Wente Vineyards and Foreigner Create ''Legends of Wine & Rock'

LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 21, 2006--In a cross-promotion illustrating the emergence of wine as the adult beverage of choice on a rock and roll scene long dominated by spirits and beer, Wente Vineyards has teamed with legendary rock band Foreigner to create the "Legends of Wine & Rock" pre-concert wine tastings. These exclusive gatherings represent a first-of-its-kind opportunity for fans to meet Foreigner, while sipping wines from Wente Vineyards. A sweepstakes to win a trip to The Concerts at Wente Vineyards to see Foreigner live in 2007, and free online music downloads, are also part of the promotion. To date, nineteen events are set for 2006 in eight states and four countries.

This is one of the most appropriate pairings I’ve seen in a long time. Sales of Wente wines and Foreigner CDs are sure to skyrocket! It really shows you how bad the PR problem is for the Wente brand, when they have to team up with a has-been rock group to improve their image. Come to think of it, it also shows you how bad the situation is for Foreigner when the only wine brand they can partner with is Wente.

Wente and Foreigner are certainly names that will live on as legends. Legends of what I’m not sure.

Corky Paranoia

By Craig Camp
Friday, August 15, 2003

I SIT in the corner of a dark restaurant on a worn chair with dark green plastic upholstery. The walls are a dark imitation wood. The room is empty except for me and the wait staff. As I peruse the menu the only safe bet is the filet mignon. There was no other choice. I could drive no longer and when I pulled into the hotel it was almost 10 p.m.. There was nothing else open in this wide spot on the interstate in Iowa so it was going to be dinner here or nothing else.

I see her coming out of the corner of my eye and the paranoia starts to build in my mind.

"Would you like a cocktail?" she asks in an automatic way.

"Can I have the wine list?" I ask with a sense of resignation.

She brings the list back in a few minutes and I am relieved to find Gallo Sonoma Zinfandel. Not bad, it will wash down the steak just fine.

After a few minutes watching the "Frasier" rerun on the bar TV she finally arrives back at the table.

"Would you like some wine?" she asks with complete and sincere boredom.

"Yes, I will take number 124," I say, knowing better than to order it by name.

After a few more minutes with "Frasier," she returns to tell me my selection is not available by the glass. I explain I want the whole bottle and she reacts with disbelief and with more than a little irritation that she will actually have to open a bottle at the table.

But it is only now that the paranoia really starts to set in. What if the wine is corked? I know what the response will be: disbelief, irritation, and the certainty that I am trying to rip them off. First the bartender will come out then the hotel manager.

"Don't you want to try something else," they will ask, assuming I just don't like the wine.

She finally arrives at my table with the bottle some minutes after my steak has arrived. I watch with apprehension while she attacks the bottle with a huge winged auger corkscrew. She pours about 11 ounces in a 12 ounce glass that weighs about a pound and waits for me to taste.

With trepidation I put the glass to my nose waiting for the nauseating smell of books that have been in the basement for a few decades.

But wait! There it is! The smooth fruity smell of blackberry jam. No problem after all. This will wash down my now-cold steak quite well.

I tell the waitress the wine is fine. We are both visibly relieved.

"Would you like an ice bucket?" she asks.

I developed my corky paranoia because so many times the bottle has been bad and then I've had to deal with hassles. Sometimes even at the Holiday Inn they replace the bottle with the speed and aplomb of the sommelier at Trotter's; other times it is not so easy. Even at well-known restaurants you can run into problems. One time, while eating at one of the outlets of a famous Chicago restaurant group, I got a badly corked bottle of Trimbach Riesling. When I returned the bottle the manager came to the table and insisted I order a different wine instead of getting a new bottle. He said it was restaurant policy. I was not happy.

The root of these problems is simple: neither consumers nor the trade know what corky wines taste like. Recent estimates say around 5% or more of bottles are spoiled by bad corks. The huge majority of those bottles are consumed not returned. This is a nightmare for producers as consumers that drink these wines just think that winery doesn't make very good wine. It is confusing for servers who have some customers drink and some return corked wines.

Corky wines are easy to spot and once you get the knack it's like riding a bike. First of all think musty. Find an old damp basement with some books that have been sitting there for a few years. Open that damp book and insert your nose. Breath deeply. That's what corky wine smells like. The first thing that goes are the fruit aromas. The next time one of your corky savvy friends rejects a bottle be sure to save your glass to compare to the new unaffected (with any luck) bottle. The difference will astound you. Sometimes you may have even thought the first wine was fine, but when you put the two side-by-side the fruit in the good bottle will sing compared to the bad one. Comparing in this way is the only sure fire way to learn to identify corked wines.

The villain in this story is 2,4,6-trichloroanisole or TCA for those of us who don't like to mispronounce words badly in public. When a cork is contaminated with TCA it makes the wine that comes into contact with it stink and taste bad and we say the wine is corked or corky. Scientists have come up with several culprits that create TCA in corks, but the exact reason is still unknown and hotly debated. The most common reason cited is the interaction between chlorine used to process the cork and the TCA that already exists in a mold present in the cork bark, but the cork industry has widely abandoned the use of chlorine and bad corks are still with us. Cork manufactures are rushing to find ways to prevent TCA-tainted corks and are using a wide array of new technologies for processing cork including ultra-high pressure, microwaves, and other Rube Goldberg contraptions, none of which are yet proven.

So the real question may be why the heck are we using corks to seal wine bottles anyway? There can be no doubt that the main reason is tradition and status. The great wines of the world come in cork-sealed bottles. Lesser wines want to appear grander in the eyes of the consumer and feel obligated to use real corks. The massive demands placed on the cork industry by the producers of millions upon millions of bottles of wine destined for consumption within months of release mean that a lot of people are drinking bottles of funky-smelling and foul-tasting wine. There's no reason to use natural corks in wine that is intended for current consumption. Well, no reason other than marketing.

Are there any reasons to use real corks? Tradition holds that minute quantities of oxygen pass through the cork and interact with wines, helping them to reach the perfect point of maturity. Romantic, yes; likely, no. Angelo Gaja, the famed producer of super-premium and super-expensive Italian wines, has for years used the largest and most expensive corks available. His thinking was that by forcing his supplier to make very long corks he would assure that only the finest sections of the cork bark could be used in producing his corks. Even so it is worth noting that for his wineries' own libraries he uses Stelvin screw-caps to guarantee the quality and consistency of those wines he is saving as historical reference points.

Led by producers dedicated to protecting their creations and by mass brands that see the commercial benefits, alternative closures are making their presence felt in the market. The major types are:

-Plastic-based synthetic corks. These are widely used by both upper- and lower-end producers. They seem to function well with the major problem being that they can be hard to get out of the bottle. These are popular because the can fit in traditional bottles and made to look kind of like cork -- or they can be made in sporty colors for the more adventurous. Made from food- or medical-grade plastic they theoretically add no flavors to the wine, but some experts (I am not sure who they are) complain of a difference in flavor over time. Certainly in the short term they work fine.

-Screw caps or Stelvin caps. These will take you back to your college days and the fine wines you were drinking then. Long the favored seal of wines like MD 20/20, screw caps appear to work great. They are totally neutral and easy to use, with the added benefit of not having to lug that heavy corkscrew around with you all the time. One huge plus is when you have leftover wine you just screw the top back on. There appear to be no problems with screw caps except image. People just seem to have trouble accepting that serious wines come in these bottles. Pioneering wineries like Plumpjack in California are helping educate consumers that great wine can come with threads on the neck of the bottle.

-Altec. A brand created in France that uses very fine natural cork particles bound together with an adhesive. The producer, Sabate, claims them to be 100% TCA free. Critics say the glue flavors the wine. This type seems to be losing popularity. One of the main attributes is that it works with a corkscrew with the same feel as a regular cork.

-Crown caps. Yes, like glass Coca-Cola bottles. These have long been used by the Champagne industry to seal bottles while they are aging on the lees. All you Champagne lovers out there will attest to how well they keep wine over long aging periods. Pioneering work is being done now in Australia and we can expect to see more of these in the future. Like screw caps, they work great but have an image problem. Oh, and you have to carry around a bottle opener or use your teeth. (Warning: That was humor. We do not recommend opening crown-top bottles with your teeth. Except in emergency situations -- like when you don't have a bottle opener -- and then at your own risk).

When I tear the foil off of bottles these days and see a synthetic cork on my Beaujolais or Grignolino that was chilling in the refrigerator I feel a sense of calm. No stinky wine tonight. I am also sure my server in Iowa would have preferred to twist off the top of the Gallo Zin instead of wrestling with her little-used corkscrew -- and I would have been paranoia-free. However, I admit to still preferring the ceremony of pulling and sniffing the cork when I open more serious bottles. I like it more out of the romance than logic.

Screw tops on bottles of Lafite, Spottswoode, or Gaja Sori Tilden are hard to imagine, but who knows? The future is changing and it is no longer as hard to imagine as it used to be. After all, the last bottle of 1982 Gaja Sori Tilden I opened was corked. So much for romance.

Brianna, Basilicata Bianco, IGT, 2003, Italy

A white wine from Basilicata in the USA? That's a suprise, but in this case a pleasant one. The Briannia is 100% greco, and once again this varietal shows its potential to make really charming white wines with more than a little complexity. Fresh and crisp with just enough richness, this is a wine to reach for with your seafood pasta dishes.

Jumilla, Juan Gil, Monastrell, Spain

Monastrell and Mourvedré are one in the same, and like growers in southern France, the Spanish have discovered the value of their old vineyards. This chewy, but still structured wine is warm and earthy with touches of leather all packed into a concentrated rich dark red fruit package. However, unlike so many others, this wine is rich, deeply fruity and powerful, but not overblown or blowsy. I enjoyed this wine over three days, so some short term aging is fine, but probably not absolutely necessary as this is a wine wearing all of its charms up-front. It was a great match with some smoky homemade sausages from my local butcher. From 40-year-old vines.

Walla Walla Vintners, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, 2002

I liked this wine a lot. Nice balance, lovely bright cherry aromas and flavors blended with a lively herbal touch and a tobacco bite. Certainly rich and forward, but in a balanced sort of way. Plenty of new oak shows throughout, but it manages to not go over the top. Compared to what's out there, it is worth the $40 price tag. A short term ager that will benefit from 3 to 5 years of cellaring.

