I added three new links on the right:

• Cultured Wino
• The Wine Offensive
• Grape Radio

If you have a wine blog, or wine related site you would like to see added feel free to email me.

Tom Wark, of Fermentation, has a good post about this article from Jennifer Rosen.

In the article Ms. Rosen takes on the E.U. and the idea of Terroir. Dismissing the idea that location is just as important as the varietal used:

While our trademarks protect intellectual property, Europe safeguards terroir, the concept that place matters more than ingredients, process or producer. This is at once attractive to high-interest wine buyers and impenetrable to the rest. While collectors of Grands Crus no doubt know their left bank from their right, the average drinker is confounded just keeping up with the main eight or nine grapes.

What's more, Americans, for the most part, don't particularly care where their food and wine comes from. The Office of Champagne has been running a series of magazine ads that begin with a statement like: "Gulf Shrimp from Nebraska?" or "Monterey Jack from Alaska?" then segue to the horrific proposition: "Champagne not from Champagne!?"

I disagree with her assessment. There is a difference between a Riesling from Germany and one from Australia, a Merlot from France and one from California, even to novice wine drinkers. Knowing where a wine came from can be important.

Ms. Rosen continues directly:

Pardonnez-moi, but I suspect that far from resonating with most Americans, this backfires. To "Valencia Oranges from Maine?" we say, "Cool! Must be some new hydroponic thing."

Even the most ardent single-farmer chervil connoisseur probably doesn't notice whence his shrimp were farmed or his milk squeezed. As for Monterey Jack, I doubt it's occurred to one in a million taco eaters that Monterey refers to a place, let alone where it is, and that it matters.

Really? If that were true, then why would Napa Valley Vintners be in the Supreme Court:

In a press release, NVV executive director Linda Reiff said, "Our goal has remained the same since this fight began more than five years ago: If a wine label says 'Napa,' then the wine in the bottle should be from 'Napa.' "

Napa is an important region, with a reputation for producing some of the best wines in the world. Why should wineries outside of the region be able to piggyback on the hard work of these winemakers?

I think Tom's summation is spot on:

In the end, I'm inclined to believe that place names are important. Despite what I've written in the past about the idea of terroir, I am in fact a "terroirista" and believe that the place and the name and the product ought to match.

More Virginia Wine news:

The first wine from grapes grown at the Winery at La Grange won't be ready for tasting until the fall of 2007 but Chris Pearmund will open Prince William County's first winery in August.

The historic La Grange farm in the foothills of the Bull Run Mountains, just west of Haymarket on Antioch Road, will be the site of the 20-acre vineyard.

The 1790s federalist manor house at the old farm will serve as the winery's retail shop once Pearmund has it cleaned and renovated.

Yes, that Chris Pearmund.

The article has a lot of interesting information about the Virginia Wine industry:

The art was lost in the Old Dominion until the early 1970s when the General Assembly passed the Virginia Farm Wineries Act that allowed people to grow grapes for wine once again.

"Virginia's been making wine for 400 years," Pearmund said.

Although Virginia wines have made great progress in the last 20 years, winemaking in Virginia costs more compared to other areas of the world, Pearmund said.

and...

Virginia is the 10th largest commercial grape producer in the country. In 2004, retail wine sales in the Old Dominion came in at about $45 million, Rideout said.

"We have a half a million people visiting Virginia wine country annually. Seventy-five percent of those people are local," Rideout said.

Last year, 3,700 tons of grapes were harvested in Virginia, Rideout said.

"The crop value was $4.8 million and there were 762,000 gallons of wine produced," Rideout said.

I am a fan of Pearmund wines and wish Chris success in his new venture.

Frank Britt is planning on starting a new magazine focused on Virginia wines called Official Virginia Wine Lover. From the article:

The goal is go get the quarterly magazine out before the festival season starts in June, and Britt says he plans to distribute it in all 107 wineries. Plus "we're looking for more distributors," he says. "We'd love to get it in one of Virginia's large grocery chains."

The magazine will cover pretty much any wine-related topic imaginable, he says - including tips, trivia, recipes from chefs at wineries, wine pairing suggestions, maps and festival details.

