Avenue Vine

-- 2005 Pink-Throated Brilliant Rose: The Pink-Throated Brilliant Hummingbird is on the threatened species list and resides in a sub-tropical environment. A blend of Grenache and Syrah grapes, this wine is a classic Rhone-style Rose. It is crisp and dry with a touch of strawberry fruit.

-- 2005 Glittering-Throated Emerald Chardonnay: Glittering-Throated Emerald Hummingbirds are found only in South America. The males have a glittering green throat, while the females are easy identified by a white strip in the middle of the "glittering" green. Similarly, this Chardonnay glitters with flavors. Completely un-oaked, the wine preserves the varietal's tropical fruit flavors.

The winery will also release their 2005 Estate Sauvignon Blanc and 2005 Estate Viognier during the festive weekend. The first day of spring is the ideal time to release and enjoy these white wines, which are sourced from Clos LaChance estate in San Martin, California.

About Clos LaChance Winery

Clos LaChance (www.clos.com) is a family-owned winery located in San Martin, California, 30 minutes south of San Jose and 45 minutes north of the Monterey Peninsula. Owners Bill and Brenda Murphy strive to provide customers with high quality, stylistically consistent wines that are varietally distinct. Clos LaChance takes its name from the small fenced-in area encompassing a vineyard (Clos) and from co-owner Brenda Murphy's maiden name.

The Clos LaChance Winery features a state-of-the-art winemaking facility, estate vineyards and hospitality center. For further information, please visit www.clos.com.

Contacts
Clos LaChance Wines
Cheryl Murphy Durzy, 408-686-1050 ext. 101
cheryl@clos.com
or
Benson Marketing Group
Sean Carroll, 707-254-1167
carroll@bensonmarketing.com

Source: Press Release; “Clos LaChance Winery Hosts Hummingbird Preservation Seminar at Spring Release Party; Event Coincides with the Release of the Winery's New Hummingbird Series Wines,” San Martin, California, March 27, 2006

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Davis Scientists Uncorks Wine's Attractiveness

Owen Flynn likes the fact that he gets an antioxidant boost with every glass of wine he consumes. But the liquid's nutritional value is just icing on the cake for him. "It's all about the finish," said the Sacramento contractor while shopping Thursday at Taylor's Market in Sacramento. "It's all about the flavor."

Researchers zero in on compound that influences flavor.

Unraveling some of the molecular mysteries that make wine both healthful and delicious is a focus for scientists around the world.

While deconstructing the grape for its most basic metabolic properties may not seem a romantic way to appreciate a good bottle of wine, it has enthralled an intercontinental team of researchers.

Scientists from UC Davis and the University of Adelaide in Australia teamed up in the past few years to zero in on one compound that most influences a wine's taste and feel in the mouth, its color and its longevity in the bottle: tartaric acid.

"A little will be quite good, but more can be very good," explained Chris Ford, a senior lecturer in enology at Adelaide University. "Wine is all about balance. A wine with no acid is horrible. Flabby. Jammy. Soapy."

It is well known in wine science circles that this natural and abundant material in grapes is synthesized from vitamin C. But scientists had not identified any of the specific enzymes responsible for the synthesis - until now.

In a paper published online last week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report their discovery of the key gene within the grape that helps in that conversion.

And why should wine lovers like Flynn care?

Getting a better handle on how grapes make tartaric acid will help vintners make a crisper sauvignon blanc or avoid producing a soapy sémillon, said Doug Cook, a plant biologist at UC Davis whose work on the grape genome provided the foundation for the discovery.

"There is a big black box of knowledge between growing a plant and the final outcome of the wine," he said. "One possible outcome (of this research) is a refined or more precise viticulture," the science of grape cultivation.

It could also save winemakers a lot of money, said Ford. In Australia, where winemaking is a huge industry, growers spend millions of dollars per year buying tartaric acid for wine production.

"We now have people drinking Australian wine," Ford added. "The task of the industry now is to keep those people drinking it and not moving on to the next great thing. We can produce what the customer wants, but we need to know what they are after."

