Politics & Wine!

Just received my copy of Tyler Colman's "Wine Politics" but since I am of to Italy in a couple of days, I will have to read it when I get back. But here are a few of my thoughts on politics and how they have influenced wine and wine consumption for thousands of years. Speaking of Italy, I guess you could say that is where it all began. When Roman armies invaded and conquered one European country after another they planted vineyards along the way. Not very nice to be taken over by a foreign army but how often do you end up with some nice vineyards in your backyard planted by your enemy?
It is generally believed that Georgia is the oldest wine region in the world where it all began some 7000 years ago and it is often referred to as 'the birthplace of wine'
Some archaeologists now believe that wine may first have been produced in Iran.
However I have"Georgia on my mind" when it comes to classic manipulation of wine for political purposes. Back in March of 2006 Russia put an embargo on wine from Georgia
claiming to have found heavy metals and pesticides in their wines. A little political economic blackmail to punish pro west Georgia. Russia had been the largest consumer of Georgian wine accounting for up to 85% of its production. But over the next couple of years Georgia found markets in other European countries, notably Poland. Taking it one step further the recent invasion of Georgia by the Russian army resulted in Polish wine drinkers, in support and solidarity with Georgia, to encourage all Polish people to drink Georgian wines. Watch for Russia to take punitive measures to punish those popular pro west Poles.
And then of course there is always the "politically correct" factor in wine consumption. A few years back a good friend of mine, who happened to be the XO on one of Canada's navy ships, was informed that Canada's ambassador to the UN would be making a visit to our west coast navy base in Esquimalt and that the ambassador wished to have a meal with the officers on his ship.
He was instructed as to the wines to be served with dinner but when my friend read that they were French wines he had a rebellious fit. Not on his ship! British Columbia wines or nothing. Hastily the protocol officer for the ambassador admitted this "oversight" and BC wines would be served.
In my own case I fought the government for 4 years in an attempt to get a licence to sell BC wines. Finally BC's Attorney General himself overturned the liquor control board's decision not to give me a licence. Talk about heavy handed politics! And so on and on it goes. Yes, I am afraid politics in wine is here to stay. I am sure there are countless stories out there about politics and wine. What is yours?

Welcome to New Wine Blog!!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome and introduce a new wine blogger, Canada's well known
John Schreiner.
I have had the pleasure of knowing John for many years. John has had a long and distinguished career as a reporter and writer. He began as a reporter for the Regina Leader-Post and subsequently became the newspaper's chief political reporter in the Saskatchewan Legislature. In 1961 John joined the staff of The Financial Post in Toronto. Served in the paper's Montreal bureau from 1967 t0 1969 and in 1973 became the bureau chief in Vancouver for that newspaper. John "retired" in 2001 but has been busier than ever adding to his already impressive list of 15 books on wine.
John has also been the regional correspondent for Appelation America.
So now he has added blogging to his endeavours and you can click on
"John Schreiner on Wine" in my links list or follow this link to his blog
The first Canadian Icewine was made by Walter Hainle in 1973 in Peachland in the Okanagan and yes it was several years before Ontario started making icewines.
John is the world most knowledgeable expert on Icewine or Eiswein and his book
Icewine-The Complete Story is a must read for anyone wanting to learn more on this fascinating wine. I did a post on the 2006 Icewine harvest in BC and you can scroll down in my December 2006 archives to Dec. 3 to get John's take on it.
Welcome John!! I am sure we will get many informative and entertaining posts.
Speaking of entertaining, I have just put a link to "My Favorite Canadian Wine Lady"
in my links list. Follow the link and have a look. She has a great newsletter that you can sign up for. I don't know how she does it all. Daenna is a very knowledgeable (and beautiful) wine lady and she is the Diva of wine. Welcome to my links list Daenna.
So there you have it. I am off to Italy on September 17th but will get one more post in on "politics" and wine before I go. Pliny the Elder has been quoted as follows. "It has become a commonplace proverb that in wine there is truth" Yes and isn't it too bad that so much in the way of politics is commonplace as well.

