The folks at Sparefoot created this amazing infographic on America’s love of wine.
It’s a no-brainer the California makes most of America’s wine – it is after all, one of the only newer wine-growing regions that is identified first and foremost by it’s regional territory, not by nation – but 90%? That surprised me.
And there’s so many more awesome tidbits.Are you among the 11% of wine drinkers who take a sip every day?
Have a look and retweet away!
Francis Ford Coppola, he of Godafther and Apocalypse Now cinematic fame, is probably even more known to some wine folk for his endeavors in California wine for many years now. And when it comes to wine news concerning Mr. Coppola, the recent news of him re-booting the Inglenook brand, and the old Inglenook property’s vineyards, after buying back the Inglenook trademark in 2011 is the cherry on the cake he’s been putting together when not busy bankrupting himself and avoiding Hollywood slavery while making groundbreaking films.
Coppola bought the Niebaum mansion in 1975 and over the past four decades, he began buying back the property that had been sold in pieces, made it his family home, and poured money into it even when he wasn’t flush with money – but that’s what a labor of love does to you. It’s the one thing he has stuck with, even as he has easily abandoned Hollywood, parting with mainstream filmmaking, something most of the world knows him for. But then again, Coppola has always been one to walk his own path
I
nglenook’s fame is decades old. Over a hundred years ago they were already making award-winning wine on this estate founded by, of all things, a sea captain from Finland. It garnered the kind of legendary status that has made it, as Robert Mondavi called it, “the most important winery property in the Napa Valley.” So to Coppola, it was a no-brainer to buy back the original Inglenook brand, and replace the Rubicon brand with it, when it became available.
But it doesn’t stop with just a brand. Coppola is intent on reviving the lighter style of wine that made it famous, Cabernets made with few of the modern techniques that seem mandatory in today’s winemaking process. He’s even ready to abandon the usually over the top, oaked fruit bombs of Cabs that Napa has made famous and turn to an older style, some would even say a more Bordeaux style. The shift also requires a change to the hundreds of acres of vines at Inglenook’s vineyards. Coppola has always been very attentive to the farming of his land, and is one of the only vineyard owners in the region to keep a full crew year round to better achieve this purpose.
Now we are beginning to see the first vintages, but a hundred years ago it was the long lasting quality of the Inglenook wines that made them special, so it could be expected that the success of the results of Coppola’s work can only be weighed years, if not decades from now. But if the long-lasting success of his greatest cinematic labor of love, Apocalypse Now, is any sign, there may be great things to come.
In one hand, I have an unoaked Merlot from the cold climes of Canada, and in the other a legendary Merlot from Napa’s Stag’s Leap District.
The unoaked one, the Saxon Winery 2011 Merlot from the Okanagan Valley, is playful as a Mini Cooper on a sunny summer Sunday while the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 2006 Merlot has all the pedigree and muscle of a classic ’67 Ford Mustang, you know, from that time before Ford got it all oh-so-wrong.
But enough chit chat, let’s take them for a spin.
Saxon Winery 2011 Merlot
Saxon Winery, in Summerland, British Columbia, is situated in the Okanagan Valley, an area known for stunning cool-climate Germanic grapes. Saxon’s wines are organically grown and hand-harvested using environmentally sustainable practices.
The ’11 Merlot, blended by winemaker Danny Hatting, has a splash of Pinot Noir thrown in with Naramata bench Merlot grapes, and has not even had a whiff of oak. The result is a fresh, lively wine.
It has a generous nose of raspberries and chocolate, and perfumy aromas that brings to mind a gourmet Big Turk chocolate bar, one of my favorite childhood treats. It’s rare for wine to remind a person of his childhood treats, and this gives the Saxon Merlot a special place for me.
It’s light on the palate, and a truly intriguing wine experience – red berries, chocolate and subtle pepper.
It’s all well and good on its own, and though it doesn’t have the oomph of an aged and oaked Merlot, it can also be paired with meat dishes for the holidays.
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 2006 Merlot
Everyone who knows wine knows Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, one of California’s earliest wine estates established by Warren Winiarski in 1970, and based in the Napa Valley’s Stag’s Leap District. Famed for its victory at the 1976 Judgment of Paris, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars has risen over the years to be a legendary institution in American wine.
This 2006 Merlot is from our own cellar, acquired on a trip to Napa two years ago, and it was a good time to uncork it.
But even as it stood there, still corked and brought upright to settle any sediment, it’s impressive. Just look at the bottle. It stands there with might and presence, as if knowing that what’s about to go down your throat may just very well change your life a little bit with every sip.
And then, with a pop, some breathing room, and a couple pours, we go for broke…
The nose is wonderfully complex, with aromas of black cherry, black berries, cedar.
