Vino101

Bill and I are back. Pardon our absence as family needs took a higher priority for both of us lately. On this podcast we offer up a quick summary of what we have been doing during our hiatus. While we may have been busy handling family affairs we still found time to have an adult beverage every now and then. We'll share some of those discoveries on this show. Also I continue to post regularly on Twitter eerr X.Having never participated in a “Dry January” I have found myself consuming less alcohol; more like a “Damp January and February'. I certainly sleep better on nights minus alcohol. Bill postulates that spirits especially vodka are easier for the body to digest. As with so many other things in our lives the key to a successful lifestyle is moderation. We are having a wonderfully wet winter in Sonoma. The rainfall total are up to 123% of normal as of March 2nd and the consistent soakings show no signs of subsiding. If one could draw it up this winter cycle has been picture perfect. We're getting all the precipitation we need without the drama of bomb cyclones or floods. Our fingers are crossed that this trend continues. If you've ever considered visiting Sonoma County, the springtime in my opinion is probably the best time to come and explore what wine country has to offer. Less crowds, moderate prices on lodging and a slower pace present an excellent opportunity to make some new discoveries. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

As we head into springtime this year more wine and food events are returning to the our calendars. On this podcast Bill and I discuss our recent experiences at the Gambero Rosso and Slow Wine events both held in San Francisco.

Bill and I recorded this podcast the morning of the Super Bowl so good eats and adult beverages were front and center of our discussion. We go on a jag about the lack of places to find good bread in Sonoma County and come up with a pretty good impromptu list of great places to eat in Sonoma County. So if you have any plans to come to wine county there are lots of good tips in this podcast. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!Our wine recommendation this week is the 2019 Poggio Scalette Chianti Classico. Poggio Scalette (hill of tiny steps) is a small property in the Greve municipality of Chianti Classico and is run by the Fiore family. Initially started by wine consultant Vittorio Fiore who's name is prominently displayed on the front label the property is now run by his son Jurij. The top wine at Poggio Scalette is Il Carbonaione a 100% Sangiovese which sells for about $50 retail. Today we will be focusing on Il Carbonaione's sibling or Scalette's second wine a Chianti Classico. The vineyards for this bottling sit at an average elevation of 1,500 feet and were planted between 1928 - 2003. The grapes are 100% Sangiovese di Lamole, an ancient clone of Sangiovese and are fermented in concrete vats and aged for ten months in concrete before bottling. Medium ruby color going clear to the edge in the glass. Pretty red fruit and floral aromas complement the cranberry, sour cherry profile on the palate. Medium bodied and mildly tannic with zippy acidity the wine is refreshing and laid back. It shows great drinkability and I immediately went digging into the wine stash to see how many I had on hand ( always a good sign ). I was delighted to discover that the Poggio Scalette Chianti Classico clocked in at 13% abv. Which means I can have more than two glasses in one sitting if I desire without having to worry about overindulging. The drinking window for this wine is short and its probably best enjoyed in the near term. It would pair well with a variety of appetizers, light main dishes, pasta and pizza. $19 Buy it here.Show Links:French government floats €160m fund to ease ‘wine crisis'How product placement gets wine bottles into shows like ‘The Last of Us'Gallo is laying off 355 employeesWhy one of Sonoma's best wineries hired a winemaker who'd never made wine before Deadly Wildfires Devastate Vineyards in Chile's Central and Southern Wine RegionsThe Uncertain Future of Island WinesLuca and Elena Currado Vietti say goodbye to the Vietti winery

Esther Mobley of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on the sale of the Robert Sinskey Vineyard Winery, tasting room and vineyards. However billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick elected to not purchase the brand. For the moment the Sinskeys plan to lease back the facility and continue business as usual. Press Democrat writer Sarah Doyle pens a piece on how Sonoma County winemakers are “passing the torch” and making plans to extend their family legacies. Ingredient labeling for wine starts this year in the EU. The rest of the worlds wine markets will soon follow suit. Is ingredient labeling a win for consumers and producers?Jess Lander uses an electric corkscrew regularly but she seems to think she may be in the minority. Do you own and electric corkscrew? Jackson Family Wines has filed a lawsuit against their insurance company for failure to honor claims submitted due to fire damage from wildfires. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

With Christmas around the corner we put together a list of some of our favorite wines for the holidays. The Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes hasn't slowed the uptick in wine prices. It can be fairly easy to blow up your wine budget with just one or two bottles of splurge purchases. Most of the wines on our list can all be had for under $35. Searching for one wine that pleases everybody is a fools errand. It's invariably better to select a variety of wines, open them all at once and let your guest choose what they would like to drink. There are plenty of wines here to please even your most finnicky guests. Thanks for listening to our podcast and Happy Holidays.2019 Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé Vielles Vignes - Father and son team Denis and Maxime Dutron use Chardonnay from their oldest parcels, some as old as 85 years of age to craft this beautiful White Burgundy. 100% Chardonnay, natural fermentation, left on the lees for a year, 70% stainless steel the rest in barrel. Taut and mineral, with green apple and grapefruit. A distinctive Macon that may bring the ABC (anything but Chardonnay) crowd back into the fold. $272019 Ramey Russian River Valley Chardonnay - In contrast to the former old world Chardonnay the Ramey's make a 100% Chardonnay using a plethora of the old world techniques. Whole cluster pressing, native yeast barrel fermentation, lees aging, malolactic fermentation and light fining sans filtering. Baked apple and pear notes complement the layers of savory oak and baking spice. Beautifully textured and balanced. $38 2021 Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc - A perennial crowd pleaser the grapes for this Sauvignon Blanc are sourced from all over California. Its style remains remarkably consistent from year to year. Ripe melon and white peach aromas jump out of the glass. Lemon and lime flavors work well with the clean mineral finish. $122020 Michel Delhommeau “Harmonie” Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie - Michel and Nathalie Delhommeau farm the Melon de Bourgogne grapes for their Muscadet in the volcanic rich soils of the Loire Valley in northwest France. After fermentation the wine spends 5 months “Sur Lie” (in the tank on the lees). Lemon, apple, fresh and vibrant with a bracing minerality and tingling acidity on the finish. This Muscadet calls out for fresh oysters on the half shell and other light seafood dishes. $17 2021 Quivira Rosé Wine Creek Ranch - Cranberries, rhubarb and strawberries aromas compliment the zippy acidity of this 70% Grenache, 11%Counoise, 9% Mourvèdre, 5% Petite Sirah blend. Made with organically grown grapes. $202020 Concerto Reggiano Lambrusco - Most of us have never served a dry red sparkling wine. Here's your chance to wow your guests. Concerto, made from 100% Lambrusco Salamino comes in an attractive bottle that is shaped like a bowling pin. The grapes are organically farmed. When poured into a glass you get a beautiful purple froth. Dark ruby red in color the wine taste of raspberry and strawberries with hints of licorice. It's completely dry on the palate with a fresh zippy clean finish. Serve it slightly chilled not cold. $30Frederic Magnien Crémant De Bourgongne Blanc De Noir - If you love Champagne but you need to watch your coins a bit more closely try exploring sparkling wines from other regions of France. French sparkling wines that use the traditional method and are made outside of the Champagne region are called Crémant. This 100% Pinot Noir from the Burgundy area can be served as an aperitif and also has the body and weight to be served throughout a meal. A light amber color, very fine bubbles, aromas of bing cherries and strawberry. Champagne quality without the sticker shock. $202019 Siduri Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - The consistency of the Siduri brand which was acquired by Jackson Family Wines several years ago continues unabated. Adam Lee may no longer be the winemaker but the assertive and beautiful Pinot Noir style he pioneered continues. Black cherry and spicy raspberry flavors on the palate, medium in length with good acidity. A very attractive entry level Pinot Noir. $302020 Bedrock Wine Co. Old Vine Zinfandel - Morgan Twain-Peterson crafts this deep ruby colored wine from old vineyards (some 100+ years old) throughout Sonoma County. Made with native yeast fermentation and aged in French and Austrian oak puncheons and foudres. In the glass black and red fruit, lavender and pepper aromas. On the palate black plums, a round texture with good acidity and length. Drink and enjoy this youthful Zinfandel now and do yourself a favor and save a few bottles for the next few years. $222019 Hess Collection Allomi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - This 79% Cabernet Sauvignon 9% Petite Sirah 5%Malbec 4% Merlot 3% Petit Verdot blend comes from the Allomi vineyard in Pope Valley of northeast Napa Valley. Black and blue fruit, tobacco and oak lead the way for this seemlessly integrated full bodied red. A cushy textured mouthfeel with a long finish. $302019 Obsidian Ridge Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon - 94% Cabernet Sauvignon 2% Petit Verdot 2%Malbec 1% Petite Sirah 1% Syrah. Grown in the volcanic rich soils of the Red Hills of Lake County the wine is aged for 18 months in Hungarian oak barrels. Black fruit, black cherry and vanilla, full bodied and tannic. $35 Show LInks:Best WinesColumbia Winery Tasking RoomLets talk with Maureen DowneyAMOS Electric Autonomous Tractor Tour Visits LodiMendoza declares emergency after late season frostFreak frost hits Argentinian vineyards as Mendoza declares emergencyE & J. Gallo Winery Announces Acquisition of Denner Vineyards in Paso Robles AVAhttps://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/carlo-trinchero-arrest-17584624.php

A recent article by Colman Andrews titled Paradise Lost: The Flame Out of Napa Valley's Iconic Wine Country raised a number of eyebrows in Northern California. The article's main themes being that the Valley's growth has lessened its charm and that corporatization has made visits to Napa Wineries too expensive for most people.I just recently attended the 18th annual Wine & Spirits Top 100 tasting at the City View at Metreon in San Francisco. This was the first public wine tasting I have attended in several years (we all know why) and that reluctance to attend public events was the sentiment of so many other attendees that I met and talked with over the evening. I offer some observations of how public wine tastings are changing and for the most part for the better. Peg Melnik pens a nice piece highlighting pioneering Italian winegrowers in Sonoma County. Not everybody is selling out. It's refreshing to see these families holding onto their traditions and successfully passing the business of winemaking onto their descendants. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! Our wine recommendation this week is the 2017 Vigneti Massa Derthona. Derthona is the age-old name of Tortona, a village in southeast Piedmont, in the northwest region of Italy. Derthona is Timorasso, a grape that had all but been abandoned until Walter Massa recognized its potential to make compelling wines. Up until the eighties Timarasso vines had been pulled and replanted with Cortese and Chardonnay which were easier to sell and more popular at the time. Massa began working with Timorasso vineyards he could find and also began planting new Timorasso vineyards in the eighties and nineties. This 100%Timorasso is a mix of several vineyards around the village of Monleale, although it should be noted that Massa also produces three vineyard designated Timorasso bottlings. It's fermented using indigenous yeast, receives skin contact for 48 to 60 hours beforehand and battonage after fermentation in stainless steel and concrete vats. He holds the wine for six months after bottling as Timorasso can be quite shy and unexpressive when young. With bottle age it comes around and begins to display its powerful and concentrated flavors. In the glass the color is a bright vibrant gold. The aromas show yellow fruit, honeyed almonds and beeswax. On the palate more of the afore mention flavors the wine is intensely rich and unctuous with surprising freshness and acidity and a medium length finish. Given the substantial structure of this wine I suggest you pair it with rich chicken and pork dishes or fondue. When Massa started this rediscovery of Timorasso there were just a handful of hectares planted. Today there are more than 150 hectares planted in the Colli Tortonesi DOC (Tortona hills). This is a wine you will probably have to hunt down. Unless you're working with a specialty wine retailer you'll have to source it over the internet. Having said that if your your looking for a new distinctive high quality wine to experience and learn about then don't miss out on Walter Massa's Derthona. 13.5% alc 5,000 cases $32 - $39