Champagne Pierre Moncuit, Grand Cru, Blanc de blancs

Lovely, lilting, lively and lingering, the frothy Blanc de blancs is yet another slap-in-the-face to the major Champagne houses and at $36.00, a bargain compared to most ultra-premium domestic sparkling wines. Wonderfully toasty and yeasty on the nose and palate with a smooth creamy texture that delicately coasts every corner of your mouth. Very long and complex finish. I'[m going back for more.

Barolo Wars: not-so-long ago in this galaxy

Barolo Wars: not-so-long ago in this galaxy
By Craig Camp
Friday, September 5, 2003

THE WAR had dragged on for decades. So long nobody even seemed to remember when the first shot was fired. At first it was underground -- just a few revolutionaries calling themselves The Modernist Party -- but soon their numbers had exploded and eventually they controlled almost the entire region. The Conservative Party, which had ruled for generations, was overwhelmed before its leaders knew what hit them. Perhaps they deserved this revolution. They had become set in their ways and the economy had declined as the old infrastructure rotted away without modernization. The Conservative Party was satisfied with the way things were and wanted nothing to change, even if everyone could see that change would make things better -- fertile ground for a revolution.

The Modernists had been encouraged by support in the international community fueled by sensationalist press reports published throughout Europe. Soon it became more of a fashion to join the Party than a statement of true beliefs. It wasn’t long before the Modernists had enough of an army to invade the United States. Led by Generalissimo Marc De Grazia’s brilliant tactical moves it wasn’t long before they overran the whole country -- all with the adoring support of the American press. Only recently have both sides realized that war would ruin them all, and an uneasy truce has been signed. Today you can even find them dining at the same table.

This brings us up to date in the ongoing story of The Barolo Wars, the battle between new wave producers and believers in traditional methods. Barolo, with its grand tradition, has long been recognized as the greatest Italian red wine. Certainly, the conflict between old and new is a battle that has occurred in all the important wine growing regions of the world. But the speed and the totality of the change in the aristocratic, conservative Barolo region has made this transition very controversial and divisive.

The Barolo region is located in Piemonte, in Northwestern Italy, only a short distance from the French and Swiss borders. The name Piemonte (Piedmont in English) literally describes the area: piedi monte means foothills, and indeed this region of steep hills is at the foot of the Alps.

The legal restrictions on growers and winemakers in Barolo are strict and clear: Barolo can be produced only from the nebbiolo vine grown in specifically delimited areas in the Cuneo province of Piemonte. It must be aged for three years in barrels of oak or chestnut before release (or five years if designated as Riserva). There's a long list of other rules regarding what you can and can't do.

So what’s the problem? How can there be such a battle between styles if there are all these rules?

First you have to see the way things were -- no not the movie -- the way things were in Barolo. When I first traveled there in the early 1980s it was like going to a winemaking museum. I was accustomed to all the sparkling stainless steel in California, and it was hard to believe that people still actually made wine in such a seemingly primitive manner. They would ferment the nebbiolo forever on the skins at high temperature, leeching out all the harsh tannins, and then they'd age it for another forever in huge (30 to 50 hectoliters), old, and often not very clean barrels. When modern professors of oenology see this in their nightmares, they wake up screaming. What you ended up with were brownish, semi-oxidized wines with little fruit and lots of screaming tannins that needed years of aging in bottle to mellow out -- if they ever did before what little fruit that was there disappeared. I’ve got some bottles from the early 70s that will still take the enamel off your teeth. (I bet you can’t wait to get a bottle.) Wines produced in great vintages and grown in the finest vineyards, however, could not only survive this abuse, but prospered from it. They were in fact some of the most complex and interesting wines on the planet. These are the wines that made Barolo famous. The problem was that the weather was only good enough in about three vintages out of a decade to make wines like this, and in weaker years the wines were, to be kind, well, weaker.

There was another problem. What if you where a winegrower in Barolo, but did not own one of the hotshot vineyards that would make the great wines in great vintages? The owners of famous vineyards could sell their wines in the lesser vintages because of their fame, but you were stuck with wine you couldn't sell easily. Well, a couple of sharp growers thought they saw the answer in a style of winemaking that was spreading over the planet at the time. Led by winemakers in Australia and California the so called "international style" of winemaking produced wines very dark in color, with huge sweet fruit flavors, soft easy tannins, and strong oak flavors from aging in small barrels of new French oak. All of these combine to make easy-drinking, consumer-friendly wines that don’t require long aging. These sharp growers realized that with these techniques they could replace the complexity that their vineyards could never give with the charm and fruit that this new fashion in winemaking would provide.

Before long, a couple of these producers got rave reviews from wine critics whose palates were attuned to this modern style -- and the buyers beat a path to their door. The rush was on and the salesmen of French oak barriques (224-liter oak barrels) got rich. Nobody wanted to be left behind and even producers with great vineyards rapidly adopted these modern techniques. Only a few traditionalists have survived. Fortunately, the traditionalists that have survived are some of the best winemakers in Barolo.

But it's really an overstatement to say that any traditionalists have survived. Even the staunchest conservatives don’t make wine like they did thirty years ago. Winemaking in Barolo is a cleaner, more scientific endeavor these days. There have been dramatic advances in vineyard techniques, and growers in all the communes are re-planting with a more balanced blend of the three allowed clones of the Nebbiolo vine. All of this means that the winemakers have much better grapes to work with than in the past.

There are great wines in both styles and which you prefer will depend on when and how you're drinking Barolo and, of course, on your own palate. I confess to being a lover of the more traditional style. I like my wines to taste of the place, and the ultra-modern Barolos lack varietal intensity and the flavors of the region where they were grown. This is not to say I don't enjoy some of the modern Barolos made with a lighter touch.

Although the war itself has calmed down there are still battles. The battle of the moment is over the aging potential of the new style. Aging ability is considered a crucial characteristic of Barolo by many lovers of this wine who believe that, without proper aging, you can't release the full range of nebbiolo's complexity. Many people now complain that the modern Barolos they bought in the early 1990’s have aged badly and do not now have the structure to support all that oak and alcohol.

It's convenient to say that there are two Barolos today: one modern and one traditional. But in reality there's a continuum of styles ranging from the ultra-modern on one end to the ultra-traditional on the other, with most falling somewhere in between.

You are the final victor in this war. Barolo as a winemaking region has improved dramatically. There are more outstanding Barolos available than ever before and they come in a myriad of styles that can please almost every palate.

In Piemonte, Barolo is served at the climax of the meal: when the meat comes. With earlier courses, the lighter Barbera and Dolcetto wines are served. A classic accompaniment for Barolo is Brasato al Barolo (beef braised in red wine), as of course is almost any dish made with the famous white truffles of the Alba region. Barolo is a rich, complex wine with a firm tannin structure. Match it with grilled and roasted meats, game birds, and complex dry cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano. Serve Barolo at cool room temperature. Several hours in a decanter will bring out the flavors in younger wines. Older wines should be also be decanted well before serving because they usually have sediment. Traditional style wines benefit from long decanting times -- some people open them five or more hours before serving. (I recommend at least two hours.) By the way, just opening the bottle doesn't count. You have to decant the wine for it to get the required air. Decanting is not as essential for modern style Barolo, but I recommend it whenever possible.

Although I prefer the traditional style, I also admire the new style and which wine I drink depends on the situation. It's also important to realize that the leading producers of each style are equally dedicated and passionate about winemaking. Having both styles is a great situation: I drink the modern wines when they're young (5 to 10 years old) while I'm waiting for the traditional wines to reach maturity. What a great world: a nebbiolo for every season.

Watch out, though. Somebody is going to take a shot at you no matter the style you choose. War is hell.

The Perfect Vintage - Barolo and Barbaresco 2000

By Craig Camp
Monday, November 24, 2003

IN FRONT of me are three glasses of wine. Wine for thought? Indeed.

They are all from the same producer, same grape, same region, but different vintages and vineyards. All are from a winemaker renowned for his classic style.

These are my tasting notes on each wine:

Tasting notes -- Wine 1: Bright ruby/scarlet with garnet hints. Just translucent. Closed at first, but opens into floral, rose dust, and firm ripe plum aromas. Firm on the palate, but the tight flavors slowly grow to a delicious layered intensity. Tarry, bitter cherry flavors grow into warm ripe raspberries on the palate. The finish is extremely long with full tarry, bitter cherry flavors that fade into firm but well-rounded tannins. An excellent wine that needs 2 to 3 years aging and should be at its best by 2006. (A-)

Tasting notes -- Wine 2: Ruby with garnet hints. Translucent. The aromas are quite round, with a hint of overripe plums and spices with earthy hints. There are also bright floral notes with violet hints. Round and ripe on the palate with quite a load of very ripe fruit. Dark canned cherries and raspberries followed by very apparent but well integrated tannins. Compared to other vintages, I would put it as just a bit overripe. Although still too young, I think it will mature quickly and drink between 6 and 8 years old. (B+)

Tasting notes -- Wine 3: Bright scarlet/ruby with hints of garnet. Translucent. Smoky dried porcini aromas slowly open into tart raspberry fruit. Closed and intense on the palate with layers of flavors: mushrooms, leather, cherry, and raspberry. The finish is concentrated, long, and very tannic. Truly an outstanding classic wine destined for long-term greatness. Needs at least ten years of aging. (A+)

Each of these wines clearly shows the characteristics of the vintage from which it was produced and raises the question: Is there such a thing as a "perfect" vintage. Recently The Wine Spectator announced it was rating the 2000 vintage in Piemonte a perfect score of 100 points. Is such a thing possible? Can Mother Nature ever be perfect?

Rating a vintage as perfect is, of course, controversial and indeed that probably was The Wine Spectator's intention: nothing like controversy to sell a few more magazines. However, the real controversy here is not the perfect rating of the 2000 vintage, but the fact that the producers themselves almost universally prefer the two vintages on either side of 2000: 1999 and the vintage perhaps most highly regarded of all by growers, 2001.

So, why does a magazine like The Wine Spectator prefer a vintage like 2000 while the producers prefer 1999 and 2001? The answer may lie in the three wines above.

