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May 25 2006
Lastyear as a wedding gift from my wife she bought me a gift certificate to aU-vint place so we could make some wine together.
May 24 2006

Inspired by the overall Biodynamics debate and this blog post from Wine Caveman. An overview explanation from his post:
It is difficult to speak of biodynamics without waxing philosophic.While it parallels organic farming in it’s use of organic materials forenriching the microbiology of the soil, it embraces a much moreholistic vision that sees any farm as a single organism whose successor failure is dependant upon the health of the greater organism in it’sentirety. Unlike both chemical and organic agriculture, it is notsolely based on the ‘soluable,’ the simple reduction of a plants needsto elemental additions of nutrients, but ties the plants health into amore unified ecological vision. It is concerned with the subtlemanipulation of life forces (energies) and aims to work alongside theserhythms of nature.
May 24 2006
When in New York recently my bride and I enjoyed a sevencourse wine-paired tasting menu at Esca—Mario Batali’s fish restaurant.
Imentioned in a post before that the absolute standout of the wines presentedwas a barbaresco. I was mildly franticwhen I came home because I had tucked away the menu so I could have a record ofthe wine and only within the recesses of the suitcase, tucked behind a dirtypair of socks from nine trips ago, did it materialize. The menu changes frequently and my hopes forrecovering the name of the wine served were probably pretty good, but still itwas a relief to find it nestled amongst some dirty laundry, just the same.
Thebarbaresco was the 2000 Cascina Morassino. Made from the Nebbiolo grape, which is notorious for being very difficultto drink in its youth based on extreme tannins—though, this one wasexceptional. Medium bodied and pairedwith fish, it was lively and eminently drinkable—so much so that I drank mywife’s glass, as well.
Batali’s partner in crime …er… restaurants is a guy namedJoe Bastianich, who is also a wine importer in his own right, so I was somewhatsurprised that he wasn’t pimping just his wines, but Mario and Joe, from adistance, both strike me as extremely authentic in that the food and thecustomer come first and profits will arise out of that service—a mistakencontrast for so many other businesses.
From the importer’s web site:
The ten acre CascinaMorassino farm is located in the steep Ovello zone of Barbaresco proper. Run byRoberto Bianco, age 38, and his father Mauro, it is one of Barbaresco’s oldestproducers. Though Roberto continues to attentively adapt to each vintage, a1971 Barbaresco Morassino he and I recently enjoyed, shows that his fatherMauro did things spectacularly well in the pure, old fashioned style. Needlessto say, Roberto and Maura do everything themselves. They would never even thinkof passing off vineyard work to someone else.
ItalianNebbiolo producers have been working with the wine to make them more drinkable while they are youthful. The importer’s web site for the Cascina Morrassino seems to alludeto this:
Roberto’swines show the unique, fragrant side of Nebbiolo but they never lose the spicygrip of Nebbiolo. These wines show that Barbaresco in the modern day does nothave to give up its deeper roots.
Ironicallyenough, I found this wine and purchased it online at … a NYC wine shop—one thatTyler
from Dr. Vino recommends—Crush Wine & Spirits. Had I known that, I certainly would havebought it while in town. But,nonetheless, this beauty of a wine is worth $30 in shipping
Eventhough it was very nice with a strawberry-ruby hue and a soft bouquet, Iimagine it was well-decanted.
Whileat MoMA on the same trip, I saw an incredibly handsome decanter for anincredible price. It has six grooves inthe stopper so it disperses the wine down the sides of the decanter—and,
supposedly, creates more opportunity for oxygenation. The L’Atlelier Du Vin was $145, however. If you are dying to spend money on adecanter the likes of which has dubious merit above and beyond the $15 versionat Bed, Bath & Beyond, you can find it here.
But,for my money, if you were asking for a recommendation, I would buy 4 bottles ofthe Cascino Morrassino for the same amount of money. It’s the wine that makes a meal and event and certainly our meal was an event made special by a delicious wine.
May 23 2006
While I was out of town for a couple of days, Tom Wark,from the wine blog Fermentation, had an interesting post on the wine and foodblog portal site the WellFed Network/Wine Sediments.
Afriend sent me a link to this http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/22/hungary.apes.reut/index.html”>CNN article about Hungarian zookeepers feedingthe apes wine. Not much to say here,except that they drank 55 liters—or the approximate equivalent of 68.75 bottlesof wine and the zookeepers say it boosts their red cells.
No word on whether the apes, in the French Bourgeois tradition, enjoy a smoke, as well.