Al and Bill - news of the wineworld

Bill and I get together for a new podcast after an extended absence. On this podcast you can find out where we've been, what's new in wine country and what we've been drinking and eating.It's summertime so we find ourselves drinking less red wine and more rosé and white wines. Our wine recommendation for this week is the Mönchhof Ürzig Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett. The Mönchhof is said to be one of the oldest wine estates in the West German Mosel Valley dating back to 1177. This fruity off dry version of a 100% Riesling is grown on vertiginous, brick colored, cliff-like hills that tower over the village of Urzig which sits on the left bank of the Mosel river.A light yellow color with a tinge of green this Riesling has a lovely green apple, lime, lees and jasmine blossom nose. Lovely baking spice, honeyed peaches complexity on the palate, with fresh bright acidity balancing out the light sweetness. A lovely way to welcome in the summer this sublime Riesling would pair well with a variety of fried foods, charcuterie boards, vegetables and sushi. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! World Beer Cup 2022

Al's awesome contentConsolidation in the U. S. wine industry continues at an unabated pace. Most of the mergers and acquisitions are followed weeks later by layoffs and closures of production facilities. Sebastiani, Coppola and Chateau Ste. Michelle are some of the most recent buyouts. Right now is one of the best times to be looking for a job in the California wine industry. A quick look on winejobs.com will yield hundred of job offers. Terri and I finally ventured out and went wine tasting for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic. Bill and I discuss our visit to Ledson Winery in Sonoma Valley and lament the loss of the casual drive up tasting we were able to enjoy before Covid changed our world.Climate change is wreaking havoc everywhere. Recent flooding in Belgium and Germany and in particular the Ahr Valley wine region has cost hundreds of lives and many businesses and livelihoods have been lost. James Lawrence shares the story of how Weingut Paul Schumacher was destroyed by floods.Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

Windsor Ca. Mayor, Freeze in Europe.

Imported wine prices could be headed lower? Ursula Von der Leyen President of the European Commission and President Biden have agreed to suspend all tariffs with regard to the Airbus-Boeing dispute for four months. President Von der Leyen, the first woman elected to head the European Commission is responsible for setting the Commission’s policy agenda and is just 15 months into a five year term that started in December of 2019. She’s quickly gaining allies in the food and agriculture sectors of Europe by working with President Biden who himself has been in office less than ten weeks to pause the tariffs as officials work to negotiate a longer lasting agreement that can benefit all parties. European wine imports have dropped substantially since the wine tariffs were put into affect in October of 2019. This brief respite will give importers and retailers welcomed relief from the punishing penalties of the increased taxes amidst a pandemic. We’ll have to wait and see if consumers benefit from the unexpected windfall too.John Fox notorious for running a wine Ponzi Scheme out of his Berkeley, California retail store has been released from federal custody two years earlier than scheduled. One of the conditions of his release is that he make $45 million in restitution to those he swindled. I’d hate to be an unwilling creditor on that list. One of the unlikely consequences of the pandemic and the wine glut is that the price of wine is going down and the quality of the wine at lower price points is going up. We sight several examples in this podcast. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!Our wine recommendation this week is the 2018 Cantina Kurtatsch Vernatsch Alte Reben. Cantina Kurtatsch is a co-operative that is located in north-eastern Italy, in the region of Alto Adige that borders Austria to the north. The area is more known for its white wines, where 62% of the wine produced is white vs 38% red. The ubiquitous Schiava, Vernatsch in German is the most cultivated red grape in the area followed closely by Pinot Noir and Lagrein. The Kurtatsch co-operative like most co-ops in northern Italy is not well known in the U.S. We are starting to see more whites wines from Alto Adige but I suspect most of the good Schiava from the area never leaves Europe. One can hardly blame importers from looking askance at Schiava based red wines with their low alcohol and light bodied profiles; not unlike a lean unoaked Pinot Noir, Schiava is not what the American consumer is buying in todays markets.So why am I recommending the Sonntaler (sunny valley) Schiava? Often when I’m looking at a bottle of wine I’m unfamiliar with I spin it around and look for the name of the importer on the back label. In this case the importer was North Berkeley Imports, a favorite of mine, so I felt comfortable in making the purchase. Being familiar with Vernatsch/ Schiava wines I wasn’t disappointed. With spring weather coming on I was looking for a less heavy red wine and the Sonntaler (12.5 % abv) fitted the bill. The 100% old vine Schiava grapes are hand harvested and fermented in stainless steel tanks. The wine then spends six months in 2,376 gallon neutral Slavonian oak casks. The Sonntaler has a light ruby color that is translucent on the edges. On appearance alone it could easily be mistaken for a Cerasuolo, a deeply hued rosé wine from central Italy. The Sonntaler is fragrant and approachable. Cranberry and strawberry on the nose are in concert with its lean lightly spiced red fruit profile. Light bodied yet flavorful I enjoyed the tongue tingling minerality on the finish. If you’re in the mood for an change and you want to expand your wine palate I highly recommend you pick up a bottle of Sonntaler. For now this may be the best way for us to take a trip to the Alpine meadows of Northern Italy.

Constellation Brands executives must be elated to finally complete their sale of over 32 wine brands and five wineries to E. J. Gallo Winery. The $810 million deal was less than half of the $1.7 billion initially proposed in April of 2019, as the Federal Trade Commission insisted Constellations exclude their sparkling wine, brandy, dessert wine and concentrate business lines as a condition of approval. Constellation sheds all their $11 and under products in a bid to go upscale and Gallo picks up a bevy of bottom shelf labels and more production capacity. Who comes out on top in this deal? For now primarily the grape growers who no longer have to deal with the uncertainty of who will be buying their grapes. As the details of the mega-deal were being worked out many farmers have been in limbo. What will this deal mean for wine lovers? It’s certainly promising on this front as E. J. Gallo has a history of improving the wine operations they acquire. Look no further than the wonderful work they’ve done at Louis M. Martini, Pahlmeyer Winery, J Vineyards and Winery and MacMurray Estate Vineyards. Once Gallo integrates the newly acquired brands into their operations the consumer will likely benefit as Gallo is so much better at running a wine business than Constellation. Better quality wine at the $11 and under price point is a win for the consumer. Having not had any of the following brands for years as they have become so banal I’m looking forward to the prospect of Gallo reviving and improving the quality of the future offerings at Ravenswood, Blackstone and Clos du Bois. E. J. Gallo is a private company that now represents almost 30% of all bottles of wine produced in the U.S. Not bad for a couple of brothers that switched from growing grapes to squishing them to make wine in 1933. One could easily make the argument that Gallo is too big and controls too much of the U.S. market. After all it took almost two years for them to get approval from federal regulators. That a lot of sifting through the fine print to ensure consumers don’t get hosed on the deal. Based on current market conditions I’d speculate that we can expect more consolidation in the coming years in the wine industry. A post pandemic euphoria will undoubtedly lift revenues for travel, hospitality, retailers and restaurants, but the relief may not come quickly enough for some winemakers. Gallo will almost certainly be a player in future acquisitions. Kwame Onwuachi and Alice Waters pen a nice piece for The Washington Post theorizing that once president elect Joe Biden is sworn in he can take immediate steps to save mom and pop American restauranteurs by taking executive action. Oh if it were that easy. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! Our wine recommendations this week are Bellavista Alma Gran Cuvée Franciacorta. The region of Franciacorta is roughly 50 miles east of Milano in northern Italy.A blend of 77% Chardonnay, 22% Pinot Nero and 1% Pinot Bianco. Bright and zesty apple and lemon flavors on a full bodied frame. A real crowd pleaser. You can wow your friends with this one as they remark “Hey this is great Champagne”. Then you can gently remind them, it’s not Champagne it’s Franciacorta. $23 Buy it here.Domaine Allimant-Laugner Crémant D’Alsace Brut Rosé - 100% Pinot Noir this sparkling wine has a beautiful light salmon color. Clean and crisp red fruits on the nose. Strawberries and cranberries with good depth of flavor on the palate. $16 Buy it here.Marcel Cabelier Cremant Du Jura - This wine hails from Jura France a region sandwiched between the Burgundy wine region and the Swiss border. It’s 90% Chardonnay, the remainder Pinot Noir and Poulsard. A light straw yellow color in the glass, the green apple and biscuit aromas and flavors could easily fool you into thinking it’s Champagne. This is our new house bubbly. Why spend all your money on a luxury Champagne brand when you can get this level of quality and complexity for a third of the cost? $20 Buy it here.2018 La Bastide Saint Dominique Cotes du Rhone Villages - 50% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 15% Mourvèdre 15% Carignan. Fermented and aged in stainless steel the nose is quite shy on first impression. Decant it and leave it alone for an hour and you will be welcomed to a wonderful black and blue fruit nose. It’s full bodied with a good punch and spiciness on the palate. A nice mid length savory finish. La Bastide wines age extremely well so you can lose a few of these in storage and not have to worry. $17 Buy it here.2018 Crous St. Martin Les Espaliers Gigondas - 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre. This relatively new label is a collaboration between wine agent Harry Bosmans and wine grower Eric Bonnet of Domaine Bastide Saint Dominique. A deep ruby color in the glass the nose shows deep red fruit and spice. On the palate it’s refreshing, savory and beautifully balanced. A wonderful new discovery. $25 Buy it here.2017 Juan Gil Monastrell Silver Label - Crafted from 100% Monastrell from the region of Jumilla in southeastern Spain. The 40 year old Monastrell vines are dry farmed on limestone soils. The wine is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels. Deep black and purple in the glass, aromas of blackberries, blueberries, black cherries, licorice and sweet oak accompany a mineral rich and concentrated palate. It’s full bodied with just enough acidity to ward off a slightly sweet sensation on the finish. Ages ago I consumed a lot of this wine and it’s exactly as I remembered it. I’m glad I ‘ve rediscovered it again. $15 Buy it here.2015 Blue Gray Priorat - 50% Garnacha, 30% Mazuelo (Carignane), 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. Another Label from the Gil Family Estates this wine is packed with juicy black fruit and savory spice. It’s rich and concentrated but not jammy. Very approachable, its balance and well integrated tannins have made it our house red. $18 Buy it here.

