Bordeaux in 1855

     Bordeaux's Stroke of Genius
     The World's Most Wanted Bordeaux on Wine-Searcher:
                                                             

    
    Bordeaux's stroke of genius was the 1855 classification, by which wines were categorized according to their perceived quality, a standard that has remained untouched ever since, apart from a brief ripple when Château Mouton Rothschild was elevated to First Growth status 50 years ago. When you are constantly referring to your wines as first, or second or fifth growths, the world presumes you know what you're talking about and tends to go along with you.
 
    

                                 An Ancient Wine Shop in Rome? Why Not?
                                                      Fourth Century
                                  
                                     
    Two researchers recently announced the discovery of an ancient wine store in Greece.
Why do archaeologists Gallimore and Wells think the structure was a wine store? For one, archaeologists recovered 13 complete or near-complete amphorae here, including one with a spigot and two with sawn-off tops. “All features which point to pouring out, not filling up,” said Wells. “Additionally, we found three funnels for decanting.”
    Digs also uncovered 60 coins. “A common find when excavating ancient shops,” said Wells. Most bear the face of fourth-century Roman emperor Constantius II.

Napa Valley is Still Number One

                          
                          

         Napa Valley continues to be the king when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon. The following list of the worlds most wanted Cabernet's points that out. Most of the those listed are from Napa.  The contibruting factors are the intense heat during the day and then the cooling breezes from San Pablo Bay blowing up to Calistoga at night.  All of this in a small macro-climate valley.  Along with some very intellegent viticulturits, enologists, and ampelographers.  
                             
                           The World's Most Wanted Cabernets on Wine-Searcher:

 Italian Proseccos by the Numbers
Whether its Italian or Spanish, we are drinking more of these inexpensive bubbly’s than ever before.  And, in the Italian category these are the top selling on the planet today.
The world's most wanted Prosecco on Wine-Searcher are :

 Little Known Wineries Where You Can Stay the Night

Azari Vineyards, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
Enjoy the grounds and beautiful hills then settle in to a four-bedroom guesthouse or a comfortable one-bedroom cottage. 

Blue Rock Winery, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County
The architecture of the buildings is simple as it clings to the hill.

Salvestrin Winery, St. Helena, Napa County
Right on the edge of St. Helena and known for pouring crisp sauvignon blancs and bright reds, this boutique Napa Valley winery invites guests to stay in its 1879 farmhouse-turned-inn, which has lovely Victorian details inside and out. 

Benovia Winery, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County
The classic barn design makes the estate feel authentic and deliberate.

Chateau de Vie, Calistoga, Napa County
Part winery, part bed-and-breakfast and full-time French countryside-style getaway, five separate private rooms and suites are available.

Ektimo Vineyards, Sebastopol
Very cool 4 bedroom lodge next to the the feeding farm of goats.

Michel-Schlumberger, Healdsburg, Sonoma County
With two separate vineyards planted on distinctly distinct kinds of soils, Sonoma County’s Michel-Schlumberger developed luxury guest suites at this mission-style estate.

Terra Sávia, Hopland, Mendocino County
Rosé all day (and all night) in this Sanel Valley retreat on the North Coast. The vineyard’s two-bed, two-bath home includes a private pool, spa, and reading enclave.

Skipstone Winery, Geyserville, Mendocino County
Surrounded by the Mayacamas, this stone covered castle-like structure is just a few miles from the Healdsburg Plaza. An imposing, five-bedroom home is newly open to the general public. 

Dutton Estate Winery, Sebastopol, Sonoma County
The four-bedroom Winery House at Dutton Estate feels like someone’s real home but the vineyard wraps around entirely, creating a classic Wine Country retreat

Testa Ranch, Calpella, Mendocino County
This Mendocino County ranch and winery has been in the Testa family for more than 100 years and is now owned and operated by the fourth and fifth generations. weekend in the three-bedroom, craftsman-style farmhouse built by the ranch’s first settlers.                            