Smoke Gets in Your Wine!

Or rather, smoke gets into your vine. As the saying goes: "Where there is smoke, there is fire!" California has seen many fires this summer and for vintners it has been "where there is fire there is smoke". Smoke taint in wine is not easily removed. The summer of 2003 saw major brush fires in Australia. Here in British Columbia, the Okanagan Mountain Park fire in August of 2003 saw 45,000 residents evacuated and 239 homes burned down.Tom Di Bello, a graduate of the University of California, Davis, is the winemaker at the Cedar Creek Estate winery in BC and is getting a lot of calls from vintners in California. He had to attempt to salvage some badly tainted grapes. I tasted his premium Pinot Noir from the barrel while up in the Okanagan in the spring of 2004 and let me tell you smoke taint ain't what I like in my wine. In the end this wine was used in their entry level red blend. If a wine is badly tainted it is pretty much a write off. Tom tells me that this particular batch of Pinot Noir was the worst tainted wine on record anywhere. A rather dubious and unwanted distinction. If the damage is not severe Tom recommends a method now widely used to reduce or remove smoke taint, Reverse Osmosis. Nanno filtration, micro-oxygenation and activated charcoal are other methods employed. Getting those grapes in as fast as possible if the fire happens near grape picking time is essential. Whole cluster pressing and no skin contact is what Tom suggests and forget about making a red wine. Just make a rosé.
I had the pleasure of meeting Hugh Hamilton from McLaren Vale in Australia and tasting his remarkable wines when he made a visit to Victoria this summer. Not only does Hugh have a great sense of humor (Is that an Australian trait?) but he makes outstanding wines. Talk turned to taint and I am endebted to Hugh for some very valuable info regarding smoke damage to grape crops. Australia of course not only suffered great losses in 2003 but major brush fires were a problem in 2007 as well. The McLaren region was lucky enough to escape both times.
The latest research seems to indicate that grapes do not actually absorb smoke directly, but rather the smoke compounds are absorbed by the leaves and translocated to the berries.
(pictured here is the Okanagan Mountain Park fire in 2003)
Meanwhile back to the Okanagan. The picture below shows their entrance gate and the total devastation of the St.Hubertus Estate Winery. The winery building, a residence, tasting room and the entire crop was lost. By some blessed miracle the winery's storage facility with all the previous vintage wines and their entrance gate survived. They used to produce a Bacchus wine which is no longer produced. Too bad, I really liked it. But I think Bacchus, the God of wine, smiled down on Leo and Andy, the two brothers who operate the winery. They had brand new facilities up and running in no time and their wines are better than ever.Good luck to all California wineries who will be daeling with the problem of smoke damage to their crops. It will be interesting to see how they fare.The picture at the top? Those are real grape vine leaves, but it ain't smoke and it ain't a real fire. Just me trying to be artistic for this blog entry on "Smoke Gets in Your Wine"

Never a dull moment in California Wine Country!

Just putting the finishing chapter on my California adventure and Paso Robles wine country in this post. But I want to dedicate this post to the lovely lady pictured here, my friend Jan. Not only did she put up with me for a week but she introduced me to the fabulous Meyers lemon. Thanks for everything, Jan.
So many things to see and do around wine country. And of course so many great places to eat. At the end of one day of tasting we ended up on Novo's outdoor patio in San Luis Obispo. Great way to finish the day. Can you imagine California without Two Buck Chuck? Just had to get a picture of that at Trader Joe.
As always, click on the pics to get the large view.













What is more Californian than Pebble Beach?
Did not get to play on any of the courses but it is sure stunning to look at the various courses and of course the beautiful beach.
Oh yea, happened to stay outside of Pismo Beach one night and took a quick look in town the next morning. It just so happened they were getting ready for the 23rd Annual Pismo Beach Classic Car Show. No wine served there but what would a classic car show be without a "bud"
Not one but two huge Budweiser trucks showed up for this event.


















