This post is sourced entirely from the article of the same name by Mitch Frank in the June 30th Wine Spectator magazine. I might add that the post is written on August 13th when I finally got around to reading the magazine so it's not really news at this point.
Gallo is always news for this industry though because it is the largest wine company in the world and they do a good job in that rarefied stratosphere. We have written about the mass marketers of this industry in the past so after a cursory look at The Prisoner's brief history, we'll go right to the transaction.
Dave Phinney created both The Prisoner, a red Zinfandel-based blend, and the Orin Swift brand in 2000. With immediate success from The Prisoner sales, Orin Swift quickly became a line of varietal wines including Saldo, Cuttings, Blindfold, and Thorn. In 2010 with annual sales at 85,000 cases, Phinney sold the Orin Swift line to Huneeus Vineyards for $40 million. Huneeus has an amazing track record of success which we documented in our January 31st '13 blogpost. In the past six years Huneeus increased sales to the 170,000 cases currently which led Gallo to purchase the line for $285 million dollars.
So what did Gallo buy? The five brand names above. There never have been any vineyards or wineries as part of the Orin Swift project. Everything has been contracted. Gallo of course has plenty of vineyards already with winery capacity for several new Orin Swift-ian operations. So the purchase was for the brand names alone.
And that is the way the wine business works in this modern era. Whenever an independent winery is sold to an industry player it's just the brand that is purchased. It's called consolidation and it's the same in beer and liquor and cheese and sausage and the prevailing wisdom is to take the mass marketers' money and get out of their way. They always pay well. Let them have it.
Gallo has announced that the Orin Swift wines would be made at Franciscan Vineyards going forward which was another Huneeus successful project before ending up with Gallo.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Ava Winery
"Test tube wines are upon us." So says Carson Demmond in his recent Food & Wine magazine article of the same name. What he's referring to is Ava Winery and if you thought our preceding post about Replica wines and their efforts to copy popular wine styles was alarming, Ava is a copycat of a whole other order. They choose to bioengineer their creations without fermenting grapes!
So Ava Winery is a winery in name only. It's actually a lab with proprietary technology that proposes a methodology using various analytical chemistry techniques including Gas Chromatography Mass Spectometry among others to understand the composition of a wine Ava wants to reproduce. They want to identify and determine the ratios of each of two hundred molecular compounds to each other so they can reproduce a wine's flavors and aromas.
Alec Lee and Marchonn Chua are the evil scientists here and they claim they can turn water into wine in fifteen minutes once the analysis stage is over. Vegetable glycerin provides the body in the concoction before tartaric acid, malic acid, tannin powder, sucrose, and everclear ethanol provide the more common components. The finished product will have the same amino acids, sugars, volatile aromatic compounds and alcohol as the wine it is copying.
Like Replica, Ava is transparent with regard to their creative processes with no desire to insert extraneous additives to their product which sounds odd considering what they do. They are also respectful of wine history, terroir, and the labor implicit in farming and vinification which makes them admirable, again, considering what they are doing.
To date Ava, an American Viticultural Area pun, has only taken orders for their first release. They intend to sell through their website at the beginning asking $50 per bottle for reproductions of wines that could command thousand dollar prices. You can get on a waiting list at their website. Since this is essentially groundbreaking work and bureaucracy being what it is, Lee and Chua expect a lot of hurdles to overcome before getting into wide distribution.
Lee and Chua also see themselves as pioneers of a future time when synthetic foods will be the order of the day. Perhaps their wares may be found in the Star Trek episode vending machine that delivered the beverage of choice keyed in by the thirsty space traveler.
So Ava Winery is a winery in name only. It's actually a lab with proprietary technology that proposes a methodology using various analytical chemistry techniques including Gas Chromatography Mass Spectometry among others to understand the composition of a wine Ava wants to reproduce. They want to identify and determine the ratios of each of two hundred molecular compounds to each other so they can reproduce a wine's flavors and aromas.
