Randall Grahm, Hall of Famer

I’m just catching up with the fact that Randall Grahm, the founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard and one of California’s original “Rhone Rangers,” was among those inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame last weekend by the CIA. No, not that CIA -- the Culinary Institute of America.

For more than a quarter century, though, Grahm has been an agent, so to speak, of change and innovation in California winemaking, pushing the boundaries of traditional thinking about wine and wine marketing, often in highly entertaining, if not hilarious, fashion. I don’t think anyone else, for example, could have come up with the “Death of the Cork” event I attended one evening a few years or so ago. Grahm, I recall, came dressed as the Grim Reaper at this wake-like dinner and announced that, henceforth, the cork would be replaced by the screw cap closure on all of Bonny Doon’s wines. It was great fun.

Grahm says he feels fortunate that “my ‘work’ has never really struck me as real work. It has largely been about play, uncontrolled vinous id.” He continues: “I’ve explored an ungodly number of grape varieties, and worked in a wide range of wine styles, but everything I have done to date has fallen squarely into the realm of ‘wines of effort.’ It is now time for me to buckle down and really apply myself to discovering/creating an authentic wine of terroir. For me, this is what has true value.” His real work, he says, has yet to be done.

del.icio.us Tags: Randall Grahm,Edward Deitch,Bonny Doon Vineyard,Vintners Hall of Fame,California wine,Wine corks,Screw caps

Sips: drinking “green” on St. Patrick’s Day

Wine names. Is there a more un-sexy one than “Sustainable White?” I mean, come on. Doesn’t it sound more like a paint color than a wine? And yet, I really did enjoy this $11 California blend, and I’ll tell you about it in a minute. But first, a little background is in order.  

As I’ve observed before, many wineries are jumping on the green bandwagon these days; no doubt it’s one of the hottest trends in winemaking and wine marketing, at least in this country. I point to the American example because in France, as I learned on my visit to the Loire Valley last month, they seem less inclined to wave the green flag to sell their wines, even though organic and biodynamic winemaking has taken off there as well (in fact, in the Loire there is a long history of it). The difference seems to be that the French prefer to let their wines speak for themselves and then to tell you about them if you care to ask. In any event, the 2008 Sustainable White from Mendocino County succeeds because it’s very good wine and, at $11, is a rare California bargain. That said, it’s laudable that the winery is trying mightily to be environmentally correct -- and succeeding .

The winery is Parducci Wine Cellars, owned since 2004 by the  Mendocino Wine Company, whose partners, Paul Dolan and several members of the Thornhill family, have made sustainability the centerpiece of their business. There’s a nice explanation of how they are doing this on the sustainability page of their Web site. I’m assuming that because the wine doesn’t explicitly say so, the grapes are not certified organic, which I wouldn’t expect at this price point.

Parducci’s “Sustainable” line (there is also a red) was created at the request of Whole Foods Market and was sold exclusively at the chain for the first year. The wines are now being sold nationally, with 9,000 cases of each produced. For me, the winner is the white, a blend of mainly chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc with smaller amounts of viognier, muscat caneli and friulano. The most striking thing about it is an unusual layer of smokiness that accents its notes of pear, tropical fruit and citrus. It’s unusually complex for the price and will pair well with a range of foods, including chicken and pork, seafood and risotto with asparagus and shrimp. As for being produced by a sustainable winery? That’s icing on the cake. And the name “Sustainable White?” It’s growing on me. Perhaps I’ll suggest it to the folks at Benjamin Moore, and do let me know what you think of the name. (Wine received as a press sample.)

del.icio.us Tags: Parducci,Paul Dolan,Edward Deitch,Sustainable White,Sustainable,White wine,White blends,California blends,Wine names,Wine labels,California white wines,California whites,Green wine,St. Patrick's wine

Riesling: getting past the ‘sweet’ thing

No doubt, riesling is still the most misunderstood white wine. It’s also probably the most versatile, as I was reminded the other night at a dinner featuring the wines of Pacific Rim in Washington state.  The event, at the restaurant 11 Madison Park in New York,  started off with something different. “We going to play a little game,” said Nicolals Quillé, winemaker and general manager of Pacific Rim, which produces only riesling and is owned by Randall Grahm, the iconic founder of California’s Bonny Doon Vineyard. “Riesling is a confusing category for a lot of folks,” Quillé went on. “They don’t know if it’s sweet or dry.”