While the latest discovery could yield a better tasting and less costly wine, it could also help scientists engineer table grapes - and possibly even wine - to produce more vitamin C.

While the researchers' goal is not to make a healthier glass of zinfandel, they don't discount the potential. Their investigation revealed that wild grapes lacking the gene also lack tartaric acid and contain more vitamin C. Blocking the conversion of vitamin C to tartaric acid could boost the vitamin C content in the grape.

"This does clearly show the potential to engineer grapes for high levels of vitamin C," said Seth DeBolt, a plant biologist whose interest as a postgraduate student at UC Davis spurred the research. "It's of interest to both the winemaking side of grape research and the table grape side. It has huge benefits for both, depending on whose side of the bench you're on."

From Flynn's perspective, whether sitting on a bench, dining chair or bar stool, any innovation to enhance his favorite libation is worth a toast.

Source: “Science uncorks wine's allure,” Dorsey Griffith, Sacramento Bee, March 27, 2006

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Fife Winery For Sale, Wineries Go On The Blocks and More Chapter Seven Events

Fifteen months after he put up $1.25 million to lift St. Helena-based Fife Vineyards out of Chapter 11 reorganization, a Mendocino County grape grower's stake in two wineries, a vineyard, thousands of cases of wine and an Oakland home are being sold to satisfy $14.3 million in debts.

The Chapter 7 liquidation of the properties, including Fife's Redwood Valley winery and a Cloverdale custom crush facility, represents the end of efforts by grower George Bergner to manage the sprawling wine operations he purchased during 2003 and 2004.

Wine sales and business financing problems led to the Chapter 7 liquidation, according to the couple’s bankruptcy attorney, Dave Schuricht of Katzen & Schuricht in Walnut Creek.

“The business had problems with slow wine sales and the inability to refinance obligations," Mr. Schuricht said.

Meanwhile, Fife winery co-founder Dennis Fife told the BUSINESS JOURNAL last week he expects to have a group of investors assembled by mid-April to make an offer on a $1.25 million option to repurchase its 10,000-case Fife Redwood Valley winery.

In December 2004, Mr. Bergner, a friend of Mr. Fife's, extended that option when he purchased the winery, according to bankruptcy court filings.

The bankruptcy does not involve Fife family operations in the Napa Valley.

Mr. Bergner and his wife, Rosetta Conger, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland on Oct. 15.

The court discharged their debt March 13 and appointed Tevis. Thompson to handle the sale of the Anderson Valley ranch as well as the Fife winery in Redwood Valley and trustee Lois Brady of Oakland to sell the Cloverdale winery, according to filings.

Mr. Bergner's Cloverdale Wine Services custom-processing facility at 155 Cherry Creek Road went on the market earlier this month for $1.495 million, according to trustee-appointed real estate broker Ken Spadoni in Healdsburg. He has shown the property to more than a half-dozen potential buyers, who are vintners looking for extra capacity or a home for their brands.

The winery sits on two acres inside the city limits in a residential area. The former Bandiera winery has produced more than 100,000 cases in the nearly three years since Mr. Bergner and former General Manager Mike Buckley acquired it. The winery has 230,000 gallons worth of stainless-steel tank storage, two grape presses (a decade-old Vintec and a much older Wilmess), 20,000 square feet of crush space.

Mr. Bergner and General Manager Mike Buckley acquired the property, formerly the Bandiera winery, in May 2003.

24 acres of pinot near Boonville
Mr. Spadoni also is marketing Mr. Bergner's 215-acre Annahala Ranch near Boonville. With 34 acres of pinot noir winegrapes planted in 2001, it went on the market in February for $4.95 million.

Winery grape buyers last year were Ledson, Flowers, Duckhorn's Goldeneye and Skewis. However, Mr. Bergner had grape sale losses of $287,000, $190,000 and $180,000 for the past three seasons, according to court documents. One of the top vendor-creditors was Calistoga-based Madrigal Vineyard Management, which had a $101,700 mechanic's lien on the property.

