NoBullGrape

Napa Declaration

Found a new blog that seems tohave uncovered a very cool initiative of Napa, Oregon, Washington State, Champagne, Port and Sherry talking about the sanctity of wine locations called the Napa Declaration
Very intersting... more on this later.

Wine gains momentum

Gallup came out with a poll today that claims that Americans are drinking more wine than ever.

Cool statistics and findings from Gallup's annual Consumption Habits poll, conducted July 7-10, 2005 include:

• Today, 39% of drinkers in the United States say they drink wine most often, while 36% say they usually drink beer. This is compared with 1992 when beer was the runaway leader, with 47% naming it; just 27% named wine. Liquor has consistently ranked third, with between 18% and 24% naming it as their preferred drink.
• Despite the downward trend in the percentage of young adults whose preferred drink is beer, it remains their top choice as of Gallup's July 2005 survey. Wine and beer are closely matched as the preferred drink of those 30-49, while wine is the clear leader among those 50 and older.

Demographics

• 30-49 year olds are drinking less beer (40% down from 48 in 1992) and more wine (37% up from 31 in 1992) and liquor (21% from 17 in 1992) than in the past.
   
• 50+ drinkers show strong interest in wine while drinking less liquor.  The percentage of beer drinkers among older Americans -- those 50 and older -- appears stable at around 30%. Wine has consistently been the top drink preferred by this age category, although since 1994, the percentage choosing wine has increased further (from 37% to 45%), while the percentage for liquor has declined (from 30% to 20%).
• The youngest drinkers polled are dropping their beer consumption, yet they are not grabbing wine glasses... instead they are going for martini glasses... Beer is still the preferred drink of nearly half of adults aged 18-29*, but the figure is down compared with 10 -- and even 5 -- years ago. In contrast, the percentage saying they usually drink liquor has more than doubled, from 13% to 32%.

Gender

• Men prefer beer; women prefer wine. That has been the case throughout Gallup's tracking of this measure. Even in 1992, when beer was chosen by nearly 2-to-1 over wine among all drinkers, only 27% of women named beer as their standard drink, while 43% named wine. Since then, wine has gained in popularity among both sexes, but especially among men.
  This advance for wine has come at the expense of beer. There has been virtually no change in preference for liquor among men and women, but the percentage naming beer has declined since 1992/1994 by 12 points among men, and by 6 points among women.

Non-white drinkers

• The national shift from beer to wine is especially pronounced among the nonwhite population. The long-term increase in preference for wine (since 1992/1994) has been +7 percentage points among white Americans, but +17 points among nonwhites. Similarly, the percentage of those preferring beer has fallen by 10 points among whites, but by 15 points among nonwhites.

MOST DISTURBING STAT
Only 63% of those polled drink.  That means that 37% -- over one-third -- of Americans over 21 do not drink alcohol!  No comment...

For full results see: Gallup

1997 Beringer

I don't really think that I am qualified to judge wines.  I don't think that I have a palate that is particularly strong and I don't have access to enough wines.  However, when I find a wine that brings a special place to mind (particularly when I'm not in that place when I drink the wine) I'll try to mention it.
One of those moments happened last night. As we sat down to a wonderful dinner, my wife and I grabbed a bottle of wine.  It happened to be a 1997 Beringer Private Reserve Bancroft Ranch Howell Mountain Merlot from Napa Valley.  We doubted that this bottle would show well as we had put this particular bottle through a number of moves, temperature swings, etc.  Well, this tasting would put EuroCaves out of business.  The wine was UNBELIEVABLE!  Of particular note was the nice balance between the fruit and body and the Napa nose. In fact it smelled so much like a hillside vineyard in Napa that one was almost transported there at the first whiff.   For those who claim that where a wine comes from has no effect, this kind of single vineyard offering proved them wrong.
While it is not everyday that one pulls a wine like this out, I urge you to find a wine from a great place and to try it. I think it will bring back good sense of the place.

Gallo gone mad?

Kudos to Fermentations for picking up on this article  in the Dallas Observer. In it Gallo claims that they have the right to sue some quaint little Italian ceramics importer from Texas because the use the term gallo to describe some of their tiles... which happen to have chickens on them... which happens to be "gallo" in Italian!  I do not drink a lot of Gallo wine, but I thought they were moving from Cold Duck (I love this definition) towards Gallo of Sonoma -- higher range -- wines. With behavior like this, they are acting like thugs.  They certainly don't own the word "chicken" (in any language) and they are using their corporate muscle to attack small business owners.  That's just wrong. 
For a company that uses the term "Champagne" indistinctly on sparkling wines that certainly don't come from France, they ought to be careful about claiming an infringement on their winemaking names...