"I want to do a really nice, quality magazine that's of the caliber of 'Bon Appetit,'" he says. "That kind of look."

I wish him luck and hope his venture is successful. The same thought occurred to me when I first discovered Virginia wines. I like the newsletter I get through the Virginia Wine of the Month Club, but I would like something with more depth.

UPDATE: Here is the magazine's website

Wine: Glades Pike Winery Cayuga



Review: Cayuga is a white grape that is found in the Eastern part of the United States. This particular wine is semi-sweet, with strong fruit flavors and a citrus taste. The wine is simple and was a good match to Thanksgiving dinner.

Price: $9

Grade: 80

Wine: Matariki Wines 2001 Quintology



Review: My entry for WBW #17 is something, I hope, unique. I know there are a lot of New Zealand Pinot Noirs out there, so it took a little bit of exploring to find a different red but I was successful.

This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (53.5%), Merlot (21.5%), Cabernet Franc (9%), Malbec (8%), and Syrah (8%). The combination of these varietals makes a complex wine with a lot of depth. The wine has a deep body and a strong flavor. The aging process has smoothed out the wine and the flavors have blended very well together.

All in all, an excellent first foray into New Zealand reds.

Price: $28

Grade: 90

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone and my apologies for the dearth of posts over the holidays. I have two new reviews coming up tonight, so stay tuned.

I wanted to find a New Zealand Red. The only thing I could find at my two local Vintners (one near work, one near home) was Pinot Noir, but I wanted something different. I went to Total Wine & More, one of those wine superstore type places.

I thought being surrounded by 8,000 different wines would put me in heaven, but it was a surprisingly disappointing experience. Instead of grouping wines by location, they group them by varietal. All the Cabernet Sauvignons in one aisle, all of the Merlots in another, etc.

To me, this makes no sense. There is a difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from Spain and one from France, or from California. When I shop for wine, I often start with a region and a varietal in mind. Going through an aisle of Merlots looking for one that matches what I want is much more difficult under this system.

I did find a wine of interest, I will tell you all about it tonight, when I post my review.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #17 has been announced. I am in :).

[Crossposted with my other blog only because I am so excited about it]

I got my new wine cellar today! I also managed to sell the old ones on Craig's List in about 5 minutes. I love it, but it looks so empty. For those trying to count, there are 27 bottles of store-bought wine in there and 40 bottles of home-made wine. I love it and I have an extra $80 from the two old ones to spend on more wine!

Wine: Chaddsford Winery 2002 Cabernet/Chambourcin



Review: This is a eclectic wine from one of Pennsylvania's better known wineries. The wine is a blend of 65% Cabernets (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot) and 35% Chambourcin. The wine has a full body and a strong aroma. It is very tannic with a spicy taste and a hint of berries. I was a little concerned because there seemed to be more air bubbles in the wine than I am used to, but that did not appear to affect the taste. The wine did benefit from decanting.

Price: $15

Grade: 75

A recipe for Christmas brownies: Grab a box of any off the shelf brownie mix. Instead of water use Tarara's Wild River Red. It is an excellent dessert wine that complements the chocolate really well.

I went back to Tarara on Sunday and did a proper wine tasting. Their wines have definitely improved over the last few years. In particular I was impressed Cabernet Sauvignon and the Charval. In the light of day, their Cabernet Franc did not hold up as well as I would have liked. There are better in the area, but I think it will get better with age.

My company held its Christmas party last night at Tarara. I used to like Tarara, but they went through a string of winemakers a few years back and their wines became much more uneven. It has been a few years since I tried any of their wines, so I was tempted to check them out, but drinking at office parties is never a good idea.

Instead, I confined myself to their Cabernet Franc, which is a relatively new wine for them. This was the 2003 vintage and it was not bad. It had a good aroma with a medium body and a smooth taste. I am not going to do a full review, because I did not have a chance to really savor it, but if the wine is reflective of the new Tarara vintages, then I will have to give them another chance.

It looks like I am not the first wine blogger from Virginia. It is good to have company :).

Shamelessly stolen from The Willets.