While visiting in the area you cannot miss going to Carmel. Great art galleries all over town. Oh and yes there are no stop lights and get this, no street lights. So bring your flashlight if you are going around town at night. My friend Sanjoy, Jan's husband, took me to this real funky eating establishment. The Casanova is a "must" stop to eat restaurant. Great food, fast and friendly service and an amazing wine list. I knew that I would get at least one mention of wine on this blog entry. With over 30,000 bottles in the cellar, they are the annual recipient of the Wine Spectator Grand Award. Jean Hubert, operations manager at Casanova, showed us where those
30,000 bottles were resting. Some rare dust covered wines are nestled down there, aging beautifully. Want to know the intriguing story of that table pictured below? Fascinating piece of history. Follow this link and you will find out.
Lunch was so enjoyable. We picked a nice Chablis and it went down perfectly since the day was another hot one.
Of course if you happen to go there for dinner, you can browse through 60 pages of their wine list.
So there you have it.
My next blog entry will be on "Where there is smoke, there is fire" Or in the case of California where there are fires there is a lot of smoke. Thought I would leave you with one final bit of true California. These two must have shared a bottle of bubbly. Happiness and Health to all of you!

The Superlative, Super Wines from Paso Robles!

Before I get to some of the outstanding wineries we visited let me thank David and Russ for leaving comments on my first Paso Robles post. Be sure to read them. The picture on the left is the vineyard directly in front of the L'Aventure Winery where Bordeaux expatriate Stephan Asseo does his magic. The impressive, immaculately kept vineyards are a promise of what you can expect when you taste his wines.
Stephan had always wanted to blend Bordeaux varietals with others like Syrah. French appellation regulations prevented him from doing so. The result was that he moved to Paso Robles and the rest is history. His wines are highly rated by the likes of Robert Parker, the Wine Spectator and Decanter and have been extensively written up in many publications, so I won't go into any details here.
Now, if you want to have some fun be sure to visit Zin Alley where Frank and Connie will proudly pour you their remarkable Zinfandel. Only 500 cases a year are produced on their three acre Nerelli Estate. The dry-farmed, head pruned
vines are grown on Linne Calodo soils with hot summer days and cool coastal nights resulting in a
complex Zinfandel. Connie has a great sense humor, as you will discover when you visit them.
Looking for a great Bed & Breakfast place to stay at while visiting Paso Robles? Look no further than the beautiful Venteux Vineyards Bed & Breakfast right on the Venteux Vineyards property.
This 10 acre vineyard is also dry-farmed and the vines are head-trained as well. Scott and Bobbi Stelze are at the helm of this well run vineyard and winery. Located in what is known as the Templeton Gap, which brings the cool coastal breezes to an otherwise hot region. Their wines have become so popular that visitors are limited to 2 bottles of most of their wines. Scott specializes in Syrah, Petite Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. When he is not tending his vineyard or making his beautiful wines he restores old Dodge trucks and is as meticulous about that as he is about his wines.
The next winery, which is actually the first one we visited in Paso Robles, is a must visit before Parker or any other wine critic finds out about them. Run by a couple of very cheerful fellows who are just having fun while making outstanding wines. I think we agreed that the wines of Bella Luna Winery were our favorites of all the wines we tasted during our Paso Robles tour.
Kevin Healy, a Vietnam veteran and Sherman Smoot, a Navy fighter pilot, grew up together in Paso Robles and their lifelong friendship and passion for wine resulted in the establishing of the Bella Luna Winery. This five acre estate specializes in the Italian Barbera and Sangiovese and the Spanish Tempranillo. Of course Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are there as well. Yes, the Zinfandel is called Fighter Pilot Red to honor all aviators who have put themselves in harm's way. All of their wines are simply amazing. Rich and powerful with great extraction. Natural yeasts, no fining or filtering produces wines that are bold and full of character. We all know about the famous Sassicaia wine from Tuscany, but wait these two gents are out to show that their Paso Robles version will be every bit as good if not better.
Scheduled to be released in May of 2009, it will have spent 40 months in new French oak. And of course it will be called Bellicaia. This 2005 vintage super Tuscan style is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese. We had the opportunity of tasting it out of the barrel.
It is superlative now. What will it be like when it is released next May? I can only drool but hope to get my hands on some before it flies out of the winery. Yes, Paso Robles and its many fine family run wineries are definitely worth a visit.
As always click on the pictures to get the larger view. On my next blog entry I will share some pictures of interest I took during my visit to California and they are not necessarily wine related.