Alec Lee and Marchonn Chua are the evil scientists here and they claim they can turn water into wine in fifteen minutes once the analysis stage is over. Vegetable glycerin provides the body in the concoction before tartaric acid, malic acid, tannin powder, sucrose, and everclear ethanol provide the more common components. The finished product will have the same amino acids, sugars, volatile aromatic compounds and alcohol as the wine it is copying.
Like Replica, Ava is transparent with regard to their creative processes with no desire to insert extraneous additives to their product which sounds odd considering what they do. They are also respectful of wine history, terroir, and the labor implicit in farming and vinification which makes them admirable, again, considering what they are doing.
To date Ava, an American Viticultural Area pun, has only taken orders for their first release. They intend to sell through their website at the beginning asking $50 per bottle for reproductions of wines that could command thousand dollar prices. You can get on a waiting list at their website. Since this is essentially groundbreaking work and bureaucracy being what it is, Lee and Chua expect a lot of hurdles to overcome before getting into wide distribution.
Lee and Chua also see themselves as pioneers of a future time when synthetic foods will be the order of the day. Perhaps their wares may be found in the Star Trek episode vending machine that delivered the beverage of choice keyed in by the thirsty space traveler.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Replica
A replica is an exact copy or reproduction of something else.
Replica Cellars of Healdsburg, California "unapologetically replicates your favorite wines" (back label) using chemical instruments and a huge flavor data base. After its initial examination, Colorado-based Integrated Beverage Group, owner of Replica, then turns to independent chemical laboratory, Ellipse Analytics, for further process detailing.
Ellipse identifies, compares, and quantifies macrocomponents like sugars, acidity, and tannins before isolating individual volatile flavor chemicals (microcomponents). The rest of the process then reverts to the purely subjective: trained tasters delineate the flavor profile of the wine before finally making a blend that mimics the original. The replica is asserted to be 90% accurate and without extraneous flavor additives.
So what's going on here? Replica calls themselves "master forgers" with taglines like "Originality is over-rated, especially when it's overpriced." So are these guys more akin to the oil painting forgers who are themselves artists or are they just counterfitters who use the latest technology? Or since science and technology are already everywhere in the wine business and copying of wines probably goes back to clay pottery days, is this really just the latest in wink-and-a-nod wine marketing?
The fact that Replica uses no chemical flavorings is telling. That says they are traditional and maybe even conservative. Moreover, they say they will not duplicate a terroir-specific wine, which is... respectful. Back on March 26th of this year we wrote about Mega-Purple and the other additives mass marketers and less-than-scrupulous others use to make popular styled wines. If Replica isn't going that route then they are just another mainstream winery. Pop songwriters used to talk about the "hook" in pop music that would catch the casual listener's attention. Maybe Replica similarly just embellishes the popular aspect of a given wine.
In the store at this time we have the Replica Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay which are both very good. If you want to know what each is replicating you'll have to stop in the store.
Replica Cellars of Healdsburg, California "unapologetically replicates your favorite wines" (back label) using chemical instruments and a huge flavor data base. After its initial examination, Colorado-based Integrated Beverage Group, owner of Replica, then turns to independent chemical laboratory, Ellipse Analytics, for further process detailing.
Ellipse identifies, compares, and quantifies macrocomponents like sugars, acidity, and tannins before isolating individual volatile flavor chemicals (microcomponents). The rest of the process then reverts to the purely subjective: trained tasters delineate the flavor profile of the wine before finally making a blend that mimics the original. The replica is asserted to be 90% accurate and without extraneous flavor additives.
So what's going on here? Replica calls themselves "master forgers" with taglines like "Originality is over-rated, especially when it's overpriced." So are these guys more akin to the oil painting forgers who are themselves artists or are they just counterfitters who use the latest technology? Or since science and technology are already everywhere in the wine business and copying of wines probably goes back to clay pottery days, is this really just the latest in wink-and-a-nod wine marketing?
