By Terry Hall, St. Helena Star, April 25, 2013
Photo by Thomas Heinser

Many know of Napa Valley’s storied Spottswoode Estate Vineyard and Winery, but unless one has occasion to wander off the beaten path just west of downtown St. Helena, pin-pointing the location of the historic property may be a bit of a challenge.

Today, there is a compelling reason to seek out Spottswoode because the winery has just completed and opened a new tasting room.

The adventure begins with finding your way there, as only a small plaque on the mail box on the street leads into a gravel driveway. If you are looking at the iconic early-20th century sign over the gate, ignore your instinct to pull in here as this is matriarch Mary Novak’s home.

The short gravel driveway off Madrona Avenue is the nexus of the winemaking at Spottswoode. There is the ghost, stone Kraft Winery, used today for barrel storage beside the more humble, yet state-of-the-art modern production winery. Pass under a stately oak and park facing the vineyard. The house’s ground-level entrance is where the visit begins. A short, easy stroll to learn about the wine production is accompanied by a vineyard walk to see where it all begins.

The winemaking areas are impeccable, and the vineyards are a model of sustainability that have been farmed organically since 1985. A restoration of Spring Creek on the property is an example of the region’s groundbreaking Napa Green Certified Land. Consider wearing sensible shoes for the walk.

Finished in February, the tasting room, designed by Napa Valley architect Karen Roberts, is an addition to the charmingly restored pre-Prohibition house located at 1902 Madrona Ave.

Each weekday at 10 a.m. wine lovers may join Nicole Knoth, Hospitality & Events manager, for a 90-minute tour and tasting. The experience is intimate with no more than 10 guests, and no more than six per party. Knoth joined Spottswoode last summer after managing Direct to Consumer Sales & Marketing at Clos du Val for the past three years. She and her husband moved from San Diego to the Napa Valley in 2008.

The tasting is $45 per person (which is credited to each six-bottle purchase of cabernet sauvignon) and is a tasting of not only the estate’s highly-regarded cabernet sauvignon, but also its Lyndenhurst bottling named for one of the estates past identities, and its refreshing sauvignon blanc.

The tour includes a very personal look at Mary’s gardens which have been a labor of love of hers for the past 40 years, from the time she and her late husband Jack brought their five children to the Napa Valley from Los Angeles. There is something imparted on the garden by each of the home’s previous owners over the past 130 years or so. It is a testament to the property’s beautiful setting that it seems each previous owner, from the early days in 1882 when it was known as Esmeralda to later when the Spotts family christened it Spottswoode, added something of note to the gardens. Those who came before the Novaks are honored in the estate’s storytelling creating a rich and layered history.

For the Novak family, the work has been challenging as well as rewarding. Not long after they arrived in St.. Helena, Jack suddenly died leaving Mary with not only five young children to raise, but a vineyard in disrepair and a winemaking venture just emerging. They pulled through, and last year celebrated their 30/40 anniversary. Forty years since they arrived to restore the property and thirty years since their first wine — a cabernet sauvignon — was produced.

A visit to Spottswoode is a special treat; even today their permit allows just 50 visitors per week. To book a tour and tasting, visit spottswoode.com or call 963-0134 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

(Terry Hall is a Calistoga resident who runs his own communications, branding and event planning company. He can be reached at thall@thnapa.com.)

 

In In The News | Tagged with california, in the press, natural wine

Robert Paarlberg’s “The World Needs Genetically Modified Foods” (op-ed, April 15) gets it exactly backward. The technology does not help the hungry—the majority of whom are farmers in the developing world. Why not? Because GMOs leave cash-poor farmers dependent on buying seeds, fertilizer and chemicals while providing uneven results, increasing weed resistance and undermining biodiversity. Almost all commercialized GMO seeds are limited to two types: Either they’ve been developed to resist a proprietary herbicide or engineered to express a specific insecticide. (No surprise, since the product development is led by agrochemical companies like Monsanto, MON +0.85%DuPont DD +0.70%and Dow.)