Delivery startup Go Puff has just announced its acquisition of alcohol beverage retailer BevMo. While Bevmo already has an online presence and delivery service Go Puff’s network, which delivers convenience store items will make it even more opportune for people to channel their inner couch potato. Convicted wine counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan has finished serving his federal prison sentence and is now in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Where he will end up is anybody’s guess. I appears Rudy may be just as difficult to keep track of as the bogus collectible wines he forged in the past.Jeff Siegel who writes the wine blog the Wine Curmudgeon pens a nice piece on how we have grown to accept expensive wine. How much is too much to pay for a bottle of wine that you plan to consume? Alpana Singh, a master sommelier in the U.S. has resigned her title. Esther Mobley interviews Alpana who reveals her decades long experience as a woman of color within the Court of Master Sommeliers. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

Wild fires , power outages and uncertain times in Wine Country

Lately there hasn’t been much to celebrate about and as a result Champagne growers are facing challenges due to the pandemic and collapsing sales. So far the French government has not offered any actionable help. Can growers and winemakers work together to hold prices steady?Franzia is selling a backpack that holds an entire box of wine. As it turns out their apparel site has a bunch of other swag you can purchase as well. If wildfires and air quality indexes in the very unhealthy to hazardous zone for over three weeks weren’t enough, triple digit heat was recorded for several days in many grape growing regions of California. The specter of smoke taint is something that has most in the industry adopting a wait and see attitude. Mike Pomranz pens a piece for Food & Wine looking into the complexities of dealing with smoke taint as a grape grower or a winemaker. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! Our wine recommendation this week is the 2016 Newton Napa Valley Unfiltered Chardonnay. Most of the grapes for this Chardonnay were sourced from the Carneros region of Napa, due southeast of the city of Napa bordering the San Pablo Bay. A small percentage of the grapes are sourced from up valley in the Rutherford area. Using indigenous yeast the Chardonnay is 100% barrel fermented. After fermentation the wine was transferred to French oak barrels 24% which were new. The wine was aged for one year and received bâtonnage as needed. After barrel ageing the wine was allowed to settle in tanks and then it was bottled unfiltered. This wine strikes a nice balance between the California oak bombs of yesteryear and no oak Chardonnays that are more in fashion today. This is Alberto Bianchi, who hails from Milan, first vintage at Newton and he has crafted a remarkably sophisticated, powerful and complex Chardonnay. The color is light straw. Green apples, pear and oak aromas are reconfirmed on the firm and juicy palate. The wine has good depth and roundness at this stage. This is a wine to drink now or you could cellar it for several years to allow it gain some bottle complexity. 14 % abv $35 - $40 Buy it here.

Burning Harvest!

We have a new wine bar in Sebastopol. Region wine bar will specialize in pouring small production wines using self-serve wine machines.Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power have entered the celebrity wine business. Their wine brand Avaline, is entering a crowded market place. Years of consolidation by alcohol producers and wholesalers, uncertainty due to an ongoing trade war and now a pandemic makes one consider their market timing. However the ladies may be filling a void by marketing their product as a “clean wine”. Danny Meyer has hit the play button and is rehiring staff and slowly reopening his restaurants. The challenges of the pandemic have caused him to re-examine his policies on tipping though. With over 20,000 restaurants currently out of business in the U.S. Danny has plans to survive the fallout and still bring about equity within the ranks of the restaurant business.Dan Berger pens a nice article on the drawbacks of vintage charts. When I first started learning about wine I always carried a vintage chart in my wallet. How about you? Do vintage charts help you make buying decisions on wine?Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!Our wine recommendation this week is the 2015 Domaine de Compostelle. Domaine de Compostelle is the second wine for Chateau La Cabanne. The estate in the past has had a reputation of under-performing considering its neighbors are Chateau Clinet and Chateau Trontanoy. In 2010 a big fire destroyed most of the vat room and all of the 2008 vintage. This allowed the owners the Estager family to outfit the Chateau with state of the art equipment, vats and cooperage. Things appear to be on the upswing as the 2015 Compostelle is a wonderful wine. The blend is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. After fermentation the wine is aged for fourteen months in 50% new french oak barrels while the balance is aged in second and third use barrels. Drinking extremely well right now Compostelle is medium to full bodied. The nose shows violets, red berries, currants and plums with a touch of earthiness. On the palate its fresh and crisp displaying an all too pleasing touch of cocoa covered cherries. It’s young but the tannins are already well integrated. Good Pomerol is never cheap, there’s just not enough of it to go around. Here you have a Pomerol from a good vintage, that’s still available at a fair price. $40 alc 14.5 Buy it here. Drinking Extremely Well Right Now

After three plus months of shelter in place mandates with a significant portion of the hospitality and restaurant business in California throttled to an idle, wineries, brew pubs and distillers have been given the green light to host patrons again. The old tasting room model has been discarded in favor of new sanitation and social distancing protocols. Are you ready to go visit tasting rooms? If so you’ll probably need to make a reservation.California winemaker Bill Foley has just purchased Ferrari-Carano Winery in Sonoma County. The deal includes two winemaking facilities and 3000 acres of land. It’s nice to see the operation go to a Sonoma County wine family instead of a big hulking beverage corporation. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

Bill and I have been on a brief hiatus. Let’s just say we have been adjusting to a new way of living our lives during the coronavirus pandemic. Walking into a wine retailer or visiting a winery tasting room has not been an option for us so in this podcast we spend some time talking about how and where we are buying our adult beverages. We both are certainly consuming more alcohol since the start of pandemic. Have your drinking habits changed? Are you purchasing more products on line?If you own a winery how do you protect your staff and your customers against coronavirus? Michael Alberty pens a piece for The Oregonian that explains how Willamette Valley Vineyards is planning to tackle the virus.What is corked wine? How do you recognize it and what’s the process to follow if you discover you have a bottle of wine that is corked? Eric Asimov writes a piece for the New York Times surveying how wineries faced with marketing disruptions are seeking new innovative ways to keep the cash flowing.Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!We have two wine recommendations this week. The first is a rare white wine from the DOC Colli Tortonesi (the hills of Tortona). Tortona is a commune of south-east Piedmont,  in the Province of Alessandria in north-western Italy. Piedmonte is most noteworthy for it’s noble reds Barolo and Barbaresco. The white wines of Asti (Asti Spumante) and Gavi have their avid followers too. The 2017 Derthona Timorasso is produced by Boveri Luigi. The Azienda Agricola (farm) is owned by Luigi and Germana Boveri. Originally focused on grain production the family embraced viticulture in the mid nineties and now are solely focused on winemaking. The rare white wine they make from the Timorasso grape has been recently rediscovered. The man responsible for the rediscovery is Walter Massa. After World War II, native varietal wines like Timorasso were overshadowed and forgotten as winemakers rushed to produce simple, uniform, high profit wines. Massa was discovered by the wine cognoscenti in 2000 and received much praise for a barrique- aged Barbera he had made. Wine writers happened upon some of the small lots of Timorasso that Walter was experimenting with and began spreading the word of the quality of those wines too. Neighboring growers took notice of Massa’s success with Timorasso and followed his lead. Even though Timorasso has been redeemed, today the area planted to the thick-skinned variety covers just 175 acres, hence its rarity. Derthona is the latin name for the city of Tortona. Boveri’s Derthona Timorasso is planted on the hills of Costa Vescovato, composed of 70% clay limestone and 30% marly limestone. The grapes are hand harvested and once they are crushed they are allowed to macerate for 48 to 60 hours on the skins. Luigi does this to add more depth and texture to the wine. The maceration and soft pressing is followed by a native yeast fermentation and the 100% Timorasso wine is held on the lees in stainless steel tanks for one year. Periodically throughout the year the wine receives battonage. After bottling the wine is held for one year before release. Following 2016, the 2017 grape growing season faced a difficult start as early frost cut yields throughout the region of Piedmont. Drought conditions were present and a heatwave near the end of the ripening cycle made for a chaotic harvest. Luigi’s Derthona is bright straw yellow in color with tinges of green. Aromas of white peach, grapefruit, meyer lemon and white flowers greet you on the nose. If I had to use one word for the mouth feel I’d say savory. This wine is full bodied at 14% alcohol so it packs a punch. Intense and focused with white peach, beeswax and mineral notes the wine has good depth and richness. Drink now, but know that Timorasso can age well too so you don’t have to worry about losing one in your wine stash. The 2017 is showing well now, but I’m betting it will improve over the next two to four years and beyond. $19 buy it here.Our second recommendation is the Darby Winery 2014 Dark Side Syrah. Darby English started making wine in a basement in 2002. A Seattle native he attended Oregon State University on a golf scholarship. Lucky for us he switched from golfing to winemaking. Darby’s first commercial release was in 2005. Today he produces 4,000 cases of Bordeaux Blends, Rhone Varietal and single vineyard wines. These are small production wines, typically 400 or less cases for each bottling. Darby sources his grapes for the Dark Side Syrah from the Columbia Valley. Columbia Valley is Washington’s largest viticultural region with 50,000 acres of planted vineyards. It contains 99% of the grapes grown in the state. Darby buys grapes from Dineen Vineyard in lower Yakima Valley, Discovery Vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills, and Stone Tree in the Wahluke Slope, all sub-regions of the Columbia Valley. After harvesting the grapes are trucked over the Cascade Mountain Range to the winery in Woodinville. The wine is aged for 18 months in  600 liter neutral French oak puncheons. The Dark Side Beautifully integrated fruit, enjoy it now or hold it for several more years. In the glass the color is medium ruby. The nose exhibits black and blue fruit, black pepper, licorice and a hint of grilled meat. The wine has an incredible balance of acids and tannins. On the palate loads of black fruit, spice and a velvety finish. 14.7%alc I don’t believe the 2014 Dark Side is available anymore as the new vintage on the website shows the 2017 at $28 a bottle. Buy it here.