These three wines are all from the nebbiolo grape and produced by the exceptional Poderi Colla estate (one of my favorites). The wines of Poderi Colla are made by the highly respected Colla family, who make wines with great respect for the vine and vineyards from which they come and reflect a strong sense of history. In other words, the nebbiolo wines of Poderi Colla actually taste like nebbiolo and accurately reflect the character of the vintage in which they were produced.

The three wines were:

- 1. Poderi Colla, Nebbiolo d'Alba, 2001

- 2. Poderi Colla, Barbaresco, Roncaglie, 2000

- 3. Poderi Colla, Barolo, Bussia, Dardi Le Rose, 1999

Each of these wines was very good, but the super-ripe flavors of the Barbaresco from the 2000 vintage stood out clearly when compared to the other two wines. These ripe flavors intensified when matched with food. The Nebbiolo d'Alba and Barolo stood out for not only their balance, but for the complexity that balance allowed to show through. The super-ripe flavors of the Barbaresco seemed more one-dimensional and to overwhelm the myriad of nuances that the other two wines promised to deliver in the future.

I don't want to pick on the Colla Barbaresco, which is a fine wine, and when I say super-ripe I am not talking about the super-overripe flavors you get in many southern Italian and Spanish wines. However, in relation to the other two wines, its riper but less complex flavors clearly stand out. What also stands out is that the Barbaresco is much easier on the palate for drinking right now. The intense nebbiolo flavors and tannins of the Nebbiolo d'Alba and Barolo require years of aging before they can share their inner secrets.

What makes 2000 a perfect vintage in today's marketplace is that it's a perfect vintage for offering pleasures easily attained. Super-ripe vintages produce soft, early maturing wines, so the focus for great vintages today always seems to be only on ripeness. Certainly, grapes that are under-ripe will not make good wine, but overripe grapes do not make good wine either. Just like a vintage can lack sun, a vintage can have too much sun: ripeness alone does not determine quality.

Too often wine consumers seem to equate quantity of flavor with quality. The more money they spend, the more flavor they want. Yet the quantity issue for wine should be how much complexity they can get into the wine, not how much power they can pack in.

A recent tasting of the modern-styled Moccagatta Barbaresco wines showed their 2000s to be soft, round, fruity, and once again just a shade on the ripe side. However, in the forward, oaky style of nebbiolo produced by this estate, the soft and ripe character of the 2000 vintage seemed to enhance the gentle, round flavors of this style as contrasted to the more classic Colla style. In more balanced vintages like 1999 and 2001 new-wave wines like Moccagatta often seem to be straining unnaturally to hide their natural nebbiolo tannins: like someone wearing a too-tight girdle. What is a great vintage for one producer in one style is not necessarily a great vintage for another in another style.

What makes a great vintage is simple:

-Enough sun, but not too much.

-Enough wind, but not too much.

-Enough rain, but not too much.

-Enough fruit, but not too much.

Then if all of that works out: enough winemaking, but not too much. Too much of anything is bad when it comes to wine.

The Piemonte region has been blessed with a now famous and unprecedented string of wonderful vintages. These vintages can loosely be grouped into classic nebbiolo vintages for long-term aging and more forward vintages for earlier (not early) consumption. Those vintages are:

Classic long-term vintages

1996, 1999, 2001

Riper, more forward vintages

1997, 1998, 2000 (and probably 2003)

Which of these is the best vintage, the perfect vintage? That depends on you: if you like softer wines or wines for aging; if you store your wines in your warm closet or in temperature-controlled luxury; whether you like the classic or modern barrique style; and a long list of other personal preferences. Every authoritative source declares each of these vintages to be top quality and rates them within points of each other: the differences in the scores so narrow that they are statistically insignificant. Great wines were made in all of these vintages, and you just have to find the ones that fit your taste, storage conditions, and your wallet.

The last point is another factor to take into account when choosing what vintage to buy. Now that The Wine Spectator has declared the 2000 vintage to be perfect, you can bet they will be perfectly expensive.

Too much press makes for rich producers and importers, like too much sun makes for rich wine.

That's Tokay for You - Tocai, Tokaji and Tokay

By Craig Camp
Tuesday, December 9, 2003

IN EASTERN Hungary small groups of rolling hills give birth to one of the world's great dessert wines. The luscious, dark golden wines of Tokay are among the most historic of the world's great wines. They were sought after by Europe's royal houses long before many of today's classics were known. During the Communist era, this area of Hungary fell on hard times. But following the breakup of the Soviet Union and the subsequent growth of the European Union, foreign investment has reversed the neglect. Once again Tokay wines are taking their rightful place on elegant wine lists and in serious wine cellars.

That's the problem.

The re-entry of Tokay into the world wine market coupled with the increased regulation of food and wine names by the EU has created an identity crisis for two of Europe's other fine white wines: Alsace's Tokay d'Alsace and Italy's Tocai Friulano.

While all three of these wines go by the name, Tokay, there are many differences. They are spelled differently: Tokaji in Hungary (often labeled Tokay outside of the country), Tokay in France and Tocai in Italy. They are made from different grapes: Furmint in Hungary, Pinot Gris (pinot grigio) in France and Tocai Friulano in Italy. So to simplify the situation: Tokay in Alsace is made from pinot gris, which is called pinot grigio in Italy. But Tokay in Hungary is made primarily from a grape called furmint which is not related to pinot gris or the pinot grigio in Italy. Furmint in Hungary and tocai friulano in Italy may or may not be related and each country argues that they used the name first. The tocai friulano in Italy is in no way related to the Tokay of Alsace which is made from what they call pinot grigio in Friuli. No need to clear that up.

The EU bureaucracy decided years ago that the name Tokay belonged only to the wines produced in those rolling hills of eastern Hungary. They ruled that by 2006 the French and the Italians must give the Hungarians exclusive right to the name Tokay. But the debate goes on, appeals continue and the outcome remains in doubt.

The French went to work right away and began hyphenating the old name, Tokay d'Alsace, with the new name, Pinot Gris. But after years of "Tokay d'Alsace-Pinot Gris" crowding their labels, they are now dropping the old name and today everyone is accustomed to seeing only pinot gris on the label. Meanwhile, the Italians did nothing.

Well, not quite nothing. In one way they have been quite busy. A small group of producers in Friuli, willing to cut yields, have elevated tocai friulano into a competitor for Italy's best white wine varietal. Unfortunately, their right to use this name in the future is running out.

Although the exact reason for the use of the name Tocai is lost in history, it seems probable that at one point the Tocai wines of Friuli were actually made from furmint, the same grape variety that produces Hungary's Tokay. But some time after the turn of the 20th Century, furmint was replaced by sauvignon vert in the vineyards but winemakers still bottled under the old name. This change most likely was a consequence of the replanting forced by the devastating attack of the phylloxera root louse during this period. The sauvignon vert offered a more productive and hardy alternative. Whether the furmint vine and the Tokay name moved from Italy to Hungary or the other way around probably depends on the nationality of the historian!

The tocai friulano is the same vine that the French call sauvignon vert or muscadelle. It is widely planted in South America where it is commonly (accidentally I'm sure) mislabeled and sold as sauvignon blanc. Like so many other varietals, this vine only seems to produce great wines in one region of the world while yielding uninteresting results on the rest of the planet. Tasting a wine like the Borgo Dan Danielle Tocai Friulano from the Collio region will convince you that, indeed, this varietal is capable of greatness -- if only in Friuli.

Friuli has now established it leadership among the Italian regions when it comes to producing exceptional white wines. Tocai, along with Ribolla Gialla, produces the most interesting white wines of the area. Commercial attention focuses on pinot grigio (or is that Tokay d'Alsace?), chardonnay and the various "super-white" blends of varieties created by winemakers as personal creative statements. But time after time, if you taste through a producer's wines, it's the tocai friulano that sticks out in your mind.

If you are looking for a varietal descriptor of tocai friulano it is pears. Ripe, luscious pear flavors carried by a refreshing mineral flavor and zesty acidity that mixed together create an exceptional wine to enhance food.

Now that they have figured out how to make it, they must figure out what to call it.

Some tocai friulano wines recently tasted and recommended:

-Alberice, Tocai Friulano, 2002 Tenute Aleandri, Corno di Rosazzo, Colli Orientali del Friuli

Bright pale gold with lively hints of green when caught by the light. Very floral perfume that reminds one of apple blossoms and acacia. The floral notes are rounded out by mineral hints with just a touch of butterscotch. The floral characteristics continue on the palate, but are well balanced by bittersweet almond flavors with just a slight touch of lime in the finish. This wine has a round mouthfeel but carries all this fruit and flowers on a firm backbone of acid. The finish is long and firm and there is not a touch of fruit sweetness: just clean mineral flavors with just the right finishing tang of acid.

-Villa Russiz, Tocai Friulano, Collio, 2002

Bright, very light gold. Racy, perfect pear aromas with underlying notes of hazelnuts. Very fresh. Concentrated pear essence on the palate followed by firm mineral and nutty components. Absolutely mouthwatering on the palate, but not a simple light wine. The crisp acids and clean firm fruit flavors carry the substantial 13.5% alcohol effortlessly. Seafood anyone?

-Torre Rosazza, Tocai Friulano, Colli Orientale del Friuli, 2002

Bright, sparking light gold. Full and rich in the nose. Firm mineral and tart pear aromas open into apricot and licorice notes. Broad rich poached spiced pear flavors expand into apricots with a touch of lime. The finish is expansive and complex with both fruit and minerals and with lovely light and lingering citrus flavors.

-Livon, Tocai Friulano, Ronc di Zorz, Collio, 2002

Bright light gold. Full aromas loaded with fresh pears, lime and butterscotch. Fresh and racy on the palate, but not light. Crisp, mouthwatering acids broaden into spiced pears with firm mineral notes. The finish is balance, long and refreshing. The lightness and balance on the palate makes the hefty 13% alcohol almost imperceptible.

Other top producers include: Miani (oaky style), Roncus (elegant, structured), Russiz Superiore, Schiopetto (classic, racy), Paolo Rodaro, Borgo del Tiglio (dramatic), Borgo San Danielle, Livio Felluga, Edi Keber (intense, concentrated), Dario Raccaro, Ronco dei Tassi, Ronco del Gelso (dramtic fruit extraction).

