Latest Wine News Update
So many things are happening in and around of the world of wine that I had to share some of the latest updates with you.
Coravin, the maker of the Coravin™ Wine Access Technology, announced that the company recently finished development of the patented wine fingerprinting algorithm, which allows to uniquely identify all different wines made in the world. Using this algorithm, Coravin is planning to complete within the next 5-6 months the creation of the database of all the wines ever made. The next version of the popular Coravin™ Wine Access appliance will not only allow you to enjoy your prized wines without pulling the cork, but will also automatically identify year, grape(s) and producer of the wine, and provide a prediction as to for how long the wine will continue to evolve in the cellar. The new Coravin gadget will also serve as a deterrent against fake wine, as it will be able to tell you if the wine you are drinking doesn’t match information on the label. Coravin is accepting pre-orders now and expect to start shipping the new device in the first half of 2015 – make sure to order yours now as it is expected to be sold out of pre-orders within the first week.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s wedding seems to be occupying the thoughts of everyone nowadays, and it seems that everybody want to be a part of it. I’m sure you heard that Burger King offered to provide all the food for Kanye and Kim’s wedding. Now Korbel, the famed producer of California Champagne, is offering not only to supply all the champagne for the wedding, but they also want to provide an unlimited access to any amount of champagne to Kim Kardashian for any occasions when she will feel a la Marylin Monroe and would want to take a bubbly bath.
You probably read recently that sales of Prosecco worldwide surpassed sales of French Champagne in terms of volume shipments. This news is not taken well by the bubbly greats, and based on the unconfirmed rumors, Krug Champagne, one of the most venerable producers, entered the talks with Zonin Prosecco about purchasing the company. It seems that Zonin’s witty TV commercials had a great effect on Krug’s top management, and they believe such an acquisition will be a great asset in the Krug’s portfolio. The exact amount of possible transaction is unknown.
Wine Advocate leaked that Robert Parker will be leaving the publication very soon. To replace him, based on the information from inside industry sources, it appears that Wine Advocate reached out to Ron Washam, the HoseMaster of Wine. The folks at Wine Advocate believe that addition of Ron Washam to the team will help to take the publication to the next level – Ron’s fiery wine reviews and skewering comments are expected to be especially well received by the aspiring audience of Chinese wine lovers. Stay tuned as this story is developing, more updates will be coming.
And the last update for today: in the usual spat between Manfred Krankl and TTB, the application for the newest label of Sine Qua Non Syrah, called Five Naked Women and A Cowboy, was rejected. TTB reviewers said that cowboy’s facial expression is too scarily detailed, and young wine drinkers might feel threatened be simply looking at the bottle. It is unknown if Manfred Krankl is planning to appeal or will decide to change the name of the wine to something else.
That’s all I have for you for today. Enjoy your day and cheers!
Latest Wine News Updates
Last few days were filled with important announcements in the wine world, so I wanted to bring them to your attention just in case you missed them.
Target, one of the major department stores in the US, made the decision to catch up with success of Trader Joe’s “Two Buck Chuck” wines and announced the new wine series called One Buck Willie. The wine will retail at $1.01 and will initially include Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as “Hello Willie” Moscato. Target’s major rival, Wal-Mart countered that with their Rollback series which includes Rollback Red, Rollback White and Rollback Sweet Ending, all proprietary blends. Rollback wines will retail for $0.98 and $1.96 in the magnum size and will be available this fall at the Wal-Mart retailer near you.
According to the information leaked on Twitter by the law firm Trellis & Press, Antonio Galloni surprised James Suckling with the lawsuit a few days ago. He claimed that James Suckling’s bad influence forced him to quit his lucrative position at the Wine Advocate. The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, but it seems that its major target is Suckling’s exclusive collection of Barolo and full vertical of Petrus starting from 1928. James Suckling declined the request for an interview.
Chinese wine fashion finally arrived in New York, and it is all official. Coca-Cola and Chateau Latour cocktail, called CocaTour, is now served at all leading New York restaurants, and it seems that bartenders can’t make it fast enough. The cocktails are priced according to the vintage ratings, with 1947, 1961 and 1982 being the most expensive. Eying the success of the competitors, unconfirmed reports seem to indicate that Pepsi-Cola entered into preliminary talks with Domaine Romanee-Conti to endorse the new Pepsi-Cola/DRC cocktail which will be called PepsidRC. Representatives from both companies couldn’t be reached for the comment.