Which brings us back to our game. We were asked to place the five still rieslings Pacific Rim makes on a scale that went from dry to medium dry to medium sweet to sweet. Each glass had a  little color-coded sticker on its base.  After 5 or 10 minutes of sipping we were ready to discuss the results. No one had any problem identifying the wines on either end of the scale – the 2007 Dry Riesling on one side and, on the other, the 2009 Sweet Riesling and, most notably, the even sweeter 2007 Vin de Glacière, a concentrated and gorgeous “ice wine.”  A few people had more trouble deciding which was the sweeter of the two wines in the “medium” range, the 2009 Riesling or the 2008 Organic Riesling. Technically, the organic wine, with a bit more residual sugar, was sweeter by a hair.

The point of the exercise was to demonstrate that there is no single riesling style, despite its reputation among many wine drinkers as a “sweet” wine. The beauty of riesling is that it is made and can be enjoyed in a broad range of styles, depending on preference and food pairing, whether from Washington, Germany, Austria, Alsace, Australia or New York state, to cite some of the better-known regions where the grape is grown.

And our dinner proved the point. There is, for example, no better pairing for a little terrine of foie gras, our starter, than a sweet “dessert” wine such as Pacific Rim’s Vin de Glacièr. With notes of stone fruit, citrus, honey and brown sugar, the wine was actually refreshing with its high level of balancing acidity. While the sweetness enabled it to withstand the richness of the foie gras, the acids made the dish seem less rich than it was. I don’t think there was a morsel left on anyone’s plate.

The Dry Riesling, with its notes of apple, apricot and nut, matched well with poached lobster, but so did the somewhat sweeter wines, demonstrating again that riesling is largely about preference. For me, the most interesting wine was the riesling made from organic grapes, which I enjoyed with both the lobster and a slab of roasted pork tenderloin. Bright and complex with green apple and mint notes, it was the most “textured” of the wines, showing a the most minerality. I found found myself going back to it time and again during the course of the evening.

Toward the end of the dinner, I asked Nicolas Quillé how his business was doing, anticipating a recessionary note in his answer. He revealed that Pacific Rim’s sales were up 40 percent last year. I asked to what he attributed the gain. “A fast-growing varietal, the right price point ($10 to $15 or so) and a focused story.” Which is what? I asked. His answer: “Riesling.”

del.icio.us Tags: Edward Deitch,Riesling,Dry riesling,Sweet riesling,Washington wines,Pacific Rim,Bonny Doon Vineyard,American riesling,Washingon riesling,Nicolas Quillé

Swirls: tough times for some in Napa, Chile

I came across an interesting take from Australia on the impact of the recent earthquake in Chile, not only on that country’s wine industry, but on how damage from the quake might affect the fortunes of Australia’s wine business, which is dealing with “chronic oversupply problems.”

Meanwhile, I was struck by a report on the continuing fallout from the recession in the Napa Valley, with land values down and the threat of foreclosures up.

del.icio.us Tags: Chile wine,Chile quake,Australia wine,Napa Valley,Edward Deitch

Chile quake update – first pictures

One can only imagine what it’s been like in Chile for the the last two weeks as it works to recover from the massive earthquake that struck the central-south part of the country, the heart of Chile’s wine industry. Ten more aftershocks jolted Chileans on Thursday, including those attending the inauguration of the new president, Sebastian Pinera. The biggest was a powerful  6.9-magnitude quake, almost as big as the one in Haiti in January. It’s always hard to generalize, but as  more wineries report in, the bottom line seems to be that while most  were affected by the quake on February 27, the damage could have been much worse.

The well-known Casa Lapostolle reported a significant bottle loss of the 2008 vintage at its winery in Cunaco in the Colchagua Valley (a zone within the Rapel Valley), amounting to 20 percent of that year’s production. Beyond that, it said that loss of wine in barrels was less than five percent for the reds and almost nothing for chardonnay. Casa Lapostolle released the photo on the right, saying the narrow spacing of the barrels prevented many of them from crashing down and breaking.