Meanwhile, evidence from some of the world’s most important institutions—from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to the World Bank—is clear: Agroecological methods outperform GMOs, especially during drought years, improve nutritional qualities of crops and benefit biodiversity and soil health, all without leaving farmers in debt and dependent on companies for ever-more expensive inputs.

Anna Lappé

Frances Moore Lappé

Small Planet Institute

Cambridge, Mass.

Efforts to change the way foods are marketed in our country because of irrational fears of celebrity CEOs will have serious consequences in higher prices for all foods. The purpose of GMO technology is to lower production costs by reducing or eliminating costly inputs like agricultural chemicals. These savings will be lost if actions by anti-GMO activists increase food marketing costs.

As an agricultural economist (Auburn University), I am socially conscious and I have worked in charity food banks in the U.S. and abroad. Among the hungry people I have served, no one ever asked me for non-GMO food. Hungry people do not care about this information, only the well-fed do.

James Patterson

San Francisco

 

Mr. Paarlberg is correct in pointing out that GMO technology is a necessity to feed 6.4 billion people. We will rummage forests, destroy wildlife and natural beauty of nature by not using high-yield technology.

Look at us, it took 85 million years to evolve from the first mammals to homo sapiens. We are a genetically modified version of our ancestors, and so is the rest of the biology around us. We breed horses, cows, pigs and whatnot for a better breed without much of a problem. What is wrong with breeding or genetically modifying seeds for higher yields and healthier crops? Nature will do the genetic modification as it has done in the past, but at a very slow pace, and we will have a human catastrophe if we wait for nature to do it.

Amar Dave, M.D.

Ottawa, Ill.

 

Mr. Paarlberg’s assertion that labeling genetically modified foods will have “surprisingly small” impacts is insulting to the majority of Americans clamoring for the right to know what processes their food has undergone before reaching their plates. Because GMO foods contain novel genetic combinations that do not occur naturally in our food system, the least that consumers deserve is that these foods are labeled that way in the grocery store. Even if processed-food companies decide to use non-GMO crops, labeling eventually must be required for animals fed GMO feed.

Consumers want transparency and it is only fair for biotechnology and food companies to provide the market with adequate information.

Wenonah Hauter

Executive Director

Food & Water Watch

Washington

A version of this article appeared April 24, 2013, on page A14 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: GMO Food Technology Doesn’t Help the Poor Very Much.

In In The News | Tagged with Food Related, GMO, sustainability

By SVN News
April 21, 2013

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/major-u-s-grocer-to-require-labeling-of-gmo-foods.html#ixzz2RIQ3Zget

AUSTIN, Texas – With genetically modified ingredients now deeply embedded in  the U.S. food supply, it’s a decision that many in the industry are calling a  game changer.

Whole Foods Market plans to require labeling of all GMO  foods sold in its stores by 2018, becoming the first major retailer in the  nation to do so.  The decision was led by customer demand, according to Whole  Foods executive global grocery coordinator Errol Schweizer.

“The rise of fair trade, the growth of organic, of farmer’s markets, all  point to the fact that our customers want to know where their food is coming  from, what it’s made from, who is making it,” Schweizer said. “The more  information we can give our customers, the better it is for us and them, as well  as for our producers.”

The Food and Drug Administration has deemed GMO products safe. Some are  concerned that the labeling could mislead consumers about the potential risk,  but Schweizer said the company is simply offering transparency.  “We’re not  making a value judgment, and we’re not interpreting the science one way or the  other,” he explained. “We’re just saying the customer has the right to make an  informed choice on what they are feeding themselves or their family.”

Whole Foods already sells more than 3,300 products that are verified  non-GMO.

Schweizer will be among business leaders from around the country coming  together later this month for the spring  conference of the Social Venture Network. Schweizer said his message there  starts with cooperation.  “Mission-oriented businesses of various scales, big  and small, can work together to further the values and mission of what they’re  doing. So, it’s really about partnering for the greater good and running a  business in the meantime.”