Riedel, the world leader in the manufacturing of the wine glasses, announced a new line of plastic glassware. In the recent interview given to National Enquirer, Maximilian Riedel admitted that customers long enough demanded high-quality plastic glassware capable of highlighting qualities of the different wines. The first release of the plastic glassware series called PlastiXtreme will include Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Port glasses, and it will be available exclusively at Costco this fall. Single-use plastic duck shaped decanter will also be available in time for holiday season.
Joe Roberts of 1WineDude fame and Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia announced their new joint venture which will be called DudeChuk. DudeChuk owners wowed to create content will be funnier than Ron Washam’s HoseMaster of Wine and Chris Kassel’s Intoxicology Report combined. Partners also plan to continue writing wine reviews not only for Playboy magazine but make them specifically white-labeled for ease of reuse by Natalie MacLean.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks! Cheers!
Wine and War
I don’t want to write this post.
I really don’t want to write this post.
Mere thinking about the war unfolding right now in Ukraine literally gives me pain. What started on February 24th is pure, unthinkable, unfathomable madness. Brothers were sent to kill brothers. All on the orders of the egomaniac who lost his mind and belongs in jail or a mental institution – at least I wish this was the case. In reality, it was all well thought through and calculated, so the ruler of Russia really belongs in jail as a war criminal. The country that was a subject of merciless, unjustifiable aggression 80 years ago became a merciless, unjustifiable aggressor itself. Unfathomable.
Of course, wine has nothing to do with the war. At the same time, everything has its role in the war. Here is how.
Instead of bottling the wines, Ukrainian wineries are bottling “Molotov cocktail” and helping in any way they can – wine writer Lyn Archer wrote an excellent piece detailing what is happening at the wineries in Ukraine and beyond.
Speaking against the war in a totalitarian regime is an act of courage that almost guarantees to land you in jail. Nevertheless, a group of top Russian sommeliers wrote an open letter to Putin, expressing their strong opposition to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Russia is not the biggest wine market in the world, but from 2015 through 2019 was consistently the fastest growing one at about 15% growth every year. As multinational conglomerates declared their exit from Russian markets, it is still a very difficult decision for the majority of the wine producers – but a necessary one. La Rioja Alta, one of the best Rioja producers in Spain, suspended its trade relations with Russia.
To protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden’s government-owned liquor stores Systembolaget stopped selling any types of Russian-made alcohol. A similar boycott was announced by Finnish stores Alko. Also, Russian-made vodka was removed from the shelves of many wine stores in the USA.
The world doesn’t need war. After 2 years of the pandemic, the war is absolutely the last thing we need right now. I don’t know how, but I really, really want it to be over. Now. Before it is too late.
Open That Local Wine Night
There is a good chance you heard of Open That Bottle Night, or OTBN for short – more than 2 decades old special celebration to encourage people to open their sacred bottle of wine and preferably share it with friends. OTBN is celebrated on the last Saturday in February, and I have to tell you that my last one was magnificent (see for yourself here). Today, while we are still celebrating wine and all the passionate people who put their heart and the soul into those bottles, we want to shift the focus to the bottles with possibly a different pedigree than the OTBN ones – today we focus on the local wines and wineries.
With the wines produced in all 50 states in the USA, the concept of a local winery is not an oxymoron. Local wineries offer a perfect weekend getaway, with wine, food, great discoveries, stories of passion and obsession, live music and simply an opportunity to relax, in the group and small or large. And oenophiles are willing to travel to their local wineries (it takes me about 3 hours of travel by car to the Long Island wineries – and this is perfectly local in my book) – but not today. With the pandemic madness we are living nowadays, we can’t really visit wineries, whether they are 15 minutes from our house or 5 hours – and this is the time when local wineries need our support the most. And actually, you and all of us can support them.
Whatever your “local” winery is, there is a good chance you have a bottle of your favorite local wine in the cellar. Frank Morgan, a veteran wine writer from Virginia, originally suggested making Saturday, March 28th (last Saturday in March) a night to open a bottle of Virginia wine. Lenn Thompson of The Cork Report fame suggested to extend this idea to all of the local wineries, no matter where those wineries are located, and designate that same Saturday as Open That Local Wine night. The event works in a very simple way – decide what bottle to open, open and enjoy it, with food or without, and share your support in social media using hashtag #openlocalwine.
It is obvious that the wineries need our support beyond opening that bottle today, and the best form of support, of course, is simply buying the wines. Literally all the wineries have special incentives for their customers. Many wineries offer free or heavily discounted shipping for their customers, such as a $5 flat rate, for example. If you have your favorite winery, you should check their web site and see what they offer. There are also a few of the winery lists with discounts which I can offer to your attention – here is one focused on the East Coast wineries, and here is another one covering pretty much the whole country.