The fact that Replica uses no chemical flavorings is telling. That says they are traditional and maybe even conservative. Moreover, they say they will not duplicate a terroir-specific wine, which is... respectful. Back on March 26th of this year we wrote about Mega-Purple and the other additives mass marketers and less-than-scrupulous others use to make popular styled wines. If Replica isn't going that route then they are just another mainstream winery. Pop songwriters used to talk about the "hook" in pop music that would catch the casual listener's attention. Maybe Replica similarly just embellishes the popular aspect of a given wine.
In the store at this time we have the Replica Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay which are both very good. If you want to know what each is replicating you'll have to stop in the store.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
The Top 20 Summer Wines
Lists of this and that seem to be ubiquitous in contemporary American culture and in this industry, wine lists are both continuous and unfortunately, often ponderous. And yes, I know school has started and we think we have turned the seasonal page, but we still have another month of summer so here is our list of this store's most popular summer refreshers, circa 2016.
Whites:
1. Castelo Do Papa Valdeorras Godello - One of our three best whites of the year.
2. Zingara Venezie Pinot Grigio - "Freshness" is the adjective for this infectiously enjoyable white.
2. Zingara Venezie Pinot Grigio - "Freshness" is the adjective for this infectiously enjoyable white.
3. Manu Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc - More restrained in the citrussy stuff and drier than most.
4. Walnut Block Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc - Even more settled and drier than Manu.
5. Montauto Maremma Toscano Bianco - Well made dry Italian dinner wine.
6. Acrobat Oregon Pinot Gris - King Estate second label apertif.
7. PJ Valkenberg Rheinhessen Pinot Blanc - Light and off-dry, from a company that never cheats on quality.
8. Peramor Rueda Verdejo - Light and dry but flavorful Spanish type.
9. Ares de Medeiros Alentejano White Blend - Portuguese dry seafood wine.
10. La Galope Comte Tolosan Sauvignon Blanc - The best type from that region.
10. La Galope Comte Tolosan Sauvignon Blanc - The best type from that region.
11. Villa Pozzi Sicilian Pinot Grigio - Perennial fruity summer favorite here.
12. New Age Argentine White - With a lime twist it's a Tincho cocktail!
13. Vidigal Portuguese Vinho Verde - Frizzante! The best of 20 tasted by the New York Times experts.
Roses:
1. Gerard Bertrand Cote des Roses Grenache-Cinsault-Syrah - This store's best seller!
2. Chateau Beaulieu Coteaux D'Aix-en-Provence - Grenache Rose with a pedigree.
3. Chateau Famaey Cahors Malbec - Fresh, forward Malbec fruit.
1. Gerard Bertrand Cote des Roses Grenache-Cinsault-Syrah - This store's best seller!
2. Chateau Beaulieu Coteaux D'Aix-en-Provence - Grenache Rose with a pedigree.
3. Chateau Famaey Cahors Malbec - Fresh, forward Malbec fruit.
4. Rose Pescador from Spain - Light and effervescent.
5. Zaza Campo de Borja - Dark, rich, and flavorful.
6. La Ferme de Gicon Cotes du Rhone - The best buy of the lot if French styling is your thing.
7. La Galope Comte Tolosan - Light and dry French wine.
Summer is the less-is-more season for wine enjoyment and that includes pricing. All of the above are under $15 and three are under $10! No reds? Actually we have plenty and just like the whites and roses, summer reds are a bargain. Champagne? Stop in and see!
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Elena Walch
It's always helpful to have a story behind the product in the wine business and in this case it's a good one. Elena Walch is one of the contemporary giants in the wine industry. She is renowned for her winemaking skills but she is really more of a director, manager, and visionary of her eponymously named winery. Here's her story...