Here in Sonoma County California we are under a Governor Gavin Newsom mandated shelter in place directive aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus. What does that mean? Check out this link to get the details. Cancelled events, business losses and layoffs are starting to impact the wine business as Bill Swindell points out in an article for the Press Democrat.There is nothing worse for a food and wine lover than to experience a partial or complete lose of their sense of smell. Shawn Zylberberg explains how a loss of sense of smell may be a symptom of COVID-19 infection.Bill and I did a virtual contrast and compare of two Oregon wine producers Elouan and Illahe and I threw in a ringer from Sonoma Coast, W. H. Smith Pinot Noir. Jeremy Parzen, a wine industry professional and wine blogger has been posting letters he gets from his colleagues and friends in Italy. His latest post is a letter from Giancarlo Gariglio, editor-in-chief of the Slow Wine Guide to the Wines of Italy, Slovenia, California, and Oregon.  We interviewed Giancarlo last February. Here’s the link to that post. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

Covid Corona Blues

Slow Wine Tour, Interview with Giancarlo Gariglio

Wine industry experts are calling for grape growers to reduce the number of vineyards in production because of declining wine sales. We have already noticed some vineyards being ripped out and allowed to go fallow (at least for now) here in Sonoma County. Unfortunately for growers the oversupply of grapes is not a regional problem, but a statewide one.  Sarah Klearman asks a number of industry leaders what type of short and long term solutions should be put in place to deal with California’s wine slump. Craig Camp General Manager at Troon Vineyards in Oregon’s Applegate Valley really knows his way around a winery and his recent post titled 'Wine Kaleidoscope’ is a quick look into the marketing vs reality scene in today’s winemaking world. Craig says, “the wine for the people revolution is happening now”. In this article he offers several ways to avoid the industrial, mass marketed wines and to identify wine of the people.The underwriters at Lloyds of London, the insurers of Cayuse Vineyards have sued Lafitte Cork and Capsule for allegedly selling defective corks. The damage claim is in excess of 3.5 million. Bill and I have a good time poking fun at the wine fraud ring that was uncovered in Northern Italy in the Oltrepò Pavese region. Too bad this isn’t the first time for this type of shenanigans. Top managers and winemakers at several cooperatives worked in concert to perpetrate the fraud. Peter Johnson reports on an unfortunate incident between Paso Robles winemaker Tobin James Shumrick and his unstable neighbor. The situation got out of hand and now the winemaker faces some serious charges.Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

It’s been rather calm and quite in Northern California of late. Mother nature is giving us a break from natural disasters and has turned her hell raising ways onto the continent of Australia. For months now Australia has been suffering with continuing wildfires which have to date destroyed over 10 million hectares. Phoebe French provides a list of events and organizations you can make donations to for helping those most in need. While Rebecca Hopkins an expat of Australia pens a fine piece on other ways you can aid in the recovery.I’m excited about the new reverse microwave technology that can chill a bottle of wine to the proper serving temperature in three minutes, however Bill does not see its merits. If I had ten dollars for every article I’ve read over the past few weeks on the proposed 100% tariffs on all European Union wines I could take my wife out to a very exclusive dinner in San Francisco and afford to tip big. Translation, the topic of additional tariffs has dominated the wine news. It’s amazing how much hysteria can be whipped up over a proposal. To be sure this proposal and its projected disastrous consequences are being taken very seriously by most that are in the alcohol business on both sides of the Atlantic, but I think there has been a collective yawn from the average consumer. Alfonso Cevola writes one of the better pieces I’ve read on the subject of Tariffs. Jeremy Parzen and Mitch Frank also weigh in on the issue of the doubling of wine prices at the retail level.We finish the podcast with some local news. All that and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! We have three wine recommendations this week. First up is the 2017 Pico Maccario Lavignone Barbera D’Asti. I discovered this wine at last years Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri wine tasting in San Francisco. This brand was started by the brothers Pico and Vitaliano Maccario in 1997. The Maccario’s are Barbera specialist. Their operation is in the northwest region of Piedmonte, Italy, near the village of Mombaruzzo, an hours drive southeast of Asti in the middle of the Barbera d’Asti DOCG. The region of Piedmonte is bordered by Switzerland to the north, France to the west, Italy’s Lombardia region to the east and the region of Liguria is its southern border. Lavignone is 100% Barbera and is vinified and aged completely in stainless steel. A number of super premium Barbera producers, La Spinetta, Renato Ratti and Vietti come to mind, have made Barbera very chic by decreasing yields in the vineyards and ageing it in small french oak barrels. If you want to discover Barbera minus the lathering of oak, Lavignone is a prime example. On the nose you’ll notice aromas of purple flowers, violets and red cherries. While on the palate there are rich red and black cherry flavors. Barbera is naturally high in acids and lighter in the tannin department hence the temptation to put it in oak to beef its body up a bit. Lavignone’s tannins are soft and well integrated and the acidity gives this medium bodied wine good length and a savory finish. It’s an excellent value at $13 to $15 a bottle and it should be easy to find as they produce over 29,000 cases. 13.5% alc Buy it here.Parducci’s 2016 True Grit Reserve Petite Sirah is all Mendocino County fruit. It’s 100% estate grown, 100% Petite Sirah that is aged in a combination of American and French oak. Parducci was established in 1933 following the end of prohibition. Although the Parducci family no longer owns the winery it’s still a family run operation, now being operated by the Thornhill clan. Photo courtesy of Parducci The wine has a deep blackish ruby color, with aromas of black fruit and spice. Petite Sirah can be a very aggressive wine and this version of True Grit (the John Wayne of wines) doesn’t disappoint . On the palate black fruit, vanilla, pepper spice, hints of smoke and chalky tannins. It’s full bodied with a long finish. This is a wine to buy now at a great price, drink a few and save as many as you can to drink five years from now. Although they don’t brag about it on the label the wine is vegan which means there was no monkeying around during the winemaking process. I found this bottling at Costco and when I went back a week later it was all gone. The good wines alway go fast. 14.5 abv Buy it here. The Boss Jean-Marc Photo courtesy of Domaine Beau Mistral Photo Courtesy of Domaine Beau Mistral 2016 Domaine Beau Mistral Rasteau is a blend of 60% Grenache, 30%Mourvedre and 10% Syrah. Jean-Marc Brun started making wine in 1987 in a winery he rented in the center of the village of Rasteau. Twelve years later he went all in and built his own winery. The village of Rasteau is located in the southeastern region of Frances Rhone Valley. Domaine Beau Mistral covers 70 acres composed of mainly older plots on rocky hillsides. The grapes are hand harvested and punch downs are done manually and by mechanical means. The wines are aged 90% in tank and the rest in barrel. Red raspberry and kirsch aromas with a hint of herbs. The palate displays juicy red fruit, licorice and is direct and thoroughly enjoyable. The tannins are soft, and the wine has ample acidity with an elegant finish. 14% alc $15 Buy it here.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Californians. Bill and I can add evacuee to our resumes as residents of Sebastopol and many other areas of Sonoma County were evacuated due to the Kincade wildfire. Firefighters made their stand at the edge of the foothills as the fires moved downhill towards the densely populated town of Windsor. Many lessons have been learned since the Tubbs fire in the fall of 2017 and in the end the town was saved. Restaurateurs in Sonoma County are struggling with business interruptions from planned power shutoffs and the recent fires. Many are absorbing the losses while other restaurant owners have elected to close. Heather Irwin of Sonoma Magazine writes a piece that explores how business owner are facing the realities of the PG& E public safety power shutdowns. E.J. Gallo has just purchased Pahlmeyer, a high end Napa Valley Wine Brand. W. Blake Gray gives us some details about the buyout. West coast grape growers are in the middle of a grape glut. The glut is putting a lot of pressure on wineries and growers and is forcing many to make some tough decisions. The pain that those businesses are experiencing is translating into some very good bargains for wine consumers. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! photo courtesy of tenuta di bibbiano We have four holiday wine recommendations this week. First up is a 2016 Chianti Classico from Tenuta di Bibbiano from the commune of Castellina in Chianti. Bibbiano is managed by Tommaso and Federico Marrocchesi Marzi, the fifth generation of a family that has owned the property since 1865. 100% Sangiovese the organically farmed grapes are hand harvested and fermented in stainless steel for about two weeks. After the wine is racked and pressed it spends one year in traditional concrete vats. This is a wonderfully enjoyable, fruity Chianti. The nose show loads of rich red cherry, earth, spice and garrique. On the palate more of that very distinctive savory-sweet, red fruit with delightful balance and it’s strikingly drinkable. I tasted the bottle over four nights using no nitrogen to preserve it. All I did was pour a glass each night cork the bottle and put it back in the fridge. It wasn’t until the third night that it started showing signs of getting a bit tired. This Chianti would easily compliment a variety of dishes on your holiday dinner table. 5,800 cs, 14.5 abv $18 Buy it here. photo courtesy of tenuta di bibbiano Trentadue’s Old Patch Red is a perennial favorite of mine. Trentadue is the Italian word for thiry-two. Leo Trentadue moved his family from a Santa Clara ranch where they farmed cherries and apricots in 1959, to Geyserville in the heart of Alexander Valley. He bought a 208 acre ranch that was planted mostly with plum trees, but there were also 60 acres of grape vines. Leo never pulled those vines up, he just planted more grapes. A decade later Leo sold 20 acres of his ranch to Pillsbury, a food company looking to get into the wine business. Through many boom and bust cycles that Pillsbury winery (formerly Chateau Souverain) is now in the capable of hands of Francis Ford Coppola. A wide variety of wines are made at Trentadue and the Old Patch Red (OPR) as the newly redesigned label signifies is their entry level red. The 2016 version of OPR wine has a newer fresher style to it. It doesn’t have the same grit and rough around the edges profile of past years. The winemaker Miro Tcholakov loves working with Zinfandel and Petite Sirah and the OPR shows he knows what he’s doing. 67% Zinfandel, 25% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignane, 3% Syrah the wine spends 9 months in 15% new oak. It has a deep ruby color, with a black cherry-cola nose, with loads of vanilla, oak and spice. On the palate it exhibits juicy black and red fruit. It’s sappy and slightly sweet and polished and finishes long with some nice spice as well. It’s sealed with a screw cap so it’s meant to drink now, but you don’t need to worry if you lose a few bottle in your wine stash because this one has some staying power. 5,972 cs, 14.5 abv $14 Buy it here. Cellar Cal Pla 2016 Black Slate is a wine from the village of Porrera in the winemaking area of Priorat and is situated roughly an hour and 45 minutes southwest of Barcelona in north-eastern Spain. The importer is Eric Solomon who imports wine predominantly from France and the Iberian Peninsula. If you’ve listened to any of our podcasts you’ve probably heard me talking about the importance of finding an importer whose wines align with your taste and trying other wines that they import. I’ve learned that Eric Solomon Selections is an importer you can count on to bring in uncommon wines from unique places. Bush vines in MAs-d’en -compte Priorat - photo courtesy of Eric Soloman Selections Priorat is a wine region that was rediscovered in the early 1990s and one could make an argument that Eric helped bring the region its new acclaim. The regions stony soils are covered with black slate, called llicorella locally. Its steep terraced hillsides make it nearly impossible to farm mechanically. So here’s the formula. Organic farming, old vines 15 to 80 years of age, meager yields, steeply terraced vineyards that are hand farmed and harvested. Add to that a wine that is comprised of 50% Garnacha (Grenache), 40% Carinena (Carignan) and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in steel and concrete using natural yeast and matured for a year in 3 to 7 year old French and Hungarian oak barrels and you have a stunning example of a wine that exemplifies place over technique. The nose shows beautiful black and blue fruit, crushed rocks, spice and tar. On the palate black fruit, smoke and an earthy minerality. It’s full bodied and the acids and tannins are in perfect focus. The finish is deep and savory. It drinks really well as soon as you pop the cork but do yourself a favor and set aside a glass when you open a bottle and come back to it a few hours later. You’ll be glad you did. A remarkable value at $18 a bottle. 2916cs, 15% abv Buy it here. photo courtesy of Eric soloman selections wines to please you guests for the holidays The 2015 By Clinet Pomerol is a special bottling by the Clinet Wine Group. This wine was created for near term drinking while you’re waiting for your $125 bottles of Chateau Clinet to mature. I try not to recommend wines that are difficult to find. By Clinet Pomerol will be hard to find in the U. S. although it can be found in European markets. About 10 to 30 percent of the Gran Vin Chateau Clinet goes into this wine and the rest of the blend is sourced from neighboring Pomerol properties. The average age of the vines is 42 years and the blend is 88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. Black cherries, plums and licorice on the nose, in the mouth silky lush red fruit. The tannins are refined and the acidity gives the wine a nice lift all the while the fruit is ripe and sweet. Once I tried this wine I was immediately disappointed that I had only purchased four bottles. An incredible value at $45 almost a third of the price of Chateau Clinet.