You also should keep in mind that while you will be engaging in the great deed of supporting the local wineries, you will be in for a lot of pleasure. Amazing wines are produced today literally everywhere, not just in California, Washington, or Oregon. I’m a self-appointed wine snob, and nevertheless, I’m literally blown away every time I’m trying local wines. I had amazing wines last year in New Jersey and Maryland. Then I also discovered an array of amazing “orange” wines at Channing Daughters winery on Long Island (if you want to expand your wine horizon, take a look at this selection), of course in addition to all the whites, Rosé and reds they produce. Really, you have a lot to discover.
Let’s talk about my most recent discovery – Macari Vineyards from North Fork of Long Island. Macari Vineyards were founded in 1995 when the first vines were planted on previously a potato farm. Macari Vineyards uses biodynamic methods and produces some of the best fruit on the East Coast. They produce a range of wines, from more of Long Island traditional Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot to the oddballs such as 100% Pinot Meunier. I had an opportunity to try the samples of two wines Macari Vineyards wines, and I really enjoyed both – here are the notes:
2019 Macari Rosé North Fork of Long Island (12% ABV, $24, Merlot and Malbec blend)
Salmon pink
Herbs, strawberries
Underripe strawberries, crisp, fresh, good acidity.
8-, light and delicious.
2015 Macari Cabernet Franc Reserve North Fork of Long Island (14% ABV, $38, 20 months in 100% neutral French oak)
Dark Garnet
Bell peppers, eucalyptus, sage, cassis leaves
Soft, round, cassis, bell peppers, anise, crispy undertones, mouthwatering acidity, medium body, classic lean New York style.
8+, outstanding, the Cab Franc I love.
So what do you think, can you do it? Open that bottle of the local wine, maybe even get together with the friends – virtually, of course – Facetime, WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, … and enjoy that bottle. And then go and explore what the local wineries have to offer – the world is your oyster, so any winery can be your local winery. You are up for a lot of tasty discoveries, I guarantee you that. #openlocalwine, my friends!
Judging Wine
Let’s do some math. There are about 8,700 wineries in the USA. Some wineries make only 2–3 wines, but this is quite rare. Some wineries make 10, 15 or more, especially if you will take into account all the “winery-only” specials. Let’s average, say, at 10 (I’m sure I’m reasonably conservative here). In this case, we are talking about roughly 87,000 different wines. Produced every year. In the USA alone.
How do we choose the wines? Presented with an average selection of at least a few hundred bottles even at a small wine store, we need all the help we can get to select that one bottle we want to drink tonight. One of such “helpers” is so-called ratings. Ratings are professional wine critics’ opinions, generally expressed in the form of the numbers (points), from 50 to a 100 – 89 points, 95 points, 100 points. Those ratings are produced by several wine publications (magazines and newsletters), such as Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast, and a few others. Let’s say there are about 4 main publications in the USA (there are lots more, of course, if you will attempt a full count, but let’s just stay with the major ones). Now, to produce the ratings for all 87,000 wines among 4 publications, working 365 days a year (no breaks!), it will be necessary to evaluate about 60 wines per day, every day – and these are just wines from the USA, based on our rough assumption of 10 wines per winery. Mission impossible – and mission unnecessary.
What else is there besides ratings, to help our poor, indecisive selves? Well, how about some awards? If you ever visited some lesser-known wineries – maybe on Long Island, or in Finger Lakes, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, etc – have you noticed a display of the bottles wearing straps with various medals around the neck? Those are the exact awards we are talking about. How the wineries get those? By participation (and winning) at the various wine competitions, in the USA or even in the world.
There are about 70 of major (or better known) wine competitions in the USA, plus probably hundreds of lesser-known, more regional wine competitions. Wineries submit their wines for the competitions. The wines are grouped into the categories (white, blend, Chardonnay, Merlot, Dessert, etc), and get rated in a blind tasting within those categories by the wine judges. The best wines in the categories can subsequently compete for the “best in show”, “best red”, “best dessert” and so on. And then wineries get to brag about their awards and to display the medals, sometimes at the winery, and sometimes even on the labels – I’m sure you’ve seen those.
Wondering how the wine judging is done? Let me give you a first-hand account, as I just attended my second wine competition as a judge – at the Hudson Valley Wine Festival – obviously focused on the wines of Hudson Valley.