Hallelujah, I'm born again! The rebirth of Chianti Classico

By Craig Camp
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

THE VIEW is breathtaking. Spread out as far as you can see are the famous hills of Tuscany and they do not fall short of their much fantasized reputation. We are standing at the edge of the highest vineyard in Gaiole, one of the communes of Chianti Classico. The hillsides in all directions are covered with undulating rows of vines radiating rich green tones in the watercolor gold sunlight that has attracted painters for thousands of years.

The vineyards directly in front of us are on the steepest slopes of all. Standing next to us is the winemaker of this estate on the crest of this hill and he carefully explains the nuance of each rise and fall of the terrain in perfect English -- as well he should. The winemaker’s name is Sean O’Callaghan and he makes the exceptional wines of Riecine from the beautiful vineyards in front of us. Sean is Irish and came to Riecine to work for its late British owner, John Dunkley, and is now part-owner with an American, Gary Baumann. He is an exceptional winemaker and his talents, combined with these special vineyards, creates Riecine Chianti Classico Riserva, one of the greatest fine wine bargains in the world. Chianti Classico is indeed an international place.

The Chianti Classico zone that spreads out south of Florence has undergone a tremendous transformation in the last quarter-century. Today the owners of the estates are no longer just old aristocratic Italian families, but are owned by successful business families that are almost as likely to come from England, Germany and Switzerland as from Milan and Rome. Slowly, but surely Tuscany is becoming more-and-more like the wine-theme park that Napa Valley has become. Not so long ago it was very different.

The man sitting across the table from me is a revolutionary. It is 1984 and many wealthy Italians live in fear of the Red Brigades. However, this man is not a political revolutionary. His radicalism has led him to do the unthinkable -- he is making a wine out of 100% sangiovese in Chianti Classico and has banned the famed “Gallo Nero” black rooster logo of the Chianti Classico consortium from the necks of his bottles.

This man was the late Sergio Manetti and I had spent a pleasant afternoon with him wandering the vineyards, visiting his wine museum and tasting the wines of his exceptional estate: Montevertine. It is now evening and we are tasting all of the wines he has produced to date including the phenomenal Le Pergole Torte. As the smells and crackling sounds of the rabbits roasting in the huge fireplace filled the warm Tuscan farmhouse kitchen, he described each wine and vintage and talked about the potential greatness of sangiovese. Sergio Manetti believed in sangiovese.

These winemakers were creating what came to be called Super-Tuscans: wines that intentionally took the DOC name off of their wines so they could make them the way they chose. In these days, other than the DOC name, there was only the simple Vino da Tavola designation that had been the domain of Italy’s most common and cheapest wines. Suddenly Vino da Tavola became chic. This was a time when Super-Tuscans were new and controversial and not at all like today when even humble estates offer a Super-Tuscan for sale. While Antinori and most others went the route of “improving” their sangiovese with merlot and cabernet sauvignon, Manetti and a few others devoted their attention to establishing the greatness of sangiovese in its own right.

It seems strange to think that the wines we now think of as Chianti Classico did not exist in the 1970’s. No one ever heard of the term Super-Tuscan and most producers were satisfied to put out average wines and then depend on the name of Chianti Classico and the Gallo Nero logo to sell their wines to the world. Chianti Classico was a region stuck in its own tradition and suffering from the Italian government policy of treating all of Chianti as a brand to be developed for export with all emphasis based on quantity instead of quality.

Then, to make matters worse, there was the famed Chianti “recipe” developed by the legendary Barone Bettino Ricasoli in the late 1800’s. This formula required blending white grapes to soften and freshen the sangiovese and made a lot of sense in those days. This formula was eventually formalized by the Chianti Classico Consorzio in 1924 and producers had to follow it to carry the respected Gallo Nero on the neck of their bottles. Then there was also the tradition of “governo” or a second fermentation started by adding sweet, dried grapes to the new wine. This process also made the wines more drinkable in their youth. However, times had changed and the tradition bound Consorzio had not. Revolution was inevitable and it happened fast.

Tignanello was born in 1971 and Le Pergole Torte in 1977 and their impact, along with the wines of other innovators, on the press and the market was immediate and dramatic and by 1984 the Chianti Classico Consortium was forced to change its regulations or perish as producer after top producer abandoned the Chianti Classico DOC and the Gallo Nero for at least some of their wines.

As late as 1983 the regulations for Chianti Classico allowed the addition of up to 30% white grapes into the blend and required a minimum of 10%. This all changed with the introduction of the DOCG Chianti Classico in 1984, which lowered the minimum percentage of white grapes to 2% and set the minimum for sangiovese to 75%. Equally revolutionary was the allowance of up to 10% of foreign varieties – essentially meaning cabernet sauvignon and merlot. These changes simply made legal what the best producers had already been doing for years anyway. More changes in the regulations occurred in 1996 when the minimum requirement for white grapes was totally dropped, the minimum percentage of sangiovese was raised to 80% and the percentage of allowed foreign grapes and/or classic indigenous grapes like canaiolo was set at 20%. For the first time a wine that was 100% sangiovese could be legally called Chianti Classico. Once again the bureaucrats were simply admitting to reality.

Today, Tignanello (2000 vintage: 80% sangiovese, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 5% cabernet franc) and Le Pergole Torte (still 100% sangiovese) and many other Super-Tuscans could carry the Chianti Classico DOCG and the Gallo Nero. However, this is not likely to happen as the Super-Tuscan category is now firmly established and their Super-Tuscan offering is usually the most expensive wine offered by producers in the Classico zone. With the spotlight of fashion on the Super-Tuscans and with the changes in regulations and improvements in viticulture, Chianti Classcio Riserva has become the best value in great Tuscan sangiovese. The market seems to have become fixated on Super-Tuscans for prestige and regular Chianti Classico for value meaning that Chianti Classico Riserva has been caught in the middle and it too often ignored by consumers. While the flavor profile of many Super-Tuscans seems to be defined by new oak, the character of many Chianti Classico Riserva wines often speak more of sangiovese and their vineyards than their more expensive “Super” cousins -- and they cost less.

The rebirth of Chianti Classico is a long way from complete. The recently concluded “Chianti Classico 2000 Project” was launched in the late eighties to analyze and study every aspect of the varietals and vineyard techniques used to produce Chianti. The results of this study identified 7 clones of sangiovese as ideal for the Classico zone and these clones are now approved and available for replanting or new vineyards. These results, along with the mass of other data produced by this unique and exhaustive research project means that we can expect continued dramatic improvement of the wines of Chianti and Chianti Classico in the coming decades. While Chianti Classico is ancient winemaking zone it is in fact undergoing the growing pains of a young one. The concepts of winemaking, viticulture, varietals and everything surrounding wine production in the Chianti Classico zone have been reborn.

Sean O’Callaghan arrived at the hilltop winery of Riecine in 1991 after the changes launched by visionaries like Sergio Manetti had been put in motion. His dramatic and elegant Chianti Classico Riserva is 100% sangiovese aged in a blend of small French oak barrels and classic large barrels of Slovenian oak and is packed with the character of both sangiovese and the vineyard where it is grown. Mr. Manetti would approve.

After the 2005 vintage no longer will any white grapes be allowed in the Chianti Classico blend and an era will come to an end in the hills south of Florence. With every death there is a birth and indeed Chianti Classico has been born-again.

Brunello - The impatient need not apply

by Craig Camp
Wednesday, December 17, 2003

IF YOU don't have patience stop reading now. If you make snap judgments this article is not for you. If you judge someone in ten seconds find something else to do.

If you don't take the time to look deeper you often miss hidden complexity. That goes for wine too. The fashion today is to make wines that put all their charms up-front. Grapes like merlot and shiraz have excelled in this environment, but some grapes just don't give up their personalities quite so easily. Brunello is one of those grapes.

On a hill 25 kilometers south of Siena in Tuscany sits a medieval town clinging to the edge of the cliffs. The surrounding hills and slopes are planted almost exclusively with the sangiovese grosso clone of sangiovese. In these vineyards the sangiovese produces a particularly hard wine to get to know. In fact, the sangiovese grosso here is so distinctive it has its own name: Brunello. The town of Montalcino is ancient, but the wine Brunello di Montalcino is not. While its name is now famous, Brunello di Montalcino did not start to gain its current status on the world market until the 1970's. The wine as we know it today owes its character to two families: one Italian and one American.

The creators of Brunello di Montalcino could not be more Italian. When the patriot, Ferruccio Biondi, returned to his family after fighting with Garibaldi for Italian unification, he and his grandfather, Clemente Santi, replanted their estate, Il Greppo. Santi, a noted agronomist and enologist, was the first to identify sangiovese grosso and it was this variety they chose to cultivate. Their goal was to make a classic wine for aging. Instead of following the recipe for Chianti used in those days, which included a second fermentation to increase fruity flavors, they used only sangiovese grosso. Then they gave the wine an extended maturation in oak barrels. In 1888 they released the first vintage of their new wine. Some bottles of the first Brunello di Montalcino still live in the old cellars at the Il Greppo estate

Unfortunately, the Biondi-Santi family was obviously so far ahead of the times that no one bothered to follow their lead in Montalcino for about 60 years when they were finally joined by Fattoria dei Barbi, Costanti and a few other adventurous souls in the 1950s. However this still didn't do the trick for Montalcino. In the 1970's you could still grab vineyards at bargain-basement prices.

In 1975 less than a million bottles of Brunello was produced by less than 30 estates. Now, not quite 30 years later, the figure is approaching four million bottles with more than 130 estates in production and more coming all the time.

What happened? The Americans invaded.

Brunello di Montalcino was famous in spite of itself. To knowledgeable drinkers of Italian wine with the patience to see what could happen to a bottle of Biondi-Santi if you waited 3 or 4 decades, this wine surrendered its secrets. However, it was the arrival of John and Harry Mariani in 1978 that changed not only the face of the ancient town, but also what being bottled there.