Also, Santa Rosa-based Exchange Bank, which loaned Mr. Bergner $425,000 last year to support his Annahala Wine Estate label, is arranging a private sale of 7,500 cases of unlabeled wine plus bulk wine made for Mr. Bergner's Annahala Wine Estates brand, according to the bank's attorney in this matter, David Berry of Abbey Weitzenberg Warren & Emery.
The bank secured a $432,000 collections judgment in Sonoma County Superior Court in January.

In its court complaint, Exchange Bank claimed Mr. Bergner hadn't made payments on the $425,000 in loans.

In addition, the couple's 3,700-square-foot Oakland home is for sale for $1.8 million.

11 loans totaling $7.26 million
Between May 2003 and Oct. 15 of last year, the couple took out 11 bank, U.S. Small Business Administration and private loans totaling $7.26 million in a complex web of funding for the enterprises, according to court filings.

Outstanding balances on nine notes from Santa Rosa-based Exchange Bank at the time of the filing totaled $4.26 million for the Mendocino County ranch, the Cloverdale winery, a wine brand called Annahala and a second mortgage on the couple's Oakland home, according to court documents.

In addition, $1.5 million was outstanding on a note from Bank of America for the ranch purchase, $1.32 million from Union Bank of California for the Oakland home, $372,500 from SBA conduit Bay Area Development Co. for the Cloverdale winery, a $101,000 third deed on the Cloverdale facility from Richard White of Miami and $152,600 from Valgene and Virginia Peterson of Palo Alto for the Boonville ranch.

Source: “Fife winery, properties for sale,” Jeff Quackenbush, North Coast Business Journal, March 27, 2006

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Wood To Wine Displacing Wine To The Wood

Oak barrels are obsolete, according to United States vinters, who say aging wine in metal tanks with pieces of oak thrown in costs less and tastes just as good.

Braving the stigma of being branded "voodoo vintners" by traditionalists, oak alternative vinters have produced award-winning wines at bargain prices.

"The proof is in the pudding," said Jeff Runquist, wine maker at McManis Family Vineyards in the northern California town of Ripon. "Put the wine in your mouth and tell me whether the oak you taste came from a barrel or from chips."

"I'll be damned if anyone could walk in here and tell the difference."

Rows of insulated stainless steel tanks, each holding the equivalent of 300 barrels of wine, towered in rows on thick concrete slabs at the McManis winery.

Strips of French oak hung in some tanks, while nylon mesh "tea bags" of oak cubes steeped in others, bringing the wood to the wine instead of the wine to the wood.

If the wine contained in the 162 tanks were in barrels, the winery would need several hectares of warehouse space and plenty more workers, said associate wine maker Mike Robustelli.

"We feel that we can take better care of the wine in here than in barrels," Robustelli said. "It also lets me be more creative. After all, wine making is an art."

Coopers toast oak alternatives to suit vintners that can then put it in tanks to impart flavour-shaping tannins and oils to thousands of gallons of wine at once, Robustelli said.

While US oak barrels in California typically cost $250 and French oak barrels $650, alternatives can mimic the effect for a mere $1.10, according to Todd Nathan, vice-president of Oak Chip in the city of Piketon, Ohio.

"It didn't take long for the bean counters to figure out that was the way to go," Nathan told Agence France-Presse. "We are trying to put the barrel guys out of business."

Oak Chip sold approximately 2-million kilorammes of oak in chip or other forms to the wine industry in 2005, according to Nathan.

"Every major winery in the world is using alternatives in some form or fashion, there is no doubt about that or I wouldn't be in business," Nathan said. "There is not a continent I don't hit with them."

Even in France, where oak alternatives have been decried as blasphemous, vintners add wood blocks to wine under the pretence of weighing down sediment or filtering, according to Alicia McBride of Sonoma Valley company Innerstave, an oak-alternative company which claimed to have pioneered the method in 1979.

"Tradition runs so deep in wine that it is difficult for wine makers to go around telling people they didn't use barrels," McBride said.