A Brazilian company is offering a cologne (in Virginia men wear cologne not perfume, despite what the article says) based on wine. From the article, the cologne, contains the following scents:

Boticario describes the new scent as combining the aromas of malbec wine with hints of plum, violets and tobacco together with musk, patchouli and of course, French oak. (emphasis mine).

It kind of gives new meaning to the Wallflowers' song, One Headlight:

Well this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
Well it smells of cheap wine & cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn
I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think her death it must be killin' me

I realize that was a long way to go for a lame joke, but lame jokes is all I got :).

Wine: Walla Walla Vintners 1997 Cabernet Franc



Review: This is the first Cabernet Franc from Washington that I have tried and I have to say it was very enjoyable. It has aged very well with a strong aroma and a dark, full body. It has more of a tannic taste than I am used to from a Cabernet Franc, but it was still relatively smooth with a hint of cherry. The wine is a blend of 90% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot -- which is probably where the extra tannins originate.

I picked up this wine off WineBid, and it was a real value for the money.

Price: $20


Grade: 85

Does better technology make better wine? Cleve Twitchell at the Mail Tribune thinks so, at least in one case.

When Weisinger's 2005 vintage wines start coming on the market, you might want to try some, especially if you still have some 2004 bottles around for comparison. That's because the Ashland winery installed some new winemaking equipment this past summer. It's designed to produce wines that are "smoother and more velvety," says winemaker Eric Weisinger.

...

I had an opportunity to make a barrel-tasting comparison of two reds -- cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc -- from two different years, 2004 (before the new equipment) and 2005 (after it). In each case, the 2004 and 2005 were made with grapes from the same vineyard -- Pheasant Hill for the cab, Gold for the franc.

The 2005 had been in the barrel for only a month but you could already taste a difference. The 2004 reds should be out next fall, the 2005 reds in 2007 or 2008, Weisinger says.

My first question is, based on the above paragraph, why would anyone who reads this article by a Weisinger's 2004 red?

I have mixed feelings about the wineries that rely too heavily on technology, or are overly fascinated by technology (note: I don't know anything about Weisinger, so these comments are not directed at this particular winery). Each bottle of wine is supposed to be a unique experience, have its own story. The more the winemaking process relies on technology the more uniform each bottle of wine becomes.

This is not entirely a bad thing. It hopefully means less corked bottles, less moldy wine, and other suprises that pop up.

However, if we refine the winemaking process to the point of creating a beer-like uniformity won't wine lose some of its mystique?

More on Cabernet Franc from the New York Times:

"Cabernet franc offers the best of both worlds when compared to merlot and cabernet sauvignon," Mr. Schneider said in an e-mail message. "It benefits from just the right amount of approachable upfront fruit of the former and from the structure and spice of the latter. It has the added benefit of being more aromatic than either."

Continuing my linky trend today I came across this post by Water into Wino about Cabernet Franc.

Cabernet Franc has grown increasingly popular since it was introduced in 1980s (in the United States), but it still trails its red cousins. But, I think the fact that it is less tannic and has a medium body will continue to spur its growth.

Alder, at Vinography, has a good post about a winery in Chile that has started aging its wine on the ocean floor. Gimmick, or next big thing?

I guess it depends on how popular their wine becomes.

Wine: Pearmund Cellars 2003 Ameritage





Review: This is an excellent wine. It is such a good wine that I was actually bummed that I was drinking it alone tonight. It is one of those wines that you want to share with your friends. The blend is 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec and 6% Petite Verdot. Obviously, it is a very complex wine with hints of brambleberry, raspberry, cherry and licorice.

The wine has a strong, but not overpowering, flavor that blends well with food but will also stand on its own.

Price: $23.00

Grade: 95

I picked up a copy of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2006 today. The book contains a nice little snippet about Virginia:

With 91 bonded wineries and 6 AVAs, Virginia is turning out some of the best wines in the Eastern US. The modern winemaking era, which began in the mid-1980s, now encompasses virtually every part of the state, with emphasis on vinifera. Wines include praiseworthy Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Manseng and Viognier....