George and Amal Clooney New Wine

                                                                     

                              Historical Wine Tidd-Bits
    The oldest planted Sonoma Pinot Noir vineyard in California was started by James D. Zellerbach and his wife Hana. Named Hanzell, this original Pinot parcel of six acres was planted in 1953. This author visited with the wine maker Bob Sessions in 1978 and purchased their 1976 Pinot Noir which sold for $13 per bottle in our wine shop named Hennessy’s in San Francisco. Bob Sessions told this author that the grape cuttings came from Clos du Vougeot in Burgundy. Clos du Vougeot was originally a wine farm, built in the 12th century by monks from the nearby Abbey of Cîteaux. 
    Also interesting was the fact that Hanzell was the first winery to use stainless steel jacketed fermentation tanks. With glycol cooling through the insulated walls of the fermentation tank, the temperature could be controlled at a constant degree. This ensured a more uniform body and -as the French say ‘persistence’ in the wine.    Leslie Hennessy

                           Zinfandel May Just Be the Answer


If ever a grape suffered from "always the bridesmaid" syndrome it's surely Zinfandel – but perhaps that is set to change.

Zin has never been particularly fashionable; certainly not in the way that Cabernet, Pinot Noir or even Merlot have been, but a younger generation of consumers – even a famously abstinent one – might just be Zinfandel's saving grace. Indeed, Zinfandel could also end up being wine's saving grace.

As the wine industry faces up to dealing with the enormous reality that we are past "peak wine", producers are scrabbling around to find something – anything – that will wean the next generation of drinkers off alcoholic sodas and non-alcoholic kombucha and into wine. Zinfandel might just be an option, despite its relative unpopularity with wine's gatekeepers.

Younger wine drinkers don't really have much patience for the circular logic of received wine wisdom – wine educators telling their students that Bordeaux and Burgundy are inherently superior wines (because that is what they were taught), and the next generation churning out the same old dreary catechism to yet another generation – they'd much rather find out what they like themselves, without the sermonizing.

And Zinfandel is ideal for that. It's relatively cheap, accessible, available and utterly without pretension, making it a perfect place for a new generation to cut their wine-drinking teeth. Edited from Wine Searcher

 Large 2023 Crush

     California's large grape crop of 2023 is great news for wine lovers.  The total of 3.67 million tons crushed is 8 percent more than in 2022, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture's annual grape crush report. Moreover, California is poised to make more of the wines people love, and less of the supermarket wines that fewer people are buying.

     There will be more white wine. More Napa Cabernet. More Sonoma Chardonnay. More Central Coast and Mendocino County wine. And while inflation isn't going to be suddenly reversed, the law of supply and demand should keep prices from rising.

     The Ciatti Company said many tons of fruit, even from good regions, never made it to the crushpad.

    "We continue to believe that the potential crop out there was bigger than 4 million tons," Proctor said.  "There was still unpicked crop in Sonoma County. Not just there."

                       
                                                            Larry Brooks



                           Great New Wine Book

      My good friend and past wine maker at Acacia and numerous other wineries including his own Campion has written a fabulous book - Liquid Geography, by Larry Brooks.  Here are just a few of his book excerpts: 
    "What does give women their real advantage as tasters over men is their greater native ability to focus on emotional and intuitive thinking…"
     "Over 400 aroma compounds have been identified in wine."
    “Wine is the intellectual part of a meal” Alexandre Dumas.
    “The flavor of wine is like delicate poetry” Louis Pasteur.
     The book is currently free at Liquid Geography by Larry Brooks.  And it's a great read!