Elena was an architect in her early thirties when she was hired by like-aged Werner Walch to restore Castel Ringberg, a Renaissance castle built by the Hapsburg dynasty in 1620. Werner Walch is the largest vineyard owner in Alto Adige in northeastern Italy and the castle lies on his property in the northern, German-speaking half of the region. This region is also called Sudtirol and has previously been part of Austria. The southern portion of Alto Adige is called Trentino and both lie in the Dolomite mountain range in the southern Alps, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Elena was new to her craft, having traveled extensively through New Zealand and Australia as a young adult before getting her professional training in Germany. She was soon to fall in love with Werner and they were married two years later in 1985. She had been raised comfortably as a city dweller in Milan so it is from her travels that her wine interests are believed to have sprung. Architecture didn't completely leave her though as she settled into her new lifestyle. Elena chose to involve herself in the family business by redesigning how that business would be configured and modernized both in the vineyards and the winery.
It should be noted that the family business Elena married into was a fifth generation wine family affair (est. 1869) and Werner was quite traditional when it comes to making wine. Consequently, going forward, the business effectively became two separate businesses under one winery roof with Werner continuing to make his workman-like vino da tavola with the vast majority of the grapes and Elena making her new modern and internationally-styled efforts from her own vineyards.
So what exactly did Elena do? The most widely planted grape in Alto Adige heretofore had been Schiavo, a popular local red variety. Elena fundamentally changed the direction of wine making in Alto Adige by assessing the terroir there and concentrating her efforts on the international commercially-driven white grape varieties: Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Bianco. She also made four fundamental changes in the vineyards to facilitate a transition to sustainable farming and made a cooresponding four changes in the winery to reduce the environmental impact of the business.
Additionally she drastically reduced individual vine yields for more intensely flavored berries while at the same time planting vines more densely for more production. The varietal clones selected were also carefully scrutinized and she modified trellising for her purposes. After everything was said and done and time had past, her improvements were to become the norm for others in Alto Adige, now regarded as the most awarded wine region of Italy.
The Elena Walch winery is located in the village of Tramin which is the historical home of the Gewurztraminer grape. That is the best wine produced there. While Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay would be the most commercial wines made there, Elena prefers her Pinot Bianco, which is the one we choose to sell here at the store. That wine is characterized as straw-colored with aromas of apple, pear, pineapple, and melon and flavors on the palate of citrus, apple, and tropical fruit. As rich as the description sounds, the minerality therein makes this medium bodied white quite linear and food-friendly.
Elena was an architect in her early thirties when she was hired by like-aged Werner Walch to restore Castel Ringberg, a Renaissance castle built by the Hapsburg dynasty in 1620. Werner Walch is the largest vineyard owner in Alto Adige in northeastern Italy and the castle lies on his property in the northern, German-speaking half of the region. This region is also called Sudtirol and has previously been part of Austria. The southern portion of Alto Adige is called Trentino and both lie in the Dolomite mountain range in the southern Alps, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Elena was new to her craft, having traveled extensively through New Zealand and Australia as a young adult before getting her professional training in Germany. She was soon to fall in love with Werner and they were married two years later in 1985. She had been raised comfortably as a city dweller in Milan so it is from her travels that her wine interests are believed to have sprung. Architecture didn't completely leave her though as she settled into her new lifestyle. Elena chose to involve herself in the family business by redesigning how that business would be configured and modernized both in the vineyards and the winery.
It should be noted that the family business Elena married into was a fifth generation wine family affair (est. 1869) and Werner was quite traditional when it comes to making wine. Consequently, going forward, the business effectively became two separate businesses under one winery roof with Werner continuing to make his workman-like vino da tavola with the vast majority of the grapes and Elena making her new modern and internationally-styled efforts from her own vineyards.
So what exactly did Elena do? The most widely planted grape in Alto Adige heretofore had been Schiavo, a popular local red variety. Elena fundamentally changed the direction of wine making in Alto Adige by assessing the terroir there and concentrating her efforts on the international commercially-driven white grape varieties: Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Bianco. She also made four fundamental changes in the vineyards to facilitate a transition to sustainable farming and made a cooresponding four changes in the winery to reduce the environmental impact of the business.