Sonoma County wine world recently lost another former winery owner. Chris Smith of the Press Democrat pens an obituary about Robert Rue, who was farming old Zinfandel/ field blend vineyards as a side hustle before the term was popular.We’ve suspected that litigation of this sort was on the horizon and now we have two sizable California vintners suing several insurance companies. The vintners claim that the insurers have failed to reimburse them for smoke taint damages as a result of the wildfires in October 2017 in Northern California. Lewis Perdue of Wine Industry Insight scooped this story that we will be following closely. Mel Christopher, a top PG&E gas executive is no longer with the company. J. D. Morris of the Press Democrat provides the details.PG&E wants to use a portion of Terry Gard’s vineyard property in Calistoga for a liquid natural gas plant claiming eminent domain and Mr. Gard is having no part of it. They are both headed to court. I guess you could say PG&E has made him and offer he can refuse, at least for now. Cynthia Sweeney of The Weekly Calistogan penned the story.The Trump administration is adding more fuel to the tariff wars, this time targeting France, Germany and Spain. We’ll have to wait to see if those countries retaliate with their own tariffs on American goods. Meanwhile, get ready for wine and food products from the European Union to climb upward. W. Blake Gray explores a possible way for Bordeaux winemakers to bypass the additional tax. It’s clever but will it change the way Bordeaux wine are perceived?Eric Asimov of the New York Times writes his first of a four part series exploring the impact climate change is having on modern viticulture.Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

Dorthy Vasser has been growing wine grapes in Redwood Valley for 53 years. Dorthy and her husband John started grape growing in 1964. John passed away in 2008 and Dorthy continued to farm their 26 acre Mendocino ranch. Dorthy has decided to sell her land and Lewis Perdue goes into great detail as to how Constellation Brands may have had a hand in her decision to get out of farming. It’s a very sad story. If you’re interested in getting into grape farming in Northern California here’s the listing. There are too many wine grapes in California or we all need to step up our game and consume more vino. Unfortunately all the data shows that we’re drinking better wine but less of it. Bill Swindell asks some local growers how they are handling the grape glut. Cameron Hughes expresses concern about the current wine glut. He sites declining demand, climate change, negative health messaging and cannabis all as contributors to the wine industries woes. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is trying to add another layer of bureaucracy for those trying to own businesses or that want to work in a business that sells alcohol. W. Blake Gray breaks the story and a law firm for the alcoholic beverage, hospitality and cannabis industries provide some juicy details. We’re still scratching our heads trying to understand how this story has gotten next to no traction thus far. If you’re a believer in climate change, after reading this article by Alison Hird you’ll agree that farmers in Southern France need to find a way to deal with the increasingly more severe and unpredictable weather patterns. This year the last week of June brought with it a disastrous heatwave that caused some growers to lose half of their grape crop for the year. Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!The wine of the week is the 2015 La Valentina Spelt Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. La Valentina was founded in 1990 in Spoltore a village in the hills of Pescara on the central Adriatic Coast. The estate consist of 99 acres and produces 30,000 cases. The winery is owned by Sabatino, Roberto and Andrea Di Properzio who pride themselves on their devotion to environmentally friendly agriculture. They have been farming organically for several years, but the wines are not certified organic. Spelt is a vegan wine. The name Spelt is in reference to a species of wheat that has been cultivated in Europe since medieval times. Spelt was once grown where the winery and the village of Spoltore are located. Not that common anymore spelt products are more likely to be found in a heath food store or an artisan bakery.The vineyard soils are medium clay at 500 to 1,100 foot elevation and are farmed in the traditional Pergola Abruzzese and the Guyot method. After fermentation the wine is aged in barriques and larger barrels (40%) and 60% is aged in 2,500 liter Slavonian oak casks. Spelt spends another year in the bottle before it is released.Deep ruby color, the nose is shy, completely shut down at the moment. On the palate dark mulberry, and black plum flavors with nicely integrated oak. Medium bodied it has delicious fruit, firm tannins and impressive texture. Lovely freshness and tanginess on the finish. I believe this bottle needs more time in the bottle to develop to its full potential. It would be an excellent candidate for medium term cellaring (2-6 years). 13.5 abv $18 - $22 4,583 cases

Wine journalist Jamie Goode recently posted a short blog about three of the world's largest wineries. Fred Swan felt that much of the criticism of the blog on social media was negative so he wrote a piece in defense of E.J. Gallo. Having visited several Gallo facilities in the past he offers some great insight into their operations.W. Blake Gray asks, "What's the point in fining a multi-billionaire winery owner when he ignores the rules"? Bill and  I have a good discussion about Gray's premise, that maybe the best way to thwart eco-vandals is to not give them publicity by reviewing their wines.One of Amazon's faux liquor stores in Southern California has been receiving more publicity than the founder Jeff Bezos probably wanted. W. Blake Gray stirs up quite a controversy with some good investigative journalism. Amazons' cleaned up their act but will it be enough to avoid punishment by the California ABC that has recently launched an investigation into their operations. Blue wine? Turns out it may be fake after all. Corsican official have launched an investigation into the company responsible for this oddity. Grab some bottles of blue wine now, as I'm predicting they will be collector's items in the near future.Bill and I discuss these items and more in this week's addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! 

Bill and I start this weeks podcast talking about British Master of Wine Tim Atkin’s article Why You Shouldn’t Care Much About Wine. Exploring various topics Tim’s tongue-in-cheek writing style will bring a smile to your face. Jillian Kramer writes a post about What Happens To Your Body When You Quit Drinking. We have a good discussion about all the good things that happen when one abstains from alcohol. Even bartenders in the bay area are getting in the act via the Pin Project. Adding a little air to your wine helps the wine show itself in its best light. Aromas and flavors are enhanced when a wine gets the proper amount of air. Marshall Tilden lll asks, Aerator vs Decanter: Which is Better?Another Napa Winery finds itself wrangling with their insurance company. The key issue being the insurance companies denial of the wineries claim for smoke taint damage to 1,075 gallons of Merlot. According to the lawsuit, the insurance company claim denials are about to cause financial ruin to the winery. The Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association’s tight grip on alcohol commerce has recently been relaxed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The two retailers in the case, Kimbrough Fine Wine and Spirits and Total Wine & More can now begin serving customers in the Tennessee marketplace. Good news on one front, however the Supreme Court’s decision opens the door to many new court battles in the future. Emma Balter goes into the details of the Court’s ruling.The fifth largest brewing company in the world, Molson Coors Brewing, is giving its UK staff an additional two weeks of paid leave. It’s called ‘Life Leave’ and the 2000 people that Molson Coors employs in the UK just got a bit more excited about going to work.Julia Moskin reports on the recent store closings of the luxury food chain Dean and DeLuca. The companies debt problems are also causing financial problems for many of the small purveyors that supply the stores with their fancy food items, some whom report they haven’t been paid for months. One supplier successfully sued Dean and DeLuca for 86,000, but had to settle for 50 cents on the dollar.Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! The wine of the week is the 2015 Tenuta Di Arceno Chianti Classico. Just like last weeks wine Alanera by Zenato I discovered the wines of Tenuta Di Arceno at the Gambero Rosso tasting last spring. I was blown away by the quality of the three wines they presented that day. Two of the wines Arcanum and Valadorna IGT Super Tuscans were especially noteworthy, approachable now, full of energy, rich in structure and built for extended ageing too. Bordeaux styled blends the Arcanum is predominately Cabernet Franc while the Valadorna leads with Merlot. Both of these wines are in the high roller $80 and up club, so these are really only splurge wines for us regular folks. Despite their high price point they represent very good value in the Super Tuscan arena. The bread and butter wines of Tenuta Di Arceno are the three Chianti Classico wine they produce. Those are a base Chianti Classico, a Chianti Classico Riserva and single vineyard Chianti Classico they call Stada al Sasso. Tenuta Di Arceno has been owned by Jackson Family Wines since 1994. Located in the southeast region of the Chianti Classico region, within the commune of Castelnuovo Berardenga, the estate consist of 2500 acres. of which less than 10% are devoted to vines. Lawrence Cronin the winemaker has been crafting the wines of Arceno since 2002. He worked at Edmeades Winery in Anderson, Valley California another Jackson Family owned property prior to coming on board at Arceno. Cronin works in concert with Master Winemaker Pierre Seillan who also oversees the winemaking at properties in Bordeaux and California. The wine is composed of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Merlot and after fermentation spends 10 months in French oak. In the glass it shows a medium ruby color. The nose offers aromas of black cherries, violets and forest floor. On the palate it’s medium bodied, with crisp juicy red fruit, supple tannins and a medium length finish. The only distraction from the lip smacking red fruit flavors are the slightly drying tannins on the finish. The wine shows its best after a 30 minute decant. 14.5 abv $14 - $17

It’s summertime and Europeans have experienced some extreme temperatures. Highs which have eclipsed the torrid marks set by the heatwave of 2003, that killed thousands of people. A lot has been learned since 2003 and the European countries seem better equipped to handle the large high pressure weather systems that cover the continent during the summers. Marshall Shepherd writing for Forbes tries to make the connection between increasing extremes of weather and climate change. Washington Post columnist Dave McIntyre takes a look at how winemakers are streamlining their use of energy, water and reducing their carbon footprint. The article focuses mainly on family owned wineries that are leading the way in reducing the impact their operations have on the environment. Will the big hulking corporate wine concerns follow suit? Stephanie Cain wonders which package is more sustainable canned or bottled wine? Bill and I didn’t come up with a clear cut answer. What do you think?Natalie Wang reports on Chateau Lafite’s launch of it’s own Chinese wine. The wine named Long Dai which means chiselled mountain is the product of a decade long project. No doubt this wine initially will be the target of well heeled conspicuous consumers. Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!The wine of the week is the 2015 Zenato Alanera Rosso Veronese IGT. I discovered this wine at the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting held in San Francisco last March. I tasted it alongside Zenato’s 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, a powerful and well balance Amarone. Zenato is a large family owned wine company based in Peschiera del Garda, on the southern shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy. Their annual production volume is around 167,000 cases. That’s a big operation by Italian standards. I’m very familiar with the Zenato lineup; their Ripassa, a beefed up Valpolicella is extremely addictive. Zenato’s wines have a modern bent to them, though they hold true to their roots and are widely available in the marketplace. Alanera means black wings in reference to the Raven and the Corvina grape which makes up 55% of the blend. 25% Rondinella, 10% Corvinone and 5% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot round out the blend. Half of the grapes are partially dried for 45 to 60 days. After fermentation the wine spend twelve months in 300-500L French Tonneaux and 100-150HL tanks. The oak barrels are of 2nd and 3rd use. The wine spends three months in the bottle before release. This is a “Ripasso” styled wine but it has the IGT designation because the dried and fresh grapes are used to make the wine versus adding the finished Valpolicella wine to the left over lees of an Amarone vat. It’s the process not the ingredients that make the distinction. Here’s a little background on why the IGT designation was invented. Elegance, richness, beautiful balance and an incredible price point make this wine a no brainer case buy. The wine has a medium ruby color, with aromas of fresh and dried red cherries, licorice, cocoa, oak, raisins and a touch of coffee. On the palate it’s full bodied, and juicy with graceful tannins and very good acidity. The finish is both persistent and satisfying. I have no idea how they are able to make a wine of this quality and consistency at the price point it sells for ( $11 to $14 ) , but power to them. They make 12,000 cases of Alanera and it’s easy to find. Pair the Alanera with medium and hard aged cheeses, charcuterie, any variety of meat dishes and of course your favorite items off the barbecue grill.