                                    https://larrybrooks.substack.com

            Rose Taint In Your Wine

    Have you ever had a red wine that smelled unpleasantly like "grandma's perfume?" If so, you may have experienced "rose taint" – and climate change may make this more common in years to come.
    What happens is that grapevines awaken early – this is becoming more common because of global warming – and immediately begin producing new leaves. But then, because it's still February or March, a frost comes in and kills the leaves. The leaves dry up and crinkle, becoming tiny and almost impossible to remove. It is these frost-dried leaves that put the rose taint in your wine.
    Here's something European purists won't like. Vineyards in heatwaves really need to be irrigated, said Elizabeth Forrestel, assistant professor in UC Davis' Viticulture and Enology.  Forrestel said that if vines are not irrigated during a heatwave, the resulting wine will simply not taste as good.
    Forrestel said that the best way for vineyard owners to prepare for climate change is to plan to have a shorter growing season, with an earlier harvest, because extreme climate events tend to happen in autumn.  And, irrigate in heatwaves

     

                 Cabernet Franc - The New Hot Varietal                    

    Since the grape Cabernet Franc was imported from Bordeaux with it's fellow blending grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,  and Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot (and very occasionally, Carménère) - its singular quality as a food wine has exploded. 

    Interestingly, the grape is practical in the vineyard, requiring less growing season than its family member and Napa Valley darling, Cabernet Sauvignon. This makes Cabernet Franc more reliable in cooler vintages and ensures its availability for early harvests when weather conditions and fire smoke pose threats.

    It offers a spectrum of flavors, from lush, dark fruits with significant aging potential to crunchy red, brambly fruits with green pepper notes.

The Most Wanted Wines in 2023

 Prices worldwide on Wine-Searcher (US$, ex-tax, per 750-ml bottle):

    So was it always thus? Was the wine world only ever interested in Bordeaux First Growths, with the odd seasoning of Champagne and Burgundy thrown in? Well, the answer is: pretty much, yes.

    Looking at the list of the all-time most searched-for wines on Wine-Searcher, we find that eight of the same wines are in the top 10. The only changes are the presence of the Saint-Émilion star Château Cheval Blanc, and Napa standard-bearer Opus One, in ninth and 10th positions, respectively.

Check out the mustard season in the vineyards.

Wine Books To Check Out

                                  Biodynamic Wine Demystified

    “Wine is made in the vineyard” is the mantra of many a winemaker. But what does it mean, really? Esteemed winemaker and biodynamic pioneer Nicholas Joly believes a wine that is well-made in the vineyard. It must express its unique terroir—the character imbued by a vine’s particular plot of well-tended earth. We agree.
                                         $ 29.95 ISBN 9781934259023

                                   How And Why to Build a Wine Cellar

    This popular classic, which is based on the author's personal experiences of building a wine cellar in his home and collecting wines for fun and investment, is now completely updated for the modern wine collector.  Richard Gold 
                                         $ 29.95 ISBN 9781891267000

Why Winter Is a Great Time to Visit Sonoma Wine Country

                                                                      


    Some like it hot, but Wine Country can be truly magical in the milder months. The region’s temperate climate means that it never gets too cold, even in the dead of winter, making outdoor excursions and activities pleasant during much of the season.
    There are more opportunities to join in friendly chats with winemakers who, on slower days, might also be more inclined to pour you vintages not always available to the public.
Winter is also a time to experience pruning season in Sonoma Wine Country, when winemakers and vineyard workers shape the dormant vines for the coming harvest season and wineries invite guests for special tours anmight also be more inclined to pour you vintages not always available to the public.
    Wine Country is replete with more affordable dining options during Restaurant Week, which runs from Feb. 19 to Feb. 25 in 2024.d tastings.
 
    Last year, nearly 100 restaurants offered prix fixe menus that included two and three courses for a fixed price, ranging from $10 to $15 to $25 for lunch, $25 to $35 to $55 for dinner and a “sweet perk” for $5.

                               Napa Valley Wine Train Near Zero Emission                        
                                                                             

The Napa Valley Wine Train has placed the first of two Tier 4 compliant switcher units into service as the tourist railroad’s new regular motive power. According to Nathan Davis of the Wine Train the new Rolls Royce engines are near "zero emission". 