On the palate, black plum, licorice and vanilla notes from fabulously integrated oak. The tannins are definitely there, firm and strong but graceful. The long finish brings dark chocolate and ripe blackberries.
Six years on, it’s still feeling young and has several years on it.
As far as pairings go, there’s no red meat that this graceful beast couldn’t go with, but that’s just me talking.
Both of these wine impressed, and have their own places and purposes, much the same way a fun car like a Mini Cooper and a muscle-bound V8 Mustang do. So pick wisely, and enjoy 
Shortly after visiting the Clos Du Val Winery in the Stags Leap District of California’s Napa Valley, we noticed one of their bottles on an episode of Two and a Half Men
As far back as 2004, both the LA Times and Decanter declared Clos Du Val the winner (or perhaps A winner) of the product placement game. Apparently back then at least “no one tracks wine placements in films and television programs, but Aaron Gordon, president of the Set Resources entertainment marketing firm in Santa Monica, believes that Clos du Val appears in more shows than any other brand”, according to the piece.
This aggressive PR push came on the heels of Clos Du Val having in the past couple years fallen from the elite group of must-have Napa wines. The prominent placements combined with national ratings and reviews, new branding and a price push proved to be a winning combination. Even Wine Spectator, who had gotten down on Clos Du Val for not adapting to the fruit bomb era that customers wanted, praised Clos Du Val in an article titled Napa Mavericks for defying trends.
So now, almost ten years since this change in direction, Clos Du Val is going strong with a vibrant, recognizable brand and a solid product in the bottle. Personally, we are perennial fans of the Carneros Chardonnay and some other delightful discoveries have been their uniquely-branded and old-world leaning Primitivo, which I believe hasn’t been made since 2009, as well as the Carneros Pinot Noir. And the brand, well yes, it is in the back of our heads and catches our eye every time I spot the squiggles and terracotta on TV or at the movies.
With all this visibility, I dare say some of us should get into a long-term drinking game with this. If you spot a Clos Du Val bottle, pour yourself a glass of Cab or Chard in the California fashion!
California-based wine dealer and collector Rudy Kurniawan, who has bought and sold millions of dollars worth of wine annually, was arrested by the FBI at his southern California home last week and charged with five felony counts of wire and mail fraud. If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.
This may also be just the first arrest of many as Laurent Ponsot of Domaine Ponsot, who has worked for two years with the FBI on this case, told Wine Spectator he knows who Mr. Kurniawan’s accomplices may be.
For details, jump over to this Wine Spectator article.
We soothed our sweet tooth today with 2010 Cupcake Central Coat Merlot from Cupcake Vineyards. People have been mentioning it on and off the past few months so we wanted to see what’s the hype about.
We like the faux-classic branding that’s simple but surprisingly eye-catching. The wine itself is fruit-forward, jammy and sweet, but lacking in complexity. But at this price point, a hair’s breadth under $10, it delivers an easy drinking Merlot that’s suited to many North American palates. It’s a wine that doesn’t demand much, and asks that you just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The Cupcake Vineyards site recommends this wine with the very specifically noted “decadent chocolate molten cupcake”. We went with chocolate truffle cheesecake from Chuckanut Bay, which was a good fit. The chocolate does a good job of cutting the sweetness of the wine, and made for a decadent enough pairing, and it should go down well with most things chocolate.
With a solid performance from this entry-level wine, we’re looking forward to tasting other wines from Cupcake Vineyards.
With our first foray south of the border and into California, this issue of Brandalicious turns its eye to Bonny Doon Vineyard, and the man behind it all, Randall Grahm. One of wine’s most influential voices in America and one of the original Rhone Rangers, Grahm pioneered the presence of grapes like Syrah and Grenache in California, lifted an obscure winery in Santa Cruz to be one of the most famous in the country, and then sold most of it off to return to small-scale winemaking. But through it all, the man and the winery have maintained a consistency in the uniqueness of what they are. It’s easy to spot and remember a Bonny Doon wine label, and just as easy to remember Grahm.
The branding at Bonny Doon, from the chic yet cheeky bottles labeling to the almost steampunk-flavored Bonny Doon Vineyard website, doesn’t miss a single grape-stomping step. The wine labels, with artwork form the likes of Ralph Steadman, Grady McFerrin, and Gary Taxali, are far from traditional and result in a strong visual brand. Bonny Doon gets an added nod of appreciation from me for the honesty of their wine labels. The absolutely full disclosure of the ingredients in their wine is very refreshing. I mean, who else tells you right on the bottle that they use oak chips?