Don't Pass Up Paso Robles Wineries!

I have been shamefully neglectful about getting a post to my blog but I have had good excuses. Its the lazy hazy days of summer but as well I have given a few wine and food seminars, did a number of tastings with my panel for my email newsletter, attended trade tastings, wine- makers' dinners, entertained out of town guests and most importantly spend some time with friends in California and visited the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards and the great little wineries in Paso Robles.
(Click on the map for an enlarged version)
For my food and wine seminar one of the food items I used is a nifty little recipe from my British friend, Nick Stephens over at Bordeaux-Undiscovered from his recipe section. Its called Angels on Horseback. Just slightly chilling that Pinot Noir did the trick, Nick. While talking recipes, I used to marinate my fresh BC salmon with two or three different home made marinades but not anymore. Picked up this marvelous way to BBQ salmon from David Crowley over at Cooking Chat. Here is his recipe and it is really good!
Sorry I missed you this trip, Russ. Catch you next time I am down your way. Russ Beebe is the fellow from Winehiker Viticulture fame. Russ is a smart operator and he knows his business inside out. Be sure to read his good sense.... no, great sensible approach on mountain lions. While you are at, read my comment. I just happen to agree with Russ 100%.
So now I want to touch on the Paso Robles scene. I will do two posts on my trip. I have enough info and pictures to do half a dozen or so. My good friends Jan and Sanjoy in Scotts Valley treated me royally and one night we went to another friend, Herman and that was a feast I will long remember. Butterflied leg of lamb and here is what he chose to bring out of his cellar to match with it. No wonder I cannot do a proper post after my trip to California.
That's a 1975 Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1978 Ridge California Zinfandel. Needless to say they went down well. My friend Sanjoy (He is my Investor Friend that I have a link to and he has a free interesting and informative newsletter that you can sign up for.) is a great chef and not to be outdone also brought out some of his finest a couple of nights later for another feast.
Herman just happened to bring along the remainder of that 1971 Chateau d'Yquem to give the dessert a little competition.
Click on both these pictures to get a closer look.
Before I get to the Paso Robles scene, I must mention a couple of the Santa Cruz Mountain wineries.
The first one we drove up to is quite a spectacular place on top of the mountain. Great views, amazing facility and wonderful wines. Worthy of a visit. The Byington Vineyard & Winery was established in 1987 by Bill Byington and the building was originally conceived as a family residence.
Some residence! The grapes for some of their Cabernet Sauvignon wines actually come from the Paso Robles region. I found their 2004 Tarman Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek to be outstanding and their 2004 Messina Vineyard Merlot to be exceptional. The other winery of note is the Hallcrest Vineyards
located in Felton, California. So you don't even have to get up into the mountains for this one. Just drive into Felton. Everybody will know where it is. Outstanding wines and a bonus for me is that they are available here in BC through Blue Nose Wine & Spirits. Their Pinot Noirs are superior.
No wonder they can claim to be the most awarded winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Now onto Paso Robles. As you can see from the map, there are plenty of wineries to visit. We visited some of the best. I think one of the more noticeable features in the vineyards is that a lot of them use dry farming and head trained vines. Dry farming may be unusual in California but not in the Paso Robles region.
Can it get any hotter and drier looking than this?
You'd swear you were in Spain. No that is a head trained, dry farmed vineyard in Paso Robles. So now that I have hopefully got your interest piqued, I am going to leave you but I will be back soon with my next update on some of the fine wines and wineries in Paso Robles.
That picture (click to enlarge) was taken while the temperature was a mere 107 degrees F.