McBride stressed that she sells flavour, not oak. "I'm not a wood house; I'm a flavour house," McBride said. "It just so happens my flavour gets into the wine through the wood."

"We have vanilla, caramel, chocolate, crème brûlée, coffee, mocha ... and that warm spread on your tongue."

Oak alternatives are common in wines in the $10 price range, but have been used to craft vintages selling at $100 a bottle, McBride said.

Runquist is convinced that barrels are becoming obsolete.

"Years ago, you'd be leery about explaining your use of oak alternatives, but you get older and decide life is too short to live a lie," said Runquist, who has made wine for 30 years.

"You want to call me a cheater, fine," he said. "I say let the marketplace decide."

McManis produced more than seven million litres last year, making its own wine as well as supplying vintages for labels in several European countries and the Philippines, Robustelli said.

McManis was recently contracted to provide wine for store brand labels belonging to two major British supermarket chains, according to Robustelli.

"They may call it voodoo wine making," said Robustelli. "But it's terrific wine." - AFP

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SENATE PANEL OKs GUEST WORKER PLAN

Washington -- The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Monday a sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration law that provides a way for the 12 million undocumented immigrants now in the country illegally to become citizens and creates a guest worker program for future immigrants.

Bill would increase enforcement, offer road to legalization.

The legislation, backed by four Republicans and eight Democrats, goes to the Senate beginning today and sets up a showdown with the House, which last December passed a crackdown on immigration that for the first time would make it a felony to live in the United States without proper documents.

The threat from the House-backed measure has spawned large church-led protests by immigrants in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities in recent weeks.

But the Senate Judiciary Committee's bill is nowhere near becoming law. It faces a contentious debate in the full Senate and strong opposition in the House.

"I think this bill has a long, long way to go before a consensus is reached between the two houses," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who voted for the bill -- reversing her earlier insistence that she could not support a broad guest worker program.

Still, the measure marks a major victory -- rare in recent months -- for President Bush, who initiated the effort to expand legal avenues to immigration two years ago and in recent days has warned his party not to make scapegoats of immigrants. Bush issued a pro-immigrant rallying cry Monday at a naturalization ceremony in Washington, urging the nation to embrace its immigrant history.

"We have a chance to move beyond tired choices and the harsh attitudes of the past," Bush told 30 new citizens from such varied homelands as Kuwait, India and Ethiopia, noting that an Irish immigrant designed the White House and a Russian immigrant helped create Google, the Internet search engine.

"No one should play on people's fears or try to pit neighbors against each other," Bush said. "No one should pretend that immigrants are threats to American identity because immigrants have shaped American identity. No one should claim that immigrants are a burden on our economy because the work and enterprise of immigrants helps sustain the economy."

Immigration deeply divides Republicans. Few issues are more dangerous to the president's party in an election year in which conservatives are demanding tighter enforcement and accusing Bush of seeking an amnesty for people who broke the law. The president's advisers, however, fear the party will turn away Latino voters with blatantly anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Those divisions were on full display in the Judiciary Committee, where 4 of 10 Republicans joined all eight Democrats to support the measure, including Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine, who faces a tough re-election contest in November. Another Republican facing re-election this year, Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch, did not attend the session.

House Republican leaders pushed through a bill in December that calls for a 700-mile fence along the border and harsh penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers. It would make illegal presence in the country an aggravated felony rather than a violation of civil immigration law. It would provide for no extension of visas and no recourse aside from returning home for the estimated 12 million in the country illegally, a population the size of Ohio's.

In the Senate committee, Chairman Arlen Specter maneuvered an alternative bill through a grueling debate and overcame a threat by Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist to move an enforcement-only bill to the full Senate if Specter did not come up with a plan by Monday.

"I expect the majority leader to accept our bill," Specter said after the 12-7 vote. Calling attention to the rare outcome in which a minority of Republicans -- who control the Senate -- joined Democrats to create a bipartisan majority, Specter said, "We don't operate on a majority of a majority. We function on a majority."