As we mentioned, the wines are judged blind, with only a variety (or blend composition) and vintage known for every wine. The wines are split into the categories such as white and Rosé, red, dessert, fruit, and can be split into varieties within the categories, each category presented as a separate flight – for example, Merlot and Cabernet Franc for reds, or Chardonnay and Riesling for the whites. The wines are assessed at the Hudson Valley Wine Festival according to the American Wine Society wine evaluation chart, which you can find in its entirety here. According to that chart, the wine can get the maximum of 20 points comprising of the following categories
- Wine color – up to 3 points. This is an easy one – as long as your 1-year-old dry Riesling is not a deep golden, or not hazy/cloudy, it is 3 points.
- Aroma and bouquet – up to 6 points. The 6 points are awarded if the wine is absolutely on point for the varietal expression.
- Taste and texture – again, up to 6 points. To get 6 points the wine should be varietally perfect.
- Finish – up to 3 points. Here the long and enjoyable is what is required to qualify for 3.
- Overall impression – up to 2 points. Here is an opportunity for a judge to express his or her personal opinion about the wine – nah, okay, or wow.
The assessment of the wines done in the flights, where each wine is individually labeled with a code. The judges are working in the groups of 3, with each group having a captain who manages the group’s work and fills up all of the final decision forms. While the wines in the flight had been assessed, all judges keep it quiet and filling up the form. Once the flight’s assessment is finished, the wines are been discussed one by one, to arrive at a final score for the wine. Based on the score and opinion, the recommendations can be made for double gold, gold, silver, and bronze, as well as for the inclusion into the best of show tasting.
Once all the flights are done by all the judges at all tables, the results are processed, which takes about 30 minutes. During this 30 minutes break, it is a perfect opportunity for judges to walk around and see a bit of the show floor before it gets ultra-crowded. Here are some of the pictures of what you can find on the show floor of the Hudson Valley Wine and Food Festival. These are the things which attracted my attention, and I can tell you that the bacon salsa you see below was superb. Both single malt and rye whiskey which you can see below were good, but not $100 good as it was the show’s asking price. And how about those cans and wine labels!
After the break, the final part of the judging is set up – now the wines are judged for the best in category (best red, best white, etc), and then all of the best in categories are included into the “best in show” tasting. Best in category and best in the show are judged by all the judges at all the tables by the show of hands, and each judge can vote only once.
An interesting by-product of all the voting is the title of the “winery of the year” for the region – I don’t know the exact formulae, but it is determined by the number of wines awarded the medals, taking into account how many wines were submitted versus how many wines got awards, and the type of those awards – for example, it is better to submit 2 wines, one of which will take double gold, versus 4 wines, out of which 2 will take silver.
That’s all there is to it – now you know all about the wine judging.
Here you can see our list of flights, and some of my notes. I have to honestly tell you that somehow I liked the wines from last year a bit more than the wines from this year – but then last year our red wines flight was Cabernet Franc, and this year it was Merlot – and Hudson Valley produces better Cabernet Franc than Merlot (personal opinion, of course). Also, last year we tasted no DPMs at our table – in case you never heard the term which I learned last year, DPM stands for Don’t Put in your Mouth – and DPM can happen anywhere, it has nothing to do with any particular region. So last year we got lucky, and this year, we were blessed with two – one wine was completely spoiled (can’t describe it, just terrible, like a spoiled fruit), and the second one tasted like it had cheese blended in the wine – as one of the judges said, “I like cheese with my wine, but not in my wine”. Anyway, bad wines happen anywhere in the world – nothing else there is to it.
Overall, however, I have nothing to complain about, it was fun and successful tasting, and we completed our work with no issues.
I will not be repeating here all the results – you find them all here, on the website of Debbie Gioquindo, Hudson Valley Wine and Spirits Competition Chairwoman for the past 12 years. For my personal favorites, 2017 Millbrook Castle Hill Vinyard Chardonnay Hudson Valley was absolutely spectacular – it is hard to believe the Chardonnay of such a world quality can be produced in Hudson Valley (I mean no disrespect, but you have to taste this wine to believe it) – perfectly Burgundian with a distant hint of vanilla and butter. 2015 Glorie Farm Winery Cabernet Franc was simply perfect – an excellent rendition of the Cabernet Franc, the grape which Hudson Valley mastered to perfection for a while – and it was the Best in Show wine. And the Baldwin Vineyards Spiced Apple, entered in the fruit wine category, simply blew my mind with its perfect expression of a drool-inducing apple pie – the one you eat with the spoon directly from the tray, and you know you are not supposed to do it, but you can’t stop yourself…
In case you want to see it, here is the aftermath of the competition:
That’s all, my friends. This was definitely a fun experience, and I’m already looking forward to the next year’s event. Cheers!