    Napa Valley Railroad NZE15B No. 1864 arrived on Oct. 30, 2023. The 1,560-hp unit was rebuilt by Knoxville Locomotive Works from a National Railway Equipment Co. 3GS21B genset unit built in 2008. The gold, maroon, and green locomotive was immediately readied for a test run and operated the length of the railroad with an empty 10-car passenger train. After performing flawlessly on the test, the locomotive pulled its first revenue train on Friday, Nov. 3.

    No. 1864 and another Tier 4 locomotive are slated to replace two of the Wine Train’s signature ex-Canadian National, ex-VIA Rail Canada FPA4 locomotives; an ex-Southern Pacific RS11; a GP9R; an ex-U.S. Navy GE 65-ton switcher, and an ex-U.S. Air Force GE 80-ton switcher, according to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) website

     A number of small modifications can be spotted on No. 1864 that it received during its career as CSX 3GS21B No. 1304. Changes so that the unit could operate in electrified territory include moving the front air horn from the cab roof to between the number boards above the cab windshield; installing shorter air conditioning units on the cab roof; moving the battery box doors further into the unit’s body, and other minor adjustments.

                          Blog #84
                    The Core Value of Recycling Glass


    Recycling glass bottles is core to a circular packaging economy since recycled bottles are crushed and cleaned to produce cullet, which goes back into the glass furnace to make new bottles. Using this recycled cullet reduces the natural resources and energy needed to produce glass. In fact, increasing cullet to 55% reduces the use of sand, limestone and soda ash in half. Since cullet melts at a lower temperature, every additional 10% of cullet used reduces a furnace’s energy use by 2.5% and CO2 emissions by 5%.
                        

       Blog #83
                                                                             
                                     

                       A White Bordeaux Hits The World's Most Expensive Bordeaux List

     Who says red wine has to be the most expensive wines in the world? At last a white Bordeaux - Chateau Haut Brion Blanc hits the top 10! 
    Assemblage 51,4% sémillon, 48,6% sauvignon Degré d’alcool 14,2° (provisoire) Barriques neuves 40,4%.
    Translation: 51.4 % Semillon, 48.6 % Sauvignon Blanc, 14.2% Alcohol, 40.4 % New barrels.

Blog # 82

Harvest Report October, Four Weeks Late
    The 2023 California winegrape harvest has gotten off to a late start, with vintners just beginning to pick in most regions. Due to cooler temperatures this spring and summer, which have allowed grapes to mature slowly and gradually, timing is anywhere from a week or two behind normal to nearly a month late. While it is still early in the harvest, California vintners are looking forward to a high-quality 2023 vintage.
    As of the end of September, picking of early-ripening grape varieties sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir in Lake and Mendocino counties was about 85% done. And, the harvest of red varieties there is over one-third completed,
    Meanwhile, less than 10% of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay in Sonoma and Napa counties have been picked, only about 5% of pinot noir and around 2% of cabernet sauvignon and other red grapes.

Blog # 81

Here's something you don't see every day: a Cessna 172 airplane hoisted out of a Sonoma vineyard. On Aug. 19, after his engine failed, pilot William Tomkovic of Healdsburg made an emergency landing in Russian River Valley's El Diablo Vineyard, one of California's best Chardonnay vineyards and a source for top wines from Kosta Browne, Arista and Ram’s Gate. El Diablo is located just 2 miles away from Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport.

While you might not think of vineyards as runways, this isn't the first time planes have landed among grapes. In 2005, a Cessna crash landed in a vineyard row belonging to Jaeger Vineyards, taking out 12 vines.

Blog #79

 2023 Sonoma County Wine Auction
                                    Raises Over $1.3 Million for Sonoma County Nonprofits
                                    More Than 430 Charitable Organizations Funded to Date
    SANTA ROSA, CA (September 20, 2023) – Sonoma County Vintners Foundation (SCVF) is pleased to announce that its annual Sonoma County Wine Auction (SCWA) has raised over $1.3 million. These proceeds will fund next year’s SCVF Community Grants for nonprofit organizations in the areas of education & literacy, health & human services, the environment, and arts & culture as well as the Emergency Relief Fund. The 2023 SCWA was held at the breathtaking La Crema Estate at Saralee’s Vineyard on September 16, 2023. Since the auction’s inception more than $41 million has been raised, directly benefiting Sonoma County community members in need.