Additionally she drastically reduced individual vine yields for more intensely flavored berries while at the same time planting vines more densely for more production. The varietal clones selected were also carefully scrutinized and she modified trellising for her purposes. After everything was said and done and time had past, her improvements were to become the norm for others in Alto Adige, now regarded as the most awarded wine region of Italy.
The Elena Walch winery is located in the village of Tramin which is the historical home of the Gewurztraminer grape. That is the best wine produced there. While Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay would be the most commercial wines made there, Elena prefers her Pinot Bianco, which is the one we choose to sell here at the store. That wine is characterized as straw-colored with aromas of apple, pear, pineapple, and melon and flavors on the palate of citrus, apple, and tropical fruit. As rich as the description sounds, the minerality therein makes this medium bodied white quite linear and food-friendly.
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Alsatian Pinot Blanc
When we hear the word "pinot" we think of Pinot Noir since it is arguably the finest red wine grape there is. Actually pinot is a family of grapes characterized by an unstable genome, meaning the grapes tend to mutate in the vineyards. So while Pinot Noir deserves our attention as the overachiever in the family; Pinot Gris/Grigio, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Meuneur and others have all emerged over time in European vineyards and become commercial types in their own right. Contrasted with Pinot Noir, however, all of the offshoots are ordinary.
When we hear the word "Auxerrois" (oh-ser-WAH) we think, "Huh?" Auxerrois is another European grape of ordinary stature. Its singular claim to fame is its sibling relationship with Chardonnay. Genetically they both share the same parentage resulting from an inadvertent vineyard crossing of Gouais Blanc and Pinot Noir and in some French locales they are treated as one and the same type. While Chardonnay ended up with the noble flavor profile attributes, however, Auxerrois was relatively shortchanged. At its best Auxerrois offers citrus and musk flavors in a full-bodied, low acid package.
So where are we going with this discussion? I've made it no secret that the Alsace region of France is my favorite for white wine production. While the marquee varietals like Gewurztraminer and Riesling get the critical acclaim and Pinot Gris has commercial success, both Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois have their own claim to fame albeit one that is easy to overlook: they both have their finest expressions in Alsace. Prolific to a fault in the vineyard but when attended to vigilantly there and in the winery, these two varieties in combination will complement each other as well as any two white grapes.
But there's more...
Alsatian Pinot Blanc is not a varietal wine. It is not a wine made from the Pinot Blanc grape type, although it could be. Alsatian Pinot Blanc is actually a white wine using any or all of the family of pinot grapes allowed in the region, including Auxerrois. So Alsatian Pinot Blanc may actually have every other allowed pinot grape but no actual Pinot Blanc. One common style is a Pinot Blanc that is 100% Auxerrois. Alsatian Pinot Blanc usually does contain a goodly amount of Pinot Blanc juice though since Pinot Blanc is the most widely planted grape in the region.
In the store at this time we have the 2014 JB Adam "Les Natures" Alsatian Pinot Blanc which is a fine example of type. It is a medium-bodied dry white exhibiting almond and stone fruit flavors with minerality in the background. "Les Natures" refers to their biodynamic certification. Contrasting examples in the store include the 2013 PJ Valkenberg Rheinhessen Pinot Blanc and the 2015 Elena Walch Alto Adige Pinot Bianco.
When we hear the word "Auxerrois" (oh-ser-WAH) we think, "Huh?" Auxerrois is another European grape of ordinary stature. Its singular claim to fame is its sibling relationship with Chardonnay. Genetically they both share the same parentage resulting from an inadvertent vineyard crossing of Gouais Blanc and Pinot Noir and in some French locales they are treated as one and the same type. While Chardonnay ended up with the noble flavor profile attributes, however, Auxerrois was relatively shortchanged. At its best Auxerrois offers citrus and musk flavors in a full-bodied, low acid package.