Dr. Vinny of the Wine Spectator fields a question about whether or not one should swirl a glass of sparkling wine. It’s a touchy subject with sparkling wine afficionados. Are you a swirler?For some reason not everyone can do the right thing when it comes to business. A Baltimore businessman whose job was to safeguard wine which his clients where paying him to store is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen goods. Selling someones wine without their consent; how could he not know that this would end badly? Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

One of Sonoma’s favorite tourist spots the Ravenswood tasting room has closed. The Ravenswood brand was one of 30 that was spun off by New York based Constellation Brands and purchased by E&J Gallo, but the 12 acre property and the tasting room was not part of the deal.McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC are becoming increasingly more common sights in Italy’s urban centers. Jeremy Parzen pens a post on fast food versus organic and big farming in Italy.When was the last time you cut out drinking alcohol of any type? John Fodera an authority of all things Tuscan decided to take just such a break. Calling it “The Purge”, he sighted palate fatigue and decided to abstain for two weeks. He took notes of how his body responded, one of the most interesting being the amount of weight he lost.It’s not surprising to anyone in beverage journalism that there is a culture of “pay to play”. Offers of free samples, meals and trips in exchange for (wink wink) favorable endorsements are ubiquitous. Should there be more transparency in the wine writing business? Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! The wine of the week is the 2017 Substance Cabernet Sauvignon. Charles Smith former rock band promoter turned vintner is the motivation behind this project. Charles first passion is Syrah and he makes a number of serious ones. The Wines of Substance program is focused on producing wines that are true to varietal type, of good value and can be enjoyed now. It’s 100% Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a blend of nine different vineyards. A whole berry fermentation with native yeast followed by 35 days on the skins, the wine was aged for twelve months, 50% in new French oak barriques. A deep ruby color and black fruit nose, with currants, violets, vanilla and cedar notes. This Cabernet is medium to full bodied showing more elegance than the 2016 offering. It’s very easy to drink and you would be hard pressed to find another Cabernet Sauvignon of this quality at this price point. 14.5 % alc $15

The final week of February 2019 was a disaster for Sonoma County residents and for business owners in the recently developed Barlow center in Sebastopol, California. The Russian River Valley suffered some of its worst flooding in decades. Bill and I both live in Sebastopol and we have a lively discussion about the floods and what the future holds for the affected areas. Brent Young writes an article to explain how vineyards are impacted during winter flooding. The interstate battles between California and Oregon vintners continue as Solidarity of Oregon has prompted Eric Cohen, owner of Justice Grace Vineyards to bring his attorney into the fray. Australia is hot. What type of impact is climate change having on this wine growing region? Glyphosate a key ingredient in the weed killer Roundup has been detected (in low levels) in several leading beer and wine brands. Should we be concerned? Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! The wine of the week is the 2015 Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore. The town of Bolgheri, in the province of Livorno, sits at the midpoint of the Tuscan coast. Bolgheri is a relatively new wine area having received its DOC in 1994. Grattamacco was the second winery to be established in this area. The original owner Meletti Cavallari was looking for a fishing retreat with his wife and ended up buying an abandoned farm house with a small vineyard on a hill in Bolgheri. He planted the hill with Cabernet Sauvignon and they released their first wine in 1982. The property was acquired by the Tipa Bertarelli family in 2002. There are 67 acres of vineyards located on a hill between Castagneto Carducci and Bolgheri at around 330 feet above sea level. It’s a maritime climate with frequent sea breezes. The soils are calcareous sandstone, marl and clay and the vines average around 24 years of age. All the grapes are hand harvested, with spontaneous fermentation taking place in open cone shaped vats. The wine spends 21 months in french oak and six additional months aging after bottling. it’s composed of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 15% Sangiovese. I must confess I have never been a big fan of “Super Tuscan” wines. No doubt living in Sonoma County and being only a 45 minute drive from Napa Valley has prejudiced my viewpoint. It’s not that I don’t understand Super Tuscan wines or I’m incapable of enjoying them, admittedly I’m a maniac for Tuscan Merlot. It’s primarily is about availability and price points. Good to high quality Super Tuscans are not made in large quantities and they can be very expensive. Although Super Tuscans can be composed predominantly of Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Franc or other varietals, I’m referring specifically to Cabernet Sauvignon dominated blends. Having so many wonderful choices for Cabernet/ Cabernet Sauvignon blends in my own back yard at much more favorable pricing, puts Italy’s Super Tuscans a little lower on my buy and try list. I was afforded the opportunity to taste the 2015 Grattamacco at the James Suckling Great Wines of Italy event in San Francisco on March 2nd, 2019 and then again a few days later at the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri San Francisco event. The wine displays black cherry, currant and cedar box aromas on the nose with garrigue lurking in the background. The attack on the palate is strong but the sensation is really one of elegance and silkiness. A slight earthiness, very intriguing, with a good kiss of oak. Full bodied with good concentration and savoriness, the finish is long and satisfying. The wine shows great balance with no rough edges and I suspect that it will age well, although it’s drinking incredibly well now. So if you’re looking for a great splurge candidate this is it. 4,166 cases produced $70 - $100

After 45 years in the winemaking business Merry Edwards has decided to slow down. Merry and her husband Ken Coopersmith have sold all their wine holding to the Louis Roederer Champagne house. Roederer, a family owned business already owns three wineries in Mendocino County and plans to keep Merry around through the transition. Bushfires in Australia have been difficult this harvest season, especially at Topper’s Mountain Vineyard where a fire wiped out the entire crop just hours before the scheduled harvest. Lamberto Frescobaldi, owner of Frescobaldi Tuscan wine empire is doing his part to cut down on recidivism. He has established a wine growing culture on the prison island of Gorgona, not far from the Ligurian Riviera. The wines are said to be compelling and expensive. Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! The wine of the week is the 2016 Artezin Old Vine Zinfandel. This wine is made by Randle Johnson of Hess Collection fame. Hess collection is a huge operation and has wineries in California, Argentina and South Africa. The wine has a deep purple color and features a red fruit nose of raspberries, cherries and white pepper. You get all the classic Zinfandel notes on the palate without the over the top jaminess you often get with less refined efforts. Medium bodied and well balanced, a nice touch of baking spice accompanies a medium length finish. 14.5 abv $12 - $16 Two wines we enjoyed this week

The effects of climate change are prompting farmers to look more closely at how much water they use and need to sustain their crops. Bill and I start the podcast by discussing dry farming; the pluses and minuses. Have you ever opened up a bottle of wine, poured a glass, tasted it and thought meh? It just seemed like something was off, or worse yet it was undrinkable. Maggie Rosenberg and Trevor Hagstrom, regional food researchers have come up with some hacks to make those wines go down a little easier. We’ve mentioned all of these hacks before at one time or another in past podcasts, but this is a great refresher. Let us know what you think about these ways to fix bad wine. TN Coopers, a company based in Santiago, Chile, has been using Labrador retrievers to track down the source of TCA and TBA in wineries. After working in South America for many years the company is now looking to bring its specialized service to Northern California. Many winemakers would say Mandy Heldt Donovan is flirting with disaster, but that’s not the way she sees it. The Napa winemaker is intentionally inoculating her wine with Brettanomyces, an extremely hard to control spoilage yeast. Is she searching for a niche wine market? Perhaps she’s leading the way to a new trend in winemaking? In any event she has a long way to go, as for now she only produces about fifty cases. Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! The wine of the week is the 2007 Flaco Tempranillo. Flaco is a slang term for a friend as in “Qué pasa flaco? - what’s up dude? It’s a fun and not so serious expression and the wine is fun and care free as well. Tempranillo depending on where it is grown can exhibit very different expressions; from lighter elegant wine styles to full throttle, palate punishers. Flaco is on the lighter Pinot Noir spectrum of wine styles. It’s 100% Tempranillo that is organically and dry farmed from vineyards around the city of Madrid. The color is a bright ruby red, translucent on the edge. The wine displays red fruit, cherries, lavender and garrigue aromas on nose. On the palate pretty lifted red fruit flavors are complemented by it’s soft, silky, elegant profile. Its juicy fruit, soft texture, coupled with ample acidity make it immediately likeable. Flaco is fermented and aged in stainless steel and concrete tanks so there are no wood flavors to get in the way of the lovely fruit. The current vintage retails for about $7 and they made about 40,000 cases, so it should be fairly easy to find. A beautiful elegant expression of organic tempranillo from vines around madrid

After watching a video by Julien Miquel, Bill and I jump off onto the topic of cork taint. Julien’s insight on “What is cork taint? Why are so Many Wines Corked?” is a must see video. The iconic wine retailer Bottle Barn now has an online presence. If you already buy wines online, do yourself a huge favor and put them on your list of suppliers. There’s a six bottle minimum, but the shipping is free. Jessica Zimmer writes a post that gives a historical viewpoint of how White Zinfandel saved Napa Valley. Noteworthy wine blogger Tom Wark of Wark Communications, a wine P. R. firm, has moved his family from Napa Valley to a new home in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. He writes his own exit interview for the Napa Valley wine business community. The new Prisoner Winery tasting room in St. Helena is the bomb. Owned by Constellation Brands and perched directly off Highway 29, the tasting room could be described as Napa Valleys newest and coolest foodie and wine destination. So why have they been issued a code violation notice? Bill and I discuss these topics and many more in this weeks addition of VinoWeek. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!The wine of the week is the 2013 Castello Colle Massari Montecucco Rosso Riserva. The Colle Massari estate is located in the southern part of Tuscany, approximately forty miles south of Siena, roughly a hour and twenty minute drive. The vineyards, cerified organic, are located on the Montecucco hill which gives its name to the Montecucco DOC, awarded in 1998. By law a Montecucco Rosso (red) wine must contain a minimum of 60% Sangiovese. The first vintage of Colle Massari was in 2000 and in 2014 Colle Massari was awarded the Gambero Rosso 2014 Winery of the Year Award. The owners Maria Iris and Claudio Tipa, also own Tenuta San Giorgio and Poggio di Sotto both in Montalcino and Grattamacco in Bolgheri, so one could say they are firm believers in the terroir of Southern Tuscany. My wife and I first discovered Colle Massari at a local wine shop in a small village south of Siena called Serra di Rapolano. We stayed in that village for ten days and we wiped out that wine stores stock of Colle Massari. Every since then we have been big fans of the wines made at that estate. You can learn more about the Colle Massari estate here.The 2013 Montecucco Riserva was aged in oak barrels for 18 months and then spent a year in the bottle before it was released. The wine is composed of 80% Sangiovese, 10% Ciliegiolo and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. A deep ruby color in the glass, the nose displays black plums, cherries and hints of licorice and leather. On the palate the frame is medium bodied, smooth tannic structure, and well balanced acidity. This wine won’t bowl you over with complexity but it’s a fine example of Sangiovese from Southern Tuscany. The current vintage 2015 retails for about $20. 14% abv Located between Montalcino and Morellino di Scansano, the vineyards covering the Montecucco hills of Colle Massari produce a lovely expression of South Tuscan Sangiovese.