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/major-u-s-grocer-to-require-labeling-of-gmo-foods.html#ixzz2RIPnaT2Y

In In The News |

By Mary Orlin, Wine Fashionista

April 18, 2013

“In all my life I have been associated with two W’s.”  The beret clad Miljenko “Mike” Grgich is standing in front of us, a group of wine press gathered at the Grgich Hills Estatewinery in Napa Valley, to celebrate his 90th birthday.  “Guess what that is?”  One of the W’s is for wine of course.  The other?  Women.  Grgich is quite the charmer, and one of his favorite sayings is, “Good wines and good ladies improve with maturity.” He should know.  For 40 years Grgich has been making some of the best, if not the best, Chardonnay in the business, wines which have not only matured well but are still very much alive.

Proof of that ageability?  Grgich poured tastes of the 1972 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that he made, where he was winemaker and limited partner, as his inaugural vintage for the new Napa Valley winery. Today this wine is a deeper golden than it must have been when first made.  It still has a very noticeable minerality to it, and there’s still a zippiness from the acidity. Best of all, the fruit is still beautiful.  The hint of age is the caramelized finish, one that lingers and fades slowly.

 

Grgich wanted to show us the longevity of his wines.  This was a generous pour, from his own wine cellar, the last case of the ’72 Chard.  While Grgich is famous for the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that beat the best of the French Burgundies in the epic Paris Tasting in 1976, the 1972 foreshadowed its success. The winery operations had to be built from the ground up.  The ’72 vintage itself was as challenging as it gets in California — with spring frost, intense summer heat and rain at harvest.  The wine turned brown for about two months, then suddenly turned clear and has stayed that way (Grgich points out that the movie Bottleshock got it wrong by portraying the ’73 Chardonnay as turning brown, which it never did).  But in May 1975 the ’72 Chard won first place in a blind tasting in San Diego, beating three top French Chardonnays.

You may be surprised to hear that he considers the ’73 Chardonnay the second most important accomplishment in his life.  The first?  His daughter Violet, who has been working with him at the Grgich Hills winery for 25 years.

With winery partner Austin Hills and daughter Violet GrgichIt’s a humble but heartwarming statement from the man whose achievements in the wine world, since he first began studying enology and viticulture in his native Croatia in 1949, have earned him legendary status worldwide.  He achieved his dream of opening his own winery, Grgich Hills, in 1977.  He won the 1980 Great Chicago Chardonnay Showdown with his 1977 Grgich Hills Chardonnay.  That wine was dubbed the “best Chardonnay in the world.”  His cardboard suitcase that he traveled with from Croatia, his winemaking textbooks and signature beret, are all on permanent display in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  Grgich was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame in 2008.  Roots of Peace presented him with its first-ever Global Citizen Award in 2007, honoring his work to raise awareness of landmines in Croatia through the Mines to Vines campaign.

His is walking, living history.  He arrived in Napa Valley in 1958, worked for André Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyard in 1959  and Robert Mondavi at the fledgling Robert Mondavi Winery in 1968.  In 1976 there were 25 wineries in the valley, and now there are nearly 500. His partnership with Austin Hills in the Grgich Hills Estate Winery, founded in 1977, is perhaps one of the longest and most successful in wine country.  He returned to Croatia to open Grgic Vina Winery in 1996, making Plavac Mali (red) and Posip (white), both native varietals.  It was during this time that Grgich helped discover that the origin of California Zinfandel is Croatia.

Grgich shows no signs of showing down.  He has guided his winery on the forefront of innovation and technology.  Grgich Hills grows grapes organically, runs on solar power, ferments with native yeasts and recycles everything it can.  He tells the story of a professor at U.C. Davis, who in the 1960′s (?verify) said that one day computers would make the perfect wine. Grgich thought to himself, “why did I come to the university for this?  To learn about wine when a computer would beat me one day?  I was discouraged.” Years later that same professor declared that if ever a perfect wine would be made it would be by an artist, a winemaker. Grgich felt vindicated.  “I will not die until I make the perfect wine.”