The Senate legislation calls for much tougher border enforcement, including an increase in the number of border patrol agents, but stops well short of the harsher elements of the House bill. It also adopts the key provisions of a bill by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. -- and backed strongly by pro-immigrant groups, churches, several unions and the business community -- that would provide a path to legalization for illegal immigrants now in the country.

Such workers would have to register for a new six-year visa if they clear background checks, pay fines, remain employed, pay taxes, learn English and attend civics classes. At the end of that time, they could apply for permanent residence, called a green card, getting in line behind those who are applying for permanent residence but remained in their home countries. Possession of a green card allows immigrants to apply for citizenship.

The bill would increase the number of green cards available to shorten backlogs to about five years.

"Considering all of the hurdles and all of the pitfalls and all of the obstacles, it's a good result," Specter said after the vote. "We're making the best of a difficult situation. With 11 million undocumented aliens, we do not want to create a fugitive class in America."

Feinstein won approval of a separate program for agriculture that would offer legalization to 1.5 million farm workers over the next five years. It incorporates a farm labor bill known as AgJobs that Feinstein helped kill last year.

Feinstein said California's agriculture industry depends on foreign labor. "It is unrealistic to think these workers are going to go home, and the industry depends on them for survival."

Feinstein said of her reversal on the broader bill: "There are a lot of hard choices. None of them was easy in this bill. I simply voted as I saw the merit at the time."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who backed the bill, said it does not provide amnesty because it requires immigrants to wait 11 years for permanent residence and otherwise pass through a number of hoops.

"These are fair gates," Graham said. "This is not a blanket pardon, like Ronald Reagan did," referring to the 1986 amnesty supported by the former Republican president.

Graham agreed with those who argued there is never a right reason to violate the law, in theory, but that illegal immigrants who have worked hard, raised families and now have children who are U.S. citizens pose a conundrum.

"The law is about justice," Graham said.

The bill also creates a guest worker program for future immigrants, who would be allowed to work in the United States for six years, then apply for permanent residence.

Republican opponents led by Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas failed to win approval for a provision that would require guest workers to return home before applying for permanent residence.

Kyl labeled the final product an amnesty and said it rewards people who arrived illegally by allowing them to remain in the country.

"You all may have the votes to pass that, but it'll never become law," Kyl said. "I'll vote against it. That's amnesty. That's not going to work."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Immigration overhaul
Following are highlights of an immigration bill approved Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill differs greatly from a House immigration measure passed in December that emphasizes border enforcement. The full Senate will begin debate today on the Senate committee measure, which would:

-- Allow illegal immigrants who were in the United States before 2004 to continue working legally for six years if they pay a $1,000 fine and clear a criminal background check. They would become eligible for permanent residence upon paying another $1,000 fine and any back taxes and learning English.

-- Require new immigrants to have temporary work visas. They also could earn legal permanent residence after six years.

-- Add up to 14,000 new Border Patrol agents by 2011 to the current force of 11,300 agents.

-- Authorize a "virtual wall" of unmanned vehicles, cameras and sensors to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border.

-- Create a special guest worker program for an estimated 1.5 million immigrant farm workers, who also could earn legal permanent residency.

-- Increase the number of visas for foreign high-tech workers.

Source: “GUEST WORKER PLAN OKd BY SENATE PANEL,” Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle Washington Bureau, March 28, 2006

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Inertia Beverage Group Launches Ten New On-Line Winery Stores

Inertia Beverage Group (IBG) announced this week the launch of ten new wineries using its web-based REthink Engine consumer-direct software. This brings the number of brands using the company's REthink Engine to 250.

The ten newly launched winery websites using IBG's REthink Engine are August Briggs, Dutcher Crossing, Fritz Winery, Fort Ross Vineyard and Winery, Green Truck, Londer Vineyards, Matthiasson, St. Helena Road Winery, Sonoma-Cutrer and Thirteen Appellations.