Have you ever wondered when is the best time to drink a wine and will it get better with age? This week Bill and I discuss an article written by Courtney Schiessl titled, how to tell if your wine will age. The Cotes du Rhone region is on a four year streak of excellence. For that matter so is much of Europe. Dave McIntyre pens a thought provoking piece for the Washington Post. The premise of which is, what your wine choices say about you. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers! The wine of the week is the 2016 Chionetti Briccolero Dogliani. This is a Dolcetto (dohl-Chet-toh) from the area around the town of Dogliani (dohl-Yan-nee). The Dolcetto of Dogliani are so well known, that the best wines from the area are simply labeled as Dogliani, as this wine is. Briccolero (bree-Koh-layro) denotes a single vineyard. Dolcetto is grown though out Piedmont and Liguria, which occupy the northwest region of Italy. In Piedmont it’s typically cultivated in areas where Nebbiolo cannot be counted on to ripen reliably. Here in the land of Barolo and Barbaresco, Dolcetto is the wine the locals drink, while they are waiting for their Nebbiolo based wines to mature. Dolcetto is a grape with low acidity but it can have substantial tannins. Founded in 1912 by Giuseppe Chionetti, the current owner Quinto Chionetti organically farms 34.5 acres. He produces three single vineyard wines, San Luigi, La Costa and Briccolero. The Briccolero vineyard sits on a hill, with southeast exposure, above his home and is dominated by a large pine tree at the top. With lightly colored, calcareous soils, the vines are guyot trained and low to the ground. The grapes are hand harvested and the wines, 100% Dolcetto, are crafted using spontaneous fermentations and no filtering. The Briccolero ages for one year in cement tanks with 10 to 15% in large oak barrels. In the glass it’s a deep purple color. Aromas of violets, black fruits and licorice jump out of the glass. On the palate, blackberries, black plums and mulberries. It’s medium bodied, the fruit deeply concentrated and intense, yet all the while silky smooth. Remarkable length and persistence on the finish, Chionetti wines are known for their ability to age gracefully, but it drinks so well now I can’t envision any of the bottles I purchased making it past their third birthday. 14% alc - $26 - $30  

On this podcast Bill and I discuss the lawsuit involving Opus One Winery and one of their barrel suppliers. Joe Wagner of Copper Cane Wines keeps moving forward and is putting the finishing touches on a new bottling facility in Fairfield California. Will he continue to make and bottle his Oregon wines in California? As if you didn’t already know. San Francisco is ridiculously expensive to live in and own a business. Restaurants are changing the way they do business in order to survive. If you are a farmer in Nebraska, Costco is coming to your neighborhood. It just may be a lose, lose situation for the state though. Our favorite gangster is still on the lamb, valiantly fighting extradition to India. The SF Chronicle staff has come up with an excellent list of 12 Sonoma Wineries that offer free tastings. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

On this podcast Bill and I talk about the economic impact of the past few years of fires on the restaurant and wine business in Northern California. Our favorite billionaire, Liquor/ Indian gangster Vijay Mallya, who now resides in London, is vigorously fighting extradition back to India. So far so good for him and not so good for all the Indian bankers that bankrolled his alleged money laundering activities. Fashion mogul Antonio Moretti has been accused of money laundering and tax evasion by the Italian authorities and has been placed under house arrest with his son Andrea. Moretti owns several high end winery operations in Tuscany and Sicily and those assets among others have for the moment been seized by the government. Entrepreneur Joe Wagner of Copper Cane Wines has run afoul of the TTB and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission . It's a complicated case involving clever marketing , logistics and politics that Liza Zimmerman does a good job of covering for Wine Searcher. Year 2018 by most accounts has been a great vintage in Northern California with many vintners having enjoyed a low stress growing and harvest season. We discuss these topics and offer some beer and wine suggestions too. Thanks to everyone for listening. Cheers!

We recorded this podcast on Veteran's Day weekend so  a little politics weaved its way into the content. Bill and  I talk about the wildfires we have experienced in California this year and eventually we got around to some wine talk. And yes we've got some good wine recommendations for you as always.Cheers!Referenced in the showFor Veterans Day Watch: FallenRead the XIII AmendmentWatch: Kayne on the XIII and other stuffCamp Fire 2018

"I don't like Rielsing." Wait for it. "It's too sweet." If I had a dollar for every time I heard those words when I was in wholesale and retail trade I'd have a very nice cellar of Rieslings. I'm not trying to convince anyone anymore about the merits of German Riesling, for now long living in the shadows of Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. I'll leave that chore to Jancis Robinson and the sommeliers of fine dining establishments. Having championed German Riesling for decades now, if Jancis' breadth of knowledge and proselytizing about the virtues of Riesling doesn't make you more curious about the wine, you can't be helped. Notice how I mentioned the red wines before the Chardonnay. Well, that's because anybody that knows anything about wine, knows there is only one real type of wine and it has to be red. Cheers to the "Big Reds Only Guy", downing glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon at mid-summer outdoor barbecues. Alright enough with the sarcasm, lest you think I don't like German Riesling. I love Riesling. I suppose one of the reasons I love German Riesling is the tradition behind it. Some of the best Riesling wines hail from the  incredibly steep valley slopes of  the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer rivers in the southwestern region of Germany not too far from the borders of France and Luxembourg. Farming and harvesting on these steep slopes can be done by machines but it's still mostly done traditionally by hand, using seasonal workers from eastern Europe. A machine harvester can replace fifty grape pickers, start work at a moments' notice and doesn't need to take breaks during its shifts. As time marches on the machines will do more and more of the work, although I'm not convinced for now, that the machines do a better job than humans. Holding to tradition Nik's vineyard holdings are still hand harvested. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks and aging in seasoned Fuder  ( thousand liter oak barrels) make German Rielsings truly unique wines. One of the reasons German Riesling is touted as having the greatest ability to express the differences in terroir is the fact that the German winemakers eschew new small oak barrels in the cellar for fermentation or aging. This allows for a truer expression of what the grapes have to offer in the finished wines. Think of new oak barrels as condiments in your kitchen and without the use of your condiments you have only the true flavors of your base ingredient.The object of my desires this week is the 2015 Single Post Riesling Ockfener Bockstein Kabinett from the Saar River Valley. Nik Weis is in charge of this operation and his grandfather Nicolaus Weis built the St. Urbans-Hof estate after the war, by the village of Leiwen in 1947. The family owns an extensive amount of vines (33 hectares) in the Mosel and Saar area. The grapes for the Single Post come from a leased portion of  the Ockfener Bockstein vineyard so the Single Post bottling is a secondary label for St. Urbans-Hof. Even though you don't get their distinctive black and gold label that adorns their top wines,  you do get  a wine that has been raised under the watchful eye of Nik Weis, from a Grand Cru vineyard. That in itself is a great value because Nik makes great wines at fair prices.     Ockfener  The Single Post Riesling is crafted from grapes grown on the steep south facing slopes of the Bockstein Vineyard above the village of Ockfen. Bock is a buck in German and a stein is a rock.   German wine labels in the past have been notoriously famous for their Gothic fonts and tongue twisting names which could be difficult to read and understand. Nik is a smart marketer, electing to use easy to understand labeling, but still giving a nod to the old schoolers. For this wine the label clearly states Single Post Riesling in bold red and gold fonts. Typically used on steep slopes where trellising is not possible 'Single Post' vines have their own stake with two canes bent in the shape of a heart. A drawing of this vine training style is featured on the  front label. For the traditional old schoolers the name of the village, vineyard and wine style is in smaller font towards the bottom of the label. Ockfener meaning from the village of Ockfen. Bockstein is the name of the vineyard site, set in a side valley of the Saar River with a 50% slope and a southwest exposure. Kabinett denotes a high quality wine made in a light style. Turn the bottle around and you essentially get the same information on the back side along with the International Riesling Foundation Taste Profile. For the consumer this easy to read scale makes buying German Rielsing much easier. The bottle features a red colored stelvin closure with the words con natura non invicem. A nod to Nik's recent affiliation with the Fair and Green Association which espouses a holistic sustainability concept. Consequently traditional and natural winemaking methods are used in Nik's cellars instead of some of the modern technology and hocus pocus you may witness in other cellars.The Single Post Riesling has a light amber color and displays lemon-lime, white peach and intriguing leesy aromas. On the palate it's Golden Delicious apples and apricots all wrapped in honey. At 8% alcohol its off dry, delicately light with vibrant acidity and a long lengthy finish that leave you wanting more. In our household once a bottle of Single Post is opened there's never any left over for tomorrow. Both the 2015 and the 2016 vintage are currently available on the market. $18 to $20                                                                     The village of Ockfen                                    photo courtesy of Ockfen.com

Bill and I recently had the opportunity to chat with Alex Guarachi, founder of Guarachi Wine Partners.  Guarachi Wine Partners represents sixteen brands from six countries. During our interview Alex shares how and why he entered the wine business and how he sees the industry changing. Even though he's been in the business over three decades now, his enthusiasm and passion came forth as if he's just started business last week.  We came away energized by his warmth and spirit. We know you'll enjoy his story and a brief look inside the world of wine.Cheers!

Jackson Family Wines makes another investmentin Oregon. What's driving the move north? Are there more mergers and acquisitions on the horizon? Alison Spiegel gets some of the nations coolest sommeliers to drop some insider secrets.Winemakers are preparing to mount a battle against the regional government in Chablis. A proposed tar plant is the source of the conflict.Peter Gago, head winemaker at Penfolds has lost his faith in screwcap closures for wine bottles and is now researching the efficacy of glass as a cork alternative.The Drunken Cyclist shares his experience of two very different nights at Antica Bottega Del Vino in Verona.Thank you for listening and tell a friend. Cheers!

The former owner of Premier Cru wines a now defunct retailer in Berkeley, California has pled guilty to running a wine Ponzi scheme and has cut a deal with federal prosecutors.   There's gold in those hill. At least that's what famed grape growers Andy and David Beckstoffer are hoping for as they work to raise the quality and notorietyof grapes grown in the Red Hills of Lake County, California.The Soberanes Creek fire continues to burn causing lots of concern for residents and farmers in Monterey County. There have also been a number of wildfires in Europe.  Adam Teeter pens an informative post on understanding tannins in red wine.     Here's a good post to show what organic farmers battle through to provide us with a healthier product.    John Fodera has just posted a comprehensive report on currentChianti wines. If you're a fan of Chianti Classico it's a must read.   As always thanks for listening and please tell a friend.

