiations with Bank of America for two billion dollars in loans in an attempt to restructure the company’s existing debt. Terms of the deal with Bank of America include a $1 billion line of revolving credit and a $1 billion term loan, both of which would mature after five years.

Given than Southern has an estimated 20+% market share, what would be the implications if they were not able to restructure their debt or that this loan is only a stopgap measure? Are they “too big to fail” a la Lehman Brothers and AIG? Also, given the timeframe of the loans, does that indicate that Southern anticipates another 2 to 3 years of economic hardship before they see a rebound in sales?

Only time will tell.

The Lure of Prosecco

I went to an Italian wine tasting at Tim's Wine Market on Wednesday of this week and the Prosecco offerings (i) reminded me as to why this wine is one of my wife's favorites and (ii) gave me the urge to learn more about the varietal.  The Prosecco's tasted were the Trevisiol Winery Prosecco Brut and Rosecco and the winemaker, Paolo Trevisiol, was on hand to act as our guide.


Prosecco wines are known for their pale straw-yellow color, moderate body, delicate flavors, and aromatics, characteristics which are preserved by the use of the Charmat method of sparkling wine production.  Unlike the methode traditionelle, the Charmat method allows for the second fermentation to occur in pressurized tanks rather than bottles.  The result is a fresh sparkling wine at a reasonable cost.  In order to be called Proseco, the wine has to be made from a minimum of 85% Prosecco with the remainder drawn from local varietals such as Bianchetta and Verdiso.  The best Proseccos are generally made from 100% Prosecco.

Source: http://www.italianmade.com/wines/DOC-info10241.cfm

From 1969 until 2008, the Prosecco DOC covered wines made from Prosecco grapes grown in the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene areas of the Veneto region.  Beginning with the 2009 vintage, this area was upgraded to DOCG status and allowed to place DOCG Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Superiore on the label.  The production zone for the grapes extends over 15 communes and 18,000 hectares along the hills around Valdobbiadene.  The vines are planted on south-facing slopes at elevations ranging between 50 and 500 meters thus allowing for long hang times and good drainage.  Within the broader DOCG there is a smaller delimited area of 104 hectares which has a specific microclimate and soils (moriane, sandstones, clay) that produces exceptional, grand-cru-type Prosecco.  This area is called Cartizze and wines made from grapes grown in this region are allowed to so indicate on the bottle.

Prosecco production is tightly controlled by an organization called the Tutelary Consortium.  This group was initially formed in 1962 by 11 regional producers and is a private body focused on improving quality and and monitoring adherence to production rules.  Tutelary Consortium rules cover grape origin, varieties, vinification, bottling, and marketing.


The Trevisiol Winery is located in the hills of Valdobbiadene.  The vineyards are located at 200 - 300 meters elevation and are planted at 2800 to 3500 vines/hectare with vines that are, on average, 40-years old.  The soil type is called Morenico and is comprised of alluvial deposits from ancient glaciers.  The winemaker is Paolo Trevisiol, a second-generation winemaker.


The pictures below show the Trevisiol wines and the winemaker in discussion with Tim, the owner of Tim's Wine Market.

The Prosecco Brut is a 2500-case production made from 100% Prosecco.  This wine has delicious fruit and floral aromas and is light and "peachy soft"on the palate.  This is an excellent aperitif or a summer refreshing wine. Retails for $16. The Rosecco is a 550-case production crafted from 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 20% Prosecco.  This sparkling rose is a study in minerality, acidity and cherry/raspberry fruitiness.  This wine is being introduced to the US for the first time and is available at a price of $20.

The tasting was conducted on a hot evening at very close quarters so these refreshing wines were especially appreciated.

Imperial Wine Bar: Tasting the Wines

In my previous post, I described the the new wine-bar-in-an-antique-store, Imperial.  I have visited the establishment on three occasions and, while there, have tasted four separate wines.  On my first visit I tasted the '06 Three Saints Cabernet and the Von Strasser ‘Eye of the Diamond’ Rose of Cabernet. The '06 Three Saints Cabernet is a slightly scaled-down version of the '07 Caymus so if you like fruit-forward, new-world treats, give the Three Saints a try. The second wine, the Rose, was a delight to the palate, a summer sipper that brings great pleasure. The nose was a stimulation of minerality, pear, and peach notes. A perfect wine for a warm summer day or night.