The Mariani brothers were sons of Italian immigrants who had made good -- and made good in a big way. Their company, Banfi Vintners, and its chief import, Riunite Lambrusco, made the family fortune. Today, Banfi Vintners is as powerful as ever representing three out of the top ten imported wine brands (Concha y Toro from Chile, Riunite from Italy, and Walnut Crest from Chile). It has ranked as the largest American wine importer for thirty years running. Yes, all you old hippies, Riunite is still the second largest Italian brand in the USA -- somebody is still drinking a lot -- although strangely enough we never seem to see anyone actually drinking it!

So in the late 70s, the Mariani family came to sleepy Montalcino and, with the quiet diplomacy we Americans are famous for, loudly threw almost everything out the window. Although this was a great shock to the local wine aristocracy, the arrival of these American tycoons was the second best thing that happened to Montalcino since Siena lost the war with Florence. The first thing was the genius of Biondi-Santi family in recognizing the potential of the sangiovese grosso and its affinity for the region, but it took the Mariani's drive and wealth to expand the whole range of possibilities in the vineyards of Montalcino.

The estate that the Mariani's created they called Castello Banfi and everything they did was loaded with American business aggressiveness and scale. They purchased a large estate, took an old castle and created a consumer-friendly winery that would make the Mondavis feel right at home. They even opened a restaurant that was good enough to recently earn a Michelin star. While they pushed all the right marketing buttons and installed all the bell-and-whistles, they also spared no expense in researching what it takes to make great wine in Montalcino. At first regarded with suspicion by the local growers, the Castello Banfi estate is now respected throughout Italy and has been awarded every Italian winemaking award that you can possibly think of -- and some you can't.

What Castello Banfi did was to push the envelope not only to expand the concept of what was good wine in Montalcino, but what was possible if you pushed beyond the probable. Today every producer from Biondi-Santi to the newest estate owes Castello Banfi a nod of respect. The success of Banfi has also brought a new round of heavy-weight wine producers to Montalcino and the likes of Gaja (Pieve di Santa Restituta), Antinori (Pian delle Vigne), Frescobaldi (Castel Giocondo) and Ruffino (Greppone Mazzi) are now selling some very expensive modern style Brunello di Montalcino wines. Even the legendary Biondi-Santi estate has entered the new-wave market with the decidedly modern Sassoalloro. But don't worry-- the Biondi-Santi wines remain a bastion of classic Brunello di Montalcino. Montalcino is also home to the Mondavi and Frescobaldi Luce project.

The goal at Castello Banfi was to make a modern, internationally styled, type of Brunello. They pulled out all the stops and used all the tricks, but they have, in fact, proved only one thing -- you can't make Brunello di Montalcino into Australian Shiraz. While the Banfi wines from international varietals, like ExcelsuS, can take on the best of the internationally styled wines (and has the scores and price to prove it) their Brunello di Montalcino remains a wine that needs age to be fully appreciated.

In a recent tasting of their 1998 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, I could not deny that their wine had more initial appeal than some, but more interesting is what happened to the wine over several days. At first the wine was all fruit and oak, but after one day the wine changed and the Brunello characteristics started to show. By the second day there was no doubt that, with time, this wine would reveal much more than the simple flavor profiles of oak and ripe fruit found when you first pull the cork. The longer you age the ultra-modern Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino the more it tastes like classic Brunello.

Sometimes terroir and varietal character win over technique.

Contrary to what most wine books suggest, Brunello di Montalcino is not a dramatic, obvious wine. It is a big wine; but not ponderous. It is powerful wine; but it is layered with delicate complexity. It is a concentrated wine; but it is lean and angular. It manages to walk the tightrope between all these characteristics to claim its rightful place as a great wine.

As in all of the world's great wine regions, most of the wines from here are not great and just go along for the ride with a famous name on the label. However, there are many outstanding producers and, as most of the production is exported, Brunello di Montalcino is easy to track down. Unfortunately, along with fame comes high prices and good Brunello di Montalcino is expensive.

So you have a wine that is hard to appreciate, requires aging and is expensive: hardly attractive for dinner tonight. However, the growers in Montalcino have a solution for you in Rosso di Montalcino. Both wines must be produced from 100% Brunello (sangiovese grosso) grapes, but Brunello di Montalcino requires four years of aging before release while Rosso di Montalcino requires only one year of aging. Producers use wines from younger vines or from casks that are more forward to make their Rosso wines more ready to drink in their youth. The Rosso di Montalcino wines from the best producers often reflect the style of their Brunello di Montalcino wines and offer a good starting point for learning the character of the area's wines and the styles of the various producers.

Drinking young Brunello is like playing hide-and-seek with greatness: patience pays off.

Some personal favorites:

-Andrea Costanti: classic wines needing aging to show their greatness.

-Eredi Fuligni: elegant and graceful.

-Fattoria dei Barbi: classic, powerful terroir driven wines.

-Lisini: powerful yet refined.

-Biondi-Santi: only when it's old and someone else is buying.

-Castello Banfi: very modern and approachable.

-La Rasina: great value

-Poggio Antico: graceful and restrained with lovely fruit.

Disco Dom

By Craig Camp
Monday, January 5, 2003

WHEN THE supposedly blind monk Dom Perignon first tasted the sparkling wine he had created he is said to have exclaimed, “I am drinking stars!” Perhaps a more appropriate statement would have been, “I am drinking dollar signs!”

It was almost 300 years ago when Dom Perignon (as legend has it anyway) conceived the idea of blending different vintages and varietals and capturing the gas formed during fermentation in a sealed bottle to create the sparkling wines in the Champagne region of France. This legend is probably as accurate as the other popular legend that always surfaces around the end of the year: Santa Claus.

The true Champagne method (methode champenoise) for making truly complex sparkling wines is time-consuming and expensive. There are other methods that make lovely sparkling wines for light-hearted consumption and entertainment, but these methods just don’t make wines that steal your attention away from the celebration at hand for more than a few seconds.

All the methods used for making sparkling wine work on one simple concept. When the yeasts eat the grape sugar they put out two waste products: alcohol and carbon dioxide (always remember that Dom Perignon is mostly made from yeast waste combined with the flavors of the dead yeast cells breaking down in the bottle). For regular table wine the gas is allowed to escape, but for sparkling wines the gas is trapped in the wine. You cannot add gas to a wine and call it sparkling wine. Wines made in this fashion must be referred to as carbonated wine on the label.

The main method used to make lighter, fresher sparkling wines for immediate consumption or for mass-produced cheap sparkling wines is the Charmat method. In this process the wine is put into a large stainless steel container and yeast and sugar (if needed) are added. The container is sealed and the yeasts go to work making the bubbles. The process can be carefully controlled by refrigeration and has the capability to produce delicate and elegant wines when the right base wines are used. When the second fermentation is finished the wine is transferred under pressure to bottles and is ready to drink from day one. The best examples of this style seem to be uniquely Italian.

Prosecco is both a grape and the name of a sparkling wine from the Veneto region of Italy. It is produced in both dry (brut) and just off-dry (extra dry) styles. Although it may be produced from both the Charmat and methode champenoise, the vast majority of these wines are produced by the Charmat method and I think with very good results. This type of fermentation emphasizes the light, fresh fruity flavors of the Prosecco grape and is perfect for producing this easy-drinking wine -- which is hard to beat as a choice for parties and an everyday aperitif. In the Piedmont region the fresh and lushly sweet moscato grape is transformed into the mouth-watering Moscato d’Asti and Asti Spumante wines. It is hard to imagine more refreshing after dinner quaffing than these two low-alcohol, sweet, sparkling wines. Moscato d’Asti has lower gas pressure than Asti Spumante and has a wonderful creamy texture that is unique. The Charmat method is the perfect way to produce these lovely wines. However, most of the wines produced by this method and the closely related “transfer process” are simple industrial wines that are better suited to giving shampoos to sports champions or improved with orange juice and other mixers.

Then there is the royalty of sparkling wine processes: methode champenoise. This is the method perfected by Dom Perignon and friends and is the only process allowed for sparkling wines produced in the Champagne region.

Champagne is first and foremost a place. It is a French winemaking region that makes both still and sparkling wines. The only true Champagne sparkling wines are from this region and this region only. There can be no doubt about the greatness of the sparkling wines of Champagne and there are two elements to their success: First the terroir: the vineyards, varietals and weather; and second, the work-intensive method required to make great sparkling wines.

Wines destined to become French Champagne can only be produced from three grape varietals, two reds: pinot noir, pinot meunier and one white: chardonnay. Almost all of the finest sparkling wines of the world also tend to use pinot noir and chardonnay as their base. The juice of these grapes is immediately separated from their skins so that none of the red color is given to the wine -- except for rose Champagne, which is a story for another day. The soils of Champagne are chalky and full of minerals and the climate is on the cool side for making fine table wines. In a very real sense, Champagne was discovered because the poor soils and cold climate of the region made thin, low color, high acid wines in most years. In other words, the perfect raw materials for making sparkling wine. This also created the necessity for inventing a non-vintage wine as blending wines from weak vintages with those of better years gave the weather-challenged winegrowers in Champagne the chance to offer wines of consistent quality and style every year. To this day, each Champagne producer is defined by their non-vintage cuvee, which represents their house style and the height of the blender’s art.

Once the base wine is fermented the winemaker blends the wines of the various grapes to achieve the style of their winery, or as it is known in the Champagne business: house. Each of these grapes offers different characteristics to the winemaker: pinot noir, depth and complexity; pinot meunier, softness and fruitiness; chardonnay, freshness and a unique ability to absorb the ‘toasty’ or ‘yeasty’ characteristics so highly regarded by Champagne lovers. Blends range to include any mixture possible of these three varietals including 100% unblended versions. Blanc de blancs refers to pure chardonnay wines while Blanc de noirs refers to 100% pinot noir wines. Wines that have high percentages of pinot meunier tend to be the simplest and cheapest Champagnes -- White Star anyone?