Le Cigare Volant, perhaps Bonny Doon’s “flagship” wine, fluidly marries the traditional and unconventional on the outside. For further away, it looks very classic. But the uniqueness is in the details and the irreverence of the subject matter – a flying saucer over a vineyard (inspired by an ordinance passed in Chateauneuf forbidding flying saucers from landing in their vineyards). A tribute to Chateauneuf du Pape, is a blend of 38% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 35% Mourvèdre, 8% Carignan and 7% Cinsault, its fame has risen to almost mythical proportions in areas, and was thus first on our radar. As they say, once you’ve taken down (or in this case, drank down) the mother ship, the rest will fall into place nicely. We had the ’06 with flank steak, and then afterwards on its own. It’s so much more pleasureful to share a mouthful of wine with a great pairing than leave it on its own, and this is how we usually taste at home. The sweet licorice was complimented the red berries and a meaty, bacony heft, and there was a sort of – this one’s gonna be hard to explain and it’s most definitely based on personal experience – herbal component that reminds me of an “herbes des garrigue” seasoning mix we once found at a spice shop on a side street near Pike Place Market in Seattle. I’ve heard others say it, and I agree that it’s silky, and though there’s a lot of ways to put it, I’d simply say the finish lingers in both mouth and mind. It’s a wine we’ll return to with each vintage.
We’re not into keeping score, but if that’s your bag, there’s Natalie Maclean’s 91 pt. review of the same vintage. Why not also drop by Corks and Caftans for a review of the ’04 and some cool shots. And here’s another great little piece on Le Cigare Volant over at Rhone Around the World.
The 2008 Le Pousseur, A Syrah from the Central Coast of California was our next encounter. The artwork evokes a yesteryear feel with its Tarot card-likestyle, and once again the subject matter is worth lingering on – a mysterious figure wearing a cloak full of rare vials and flasks of potions and philtres. When you realize that Le Pousseur means “The Pusher” in English, it takes on a whole new tone that always makes me smile. At 100% Syrah, the wine comes from three California vineyards (62% Alamo Creek, 23%, Terra Bella, 15% Chequera). Unfortunately, the bottle we opened had a very muted nose and taste, so I wasn’t sure what to make of it. We let it decant for some time, and then left a portion for a second day but without much effect. Having read some reviews that severely contradicted our experience, I’m keeping a Wineshout review off the books until we’ve had a chance to taste another bottle. But here’s a review from a blog we love here at Wineshout, The Reverse Wine Snob.
As we continue to taste Bonny Doon’s wines, we’ll continue to add to this article, but for now lets turn back to Mr. Grahm himself. he is worth a whole other article, but I want to lay down some beats in honor of this master of his own devout “viticult”. It’s sometimes said, as in this Reign of Terroir article, that the man needs no introduction, but let’s link you up a few Grahms of the man. He has fans all over, with a Twitter following numbering north of 365,000. And he’s been buzzing on Twitter about his foray into making anti-California wine in San Juan Bautista, which just makes the man all the more exciting because of the accessibility he affords his flock. Feeling social? Say hello to @RandallGrahm. In traditional media, his James Beard Foundation Award-winning book Been Doon So Long is one of the best books about wine and winemaking. “Brilliantly observed and beautifully rendered.”, New York Times called it, and I can’t think of a better way to put it. With all that he does and the passion he does it with, it’s easy to like Randall Grahm. Add to that the Bonny Doon branding and it makes picking up a bottle of Bonny Doon irresistible. Drinking it. Then placing it on the mantle for a future conversation starter. It is Brandalicious.
Hope you enjoyed your stay with us today, and before you leave why not stop by the Blog Shop and see what new blogs we’ve stocked on our digital shelves. Until next time, folks.
Our Shoutouts blog looks each week at an interesting person or organization in our oenoverse. Whether they’re new to you or a familiar face, we welcome discussion on these peeps and orgs. If you know of a link we missed, please do link it up.
This, our very first shoutout, goes out to the Rhone Rangers, whose mission it is to bring Rhone to your noggin’ by promoting American Rhone varietal wines, which are made from the same grapes that have flourished for centuries in France’s Rhone River Valley.
And it sure is a mighty fine time for these wines. Quoting the Sheriff-stached James Laube, “California’s Rhône Rangers are saddled up and ready to ride, armed with a pair of excellent vintages and firing off some truly amazing wines”. So it’s a good day to be a Syrah, at least a Paso Robles Syrah.
It’s not just Syrah and Grenache that are in the limelight. The Rangers are fighting the good fight on behalf of 22 Rhone varietals they want you to become best pals with. Even a sidekick like Mourvedre is starting to get attention.
Still not sure if you should trust these pilgrims? Bloomberg Businessweek’s article shines some light on some of the rangers behind the cool moniker.
For more info on how to sign up or find events, check out www.rhonerangers.org.