On my second visit to Imperial I went for the entry-level Merlot. This Washington-state Merlot is made by the well-known winemaker Charles Smith and is aptly named Velvet Devil.  The wine has a plush velvet feel on the palate, plenty of oak, and buckets of black cherry.  Unfortunately, the wine does not hold your attention. Though, I must note any newbie to the wine world would enjoy this offering.

On my third visit to Imperial I decided that the weather was right to sip a Pinot Noir. Imperial was able to exceed my expectations with the '07 Celara. This is the entry-level Celera rather than one of their acclaimed single-vineyard offerings.  The wine, a bit tight initially, really began to display it’s full potential within a short time. The nose began to unfold notes of earth, porcini dust, ginger (I’m not kidding), dried strawberries, and some subtle char. On the palate, smoke, black cherry, shiitake mushroom, and strawberry. This is really good and, at $13 a glass, it should be. The Celera may be a bit pricey to drink all night, but is definitely worth a taste.

If you want to head out with a few friends for a relaxing time, stop in at Imperial and give these suggestions a try. Until next wine…

Washburn Imports, Furniture and…Wine?

Yes it’s true. And while you’re out shopping for some furniture, why not grab yourself a glass of wine? Ok I’m exaggerating a tad.  However, tucked away on a side street in the back of Washburn Imports is a cozy new wine bar named Imperial. Once Washburn Imports closes for the day, Imperial comes alive at night. It appears as though John Washburn, the proprietor of Washburn Imports, has previous hospitality experience and felt that it was time to put it to good use. When I asked the attending bar keep Kaitlin about John Washburn and what he was like, I received the ever-so-minimally eloquent "he’s awesome." Love it!














Imperial has a capable and compact wine list (only one Bordeaux offering). For wines not offered by the establishment, a patron can bring his/her own bottle for a $20 corkage fee. The decor is a delight for the eyes with an eclectic blend of international flair. While I was trying to describe Imperial with one word, ‘chill’ immediately came to mind. Chill with some relaxing tunes and capable bar staff, led by Manager Brett. Brett, who designed the wine list, has a previous relationship with John Washburn. When John came up with the idea for Imperial he recruited Brett to deliver on its message. Brett's second-in-command, is Angel whose additional duties include handling and organizing private parties and events. There is no kitchen on the premises so the catering is subcontracted out to Cuisiniers and Big Wheel Provisions.














If you are looking for a mellow night out, a night to relax and enjoy good conversation,  a visit to Imperial is in order. You will find yourself immersed in calm, cool, and laid back atmosphere. So if you’re up for a glass of wine, a beer, or even an end table (look for the price tags), give Imperial a try. Until next wine…


The Imperial at Washburn Imports.
A Wine Bar and Beer Garden specializing in boutique wines and craft beers.
1800 N. Orange Avenue Orlando FL 32804
Tue - Sat 5-12/Sun 1-6
Manager: Brett
Staff: Angel(events) Pours: Kaitlin and Libby

Comparing Top Wine Regions: Taber and Winegeek.com

In checking Twitter this morning, I came across an article on soils that had been forwarded by @winewomansong.  The article, written by Sunny Brown, and posted on winegeeks.com, was a fascinating take on her choice of the top 10 wine soils in the world.  The article was fascinating for me on two levels: (i) its internals and (ii) how the regions identified as having the best soils matched up to the regions identified by George Taber in his book In Search of Bacchus.


The article begins with a primer on soil types and then launches into a discussion of of the top 10 wine soils ordered from lowest to highest.  The rankings probably will not ignite the third world war but there are a few things I wished the author had delved into in greater detail (understanding that there may have been editorial constraints).  First, the stated criteria for the rankings were unique qualities, historical importance, and market appeal (of the region's wines).  I would have liked some more detail on what each of the criterion meant, within the current context, as well as the relative weighting of each characteristic.  Further, I would have liked some discussion of how each region fared against each of these criterion.

George Taber, whose In Search of Bacchus was reviewed in a previous post, set out on a journey to explore "... twelve of the world's most interesting wine regions."  In his work, no effort is made to rank the regions that he visited and, as I point out in my review, no selection criteria are provided.

If we compare the lists emanating form the two works, the only regions of commonality are Napa Valley (broadly speaking as the soils article narrows its choice down to Rutherford), Mendoza, Tuscany, Bordeaux, and Mosel.  This is probably not surprising given the starting points of the two efforts.  Wingeek.com set out to show the best regions for growing grapes while Taber's focus was the best wine regions to visit.  All fun stuff.