Once the blend is completed the wine is put into bottles with a bit of sugar and yeast, the bottle is sealed with a crown cap and the fermentation that makes the bubbles commences. This is the heart of the methode champenois process as the second fermentation and aging must take place in the bottle in which the wine is sold. Only the very large bottles are not produced in this way. Once the yeast have eaten up all the sugar they die and the newly sparkling wine is hazy with the dead cells. It is here that the unique flavors of Champagne are created as the wines are then left for years to age on the yeast cells -- which give the wines that special toasty flavor and bread dough aromas. During this aging the bottles are placed in special racks that allow the bottles to be gently shaken a quarter-turn at a time until they arrive to the upside-down position with all the sediment sitting on the bottle cap and leaving the wine clear. This process is called “remuage” and used to be done by hand, but these days is more than likely done by machine. When the proper aging point has been reached it is time to get those old yeast cells out of the bottle. This is accomplished by dipping the still inverted bottle into a super-cold brine solution that freezes the sediment in a plug of ice, which is then shot out of the bottle and then the bottle is topped up with a bit of old wine and a sweet syrup that adjusts the wine to the required sweetness level. This last process is called “degorgement”. Then it is off to the labeling machine and the market as the Champagne producers consider the wine ready to drink upon release. Some consumers like to age Champagnes longer, but with few exceptions I am not among them.

French Champagne is a work intensive winemaking method that requires producers to maintain massive inventories of aging wine and the grapes they buy from growers in the Champagne zone are among the most expensive in the world. Good Champagne can never be cheap.

The Champagne region long rested on its laurels secure in the knowledge that only they could make great sparkling wines, but today there is a long list of fine sparkling wines made by the Champagne method that show the unique character of their own regions and this small, cool region northeast of Paris no longer holds the monopoly on great sparkling wines. While there is only one true Champagne, the choices of fine sparkling wines available to the consumer are broader and better than ever.

Everyone loves bubbles and this combined with the rising costs and limited production zone in Champagne has inspired winemakers all over the world to make sparkling wines that can approach Champagne in complexity. The situation in the Champagne region has also forced the French Champagne companies to establish wineries throughout the world to increase their own productions. Most of the early attempts to make serious sparkling wines in the Champagne tradition fell short – including those of the French themselves. However today there has been a major transformation in the philosophy of sparkling wine makers outside of Champagne. Instead of making wines following the exact Champagne recipe they are making sparkling wines that reflect their own micro-climates and in the process have created a broad range of excellent sparkling wines that, while they don’t taste exactly like Champagne, are interesting to drink on their own merits and for their own style and character.

Top regions that produce outstanding Champagne method sparkling wines include: USA, Sonoma, Mendocino, Oregon and Washington; Italy, Franciacorta and Trentino; Spanish Cava; Australia and New Zealand.

It is safe to say the humble and pious monk who first tasted “stars” would be shocked and disturbed that the famous prestige Champagne bearing his name has come to symbolize conspicuous and thoughtless consumption by those who have more money than taste.

Dom Perignon is the prestige cuvee of Moet and Chandon; the giant sparkling wine conglomerate owned by LVMH the even bigger conglomerate selling luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Christian Dior and Hennessy Cognac among many other expensive toys and baubles. Moet and Chandon loves to project Dom Perignon as a hard-to-get elite product produced only in limited quantities, but a quick look at the market would seem to tell us otherwise. Dom Perignon is not only available at every good hotel, upscale restaurant and wine shop in the world, but at most casinos, fancy discos, strip clubs, gentleman’s clubs (shall we call them) and in a huge number of locked glass cabinets behind the counter in countless seedy liquor stores, convenience shops and drug stores throughout the world. It seems while Moet and Chandon wants to project an elegant image, they are more than happy to have a significant amount of Dom Perignon sold in less than elegant surroundings and the more of them the better -- so much for limited production only in great vintages.

The growth of top quality sparking wines made by the Champagne method in all the great wine growing regions of the world is something for which Dom Perignon (the monk) can indeed be proud. Today there are more stars than ever to drink.

Some personal favorites (not including Rose):

-California: Iron Horse Blanc de blancs

-Other US:

Argyle Brut, Oregon

Gruet Brut, New Mexico

-Champagne:

Bollinger Brut N/V

Salon Clos de Mensuil

Ployez-Jacquemart Brut

Diebolt-Vallois Brut

-Italy:

Metodo Classico: Bellavista Franciacorta Gran Cuvee Brut

Prosecco: Col Vetoraz, Valdobbiadene Extra Dry

Moscato: Marcarini Moscato d'Asti

-Spain:

Mont-Marçal Cava Brut Reserva (best value)

Huguet Brut Nature Gran Reserva (top quality)

Some Sparkling wine terminology:

Vintage: a wine of a single year instead of blend. Usually only produced in distinctive vintages.

Nature: Absolutely dry – no sweetening wine added. Often too dry for most.

Brut: Extremely dry. The most classic of styles.

Extra Dry: Just off-dry.

Sec (dry): Lightly sweet.

Demi-sec (half-dry): Sweet.

Doux: Very sweet for desserts.

Bottle sizes in 750 ml. equivalents:

Magnum – 2 bottles

Jeroboam – 4 bottles

Rehoboam – 6 bottles

Methuselah – 8 bottles

Nebuchadnezzar – 20 bottles

Fifteen Buck Barolo

By Craig Camp
Tuesday, February 3, 2004

LAST NIGHT while at a friend's house for dinner our host pulled out a bottle of 1998 Barolo. While this normally would bring with it a sense of anticipation, the bottle in question only engendered suspicion. I had seen this label before on sale at the local grocery store at prices well below the going rate even for even average-quality Barolo. Sure enough, the wine was a thin parody of what Barolo should be. The same thing happened in the USA a few months earlier when another friend served a washed-out Barolo purchased at discount prices at Trader Joe's. Both of these wines sold for under fifteen bucks and proved the P.T. Barnum theory of sales: "There's a sucker born every minute."

You can't make cheap Barolo that tastes like Barolo.

Everybody wants something for nothing. However, the reality of the situation is that more often than not you get what you pay for. Selling poor quality wines with famous names is big business and buying these wines is certainly the worst wine value in the market today. It's a little like buying a Kia with all the nameplates changed to Mercedes: now it has the name you want, but it just doesn't go down the road with the same feeling. Cheap Barolo doesn't go down very well either. A famous name is not enough.

If you want a Mercedes you have to pay for it and it can be argued you get great value for your money. The same with wine: if you want both greatness and a famous name you have to pay. However, the winemaking world has changed dramatically in the last decades and advances in winemaking and vineyard techniques has created an explosion of wines offering outstanding quality and a distinct personality that are cursed with a name almost no one has heard of outside his own region.

At last night's dinner a $10 Nergroamaro from Puglia was also served, and at the end of the evening the Barolo was only half-empty while every drop was drained from the Negroamaro bottle. The palates had voted and Puglia had won. If you want real value for your money you have to do your homework and you often have to go outside the famous place-names and varietals for excellent wines that are good values.

The expansion of varietal instead of geographical wine labeling, powered by the commercial successes of New World winemakers, has created new and broader categories of over-priced wines that span regional and international borders. Merlot and Chardonnay lead the worst-value wines-without-borders category. With few exceptions you have to spend some serious money to get really interesting examples of these varietals. The store shelves are filled with bland, oaky examples of Chardonnay and Merlot selling for $20 or more, and the under $20 slots are mostly made up of commercial grade, fruity-sweet wine of indeterminate varietal character. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule as, for example, the many fine chardonnay wines from the Macon region of France, but these wines are most decidedly exceptions in the sea of mediocre and, all too often, expensive chardonnay and it is worth pointing out that most do not even carry the name chardonnay on their label.

If you want to buy a California white wine and have $20 to spend are you better off buying a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay if both go with your menu? For my money, you have to go with the Sauvignon Blanc because for your $20 you get a top-of-the-line wines in the cheaper Sauvignon Blanc category instead of a "budget priced" Chardonnay. Yes, $20 is budget priced for Chardonnay these days in California.

There is no denying the excitement and pleasure of great bottles from famous vines and vineyards -- and they are something that every wine lover should experience -- but don't expect to taste their wonders without straining your budget. However, instead of straining your budget I would recommend straining your eyes instead. A little time invested in research can fill your wine cellar with extraordinary bottles that don't require you to fight over allocations or sleep out by the mailbox so you can get your copy of the The Wine Advocate first and beat your buddies in the wine club to the store.

How do you find these wines? First of all you have to open your mind and palate to new grapes and place names, and second, you have to find a good wine merchant. If you walk into a store packed with promotional material touting the latest Parker or Wine Spectator scores you are probably in the wrong place. You have to find a wine shop with a buyer whose passion and curiosity matches yours. A place like this:

A customer walks into a wine shop on a slow day. There is not another customer in sight. The customer says, "I have a special occasion coming up and my wife and I want a really special bottle of wine, something old from a great vintage. I was thinking of a top Bordeaux like Latour or Lafite, because we have never had one. I think we are willing to spend three of four hundred dollars a bottle." Now here's the funny part. The shop owner actually talks the guy out of dropping that much money and convinces the guy to try a bottle that doesn't cost of third of what the guy was willing to spend. "After talking to him about what he liked and disliked and what he had enjoyed before I just thought he would be disappointed in an old wine," said Howard Silverman. "He was looking for drama and excitement that would match the occasion, so I recommended he experiment on a less important day."

How does a guy like that stay in business? This is not a fairly tale, and merchants like this do stay in business. In fact this store owner, Howard Silverman, has stayed in the fine wine business for over thirty-four years even though he has only just hit 50 years of age. In 1997 Silverman opened Howard's Wine Cellar on Belmont Avenue in Chicago after a career that started as a teenager in his father's wine shop, followed by over fifteen years as Wine Director at Sam's Wine Warehouse. Silverman's father was the legendary Leo Silverman who started the transition of Sam's, with owner Fred Rosen, from a corner liquor store and bar into what it is today: one of the largest wine stores in the world.

Every inch, top to bottom, of his small shop is packed with wine. "It is a little overwhelming for many people because they have never seen these labels before, normally people will pick up the first thing they recognize, but here they don't recognize anything," said Silverman with a smile. "Everything is here because I like it and I will not buy a bad wine no matter how good the reviews are."

"I buy what I like, not what I need. After all of these years I can judge intelligently enough to taste every category -- even those that are not my personal favorites. With only 1000 square feet it takes a special wine to get in," says Silverman.