He then mentions 15 vineyards, including several listed on the right -- all of which will eventually have a review from me. As I have expanded my wine horizons, I have felt that in particular Virginia's Cabernet Franc and Viognier measured well against others from outside the area, but it is nice to have someone else confirm this.

For those that don't know, an AVA is an American Viticultural Area.

The New York Times has a write up on several new wine related books including new books from Parker and Johnson.

Of interest to me is the Paul Lukacs book The Great Wines of America: The Top Forty Vintners, Vineyards, and Vintages. According to the article, the book includes mention of at least one Virginia vineyard (the publisher has not listed the table of contents on their website or on Amazon's, so I don't know if any others are listed).

The fact that Virginia is mentioned should not come as a surprise as Lukacs writes about wine for both the Washingtonian and the Washington Times -- yet I still am surprised.

I will pick up a copy of his book this week and run through a quick review when I have finished reading it.

Wine: Windham Winery 2004 Riesling





Review: At 12% this Riesling has a higher alcohol content than most Rieslings. This may be because of the Vidal Blanc blended into it. It is a crisp Riesling, but the flavor is a little bland, it is not as fruity as most Rieslings. The 2004 growing season was particularly good to Virginia vineyards, especially coming off a very dry 2003 season. The strong harvest means a powerful Riesling taste, but the flavor of the grapes overpowered the more subtle flavorings.

Still, a good wine, but not a great wine.

Price: $15.00

Grade: 75

One of the most common myths about wine is that all or most wines get better with age. Most wines hit a point where age does not increase their flavor, instead it actually hurts the wine.

A case in point is my experience tonight. While my preference leans towards reds, I love a good Riesling, which has a shelf-life of 18-24 months. There are several decent Rieslings in my area, but they mostly pale in comparison to a good German Riesling.

I opened a bottle of of German Riesling tonight, it was a vintage I have had before and I knew I liked it. However, it was a 2002 vintage, and it was well past its prime. It had a strong tannic taste, I could not taste the fruit flavors and it had a musty aroma.

I dumped it and switched a 2004 Windham Winery Riesling, which was much better. Review follows soon.

Wine: Willowcroft Farm Vineyards 2002 Cabernet Franc





Review: This is one of the best local Cabernet Francs I have tasted. It is blended with 4% Petit Verdot and 9% Merlot. The Merlot gives it a much fuller flavor than most Cabernet Francs, but it is still smooth, with light tannins. There is also a hint of blackberry and a slight smokey flavor.

Price: $17

Grade: 90

My first review will follow shortly. I spent the weekend thinking about how I want to do my wine reviews and decided on a, hopefully, simple format. First, I will lay out a couple of ground rules.

1. I am not a wine taster, I am a wine drinker. When I buy a bottle, I buy it to drink. So, expect several days even up to a week between reviews (excepting special occasions and get togethers with friends of course).


2. If I don't like a wine, I won't bother writing a review, so a lot of positive reviews just means I am sparing you from the wines I don't like -- of course I'll still write about the bad ones in my personal journal.


3. As I mentioned before, there will be more East Coast wines then you are probably used to seeing. I live in the heart of Virginia wine country, it is hard not to have a bias toward these wines.

As to my reviews, I think I am going to start with the following format:

1. Name of the wine, including relevent appelation data.


2. Image of the wine label


3. A one or two sentence review. I don't want to create such a complicated review that the essence of wine gets lost in gobbledy-gook.


4. Price


5. Grade

I'll see how this works and evolve over time.

I love wine. I have since I was old enough to drink. I am always tempted to write about wine on my blog, but I think I already bore enough people with posts about things not grandchild related so a new blog seemed in order.

My goal on this blog is twofold: The first is to talk about wine and the second is to review wines I try. Now, I don't claim to be a Robert Parker and I don't want to be. I have a wine journal that I have been keeping for a while, but I find the medium of a written wine journal limiting.

My wine tastings will undoubetdly include a disproportionate number of Virginia and Pennsylvania wines, because I happen to drink a disproportionate amount of wine from Virginia and Pennsylvania.

I also make my own wine. I have made Riesling, a Cabernet/Merlot blend and a Peach wine. As I experiment with different types of wine I will document that here as well.