May 23 2006
Inthe popular wine press, I’ve noticed a greater emphasis lately on personalityprofiles and a concerted attention on boutique vintners—but these are vintnersthat are making artisan wines that are not artisan as a part of an allocatedmarketing strategy—these are truly micro-wineries. Mostly, these passionate winemakers are young—under the age of35, and in some cases in their mid twenties.
Atthe same time, ESPN the Magazine publishes an annual “Generation Next” issuehighlighting athletes from all types of sports that are young as well as up andcoming influencers in the next generation of sports stardom; this not too mention Pepsi using a similar kind of youth mantra.
Inthe sports arena, pundits and columnists often dig for the commonality, the ‘friendsoutside the game’ angle and who is going to be next to ascend to greatness—sometimesthere is a hardscrabble story and occasionally a tale of pending greatnessdespite the odds—the kid who shot a thousand free throws a day with a milkcrate nailed to the light pole in the alley …
Ourfood and wine press is beginning to do the same …
Food& Wine magazine’s May issue featured young winery employee’s—asst.winemakers, vineyard manager’s and the like and discussed their own personallabels that they work on under the auspices of the “nights and weekend”program.
Arecent article in the San Luis Obispo Tribune highlights some of the young winemakersin the Paso Robles area—most of them 2nd generation vintners and intheir early 30s.
Behindthe continuing evolution of Paso Robles wines and wineries is a new generationof winemakers who are preparing to take the wines and the region to a new level.About a dozen young men — most in their early 30s — are playing key roles inthe wineries their fathers started. Many went to school together, and allconsider themselves friends and co-supporters in what is often a verycompetitive industry.
Amongthe things they share is a commitment to the area, a willingness to experimentand a drive to make the very best quality wine possible.
Oneof the leaders of the wine youth movement, at least in the Central Coast area,seems to be Peachy Canyon, which is starting to enjoy wide distribution andgenerally favorable reviews.
Whenhe was growing up, Josh Beckett says he swore that he would not go into hisfather’s wine business.
DougBeckett started making wine in 1988 and sold his first 100 cases out of theback of a pickup. Since then, the winery output has increased to 54,000 cases,and Peachy Canyon Winery has emerged as a respected producer of premiumzinfandels in the country.
Astint working in Australia after college changed Josh’s mind about the winebusiness, and he has
now been head winemaker since 2002.
Atage 31, he has a casual attitude about the winemaking process, but he is alsodriven by the competition around him.
"Whenyou see a particular winery getting some of the scores they are out ofPaso," he said, "that just gets you in gear, and makes you realize itcan be done."
Regardinghis motivation and that of his peers, he says, "We’re not in it for thepaycheck; we’re in it for the recognition."
Another very cool business model for acouple of young and young at heart couples is the A to Z Wineworks in Oregon.
A to Z is taking the negociantbusiness model seriously and they are making very premium wines at affordable prices. They make a Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, PinotBlanc and a couple of other varietals and are growing rapidly.
A very good article on the negociantbusiness model from Bloomberg can be found here:
The article says:
(Thereis) a growing band of ambitious, innovative, new-style negociants: instantvintners with no vineyards or wineries who are stirring up the wine businessand offering some of the best wine deals around. Traditionally, a negociant(French for merchant) purchases barrels of wine from a small grower who’sharvested the grapes and made the wine.
Thenegociant blends it, sometimes ages it and then bottles and markets it underhis own label. This business model has a long history in Europe, especially inBurgundy, where hundreds of tiny domaines find it less risky to sell their wineto one of the region’s major negociants such as Maison Louis Jadot or Drouhinfor a guaranteed price than to invest the capital to bottle and market itthemselves.
Theadvantages are obvious: The growers get cash flow, while the negociants avoidthe overhead of owning vineyards (although some do that, too) and can,presumably, keep prices down.
Unfortunately, A to Z is distributedin 40 states, but not my own, so I picked up a bottle of their Pinot Noir whilein New York recently.
It’s delicious. If it’s 100% pinot, it represents a ripeness that is only seen in wines with a touch of Syrah cut in ... very velvety with a lot of fruit, nicely balanced.
TheA to Z Pinot Noir is crafted from over twenty different wines selected andblended by A to Z from over sixteen of Oregon’s best Estates. A multitude ofPinot Noir clones and styles of winemaking are represented as facets in thismultidimensional blend. Aged in 100% French Oak of which 40% was new for 9months, 17,000 full bottle cases were made.
Those that have been around nascent stars—athletes on the rise, or rock bands in a ‘scene’ talk about the palpable sense that something new, different and exciting is happening. From my quiet chair in the heartland, thousands of miles away from California and Oregon, I can’t help but feel the same for winemaking and the youthful zest that seems to be pervading the industry.