Like small wineries, emerging wine regions, and unknown varietals small wine shops are under attack from the continuing consolidation of the wine business into the hands of fewer and fewer producers, distributors, and retailers. You may find super-low prices on some famous names at Costco and Trader Joe's, but you will not find thin, bitter Barolos no matter how cheap they are at wine shops like those run by Howard and hundreds of others like him to whom the title of wine merchant means responsibility to the client first and the accountant second. You may pay a bit more sometimes, but in the long-run you will save money and broaden your experience with these small shops. Personal service and knowledge are worth an investment.

When a deal seems too good to be true it usually is.

Some of Howard's current favorites:

-1999 Finca Allende, Calvario, Rioja, Single Vineyard Estate Bottled $46 from vines planted in 1945

-2000 Don Antonio, Nero d'Avola, Morgante $28

-2001 Castle Rock Carneros Pinot Noir $10

-2001 Cimicky Trumps Shiraz, Barossa Valley $14.50

-N/V Gruet, Brut, New Mexico, $12

2000 Givry A. Poncey. Domaine Parize $18

2001 Joesph Leitz Rudeshiemer Magdalenenkrunz Riesling Kabinett $12

Howard's Wine Cellar
1244 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 248-3766
email; howcell@jaske.com

The Food (wine) Chain

by Craig Camp
Enological Darwinism and the birth of a new species
Friday, February 13, 2004

YOU'VE HEARD about the food chain. A bigger fish eats a smaller fish, which is then eaten by a bigger fish, which is then eaten by an even bigger fish and so on and so on. But there's a wine chain as well.

Lately, the harsh realities of survival-of-the-fittest have hit the wine distribution industry in United States with a vengeance. Small wine distributors/wholesalers have been swallowed up by bigger distributors, who are then gobbled up by even bigger distributors. While this industry consolidation is cutting costs and increasing profits for the distributors, it has negative consequences for consumers as the available selection drops and prices increase because of the reduced competition.

The distributor is the middle tier of the deservedly maligned American three tier system of wine distribution. Distributors are the funnel through which all wines must pass before reaching retailers and restaurants who then sell to consumers. The distributor tier has a stranglehold on what is or is not sold in their individual markets, but more often than not their names are unknown to the very consumers whose drinking choices they control. This bottleneck is very important to consumers not only because of choice, but because of cost as it adds 30 to 40% or more to the price of a bottle of wine. In addition, the distributorship lobby, W.S.W.A. (Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America), is the prime force in fighting direct interstate shipment of wine to consumers.

One short-term gain for consumers is that as these companies merge they close-out many good wines as they eliminate unwanted items and suppliers. As mega-distributors meld multiple portfolios into one, they realize they cannot market so many items and many excellent smaller producers and importers find themselves without distributors. Money talks and the distributors keep large economically powerful suppliers and eliminate small artisan producers. If they can, they keep the super-hot garagiste and cult wines, but the less famous ones are shown the door. In the crush many excellent estates that offer great value, but are lacking a famous name or big marketing budgets, are lost. While these sales are fun to take advantage of, they also foretell problems for consumers down the road. Eventually consumers end up with fewer choices.

One of the markets hardest hit by consolidation is Chicago. Once a bastion of wide-open competition and independent family-owned distributorships, the invasion of the Godzilla-distributorships, like Southern, Glazers, and Charmer, has reduced competition to a trickle and created a huge problem for small wine producers and consumers who want to buy those wines. As in most states, according to Illinois law, restaurants and retailers are required to buy alcoholic beverages only from licensed distributors. These distributors are prohibited from selling directly to consumers.

Unfortunately, the situation is Chicago is happening in every market in the country and the results of this trend are having a direct impact on fine wine retailers, restaurants with serious wine programs, and consumers dedicated to finding wines with character.

Brian Duncan, Wine Director of the Bin 36 restaurants in Chicago, explains how it affected his restaurant, "We were warned in advance to expect problems from people we knew on the West Coast that had been through the process. With all the consolidations, customer service has really declined. It's a real mess. I have had to get very creative and go directly to the producers to get the customer service we need."

"There is an absence of accountability on the part of the consolidated distribution companies," says chef/owner Michel Kornick of MK, also in Chicago. "You can't find who to call. We received a 15% price increase on some of our wines-by-the-glass without notification. Their systems do not take into account a personal interpretation on how you do business."

Fortunately some little fish are faster swimmers and out of the ashes of consolidation a few small, passionate distributors/importers were born and some survived. These small distributors are dedicated to bringing wines from highly personal wineries to their markets. Many small but quick swimmers are popping up all across the USA and their dedication is a blessing for those who love distinctive wines. The best distributorships see their warehouse with the same eyes that sommeliers see their wine lists.

Two of those fast fish are Debra Crestoni and Scott Larsen, founders of two young fine wine distribution companies in Chicago. Both are seasoned fine wine professionals who are famous for their hardheaded commitment to wines of character even in the face of harsh economic reality. Their intensity and hard work well represent a tiny, but growing trend across the United States and offer a ray of hope to wine consumers seeking a broad and rich spectrum of wines to choose for their tables and cellars.

"There are a lot of sharks out there," notes Crestoni owner of Connoisseur Wines a new distribution company. "I know there are a lot of tough guys out there ready to crush small companies like mine." In 1999, Crestoni left another distributorship (since vaporized after being eaten by a Godzilla) where she had been a partner since 1992 and set out on her own to follow her vision.

She describes her radical vision in these words: "Our focus is not case driven. I try to appreciate the efforts of my producers, their visions, and to uphold the same standards that they have." Connoisseur Wines also takes the almost unheard-of position of holding vintages that need maturing before releasing them for sale. "We want to provide the customer with wines that are ready to drink. For instance, we have held some 1998 Burgundies and are now offering them for sale," points out Crestoni.

Crestoni entered the wine business in the mid-seventies after a career in fine art and worked at several well-known wine shops before going to work for the legendary Pete Stern at Connoisseur Wines on Chicago's North Side. This now long-closed store was devoted to exceptional small estate wines -- especially those from Burgundy. Under Stern's guidance she was immersed in a world of extraordinary wines from small, passionate, estate producers. She learned her lessons well. Crestoni named her new company in Stern's honor. Always a revolutionary, Crestoni is also planning to inaugurate the Chicago Professional Wine School in 2004 which will specialize in educating both consumers and professionals about wines that meet Crestoni's tough standards.

"I seek an understanding about what creates value in a wine and to find integrity, purity of expression and flavor at all price points," is how Crestoni sums up her goals. Crestoni has built a portfolio filled with small jewels like Araujo Estate, Bryant Family Vineyards, Harlan Estate, Martinelli Winery, Qupe, Isole e Olena Chianti Classico, Vignalta, Borgo del Tiglio, and the dynamic Burgundy selections of Rebecca Wasserman.

Chef Kornick says of Crestoni, "Debra offers a unique point of view, she's a trained sommelier so her staff education and training are at a very high level, and she knows the product well and can answer intelligently on any topic. Debra happens to be very passionate about what she is doing."

Scott Larsen, president of another start-up distributorship, the appropriately named Maverick Wines, was going to be a teacher when he was in college. Although he ended up in the wine business instead of teaching, Larsen has held on to his belief in education and that is his key, "I want education to provide a bond with the customer and to be a service that will support everything they buy from us."

Larsen entered the wine business over thirty years ago, joining his uncle Roger Copel in building Copel Wines. Copel was one of the first small fine wine distributor/importers in the Chicago market and introduced many fine estates such as Balthazar Ress from the Rheingau in Germany to Chicago consumers. From there he spent two decades divided between Heritage Wine Cellars and Direct Import Wine Company, two of the leading fine wine distributorships of that time. Only Heritage remains as an independent today and distributor consolidation both forced and gave Larsen the opportunity to found Maverick Wines in 2002.

"I had thirty-one years of relationships and I understood these types of wineries would not be happy at the consolidated houses (distributorships) once I convinced them I had the financing the rest started easily," said Larsen.

"I want wines that have a personality -- something to say. Wines that represent a place and try to be the best," is how Larsen describes his criteria in selecting wines for his portfolio. It is indeed a powerful fine wine portfolio including such luminaries as Shafer, Spottswoode, Calera, Leonetti, the exciting Italian estates of Summa Vitis (Matthew Fioretti), the French and Spanish selections of Eric Solomon, the distinctive French selections of Louis/Dressner and the remarkable German estates of the passionate Rudi Wiest. Larsen sums up his philosophy this way, "My vision is based on quality wines from the world over -- wines with personality. I believe that I have established my reputation with thirty-one years of dedication to customer service, quality and education."

Bin 36's Duncan says of Maverick, "The small distributors have a real spontaneity. Scott has been very aggressive in seeking out top producers and his results have been impressive. Companies like Maverick and Connoisseur are a breath of fresh air."

Fast fish and fine wine: a perfect match.

Connoisseur Wines
Debra Crestoni
6610 West Howard Street
Niles, IL 60714
773-561-8705

Maverick Wines
Scott Larsen
1231 Ellis Street
Bensenville, IL 60106
630-860-4600

VinInsanity 2004 - a visit to Vinitaly

By Craig Camp
Monday, April 26, 2004

SHE IS tall and seems even taller on top of her spike high-heels. She has long shiny black hair and is wearing an extremely tight black mini-skirt only slightly longer than her hair. The cleavage of the tiny dress is cut dramatically low and this, combined with a push-up bra of considerable power, creates a beacon that the eyes of the thousands of passing men just can't miss. There are three other girls just like her and they look so much alike under the layers of makeup they are almost interchangeable. Each girl is surrounded by a crowd of men easily twice her age holding on to oversized wine glasses while holding in their stomachs and trying to be as cool as possible.

Welcome to Vinitaly: the world's largest wine tasting. For five days in early April Verona is descended upon by representatives of every facet of the Italian wine business from every corner of the world. Verona is overwhelmed by the onslaught. This is not the time of the year to visit Juliet's Tomb.

The size and scope of the Vinitaly wine trade fair is staggering. The organizers recently announced that, to taste every wine on offer, you would have to sample over 2,000 wines an hour for all five days the fair is open. I believe more than one person attempts this feat. However, most of us must choose what we attempt to taste and this is where the models in the mini-skirts come in handy. The first thing you do is eliminate the producers that hire models to push their wines with push-up bras. Wine shows are like Italian television programs: the more girls in skimpy outfits, the worse the content of the program -- or the bottle -- will be.