On the west coast of the United States it's fire season and the Soberanes fire near Big Sur, California and a wildfire near Prosser, Washington has caused lots of concern for farmers and winery owners.  Antonio Galloni pens a wonderful piece, while offering a sobering viewpoint on the recent sale of one of Barolo's gems, Vietti Winery to American businessman Kyle Krause. Mr. Galloni also has some suggestions on how to start a wine collection.Here's a quick primer on the differences between Left Bank and Right Bank Bordeaux.Michele Parente explains why wine costs what it does. Bill and I discuss these stories and a few more as we get back into the swing of things after a brief hiatus.As always thanks for listening and tell a friend about us. Cheers!

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates makes another investment in Northern California, while Jackson Family Wines adds to its portfolio of Oregon wine properties. It looks like the Robert Rue label has been retired as Venge Vineyards has purchased the property  in Russian River Valley.We're number one or are we? Check out this graphic by Decanter Magazine highlighting the top 10 wine consuming countries.Want to brush up on your Chianti Classico knowledge and get a heads up of what's available in the marketplace? Don'tmiss Richard Jennings' awesome post.Is that the world's most interesting man. No, it's Vijay Mallya, India's most wanted man.  It's easy to steal rare wine but much harder to fence it, or so it seems for two Northern California men who have been charged with trafficking in stolen goods.Bill and I discuss these stories and a few other on this week's podcast. Thanks for listening and tell a friend. Cheers!

                                                         Supermarket Champagne DealsHow low can supermarket Champagne prices go in the UK and what will be the net aftereffect? Joyce Lin puts together a guide to help understand Champagne labels.Can you train your palate to get more out of the wines you drink? Rachel Signer asks some industry professionals that very question.  Bill and I have a few suggestions as well on how to sharpen your palate and taste wine like a pro.What's the big deal about ageing wine? When is the best time to drink that special bottle you've been saving? Nova McCune Cadamatre offers up thoughts on the subject; To Age Or Not To Age? That Is The Question.Here's our feel good story of the week. Ashley Trout a winemaker in Washington has started a non-profit winery, Vital Wines. Aimed at helping vineyard workers that do not have health coverage, it's a good step in a positive direction.The press rollout has started for the latest hi-fi wine gadget. It's called the Kuvee. Ever wonder how wine gets to the states at sometimes staggeringly low prices? Bruce Schneider and Charles Bieler are working to clean up the tarnished image of bulk wine through their new wine company, Gotham Project.Wine of the week:  2013 the Pundit Syrah Columbia Valley The winemaker triad of Chateau Ste. Michelle's Bob Berteau, and Rhone Valley's Phillipe Cambie and Michel Gassier are the team behind Tenet Wines. The Pundit is 94% Syrah, 3% Grenache, 2% Mourvedre, and 1% Viognier ( cofermented with the syrah). The wine spends twelve months in oak barrels, 61% neutral French oak, 23% new French oak and 16% new American oak. The color in the glass is an opaque black-purple, going ruby towards the edges. The nose offers up black cherry, cocoa, vanilla and spice. In the mouth it's rich and sappy with no rough edges, black plum jam, vanilla spice and a long satisfying finish. An excellent buy at $20. 14.3% abv This wine was #34 on the Wine Spectator'stop 100 of 2015, so if you want some you should source it out immediately. 

Bill and I consider what may become of the tipping tradition in America's restaurants. The ever widening wage gap between front of the house restaurant employees and back of the house workers, pending government mandated wage increases and uncertainty of the direction in which current immigration policy may head, makes operating a restaurant, risky business indeed. Is restaurateur Danny Meyer a maverick altruist or does he have a crystal ball, has seen the future and is preparing for the changes. Richard Jennings a Silicon Valley based wine blogger took over a year off from blogging and on his return has hit it out of the park, with a comprehensive review of 230 grocery store Chardonnays. He didn't just pick up his free samples at the UPS depot. He did the hard work, trekking to local Lucky, Safeway and Costco stores to purchase bottles. Yes, he spent $4,000 of his own hard earned cash to complete the project.  If you shop for Chardonnay at the grocery store this is a must read. But wait, there's more. He's currently working on a grocery store Cabernet project. You can follow his progress on Cellartracker, Facebook and Twitter.If you're a cheese lover Tia Keenan wants to introduce us to some of the wonderful products that are made here in the United States as well as from abroad.Former owner of now defunct wine retailer Premier Cru looks to be headed to court again. This time the claimant will be Wells Fargo, who is looking to reclaim the 2016 ZO6 Corvette he purchased this year shortly before he declared bankruptcy. Wine of the week: 2012 Tormaresca Torcicoda Primitivo Salento IGT Primitivo is a clone of a Croatian grape called Crljenak Kastelanski ( tsril/ yeh/ nak- kah/ steh/ lahn/ skee. Practice this pronunciation and you can wow your friends at your next gathering. You could also use it on that overbearing wine snob at your next mixer to get them to back off. Simplified, Primitivo is Italian Zinfandel. The Tormaresca Estate is operated under the umbrella of the Antinori Family. Winemaker Renzo Cotarella has the best of everything at his disposal all with the goal of showing the world, the best that the region of Puglia, in southern Italy has to offer. The flagship wine for Tormaresca is their 100% Negroamaro based Masseria Maime. Don't miss an opportunity to try it.  Topped with a real cork, Torcicoda is 100% Primitivo and is fermented in stainless steel, then aged in French and Hungarian oak barrels for ten months. The wine rest in bottle another eight months until release. In the glass the wine is a deep ruby to violet colorand the nose shows black plums, black cherries, brown sugar and vanilla. In the mouth the flavors turn to red cherry jam and cocoa with hints of licorice and baking spice. Full bodied with ample well rounded tannins it finishes with good length. Drawing a comparison between Torcicoda and Sonoma Zinfandels, I'd say that this Primitivo is a more feminine representation of the Zinfandel grape, showing less alcohol, more savory flavors and elegance. I tasted the 2013 version alongside the 2012 and the former underperformed, so I suggest you confine your search to the 2012 version. Another reminder that vintage does matter.  14.5 % abv $17 - $20

Last week one of Napa Valley's legendary winemakers passed. Peter Mondavi Sr. was an innovator and was most proud of not having to sell out to corporate interest, he steadfastly worked to keep Charles Krug Winery in family hands. We send out our thoughts and prayers to the family.Open that bottle night has come and gone. Held on the last Saturday of every February and started by wine writers Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher,  it's celebrated as a reason to open up that bottle that you've been saving for a special occasion. If you participated in the event share with us what you had.New research presented by the Wine Market Council shows that millennials have overtaken baby boomers and Gen Xers with regards to wine drinking rates.  Talia Jane sent off a blog post to her boss, Jeremy Stoppleman CEO of Yelp, detailing how difficult it was to work for his company due to the inadequate compensation package she was receiving. Now she's wondering why she's unemployed and is asking for handouts. Stephanie Williams a millennial herself offers her take on Talia's dilemma. Four Seasons Vineyard Management and Ridge Vineyards have been fined $42,300 for housing violations related to a migrant farm worker facility in Healdsburg, Ca.  Here's a link for some quick updates on the Premier Cru bankruptcy and scandal. Zachary Sussman pens an excellent post on the subject of wine futures, detailing how they work and sometimes why they don't.  Do we need another law aimed at dealing with drunk drivers? Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego believes we do and has introduced a bill that would require more training for restaurant and bar workers to recognize patrons that have had too much to drink. Kerin O'Keefe tells a story about one of the most exciting white wines coming out of northern Italy.Wine of the week: 2011 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva  Volpaia is a hilltop walled village north of Radda in central Tuscany. Raffaelo Stianti purchased the estate in 1966 and when his daughter Giovanella married in 1972, the estate became the young couples wedding present. All of the estate owned vineyards are organically farmed and certified, 114 acres in total, situated with southern hillside exposures at 1,300 to 2,130 ft. The nose shows black plums and cherries, floral aromas of lavender, with trailing hints of sage and cedar. Elegant with crisp acidity and good structure it's full bodied at 14.5 % alc. On the palate it has beautiful juicy black fruit, with silky tannins and a persistent finish.  $25 Thanks for listening and please tell a friend. Cheers!

Chalone Vineyards has changed hands again. The new owner Bill Foley plans to put new emphasis on promoting the brand.Dorthy Gaiter interviews Michael Mondavi about the Mondavi clan, then and now. The way things have turned out may not be as patriarch Robert Mondavi had envisioned, but if he were here he'd probably be pleased. Tim Carl writes about the evolving taste in California wine country. Could this be a glimpse into the near future?Batya Ungar-Sargon wonders 'Why aren't there more Black Americans making wine?'. From the files of people behaving badly, Italian police have discovered a counterfeit Champagne operation in the province of Padua.Wine of the week: 2012 Boundary Breaks Vineyard Riesling - Ovid Line North This riesling hails from the Finger Lakes Region of New York on the east side of Seneca Lake. It's composed of two riesling clones Geisenheim 110 and 239 and was harvested at 21 brix. Fermented and aged in stainless steel for six months, it's finished with residual sugar of 3.2 % and 11.6 % abv. It has a shy nose with a pleasant leesy aroma. Leesy is a term for the aroma you get from wine that is held in a container on its lees (dead yeast cells) for an extended period.  Where this wine really struts its stuff is on the palate. You'll find juicy white peach and pear flavors. It's off dry with that characteristic lemon, lime, tongue tingling acidity on the finish. A real crowd pleaser for sure.   575 cases $20

Rachel Signer has a list of ten things every woman should know about wine, but her list could apply to guys as well. Michelle Locke offers up nine hacks to help you drink better wine by drinking it better. In the podcast Bill and I offer up a few ways to enhance your wine drinking experience as well.Is the age of the Sommelier coming to an end? Some high profile somms are looking for a different experience and are moving into the retail arena. Upscale wine merchant Premier Cru of Berkeley, California has finally folded amidst a plethora of accusations and lawsuits. The FBI is now actively involved and handling former customer and vendor complaints. Napa County officials are flexing their muscles and threatening to shut down a winery in Calistoga that does not have their permits to do business in order.  We talked about this story on a prior podcast.  Look who's saying 'My Bad'. Here's proof that Maureen Downey is smart and one tough cookie. Wine of the week:2014 Tenshen Santa Barbara County White Wine This is the best full bodied aromatic white I've tasted this year. It's a Rhone blend of Viognier, Rousanne, Grenache Blanc and Chardonnay. The wine is aged for five months in 80% neutral oak, 20% stainless steel. The aroma offers up orange blossoms, tangerine, kumquat and it's delightfully tropical. On the palate it's full bodied, rich and savory. When you swallow, it taste like more, with flavorful waves of apricot and yellow peaches. It's delicious!  Wines of this quality, at this price point do not remain on the market for long. Run to your favorite retailer and secure some before it's gone. 14.7 % abv $18 - $20 Thanks for listening and please tell a friend about us. Cheers!