Grgich also tells us, “I am very proud that I have something in the Museum of American History, that I have made something for American history and I hope I have made something for Croatian history.”

Violet Grgich tells me they’ll do a birthday celebration like this for her father every year now. The official birthday is April 1, and the winery is celebrating “90 years of accomplishments.” The big question, what to pour when Grgich turns 100, in 2023.  I’m hoping that there will still be a few drops left of the 1972 Chardonnay, to taste 50 years after it was made.

In In The News | Tagged with Grgich Hills

“I can’t recall experiencing an array of Syrahs so alluringly original from one and the same winery and place other than Edmunds St. John – but Steven Edmunds has historically sourced from a striking array of microclimates, soils and Californian sub-regions, whereas Cowhorn Syrahs all grew in the same vineyard!”
David Schildknecht Wine Advocate #202 (August 2012)

We are honored to be included in the August edition of Robert Parker’s  The Wine Advocate, with seven of our wines receiving 91 plus point scores.  Out of the seven wines reviewed, two of them (2011 Spiral 36 and our 2010 Grenache 58) are currently available for purchase.  To our most loyal customers our 2009 Syrah 80, 2009 Reserve Syrah and our 2011 Marsanne Roussanne are each available on a pre-order basis.

2009 Reserve Syrah: 93 Points “Reliance on 100% whole clusters and just over 50% new barrels hasn’t resulted in any stemmy or woody extremes in the Cowhorn 2009 Syrah Reserve; on the contrary, this manages to combine explosive intensity of dark berry fruit and peat-like smokiness with seductively wafting perfume of freesia, buddleia, and violet; palpable extract-richness with near levity (at 13.5% alcohol); and vibrant fruit acids with a silken texture.  It will leave your mouth and preconceptions shaken.” Release Date:  Fall 2012

2009 Syrah 80: 92 Points “Cowhorn’s 2009 Syrah 80 smells provocatively and complexly of dark cherry, cassis, beet root, violets, black tea, peat and prickly hints of radish.  Pure-fruited; concentrated yet buoyant; and invigoratingly accented by radish and cherry pit, this brash, smoke-tinged Syrah of mere 13.5% alcohol offers a penetratingly persistent and strikingly distinctive variation on its familiar cepage.” Release Date:  Winter 2012

2010 Syrah 58: 92 Points “Cowhorn’s 2010 Syrah 58 – vinified almost entirely whole cluster – smells intensely and startlingly of black raspberry and cassis concentrates shadowed by their distilled essence; horehound; road tar; and eucalyptus.  Although palpably full of stuffing nevertheless tart, vibrant and (at a mere 13.4% alcohol) buoyant; this audacious exercise in Syrah finishes with lip licking as well as salivary gland – stimulating salinity.” Release Date: TBA

2010 Grenache 58: 92 Points “Gorgeous scents of fresh strawberry and mint mingled with hints of white pepper lead to a polished, pure fruited, vibrant palate and a finish in which saliva-liberating salinity, soothing evocations of herbal essences, and invigorating crunch of berry seeds and piquancy of pits makes for an unexpectedly unforgettable and delectable experience.” Available Now

2010 Viognier: 91 Points “Classic acacia, honeysuckle and white peach in the nose re-emerge and are joined by lusciously juicy crenshaw melon on a sumptuous, subtly oily, yet persistently juicy palate, with cepage characteristic bitterness well-integrated and in fact adding some sense of invigoration.” Sold Out