IBG's REthink Engine allows wineries to seamlessly integrate their online sales efforts, order processing, inventory management, wine club management, credit card processing, customer support and more. A web-based software platform, the REthink Engine takes wineries to the next level of online customer sales and service without any in-house hardware or software upgrades. Its unique design gives wineries the ability to manage their online content and store offerings as well as customer communications without a background in technology or website design.

"Our REthink Engine direct sales system is now utilized by multi-brand, international wineries as well as small family wineries," explains IBG CEO Paul Mabray. "Size is not an issue anymore when it comes to connecting directly with the end-consumer, but is now seen as a mainstay of every progressive thinking winery."

Inertia Beverage Group was founded in 2002 by a group of wine industry professionals and technology innovators and veterans with the goal of revolutionizing the direct sales channel and helping the wine industry sell smarter. More information on Inertia Beverage Group, the REthink Engine and the REthink Initiative is available at www.inertiabev.com.

Contacts
Inertia Beverage Group
Paul Mabray, 707-227-2187
paul@inertiabev.com
or
Wark Communications
Tom Wark, 707-933-9313
tom@warkcommunications.com

Source: Press Release; "Inertia Beverage Group Launches Ten New On-Line Winery Stores; 250 Brands Now Using IBG's Rethink Engine E-commerce Solution," Inertia Beverage Group, March 24, 2006

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March 28, 2006

Pepperwood Grove and Smoking Loon Win Impact Hot Brand Awards for 2005

Pepperwood Grove and Smoking Loon, top performers in the Three Loose Screws Wine Company division of Don Sebastiani & Sons International Wine Negociants, have won Impact Hot Brand Awards for 2005 from Impact Magazine, the leading source for exclusive data on the alcoholic beverage industry in the United States and internationally.

It is the fifth time that Pepperwood Grove has won the award and the third consecutive year that Smoking Loon has been so honored.

"Recognitions such as this are a good opportunity to highlight all of the hard work our dedicated employees put in all year long," said Don Sebastiani, Jr., Marketing Director. "We're very proud to be singled out in this very competitive industry."

Only 22 domestic wines received Impact Hot Brand Awards out of a total of 70 wine and spirits winners industry-wide. To win the award, a brand must increase sales a minimum of 15% over the previous year, must have experienced double-digit growth in all three preceding years and must sell a minimum of 250,000 cases annually.

By winning honors in 2005 for Pepperwood Grove and Smoking Loon, proprietor Don Sebastiani has now won 23 Hot Brand Awards and has had at least one brand on the winning list for 14 straight years. Other brands that won while under Sebastiani's stewardship include Vendange (nine awards), Talus (four awards), and Nathanson Creek (two awards). Vendange's winning streak of nine consecutive years from 1991 through 1999 is a record for a domestic wine.

Pepperwood Grove was established in 1991 by Don Sebastiani and his brother-in-law, Roy Cecchetti. Don Sebastiani & Sons acquired Cecchetti's interest in the brand in 2003. The company reports that sales of Pepperwood Grove jumped 41% in 2005. Smoking Loon was first released in 2001, shortly after Don Sebastiani & Sons was founded. Sales of Smoking Loon were up 40% in 2005. Overall, the entire wine portfolio of the company's two divisions -- Three Loose Screws Wine Company and The Other Guys -- increased its performance by 35% in 2005, growing to 1.4 million cases.

Don Sebastiani & Sons is a family-owned wine negociant firm specializing in the marketing of upscale, but moderately priced varietal wines. Principals Don Sebastiani and sons, Donny and August, are third and fourth generation California vintners and merchants. The company is headquartered in Sonoma Valley and has a winery in the Napa Valley. Don Sebastiani & Sons markets two separate portfolios, the Three Loose Screws Wine Company and The Other Guys. Don & Sons was recently named American Winery of the Year for 2005 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, as well as Winery of the Year for 2005 by Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, a leading wine industry consulting firm.

www.donandsons.com

Contacts
Don Sebastiani & Sons
Jim Knapp, 707-933-1704 ext. 200
jknapp@donandsons.com

Source: Press Release; “Pepperwood Grove and Smoking Loon Win Impact Hot Brand Awards for 2005,” SONOMA, California, March 16, 2006

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Grants For Travel Offered By Women of Wine

Women involved in the wine business have a chance to win an expenses-paid trip to Australia worth £3,000.