Billionaire's Vinegar 2nd Edition

And so the saga continues. As reported in Decanter, there is new evidence in the Jefferson bottles case. One of the main characters in the book is William Koch, a Florida billionaire, and he claims to have new evidence that will once and for all prove Hardy Rodenstock's guilt.
So perhaps Benjamin Wallace will have to consider writing a revised edition of his book. Since the film rights to the book have been optioned, the continuation of this story will make for an even more exciting movie. It will be fascinating to see who will play Michael Broadbent and who will be the actress taking on the role of Jancis Robinson.
Speaking of billions, the news that Foster's in Australia is considering shedding its wine division has investors and growers worrying and wondering. Foster's spent $6.8 billion getting into the wine business by acquiring Beringer Wine Estates and Southcorp Ltd. in the US. Flagging world wide beer sales triggered this expansion. Wine sales continue to increase world wide. Here in Canada, and we are a beer drinking nation, wine sales have increased yearly and beer sales are down according to Statistics Canada.
So it seems to me rather counter productive to sell off a potentially lucrative business. Another eyebrow raiser is the sale by the world's largest wine producer, Constellation Brands, of 5 well-known California brands, two Washington state and one Idaho winery. A strong Euro and increased wine consumption in the US has benefited American wineries. Again another puzzling corporate decision. So if you don't like the company that owns your favorite winery, wait a month or two, it is likely to change hands soon. Billions of dollars at play. In the meantime I will just continue to enjoy my daily fruit of the vine and since I am leaving for a week of visiting wineries in California, I am sure to be tasting my way through some fabulous examples. My camera and I are ready.

Wine, Vinegar....and Billionaires!

Just finished reading "The Billionaire's Vinegar"
by Benjamin Wallace,Crown Publishers, New York. A very impressive detailed book on the history and the mystery surrounding a 1787 Chateau Lafite which went at the incredible auction price of $156,00. The bottle was auctioned off by Christie's of London and was supposed to have been owned by none other than America's first wine connoisseur, Thomas Jefferson. I love mystery stories and I love
history surrounding wine. After all it has been around for over 6000 years. Benjamin Wallace has created a wonderfully detailed account of the Thomas Jefferson wines. A thriller from start to finish. Its rather sad that the great gift of the fruit of the vine should be turned into an object of greed. You soon know who the culprit is in this story. And of course well known figures in the world of wine are not spared in this saga either. The well known and respected Michael Broadbent is a key player in this whole affair. Mr.Broadbent claims there are many inaccuracies in the book. I doubt that he will come forward and tell us what they are. In the end the pathetic Hardy Rodenstock has not done the wonderful world of wine any favours and you can only hope that Bacchus and any other Gods of wine out there, show him some mercy.
Just when I finished reading this book I received the sad news of the passing of a dear wine friend of mine here in British Columbia. Claude Jacques Violet passed away on May 31st, 2008.
A true pioneer in the BC wine industry. Claude and his magnificent wife of 49 years, Ingeborg, known by her friends as "Ingy" dared to be different. Visit the Domain de Chaberton's web site to get the details about the Violets. Click on "winery" and then "about us"to get the history of
Claude and Ingy. More than 300 years of wine history can be attributed to the Violet family. What has always struck me and left me so very impressed was their sincerity, their honesty and their dedication to anything wine and their community. They say behind every good man, stands a good woman. Only in this case beside a "great" man stood a great woman. Claude you will be missed my friend.
Shady characters like the one in "The Billionaire's Vinegar" will come and go. But wonderful people like Claude will be in our hearts and minds forever. Rest in peace, mon ami and I am sure that right now you are having a great conversation in that big vineyard in the sky with the winemaker of the 1787 Chateau Lafite.