2011 Spiral 36: 91 Points “Cowhorn’s 2011 Spiral 36 – a barrel co-fermentation of slightly more Viognier than Marsanne and Roussanne – displays a fine balance of oily richness and palate polish with brightness,  Acacia, candied lime peel, and white peach follow from the nose through to a luscious finish in which piquancy of peach kernel, citrus zest, and legume sprouts add delightful and invigorating counterpoint. ” Available Now

2011 Marsanne Roussanne: 91 Points “A barrel-fermented Cowhorn 2011 Marsanne-Roussanne delivers nose-tweaking pungency of exotic flowers and white pepper allied to pineapple and quince, juicily informing a palate suffused with salinity that – along with the effects no doubt of sheer low pH – makes for gushing salivary glands and invigorating bite and ping to this wine’s protracted finish.” Release Date:  Fall 2012

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, oregon, ratings

By Jessica Yadegaran, Contra Costa Times, MercuryNews.com

The wine bloggerati are among the most influential voices in the industry: Steve Heimoff; Alder Yarrow of Vinography; and Tom Wark of Fermentation. We read, trust and know them well.

During my three days at the Wine Bloggers Conference last month in Portland, Ore., I had the pleasure of rubbing elbows with many up-and-coming wine bloggers. Few make money on their blogs. They do it for the passion and knowledge. After conversations — over several glasses of Oregon pinot noir, of course — these are the five folks who stuck with me. Read their blogs for unique spins on the swirl.

1. Ken’s Wine Guide: This blog started in 1998 as a potential Christmas list for Ken Hoggins’ in-laws. Now, it is quickly becoming one of the most reliable, comprehensive online guides of panel-reviewed wines. Quality and value are the cornerstones of Hoggins’ reviews. And, for comparison, he always runs reviews from the big critics alongside his own. He works in the insurance business and lives outside Boston. Hoggins won Best Wine Reviews on a Wine Blog during the 2012 Wine Blog Awards held at the conference. Find him at www.kenswineguide.com.

2. On the Wine Trail in Italy: I’m surprised Alfonso Cevola has not been approached with a book deal yet. His knowledge of Italian wine is encyclopedic. His voice is one-of-a-kind. Whether he’s decoding Italian wine laws or pontificating on “Tuscan Superiority Complex,” Cevola’s writing is infectious. After five years and 900 posts, he took home the award for Best Single Subject Wine Blog at this year’s conference. Find him at www.acevola.blogspot.com.

3. The Academic Wino: Becca Yeamans is a scientist at the University of Virginia. When she’s not running clinical research trials in the field of neurology, she blogs on peer-reviewed articles across the wine spectrum. Whether the subject is oenology, viticulture, or the effects of wine on mind and body, Yeamans helps us decode the geek-age. Find her at www.academicwino.com.

4. Conscious Wine: With a combined 30 years of experience in the fine wine business, Jeff Weissler and Vinny Liscio started this blog to help people understand the growing natural wine movement. They rate wines that meet four criteria: They must come from vineyards that are sustainably-farmed; the grapes must be grown organically; the wines must foster vitality, both in the vineyard and in the glass (meaning the wine is alive and not covered by additives or cellar trickery); and, lastly, they must taste great. Find them at www.consciouswine.com.

5. Terroirist: Dave White does one of the most impossible things in the wine blogging racket: He blogs every day about everything. Each week, he features a Q&A with a different winemaker. And, as the name of his blog denotes, he is most taken with wines that have a sense of place or a story to tell. Terroirist won Best New Wine Blog during the 2011 Wine Blog Awards at that year’s conference. Find him online at www.terroirist.com.

In ConsciousWine, In The News | Tagged with in the press

By Randol White for Eat, Drink, Explore, September 4, 2012

AmByth Estate is Paso Robles’ first and only winery to produce Demeter certified Biodynamic wines and are 100 percent dry-farmed.

According to the California Agricultural Water Stewardship Initiative, dry farming is not to be confused with rainfed agriculture. Rainfed agriculture refers to crop production that occurs during a rainy season.