Women of Wine, the UK-based wine industry grouping chaired by Jancis Robinson and including some of the wine world's most formidable characters in its ranks, has teamed up with Wine Australia to offer a travel bursary.

This consists of two weeks in Australia staying in top wineries alongside a team of wine journalists on one of the regular Wine Australia press trips.

To enter, applicants need to answer the following question: 'How would a trip to Australia positively influence your current career path?', in 1000 words or less.

The writers of the top four responses selected by Robinson will be invited to make their case in front of an interview panel.

Applications must be in by 24 March. Only registered members of Women of Wine UK may enter. The competition is open to women only.

Application form available at www.wineaustralia.com/uk

Source: “Women of Wine offer travel bursary,” Decanter staff, March 15, 2006

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A Walk Through The Great Grape GradientS Of The Wine Matrix

Wine can be a one-night stand, a passionate fling or a lifelong commitment. Wine is a subjective, sensory experience - a hit and miss affair of sorts, despite all the science of viticulture and marketing...

A whole matrix of subliminal factors shapes your experience of any single bottle of wine - your mood, the food, the company, the context, the price, a wine country's cachet, the cellar's reputation, a sommelier's advice, the label/packaging, advertising hype, media exposure .

What makes the matrix so unpredictable is that most consumers experience a wine at a great distance - without ever visiting its source. If you've tasted a wine in situ, you're likely to recognise the product on the shelf - and to buy a bottle that will bring back memories of a visit to the winelands. Most wine and spirits advertising attempt to communicate a unique sense of place by romancing the heritage, the individual history and the origin in the imagery - no matter how high-volume the brand.

Wine tourism, generic national campaigns and wine shows all help to build an image of quality, value and origin. Sometimes a taste of the wines precedes a visit to the winery. A warm encounter with a wine or winemaker at a wine show leads to a standing invitation, and you eventually pay a visit to the cellar door - with high expectations. That's how I found myself in the vineyards in the shadow of the Du Toitskloof with Kobus Deetlefs on a visit 'oor die berg' to Breedekloof last year.

With vineyards planted along a riverbed winding through the kloofs, Deetlefs has a really wild, frontier feel - despite being on the outskirts of the village of Rawsonville. According to legend, a rebellious soldier called Deetlefs was thrown overboard at Saldanha Bay in 1822 - and one of his sons eventually made his way into the interior to take up farming here in 1863, six generations ago. Wines from these remote vineyards are exported all over Europe today under the Stonecross brand - a range of mostly dual varietal wines also served as the in-flight house-wine on BA/Comair.

Pointing out highly-prized blocks of Pinotage, Shiraz, Merlot and Semillon, Kobus explained, 'For a long time Rawsonville was dominated by the big wine buyers and merchants. You can't leave your destiny in other people's hands. We have the potential to make a statement with most varieties grown in these loamy, stony soils. Every wine is a blend of different blocks. Wine is about balance and elegance - you don't want a Sauvignon Blanc with an explosive nose and a hard, thin palate.'

Over the mountain in Paarl, sitting on hay bales in a vineyard on a hillside with a view of the granite boulders of the Boland is a similar way to get a feel for the distinct persona of a new winery. At a media launch of Ridgeback last year, viticulturalist Toit Wessels and Cathy Marshall led a wine tasting in situ in the top block which won the Paarl Shiraz Challenge for the cellar's maiden 2002 Shiraz. They explained a micro-approach to viticulture which ranges from the gradient to the ground cover. Cathy explained, 'If you want layers in your wine, you have to look at the flavour spectrum on the vine. Breaking vineyards into sub-blocks you find the texture of the tannin is quite different from top to bottom. You can taste the gradient from vine per vine.'