The Heart and Soul of Wine.

Berry Bros & Rudd recently released a report on the future of wine.
They are of course Britain's oldest wine establishment, celebrating their 310th anniversary this year. I have a great respect for this vintage company but do not agree with everything covered in this report. (For those of you interested in reading the entire report, email me at fruitofthevine@shaw.ca and I will send you a pdf copy)
Their claims on China as a future rival to Bordeaux are refuted by people in the know as evidenced by comments left on Decanter.com
There is an intense interest in wine around the globe and a thirst for knowledge about the subject. Bloggers and writers everywhere giving us daily doses and we can't seem to get enough of it. We all know how wine drinkers progress from the sweet barely drinkable wines but eventually will settle for the many outstanding wines available today. I think of my own journey along the road of wine which started while in college. Mateus was where it was at. So I find Jasper Morris' MW
prediction somewhat unbelievable.
"In 50 years, consumers will ask for wine by the brand name or flavour and won't know, or care, where it has come from. Grapes will be genetically modified to change a wine's taste and producers will add artificial flavourings to create a style wanted by consumers." I cannot visualize the wine consuming public dumbing down and ordering a "Waitrose White" or a "Rosemount Red"
The quality of wines will continue to improve. It has to, if wineries expect to sell their wines in this highly competitive market. An example of this happening is the creation of a "crus" appellation in the Minervois region of the Languedoc. TheAOC Minervois La Livinière
was established in 1999. This past week I had the pleasure of meeting Isabelle Coustal, the proprietor and wine maker at Chateau Saint Eulalie.
Her Chateau Sante Eulalie La Cantilene is an outstanding wine and an example of what the future holds for us wine drinkers not content to drink the commercial plonk. We tasted Isabelle's Plaisir d'Eulalie. and it truly is a pleasure. Candle light and wine shared with friends enjoying a good meal came to my mind. Now I won't be around 50 years from now to say I told you the BBR report was not accurate, but future wine drinkers will be enjoying some amazing wines like the ones coming from the Minervois La Liviniere today. And with wine makers like Isabelle leading the way the Heart and Soul of good wines will be passed on to wine drinkers 50 years from now.

The Nose Knows Fine Wine!

Birds do it! Bees (wasps) do it! And of course dogs do as well. Do what? Use their sense of smell. They do it so well that they are being trained to do some pretty amazing tasks. Wasps
could be trained and very cost effectively at that, to detect toxic chemicals and explosives. That would make for an interesting scenario at our international airports. Instead of sniffer dogs you would see inspectors walking around with jars of wasps. Birds also have a strong sense of smell. It turns out they use their sense of smell to detect possible predators. Our dear dogs are being trained to detect the nasty vine mealy bugs which have become a challenging problem in California vineyards. It is quite obvious that in every case this is part of their genetic make up. It comes naturally so to speak. I am sure momma and papa wasp aren't taking time out to teach the little ones. By the way that is my little dog Maddie in the picture. Click on the pic. to get a closer look at what she is doing. I am teaching her to detect TCA in my wines. So what is all the buzz and surprise about our sense of smell and taste being part of our genetic makeup? An interesting article by Dan Berger over at Appellation America discusses how recent research has come up with the idea that our genes may be a factor in how we smell and taste our wines. Really now? So perhaps who you are will determine whether or not you should pay attention to Parker points or any other subjective point system. Speaking of Robert, has he been blessed with an abundance of smelling and tasting genes? They say that as you get older your sense of smell and taste are likely to be less intense. So does that mean he will be retiring soon? After all he will be turning 61 this July. And how about that $1 million insurance policy he has on his nose and palate? Will his insurer be taking a second look at his coverage? If your genetic makeup plays a large role in what you can taste and smell how do you insure your genes? Just some points to ponder. In the meantime drink what you like and like the wines you drink.