Dry farming, on the other hand, refers to crop production during a dry season, utilizing the residual moisture in the soil from the rainy season, usually in a region that receives 20” or more of annual rainfall.

Dry farming works to conserve soil moisture during long dry periods primarily through a system of tillage, surface protection, and the use of drought-resistant varieties.

 

Click here to learn more about AmByth Estate

In AmByth Estate, In The News | Tagged with ambyth, california, Demeter, education, natural wine, organic wine, paso robles, sustainability

By Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator, September 4, 2012

Pity the sommelier. First, there was the push to get respect. So they sought to professionalize their métier by creating credentials such as Master Sommelier. Above all, they made theirs a serious, worthwhile vocation by being long-term professionals in their field, as opposed to out-of-work actors and actresses who offered glib wine patter.

Today’s American sommeliers are among the best in the world. They’re smart, savvy, deeply knowledgeable, ambitious and even fashionable.

They’ve effectively dispensed with the cobwebbed hauteur that once characterized (and stigmatized) this line of work. I can’t remember the last time I saw an overweight guy in a tuxedo or a black leather apron, the bling of a shiny silver tastevin hanging around his neck on a heavy chain like some wannabe wine rapper.

So bravo to the modern “somm.” Now for the sting in the tail: Your wine lists are unusable.

I know, I know. You’re killing yourselves finding really interesting wines for us to try. I’m all admiration. Hell, you made Grüner Veltliner. If it wasn’t for American somms, Austrian wine producers would still be yodeling to each other in the dark.

But now it’s time for you to accept another role, and yet more work. Right now, the typical wine list is about as useful as an old-fashioned newspaper stock market table. Who can really read them? And how are we supposed to know what to invest in?

Today’s best wine lists offer multiple hundreds of wines, the great majority of which are utterly unknown to all but a handful of—let’s be honest here—wine geeks.

It’s simply not enough anymore for wine lists to be just price sheets. Here’s the vintage, the wine name, the producer and the price. Good luck!

Sommeliers can—and do—say that clients can inquire about a wine or ask for a suggestion. But who’s kidding whom? A diner can’t ask for information about even a dozen wines, let alone hundreds.

So let’s get practical. We restaurant-goers need discreet help, and you sommeliers are the ones who are supposed to provide it. So what’s to be done?

I would like to propose several ideas, recognizing that every restaurant is different and that no single revisionist notion about a 21st-century wine list is appropriate for all restaurants.

That noted, I do think that whatever the presentation of the list, an effective 21st-century somm has to be more of an educator than ever before.

Put simply, it’s not enough to pick great wines and serve them deftly. You’ve now got to be able to write concisely. To educate diplomatically. To inform pithily. So how about these ideas:

The Showcase Short List Solution Let’s say yours is an ambitious restaurant with an extensive wine list. A simple short list, which is currently a wine fashion trend, just won’t cut it. Fair enough.

In such a situation I would compose a shorter list of, say, 30 wines that are grabbing my sommelier fancy this week, this month, whatever. This showcase short list would be included with the (much larger) regular list. But unlike the regular list, I would give for each wine on the short list an explanation of why it’s grabbing my sommelier fancy.

Recently, I visited a tiny producer in southern Oregon called Cowhorn Vineyard and Garden. (They grow vegetable crops as well as grapes.) I’ve mentioned their wines before—various Rhône grapes such as Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache and Syrah—but I’d never visited the property until recently.

In the course of chatting with the owners it became clear that in terms of a conventional wine list, they are simply out of luck, because they’re “nowhere.” (Cowhorn is 9 miles from the California border.) Outside of the area, who has a section on “southern Oregon” wines? No one. Moreover, if you’re not growing Pinot Noir, you’re not part of the “Oregon club” on a wine list. You get the picture.

So here’s a terrific producer—one of hundreds in the world—that absolutely needs to be showcased and explained in order to be sold. And that is simply not going to happen in the format of a conventional name-rank-and-serial-number wine list.