Beyond that, the winery said losses in tanks were mainly in wines intended to be sold in bulk. The 2009 vintage, it said, is “completely intact” and will be released this May “to compensate for any losses  in the 2008 bottles.” Bottling and labeling lines will be back in operation Friday and shipping will resume on Monday. At right, picking up the pieces in Lapostolle’s warehouse.

Another winery, Viu Manent, also in Colchagua, said its vineyards were “very much intact” and reported only minor damage to its cellar. As for its wine, it said an initial assessment showed that losses “do not exceed 15 percent and mostly resulted from the collapse of some of our largest tanks, some barrels, and some bottled wine.” It said winemaking equipment is intact and ready for the 2010 vintage, which has started in Chile. Beyond its wine operations, Viu Manent said the greatest damage was to its tourist area, including the collapse of an old adobe building, which will preclude visits to the winery for a few months.

BuzzNet Tags: Edward Deitch,Chile wines,Chile quake,Casa Lapostolle,Viu Manent,Earthquake damage

Boomers love their wine

A new study by Nielsen on consumer shopping habits has some interesting insights into wine buying across the generations. The survey found that Boomers (those 45 to 63 years old) led all age groups, spending on average $125 per household on wine last year. Boomer households spent more per year only on pet food ($211) and carbonated beverages ($140) among the categories in the  survey.  They were followed closely in wine spending by the “Greatest Generation” (64+) at $124. There was dramatically lower spending on wine by Gen X (33-44) at $78 per year and Millenials (15-32) at $61.

Beyond wine, Nielsen notes that Boomers comprise more than one-third of the Internet population and “are big online shoppers, comfortable using email and messaging to stay in touch.” And Twitter, it notes, is a huge untapped outlet for reaching Boomers, who increased utilization 469% during 2009.”

Some observations on spending in general: “The Greatest Generation members, shaped by the Great Depression and World War II frugality, are the most frequent shoppers and more deal prone than other age segments. High-earning Boomers have the largest annual dollar spend per household of any group, followed by GenX. Millennials don’t like to waste time in-store, shopping less often than other age cohorts but buying more per trip as a result.”

BuzzNet Tags: Edward Deitch,Boomers,Wine buying,Nielsen,Buying habits

Sips: wines we like

I’ve been tasting a variety of excellent inexpensive whites in recent weeks and wanted to share one of my favorites. At Gabriel’s restaurant here in New York last evening, I wanted a refreshing, easy-to-drink but interesting young white over which to have a business conversation with a friend. On a hunch (and because I didn’t know the wine), I ordered a bottle of Saladini Pilastri’s 2008 Falerio “Vigna Palazzi” from Italy’s Marche region. My hunch was right. This crisp and focused wine has delicious fresh fruit and I suspected there was some chardonnay in it; in fact it’s a blend of  blend of the trebbiano, passerina and  chardonnay that combine to offer notes of pear, lemon-lime, subtle herbs and minerals with a nice little overlay of cream on the finish. It matched well with a little steak tartare and some  bruschetta. We paid $24 for it at the restaurant but I saw it listed at $8 or $9 at retail on the Web. Imported by Michelangelo Imports, New York. I’ll have some more exciting white wines in coming days.

Technorati Tags: Edward Deitch,Italy,White wines,Italian white wines,Falerio,Marche

The latest from Chile

Christophe Salin, the president of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, which produces the Los Vascos brand in Chile, reported no damage to the company’s vineyards, buildings and technical equipment in the Feb. 28 earthquake but said in an e-mail that “some tanks, barrels and bottles have unfortunately collapsed and we anticipate a loss amounting up to 20 percent of our wine inventory.” As the harvest approaches, he said, the winery should be back to “business as usual” next week when it expects electricity, water and phone lines to be restored. He said shipments might be delayed, however.

Meanwhile, Banfi Vintners, the largest U.S. importer of wines from Chile, said shipments of its wines will resume this Thursday from the port of San Antonio. Banfi imports the wines of  Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest producer, including its Trivento and Emiliana brands. Banfi said the wineries had resumed production after suspending it for a week or so. James Mariani, Banifi’s co-chief executive, noted that wine exports “constitute a key component of the Chilean economy; thus, we are all firmly committed to seeing business resume as swiftly as possible.”

Technorati Tags: Edwawrd Deitch,Chile wines,Chile quake