Blog # 78

           

The Top Most Popular Restaurant Brands Today 
         If you were wondering what wines are most popular
                  in restaurants today, here is the list
     1 Cakebread.  
        2 Jordan
        3 Duckhorn
        4 Silver Oak
        5 Frank Family
        6 La Crema
        7 Stags Leap Wine Cellars
        8 Decoy
        9 Franciscian

Blog #77

Switching to Electric
    Switching to electric trucks can offer a multitude of benefits for our businesses, our customers, and the planet. The vehicles that drive the beverage industry are about to get a major revamp.  A new breed of transportation entrepreneurs are testing fully electric and even self-driving trucks to tackle some of the beverage industry’s most pressing problems, including driver shortages, high maintenance costs, volatile fuel pricing, and safety concerns.
    The sheer size of the beverage alcohol industry, along with the unique challenges of beverage distribution, makes it especially attractive to this new wave of trucking entrepreneurs. And it helps that the current limitations of electric-truck battery technology fits the nature of beverage distribution quite well.
    Examples such as Thor Trucks joins the likes of Tesla, Nikola, Workhorse, the Chinese company BYD, and others in developing this next generation of electric and self-driving trucks. Even trucking industry veterans like Peterbilt, Daimler, and Cummins are announcing their own electric models. 
    But if self-driving trucks eventually become a reality, A-B will be remembered for an historic milestone. In 2016 the company made the first beer shipment with such a vehicle. It used an Otto self-driving truck to deliver thousands of cans of Budweiser from an Anheuser-Busch facility in Loveland, Colorado, to the company’s wholly owned distributorship in Colorado Springs—a distance of 100 miles.  If the beer business can do it, the wine business surely will. 

Blog # 76
                                            

    Fun Shipping Facts, Kissing In Iowa

A lawsuit against the state of Iowa by a tiny Oregon winery – Pheasant Court Winery, which produces only 300 cases per year – exposed a weird facet of Iowa wine law that surely some court will strike down.

Wineries currently can only ship wine to Iowa restaurants and retail stores if the applicant (presumably the owner) is "of good moral character". And, the law further states, only residents of Iowa can possibly be of good moral character.

Kissing is legal in Iowa! As long as:

1) The man doesn't have a mustache. In that case he must only kiss in private, where no morally upright Iowans can see that mess. No kidding, that's Iowa law.

2) The kiss doesn't last longer than five minutes (illegal statewide). Otherwise, you can just forget about shipping Chardonnay to Des Moines.

    Blog # 75       

   Just in case you were wondering what the numbers are for our fine wine business in Northern California, here you go:

Napa County
Vineyards: 46,000 acres
Crop value: $891 million
Physical wineries: 475
Wine-related employees: 44,000
Annual economic impact: $34 billion
Sonoma County
Vineyards: 59,000 acres
Crop value: $546 million
Physical wineries: 425
Wine-related employees: 54,000
Annual economic impact: $13 billion
Sources: County crop reports, Napa Valley Vintners, Sonoma County Vintners Asc

Blog # 74

                             Launch Vintners Diary                     
                 This is a must see video at Vintnersdiary.com!!!!

              This Vintners Video Diary Will Revolutionize Wine News

Blog # 73

Stags Leap, Stags' Leap or Stag's Leap?

                        
               
    The Stags Leap name comes from the legend that a great stag, being pursued by
hunters, made a seemingly impossible leap between the two rocky peaks that sit high above the valley. This name has been a source of some controversy – specifically the absent possessive apostrophe.
    Two producers founded in the 1970s – Stags' Leap Winery (now as well known for
 its Petite Sirah as for its Cabernet Sauvignon) and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 
(founded by Warren Winiarski) – came to legal blows in the mid-1980s over the name.  The former was accused of benefitting from the publicity gained by the latter
in the infamous Judgement of Paris tasting.
    The subsequent ruling was that each would keep the Stags Leap name, but with
a distinct apostrophe placement. In the late 1980s, the two producers banded together  to fight for the creation of the official Stags Leap District in 1989. That AVA would  eschew the apostrophe altogether.