This is why a showcase short list is ideal. The modern sommelier must now educate as well as select. And that education, however brief and concise, must convey both erudition and enthusiasm. It most certainly isn’t a matter just of points. Or even of quoting someone else. We need insight, passion and a story we can drink.

The iPad Solution When I’ve raised this issue of the failure—that’s the only word for it—of modern wine lists, several readers have hustled to say that tablet computers, such as Apple’s iPad, are the answer. It offers unlimited room, they point out. And it’s easily updated to accurately reflect current inventory. (I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve ordered a wine only to be told, “We’re so sorry, it just went out of stock.”)

To me, these tablet computer wine lists seem gimmicky. But maybe I’m just old-fashioned. I do see their high-tech attraction. (And yes, I do own a tablet.) But I’m looking less for encyclopedic information and more for a concise, compelling enthusiasm. Maybe I’m missing something here. You tell me. Still, it’s clearly a viable option.

The Symbol Solution I first saw this simple idea in Venice, at one of that city’s greatest restaurants, Al Covo. Cesare Benelli, the chef-owner of Al Covo, is a great wine lover as well as, to use an old-fashioned term, a free thinker.

Mr. Benelli has a fine palate as well as strong opinions. His wine list, which changes weekly, has a couple hundred wines, some of which are annotated with a heart symbol. The list explains that the heart symbol signals “wines that, in our judgment, we appreciate for their uniqueness.”

In conversation, Mr. Benelli amplified his approach. “Those are the wines I really love. They’re really unusual wines, which, I have to say, may not be to the conventional taste.”

I like this simple annotation approach, which of course is something that the Michelin Red Guide long ago raised to a near-hieroglyphic art form.

Sommeliers could choose their preferred symbols and explain what they signify. For example, symbols signifying wines that are, in the sommelier’s opinion, cutting edge. Or a new discovery. Or unconventionally made. Or grown at a high elevation, or with an ultra-low yield. Or ideal for a certain type of food. Or a tremendous value. Or oak-free. You could really be creative with this.

One thing is certain, at least to me. Given the vast, bewildering array of wines offered to us today by the best sommeliers in the most ambitious restaurants, using the same kind of price sheet that restaurants gave their guests a century ago (when the wine selection was a simple handful of well-known wines) fails miserably.

Are you satisfied with today’s ambitious wine lists? Isn’t there a better way for us to navigate a 21st-century restaurant wine list?

 

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, education, in the press

Jacksonville, Oregon – The 2012 Southern Oregon World of Wine Festival recently concluded its wine competition, which featured 182 wines from 47 wineries.  Nineteen gold medals and 82 silver medals were awarded this year, both all-time highs.  Of the 19 gold medal winners, 9 were “double” gold medal winners, meaning that all three judges unanimously agreed on the award.  Best of Show honors for White Wine went to Schmidt Family Vineyards for its 2011 Albariño.  Schmidt Family Vineyards also won Best of Show honors for Red Wine for its 2009 Tempranillo.  This marks the first time in the Festival’s history that a single winery has won multiple Best of Show awards.  It’s worth noting that it also marks the second year in a row that a Tempranillo has been awarded Best of Show.  In addition, Quady North won Best of Show in the Other Wine category for its 2012 Rosé.

Several wineries received multiple awards, led by Schmidt Family Vineyards with eight medals and Troon Vineyard with six medals.  Meanwhile, Brandborg Winery, Slagle Creek Vineyard and Quady North each had five medal winning wines.  The double gold medal winning wines will be the feature attraction at the reimagined GoldRush Dinner on Friday, August 24^th.  The Jacksonville Inn will be preparing a gourmet 5-course meal specifically paired to these wines, and all nine of the double gold medal wines will be poured.  For ticket information, go to www.worldofwinefestival.com.