So where are we going with this discussion? I've made it no secret that the Alsace region of France is my favorite for white wine production. While the marquee varietals like Gewurztraminer and Riesling get the critical acclaim and Pinot Gris has commercial success, both Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois have their own claim to fame albeit one that is easy to overlook: they both have their finest expressions in Alsace. Prolific to a fault in the vineyard but when attended to vigilantly there and in the winery, these two varieties in combination will complement each other as well as any two white grapes.
But there's more...
Alsatian Pinot Blanc is not a varietal wine. It is not a wine made from the Pinot Blanc grape type, although it could be. Alsatian Pinot Blanc is actually a white wine using any or all of the family of pinot grapes allowed in the region, including Auxerrois. So Alsatian Pinot Blanc may actually have every other allowed pinot grape but no actual Pinot Blanc. One common style is a Pinot Blanc that is 100% Auxerrois. Alsatian Pinot Blanc usually does contain a goodly amount of Pinot Blanc juice though since Pinot Blanc is the most widely planted grape in the region.
In the store at this time we have the 2014 JB Adam "Les Natures" Alsatian Pinot Blanc which is a fine example of type. It is a medium-bodied dry white exhibiting almond and stone fruit flavors with minerality in the background. "Les Natures" refers to their biodynamic certification. Contrasting examples in the store include the 2013 PJ Valkenberg Rheinhessen Pinot Blanc and the 2015 Elena Walch Alto Adige Pinot Bianco.
Gruyere
So I have been studying up on what I have recently declared to be my favorite cheese, Gruyere (Groo-yehr), and much to my chagrin I have learned I have been quite wrong about a few things. I have always thought there was an understanding between France and Switzerland that the cheese made on each side of the border could legitimately be called Gruyere. After all, at the other end of the country, the Basque region overlaps the French-Spanish border with products from both sides using the Basque name. But I guess that's regional branding as opposed to specific product branding, but you know what I mean.
As it turns out Gruyere is actually a village in Switzerland and after a three year court fight ending in 2001, they have won the naming-rights battle for their cheese. French Comte, which I have been calling Gruyere for as long as I can remember, hasn't in fact been Gruyere for fifteen years. Moreover, there are actually two other French cheeses from the Jura region of France that have also been called Gruyere in the past but now must be known as Beaufort and Le Brouere. France is allowed to market Gruyere but it must have a different appearance (more holes) so as not to be confused with the Swiss standard.
Another factual tidbit I have learned is that Switzerland makes ten times the amount of Gruyere cheese that French Comte makes. That would have to weigh heavily in a court case. And Swiss Gruyere cheese has been so named since 1655!
Here's one more noteworthy factoid: Swiss Gruyere is the only cheese to be declared the "Best Cheese in the World" five times at the World Cheese Awards in London. True to form in the new (August) Wine Spectator magazine, in an article on Comte they say it is "toothsome, nutty, sweeter, fruitier, and grassier" than the Swiss version which says to me they probably ought to stick to wine.
As it turns out Gruyere is actually a village in Switzerland and after a three year court fight ending in 2001, they have won the naming-rights battle for their cheese. French Comte, which I have been calling Gruyere for as long as I can remember, hasn't in fact been Gruyere for fifteen years. Moreover, there are actually two other French cheeses from the Jura region of France that have also been called Gruyere in the past but now must be known as Beaufort and Le Brouere. France is allowed to market Gruyere but it must have a different appearance (more holes) so as not to be confused with the Swiss standard.
Another factual tidbit I have learned is that Switzerland makes ten times the amount of Gruyere cheese that French Comte makes. That would have to weigh heavily in a court case. And Swiss Gruyere cheese has been so named since 1655!
Here's one more noteworthy factoid: Swiss Gruyere is the only cheese to be declared the "Best Cheese in the World" five times at the World Cheese Awards in London. True to form in the new (August) Wine Spectator magazine, in an article on Comte they say it is "toothsome, nutty, sweeter, fruitier, and grassier" than the Swiss version which says to me they probably ought to stick to wine.
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