One thing for sure is that every type of wine and wine marketing that exists in Italy is on display in Verona for five days every April. The character of the producers' stands range from mini-discos with dancing girls and loud crowds slugging prosecco, to the quiet, formal nature of the small Gaja stand where the walls glitter with the full range of Riedel crystal, but nary a drop of wine is to be found. If you never visit Vinitaly you can never truly feel the immense sprawl of wine that is Italy.

This is not the kind of wine event that American's have come to expect. First of all the scale itself is far beyond any other wine exposition except VinExpo in Bordeaux. The sheer number of choices available overwhelms even the most organized. The fiera in Verona was long ago outgrown by the number of producers wanting to participate and an increasing number of huge circus-like tents have been filling the remaining open spaces between the exhibition buildings. Unlike gleaming exhibition centers like the McCormick Place in Chicago or the Javits Center in New York, the fiera in Verona is a sprawling group of dreary airplane-hanger-type builders that are not connected -- a major irritation as it often rains in Verona at this time of year. The buildings are also not air-conditioned (or at least they don't turn it on) and bursts of warm Italian spring weather combined with the halogen lamps of the exhibitors' stands can make for less than ideal tasting conditions. The result is a disorganized patchwork of regions divided into various buildings each filled with a confusing array of small and large producers with wines of wildly varying quality -- come to think of it, it's just like Italy.

Another surprise for first-time visitors is the lack of tables with winemakers standing behind them pouring wine to anyone that shows up with a glass. You do not get a wine glass when you enter Vinitaly and if you want to have a guide you have to buy one. Although there are some producer's stands that have welcoming tasting windows, most are constructed more like an office where you are expected to sit down and have a business meeting along with your tasting. Vinitaly is only about the business of selling wine and it is constructed in that way. Particularly famous producers or elite importers may require reservations and business cards before you are granted entrance to taste. However, there is no need to worry as there are over 4,000 producers and you are sure to find many willing to show their wares to anyone who will listen. For the politically unconnected there are also the general regional stands and consorzio stands that feature a broad range of their member's wines and welcome all to taste as many wines as they want.

Tickets for Vinitaly are theoretically available only to members of the trade, but this is a theory yet to be proven. It is clear that many attendees are there for less than professional reasons and the weekend is overrun by packs of chain-smoking Italians willing to taste whatever comes their way. Sunday is so packed that many of the most serious tasters take the day off for a little sightseeing. Monday, the last day, seems quiet after the smoky, loud crunch of Sunday, but many producers start to leave by lunchtime. Ticket prices have soared in recent years, but at €30.00 a day or €80.00 for a five day pass they are a relative bargain.

If you want to see Verona, do not go to Vinitaly. The 265,000 inhabitants of Verona are buried under the onslaught of the 135,000 people attending the fair. Traffic is impossible and all the hotels are booked solid months in advance at the highest prices of the year. The restaurants are all overbooked and do not put on their best face for the exhausted customers waiting an hour after their reservations to get seated. Under this kind of strain even the finest kitchens do not produce their best food. As you can imagine this is a wine drinking crowd and a few restaurants have been known to publish a "Vinitaly" wine list with some, shall we say, special pricing during the event.

Perhaps nothing represents the chaos of Vinitaly better than the insanity that overtakes the trattoria Bottega del Vino during this week. The famed wine bar features an outstanding wine selection and serves good, rustic local food at long picnic-style communal tables. It is always very busy, but during Vinitaly this charming place changes into an over-run madhouse that is like eating dinner in a subway car in Tokyo during rush hour. As you turn the corner down the quiet little street to Bottega del Vino you see a strange sight: 30 or 40 people milling about with giant Reidel glasses in hand as there is no room to wait for tables inside. When the door opens and a few customers pop-out from the bursting internal pressure you can glimpse the waiters pushing through the crowds in a desperate, almost futile, effort to serve their well-lubricated customers. Most people go back every year -- some every night.

For all of its discomforts and strangeness, Vinitaly is not to be missed. That is if you are absolutely crazy about wine; otherwise don't go near the place. Nowhere else can you experience the true scope of the Italian wine industry and the full panorama of the direction it is going. Almost everyone is there and few producers stay away. A walk through the Tuscany or Piedmont pavilion for the first time is a religious experience for those have only experienced these wines from afar. Nothing ever replaces a vineyard visit for knowing a wine, but nothing replaces Vinitaly for knowing and feeling the experience of Italian wine in its full breadth and complexity.

As the last hour on the last day approached, my purple teeth and I headed for the gate. True to the spirit of inconvenience that you live with at Vinitaly, my car was parked about 5 kilometers away. After about a kilometer I stopped at a local bar for a cold beer and as I sipped on a much-appreciated Beck's I watched as thousands of producers packed up their remaining samples and displays into a patchwork quilt of trucks so intermeshed most could not escape until the outer layers of other trucks were peeled away. As the cold beer began to wash away the tannins from my teeth and tongue I was already looking forward to next year. I better start looking for a hotel room tomorrow.

Chinon, La Croix Boissée, Bernard Baudry, 2000

Light ruby with a touch of garnet. The spicy, herbal, minty nose broadens into refined bitter cherry and cranberry fruit. The lean flavors expand to involve every niche of your palate starting with a lively minty-ness that leads to bittersweet cherry. The long finish makes your mouth water with fresh acidity and spiced dark fruit flavors. A great food wine defined. Even better the next day.

Château Léoville Poyferré, Saint Julien, 2002

Here is the cabernet sauvignon I came to love three decades ago, before oak and super-maturity took over. A lovely light ruby with gracefully herbal highlighted dark bitter cherry fruit. This is a wine that you can get your complete palate around before any one component overwhelms. The lengthy cedar tinged finish is a pleasure.  Not likely to make anyone's top 100 list, but a hell of a wine to have with the best lamb chops you can find.

Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett, 2004, Dönnhoff, Nahe

Bright green gold. Clean, fresh aromas of peach stones, honeydew melon and lime. A lovely sweetness on the palate is well balanced by fresh acidity and a racy mineral edge. Firm, crisp tart peach flavors open into touches of ripe apricot and a faint touch of honey. All well balanced by a zesty backbone. A very lovely wine that draws you back for another, and at 8% alcohol, even another glass.

Doing It In the Vineyard - Sottimano Barbaresco

If you ever need proof that great wines are made in the vineyard, not the cellar, all you have to do is visit the Sottimano family in the Neive commune of Barbaresco. Faced with a string of wildly different vintage growing conditions in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Sottimanos have excelled in each one, not because of tricks in the cellar, but from sweat and toil in their vineyards. In particular, the last three of these vintages offered challenges that many winemakers were not up to facing.

The meager sunshine in 2002 made many producers give up and sell their wine off in bulk. Not the Sottimanos, who reduced yields down to one bunch per vine and the resulting wines were lovely and charming. These wines are highly recommended for those without the cellar or patience for aging wines ten years or more.

In 2003, the sun would not stop shining, turning the steep Langhe hill vineyards into ovens that shrivelled and burnt the grapes. Ever in touch with the environment, the Sottimanos kept their yields high and did not remove as many leaves as usual. While most other producers offer over-ripe, overly-alcoholic wines from the vintage, the Sottimano wines are refined and balanced with a forward elegance and alcohols under 14%. Once again, they found just the right amount of crop for the year.

In 2004 nature offered too much of a good thing and the vines went into high gear, producing as many grapes as possible. Most producers had to take huge saigneé percentages (taking juice out of the fermenters to increase concentration) if they did not want to make Barbaresco rosé. However, the Sottimanos did not take a drop of saigneé out of their tanks as they had once again aggressively reduced their yields. In fact, they went as far as cutting the bottom half off some of their bunches. Yet again, they will produce one of the best wines of the vintage.

Father and son, Rino and Andrea Sottimano are making great wines with their backs, not with technology. That these are naturally conceived wines show in their superb balance and character. Nature is not something you overwhelm, but a spirit you need to learn to live in harmony with. If you don’t, you will always lose the battle. The Sottimanos always seem to win.

The new releases 2003 Sottimano Barbaresco single vineyards:

Fausoni – Bright garnet with touches of ruby. Very clean and spiced with touches of burnt blood oranges, bitter licorice and sweet cherry. Very lean and firmly tannic at this point. Its medium weight does not make you think of the boiling hot 2003 vintage. The finish is dominated by tannin, but sweet tarry notes are starting to emerge.

Currá – Stylish and delicate in a powerful nebbiolo sort of way. Spicy aromas with hints of wild-flowers over bittersweet tar. Quite lean and tannic at this part, not showing any over-ripeness. Very refined, but still very closed. Firm tannins finish with just a touch of oak.

Cottá – Richer, more powerful showing a deep earthy nose layered with sweet tar and bitter cherry. A real powerhouse while keeping its balance. Again there is no sign of over-ripe fruit. A great classic nebbiolo throughout. A decade or more of aging is going to be well worth it. The finish is still very closed and brooding.

Pajoré – Brilliant light ruby with garnet touches. Bright clean dark fruit aromas blend with wild-flowers, lavender, spices and a tangy tarry highlight. Very refined and elegant, but don’t let that fool you as this wine should be aged for at least eight years before pulling the cork. A great combination of power and refinement. This nebbiolo just dances across the palate before delivering a tannic crack of the whip.

My previous notes on the Sottimano wines:

2002 – http://winecamp.squarespace.com/journal/2005/11/18/the-greatness-of-wine-from-a-poor-vintage-sottimano-2002.html

2001 – http://winecamp.squarespace.com/the-wine-camp-columns/2006/2/21/sottimano-barbaresco-2001-vintage.html

Zind Humbrecht, Pinot Gris, 2004, Alsace

What a disaster and disappointment. What has happened to the wines of Alsace that I used to love? Their firm, mineral character have dissolved into a mess like this. The color is already golden and the nose reeks of sulfur. The wine itself is disjoined and sweet with loads of botrytis character. Undrinkable $19 pinot gris.

Almost every wine you try these days from Alsace are these overblown wines with too much residual sugar to enjoy with a meal.