                                                                           

Blog # 72

Selling Domaine Curry 

 Ayesha Curry has been a household name in America since her husband Stephen Curry 
started swishing threes in the NBA Finals for the Golden State Warriors. However, the
34-year-old seems to be slowly building an identity of her own, establishing herself
as an ace businesswoman through her numerous lucrative ventures. Her latest W in the
field of business came in the form of a lucrative deal involving a $58.2 billion company,
which is set to surge her $20 million net worth.         One of the largest wine companies
in the country, Constellation Brands reportedly announced on Friday that they will be
acquiring Domaine Curry, a brand started by Ayesha Curry and Stephen Curry’s sister,
Sydel Curry-Lee. Curry shared the news on her Instagram stories recently.
        
Blog # 71

    Why Organic Wine Tastes Better
    In 2016, Magali Delmas and Olivier Gergaud, professors at UCLA and the KEDGE Business School in Bordeaux looked at 74,000 scores of wine produced in California from the trio above, and found that organically and/or biodynamically certified wines earned 4.1 percent higher than the rest of the pack.
    The duo returned in 2021 with the results from a study that considered 128,000 wines scored by top French guides Gault Millau, Gilbert Gaillard and Bettane Desseauve, showing that organically certified wines scored 6.2 percent higher scores on average than the rest. Biodynamically certified wines – which don't just eschew chemicals, but also require growers to plant and harvest at certain times and integrate animals and native plants into a holistic and closed-loop farming system – earned 11.8 percent higher scores.

Blog #70

 Stock Up On Sauvignon Blanc

    Demand for sauvignon blanc has been strong, fueling big price growth earlier this year but slowing in recently as bloom and set loomed. The 2022 county average price for the white grape in Napa was $2,925 a ton last year, and new contracts this year have been priced in the $5,000¬ $5,500 range; in Sonoma $1,913, and $2,600-$2,800; in Mendocino, $1,485, and $1,650-$2,000; and in Lake $1,317, and $1,700-$2,000.

“If it looks like a large crop, you will see the price go down a bit for those grapes remaining for sale in Mendo and Lake. I do not foresee that going down in Sonoma County, because what is available will be considered overage (on purchase contracts), and wineries will continue to pay for that. That’s how high the demand is,” of Klier Vineyard Management said. 
    Watch for our pre-release of our 2022 Leslie Hennessy Sauvignon Blanc.

Flowering Has Begun
These tiny white flowers on this Pinot Noir grape bunch has started the process of growing the berries that we will make into wine in September. Since grapes are asexual (they mate by themselves) we don’t need insects

 Educati0on # 69                                                                                     

 2023 Sonoma County Barrel Auction Raises More Than $535,000
    Proceeds Support Sonoma County Wine Marketing Programs and Initiatives
SANTA ROSA, CA (May 10, 2023) – Sonoma County Vintners (SCV) is pleased to announce this year’s results from the ninth annual Sonoma County Barrel Auction (SoCoBA) presented by American AgCredit and held in person at MacMurray Estate Vineyards on Friday, May 5, 2023. These “never before, never again” wines showcasing the spectacular diversity of Sonoma County’s wine region raised over $535,000 for SCV’s marketing programs and initiatives that support the wine trade and community. The auction featured 66 unique barrel lots ranging from 5 to 20 cases from 76 participating Sonoma County vintners.
Over 320 guests attended SoCoBA, including participating vintners, trade, media, community leaders and sponsor partners. Trade guests attended from across the United States and around the globe, with international attendees from China, Japan, Norway and South Korea.

That spirit of collaboration resulted in the highest selling barrel auction lot of the day, a 2022 Pinot Noir from Williams Selyem, <a href="https://www.rochioliwinery.com/" t