Talk-A-Vino

Meritage Time!

Let’s start with something you already knew, and hopefully, participated in – if not, it is not too late: do you know that October is #MerlotMe month? Way before social media was a thing, one mediocre movie (Sideways, 2004) almost killed Merlot wine sales in the USA. I remember about 8-10 years ago, a friend of mine who has a wine store didn’t have a single bottle of wine with Merlot name on the label at his wine store – nobody would buy it. The situation is much better today, but still, while some of the very best wines in the world – Petrus, Le Pin, Masseto are made exclusively from Merlot, Merlot wines still need everyone’s help to restore its pre-sideways status. You still have time to grab a bottle of Merlot from your favorite producer (need advice? how about L’Ecole No 41 or Duckhorn) and join the celebrations.

Wine can often be considered an art form. For example, Sassicaia, one of the very best super-Tuscan wines Italy has to offer. If you ever had a sip of this wine, you would agree that it is transformational, and might have a similar effect as looking at the beautiful painting. Art forms are often subject to imitations – this is actually a bad choice of the term – counterfeiting is what I’m talking about. At $300+ per bottle, Sassicaia represents a lucrative target for the counterfeiting – and that what some folks in Italy thought too. Italian police were working for more than a year to catch counterfeiting Sassicaia ring in Northern Italy – you can read the full story in the Wine Spectator article.

We grow from the adversities – this is a known fact. The poorer the soil, the harder vines have to work, the better fruit they will bear. When humans have to concur the obstacles, they grow, invent, persevere, and overcome. Humankind at the moment is fighting with the silent, invisible killer, COVID – but looking for the proverbial “silver lining”, we (humans) continuing to move forward, and whatever we invent to deal with the virus, is helping us advance far beyond that singular task. Case in point – dealing with vine diseases, such as powdery mildew. It turns out that the same UV light which is effective against the virus is effective in the fight against powdery mildew. Take the UV light source, put it on the robot tractor, and let it roam the vineyards during the night – problem solved. Or at least the solution looks very promising. For more details, read this article.

The last one for today is not even the news. It is simply a powerful story. An account of the fighting and winning against one of the most powerful forces on Earth – wildfire. This is a terrifying read, but I can’t recommend it highly enough – the story of the Smith family, defending their Smith-Madrone winery and vineyards against the recent Glass Fire, is a must-read in my opinion. You can find it here.

That’s all I have for you today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!