Alcohol levels

The high alcohol levels of reds primarily from California has been a big discussion item for the past few months among wine writers.  I found the recent Janis Robinson article very informative.  In this article by Eric Asimov of the NYT it becomes clear that American winemakers a. can control the alcohol rates a bit more than the average consumer might think and b. that there is a real backlash among smaller CA winemakers against this higher alcohol wine.
After having a few too many wines that sting the back of my mouth on the way down, I'm starting to think that there must be more focus on finding the balance between big fruit and alcohol levels for California (and Washington State I suppose) cabs for consumers to embrace them on a regular basis.

Seeing and breathing the land

One of the best ways to get a sense of how important a particular region is to the wine it produces is to visit it.  Yet... some of us just can't fly around the world.  That's where Grape Radio comes in.  Check out their latest broadcast from New Zealand as part of their "Wines from the Bottom of the World" series.

Kendall Jackson: More wine to come from specific locations

Never been a big fan of Kendall-Jackson's more mass consumption wines, but am impressed at today's announcement that they will source more grapes for more wines from specific vineyards and that they will be moving to a tri-appelation label. I assume that this means that they will move from "California" to "Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino."  Still huge swaths of land from which they can pick grapes, but I'm getting the sense that even the big boys in the US are starting to understand that US consumers are starting to pay and more and more attention to where their wine comes from.  To see the announcement click here: Letter from Jess Jackson

What were they thinking?

You know when you find a website that hasn't been updated for 3-4 years.  It looks old, tired, out-of-date and makes you wonder if anyone in the sponsoring organization cares about their subject. Well, I just found a doozy and I'm afraid it says a lot about why Americans (both consumers and some in the wine industry) don't quite know how to handle the idea of location. 
The California Wine Institute  represents 90% of the volume of the US wine business and is its strongest lobbying group in Washington. The Director is Mr. Bobby Koch, the son-in-law of the President of the United States.  Now you would think that this organization -- with Gallo and lots of other huge wine companies on their boards -- would be interested in educating Americans about wine and, at least, keeping their web site somewhat current. 
It seems that is not the case.
Click on Wine Institute facts about appellations and you will find a page last updated in 1997.  It is as if they had to write a page about some of America's great grape growing places because they were put in detention (check out the picture they use) and do not want to acknowledge that discovering new winegrowing areas and celebrating those wine areas that are world famous is one of the best things about American wine.
The lack of interest in this is disturbing... no?

Great places need great people

One of the hopes of this blog is to not only focus on the great winegrowing locations of the world, but the people who are behind some of the best wines that come from these places.   In part, I have been inspired by a recent blog that announced they will be following the path of an Argentine winemaker, a distributor and a retailer for a year.  This will provide a great insight on three views on the wine business.  I urge you to join me in following The Real Wine World,.  I have visited Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky at the Dominio del Plata winery outside of Mendoza, Argentina.  I am very excited that they will be the winery that will be followed for a year.    Pedro and Susana are gifted growers and winemakers who are commited to making the most out of the land they have bought in Mendoza (yes, it is as breathtaking as this picture makes it out to be).  Their wine is great and their perspective over the next year should make for an interesting story.

6 Noble Grapes

The term "noble grape" is rarely used in the United States thanks to many years of cloning and the wide use of other grape varieties.  However, it is important to know that the 6 original great grapes are:

• Sauvignon Blanc,
• Riesling,
• Chardonnay,
• Pinot Noir,
• Cabernet Sauvignon and
• Merlot.

All make wonderful wine.  Yet none is special if planted in the wrong place.

And this does not just mean in places that are inhospitable to grape growing (e.g. Alaska).  In fact, certain locations -- often called microclimates as key factors include weather, soil composition, geography, etc. -- have a direct effect on the wine produced.  That is why we hear great things about Oregon Pinot Noir, Russian River Pinot Noir and Carneros Pinot Noir, yet rarely hear wine experts expounding on the virtues of Napa Valley Pinot Noir.  That is because Napa (particularly mountainside vineyards) is particularly well suited for Cabernet Sauvignon... and  not  Pinot Noir.
One can take this even farther claiming that a Pinot Noir from New Zealand will inherently produce a different wine than a Pinot Noir from Burgundy or Oregon.  In fact, if the same clone is used in all three locations, winemakers say you will get three different wines. 
Therefore, I think that location is key to learning about wines.  Knowing the varietal's attributes, etc. is certainly important. Yet whether a "noble grape" is used or included in the blend or if another grape (everything from the ever popular Syrah/Shiraz or one of the lesser known varieties from Portugal) is the basis for the wines you drink the information is almost useless without knowing where the grapes were grown.   
Leads me to try and ask: "Where does this wine come from?" when I buy or drink a wine.