Great grape gradients? I was on a learning cove on the slippery slopes of Agter-Paarl. While tasting a glass of Sauvignon Blanc at worm-eye level in the vineyards, Cathy extolled the virtues of the soils, fruit, colour and the phenology of the site which she believes is perfect for the Rhone varieties she prefers. She concluded, 'We've got magnificent Shiraz on this farm. We're looking for pure expression of terroir. Winemakers, like chefs, have got to have the best primary materials. In France they plant, ripen and crush Shiraz and Viognier together. We manicure the bunches by hand. We're looking for a core of minerality in the Northern Rhone style.'

Months later, when I tasted the flagship His Master's Choice blend back home, the heady apricot and marmalade scent of the Viognier and the spicy Shiraz took me straight back to that hay bale on the slopes of Paarl Rock. That's the power of association once you've tracked a wine to its very source in the vineyard. I recall Cathy's words, 'Viognier is the only white grape that absorbs a red without diluting it. It soothes the tannins of Shiraz and adds a touch of sweetness. It's like a woman putting on a base to hide the wrinkles.' Wrinkles simply add character if you ask me.

Source: “Great grape gradients A walkabout in the wine matrix,” Graham Howe, March 28, 2006.

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Pinot May Become Impossible In The Next 50 Years In Burgundy

The world is going to heat to such an extent that Burgundy may no longer be able to grow Pinot Noir, a conference heard last week.

Wine character as we know it today is on the verge of radical change, world experts on global warming and vines told the first World Conference on Global Warming and Wine held in Barcelona on March 24-25, 2006.

According to authoritative computer climate models, over the next 50 years Bordeaux is set to rise by 1.2C, Napa by 1.2C, Barolo 1.4C, Rioja, where water is already an issue, by 1.3C, Portugal – which is already up 2.9C over the last 50 years - by 2C. The list of 50 locations had been compiled from global research presented by climatologist Gregory Jones from Southern Oregon University.

Led by Bernard Seguin, a global bioclimatologist based at France's national agricultural institute (INRA) in Avignon, scientists defined other regions where temperatures are already near top of the range for the grape varieties that over the past centuries of viticulture have been found to work best there. Drought is also a growing problem.

These include Penedes and La Mancha in Spain, Chianti and Southern Italy, Southern France, Hunter Valley in Australia, parts of Chile and the Central Valley of California.

Southern Hemisphere temperatures in vineyards in New Zealand, southern Australia, parts of Chile and South Africa will rise more slowly due to more water, and less land mass.

The changes in temperature will have a variety of effects on viticulture. Some reds may lose color, some wines will lose varietal flavor, some whites may disappear, said renowned Australian viticulturalist Richard Smart. 'The effect will be profound,' he said.

Smart also drew attention to the dangers of vine infestation as temperatures rose, particularly in the case of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which spreads the fatal Pierce's Disease, and the aphid hyalestes obsoletus, which spreads a phytoplasma disease called Bois Noir. Higher temperatures mean both insects will be able to survive winters and move further. Hyalestes Obsoletus has recently been found in German vines.

The point was made that while it might seem almost trivial to draw attention to the dangers of global warming to the wine industry when so many staple crops were threatened, the vine's extreme sensitivity to climate made it 'the most direct and striking example of global warming' as Seguin put it.

The conference called on governments to take heed of the warning signals and to invest in grapevine breeding programmes to find varieties that will work in hotter temperatures, as well as improved irrigation systems, Greg Jones said.

Above all, the there are no certainties except for the fact of global warming. While we are not sure of the effects of hotter temperatures we know it will have a profound effect on vines.

Jones pointed out that 'although the changes are only a few degrees centigrade, that is all that exists at the moment between the regions.'

Taking the Mean July Temperature of various regions he showed how their viticultural character would change if you add 2degreesC.

Santa Maria, with a MJT of 17.3C would become Napa, at 19.3, St Helena at 21.7C would become Stockton at 23.5C, Healdsburg would become Modesto, and Fresno, Bakersfield.