“This year marked some important milestones for the Festival,” noted Les Martin, Chairman of the World of Wine Festival.  “Not only is it the 10^th anniversary of the Festival, but with 19 Gold Medal winners, it represents the best showing yet by our wines.  I think this is testament to the ever improving quality of the wines and helps further solidify Southern Oregon as an emerging wine region.”

Three nationally-recognized wine professionals judged the medal competition on August 16^th and 17th in Jacksonville.  They were Traci Dutton, Sommelier and Chief Wine Buyer for the Culinary Institute of America; Sheri Sauter Morano, MW and one of the first American women to earn that designation;  and Liz Thach, MW and Professor in the Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University.  The wine competition has repeatedly succeeded in attracting high profile wine judges.  In fact, including this year’s judges, it has now entertained 8 of the approximately 30 Masters of Wine who reside in the U.S.

The Grand Tasting is scheduled for Saturday, August 25, from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m., at Bigham Knoll in Jacksonville.  All medal winning wines will be available to taste.  The event also features a wide array of foods from local restaurants and shops, along with live music.  A silent auction will offer unique wines, winemaker dinners, special get-a-ways, and lots of other great items.  A portion of the proceeds from the silent auction will go to a scholarship for the UCC Enology and Viticulture program and also to viticulture research at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center.  One important footnote, to help deal with the late August heat, there will be tent coolers for the first time.

In In The News, Winery Events |

From the Oregon Wine Press, August 1, 2012

Several years ago, I discovered that rockin’ wine often comes from sustainably farmed grapes. With a new-found passion for natural wine, I wanted to learn more and dig deeper. Through research — and a bottle or two — I have unearthed the following conclusions:

1. Diversity on the farm and a strong immune system go hand and hand.

2. Through observation, the farmer discovers the assets of his farm and, as a result, builds a growing, evolving, living relationship with the land. The depth of that relationship supports the ongoing health of the farm.

3. The farmer/farm relationship is what can allow the farmer to not put round pegs in square holes when making choices. This supports a set of dominoes which keep the farm’s immune system strong. The easier things fit together, the less stress on the system, the more naturally the whole system works.

4. When you take, you must give back. That’s what makes any relationship work well and sustainably. If you remove the natural vitality from the soil (because it’s been absorbed by the products harvested), then that vitality needs to be given back. Indigenous cover crops and composting — created ideally from materials on the farm — are a couple ways to accomplish this.

5. Synthetic chemicals used in farming can help in the short term but come with side effects, including nutrient and diversity depletion. Think of taking medicine for an ailment and how it affects your system, especially if you take it long-term. How do you support your overall health, and what might you do to balance or counteract the side effects of taking medicine both short and long-term.

6. Agriculture doesn’t exist in nature; its roots go back approximately 10,000 years. When a farmer takes away the natural diversity, a lot of conscious work is required to reinvigorate the soil and the environment with diversity and vitality.

7. Farm as if it were 1850. Huh? Use what’s on the farm to support the farm. Think of it like a closed loop system. If you want to build a house or wall, where does the wood and stone come from? The idea is to create a closed loop system, where the nutrients and resources needed to nourish that system come from within that system.

A commitment to move in these directions can lead to sustainability defined as: leaving the land healthier than it was before farming; passing a healthier place on to our kids and their kids; and minimizing the pull of resources from outside the farm.

Specific practices include animals on the farm, biodiversity, Biodynamic farming, energy conversation, family farming, good worker policies, natural winemaking, packaging conservation, polyculture (growing or raising different plants and animals on the same land) and water conservation.

Cheers to the wineries walking the talk while putting in the bottle wines that rock. Luckily for us here in Oregon, this trend is becoming more the norm and less of an exception.

Jeffrey Weissler writes about natural and organic wine on his blog, ConsciousWine.com. Originally from New York, Weissler now lives in Portland, via Ashland.

In Demystifying Natural Wine, In The News, Jeff's Blog, Natural Winemaking, Sustainable Practices | Tagged with biodynamic, education, in the press, natural wine

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